The Path To Integration: African Americans in the Armed Forces of Massachusetts

On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued his Executive Order 9981, directing “as rapidly as possible” a policy establishing "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." The Path to Integration: African Americans in the Armed Forces examines the struggle to bring the full measure of Truman’s Order — in both spirit and practice — to reality.

Eradicating the long history of prejudice and racial bias within the armed forces of the United States has proven no less difficult than it has within society as a whole. Black servicemen and women have fought and died for our country since its founding, yet their sacrifice has stood in stark relief against a history of inequality in the nation they served to protect.

In an address on the 50th Anniversary of Executive Order 9981, Gen. Colin Powell praised our military as an institution, "where the color of your guts and color of your blood was more important than the color of your skin." Still, as he cautioned in that same speech, "a level playing field does not come by declaring it, it comes by building it and maintaining it."

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