Forgotten Struggles

African-Americans Confront Racism During the Korean War Era

by Dr. Otis Eliot Pope Jr.

Forgotten Struggles: African-Americans Confront Racism During the Korean War Era is a thought provoking account on how the African-American community leveraged its political and social capital to secure justice and equality for African-Americans. The bravery and resolve of men such as A. Philip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall and Jesse Brown helped to lay the foundation for the civil rights movement that took place immediately after the Korean War.

In Praise of Forgotten Struggles

Listen to an interview with WVON’s Rufus Williams

Informative yet fast-paced, this history of African-American struggles for racial justice before, during, and after the Korean War strikes a balance between academic detail and popular-facing readability. There’s a lot of this history I didn’t know so I’m glad I read it.

Dr. Sean O'Brien, Arrupe College
Clinical Associate Professor, Writing and Literature

Forgotten Struggles is easily one of the best books I have read in some time. Its examination of forgotten heroes like A Philip Randolph and all he did for the civil rights movement, Ensign Jesse Brown and his ultimate sacrifice, as well as the many of the first hand accounts he includes from Korean War veterans. My favorite part is how he then ties the struggles these men went through, their war experience and their personal struggles with being a African American in the United States military, and relates it to the struggles that African Americans are facing today. For me this is a must read if you care about African American history.

Al Womble
Chair of Iowa Democratic Black Caucus and of the NAACP Political Action Committee

Chicago Defender

The Chicago Defender, a powerful and influential black owned newspaper, on July 31st, 1948 published the headline “President Truman Wipes Out Segregation in Armed Forces.” As a newspaper owned and operated by African-Americans, the desegregation of the US military was viewed as a key victory in the fight for African-Americans securing their full rights as American citizens.

Executive Order 9981

On January 12th, 1949, roughly six months after President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity met. Headed by Charles H. Fahy, the purpose of this committee was to ensure the slow, delicate process of integrating the US military took place.

General MacArthur and 24th Infantry

General MacArthur inspecting troops of the 24th Infantry upon his arrival at Kimpo Airfield on February 21st, 1951. A few months later General MacArthur would be relieved of duty by President Harry Truman. As President Harry Truman eloquently put it, “I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the President…I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the laws for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.”

Ensign Jesse L. Brown with his crewmates aboard the USS Leyte

Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African-American naval aviator, shown walking with his crewmates aboard the USS Leyte during the Korean War. As a navy fighter pilot, he would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a medal given to fighter pilots who display single acts of bravery and valor during aerial flight. Ensign Jesse L. Brown would die in battle on December 4th, 1950.

Dr. Otis Eliot Pope Jr.

Forgotten Struggles: African-Americans Confront Racism During the Korean War Era highlights the heroics of men like Jesse LeRoy Brown, the first African-American United States Navy Aviator, Asa Philip Randolph, the revered civil rights activist, and Thurgood Marshall, the brilliant legal scholar, as they waged a war against deeply entrenched racism and battle-hardened enemy combatants during the Korean War era.

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