Oct 30, 2008

From Racial Segregation to the Oval Office (3 of 3)

[see Part 1 here] ... [see Part 2 here]

Intelligence. Talent. Hard work. Generations of African-Americans have helped make the US the nation it is today.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CAROLINA YARD JOCKEY A truck driver, photographed in North Carolina in 1943. (John Vachon)

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms SHIPYARD DAUGHTER A shipyard worker with his daughter in 1942 Virginia. (Pat Terry)

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms HOWARD PERRY Howard P. Parry, the first African-American to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. (Roger Smith)

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms JANE BOLIN Jane Bolin, the first African-American female judge.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms RICHARD WRIGHT Richard Wright, poet, photographed in his study in 1943. (Gordon Parks)

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms BOXING REFEREE
(photo by Roger Smith)

During World War II, these men were employed at a coast guard training center. They all taught boxing and, presumably, took turns being referee.

If this is the moment in which an African-American first assumes the presidency of the United States, may his judgment be sound and his decisions fair.

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