80 years ago today, July 6, 1944, Fort Hood, Texas. The 761st Tank Battalion, a "colored" unit, was preparing for deployment to Europe. The Army at this point sadly was still segregating African-American Soldiers into "colored" units, but had instituted policies integrating things like certain living accommodations and transportation on post. On this day, a 2nd Lieutenant from the 761st boarded a bus to return to his unit after having his ankle examined. In defiance of Army policy, the bus driver ordered this officer to the back - and the officer refused. The driver continued along the bus's route, but at one stop summoned some nearby MPs, who arrested the officer. The MPs would accuse this 2LT from the 761st of insubordination for arguing with the MP officer who interrogated him. The commander of the 761st thought the charges were absurd and refused to pursue a court-martial or non-judicial punishment. Unfortunately, a higher-ranking officer intervened and transferred the officer to another Battalion. The commander of this Battalion did pursue a court-martial. To the initial count of insubordination, this commander and prosecutors added several other charges that were even more ridiculous. Fortunately, a court-martial panel of nine officers (all of them white) acquitted the accused on all charges. While this officer was dealing with the court-martial, he was forced to stay at Fort Hood, and his Battalion deployed without him. The 761st would accumulate a remarkable record over the next several months, including earning 11 Silver Stars and one Medal of Honor. The officer in this incident missed his opportunity to fight and earn glory in combat. But the future held a bigger fight - and even greater fame and glory - for 2LT Jackie Robinson.
Terry Quist
1w
As a lesser-known sequel to this story, Jackie Robinson took a turn as a basketball coach at the HBCU Huston College (since 2005, Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin. Robinson knew the president of Huston, the Reverend Karl Downs, who had been his pastor and mentor growing up in Pasadena. When Robinson received an honorable discharge from the Army in Kentucky in November 1944, Downs invited Robinson back to Texas to coach the the college basketball team for the 1944-1945 season. While coaching the Huston College team, he attended the training camp for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs in Houston, which signed the versatile athlete for the 1945-1946 season. Of course he became part of the top farm team for the the Dodgers, the Montreal Royals, in 1946, and then broke the Major League color barrier with his ascent to the Dodgers in 1947. Robinson never forgot Huston College and joined the Board of Trustees of Huston-Tillotson College in 1968, on which he remained until shortly before his death.
Good story...
👏🇺🇸 Thank you for sharing the story and reminder racism has no place in our country.
Rob Walters
1w
Not proud of that part of history but proud that the military gets over differences faster than the rest of society. All blood is red and there are no atheists in the foxhole.
My father endured a similar indignity when he returned home from Korea. Wearing his uniform, with six stripes a diamond (Master Sargent First Class), and a chest full of ribbons, he sat down in the front of the bus in Alabama. Bus drivers wore sidearms back then… A white lady got on the bus and said “N word, get to the back of the bus”. At that point, my father had to choose between likely dying in a$$wipe Alabama at the hands of a racist bus driver. Or swallow his pride and suffer the indignity of moving to the back of that bus. He suffered that indignity and went on to serve his country with dignity in spite of his country treating him with anything but. These stories should be a part of the history taught in classrooms across the country right along side the ones that make everyone feel good. A country that forgets its own history is doomed to repeat it. Thanks for posting this Joshua Simer.
Wayne Cherry
1w
The man stood for what he knew was right, not what happened to be the [absurd] law, and set the conditions for those who followed
Mike Hanley
1w
You can’t hide the kind of courage to do the right/ hard to do thing, in extremely difficult situations, that kind of courage shines brightly through, even in the darkest of times, he must have felt very alone, yet he stuck to his guns, his greatness was revealed.
Andrew Geyer
1w
We sure did waste a lot of time, money, and combat power back in those days by descriminating against good soldiers for abritrary traits. Sure hope we don’t go back to being that stupid again.
Hypertect - Building Design Scientist - BIM / Design Consultant for Architecture, Development, Engineering Firms, Private clients and Sovereign Nations
1wThe 761st are the Black Panthers and my Bell family was in the 761st. There is too much racial friction in this country holding black Americans back. I am not proud of the racist stories my grandfather told me about his time in Germany or my uncles in Vietnam - Korea. Im going through the same BS in Corporate America. At this point, Freedmen ( black Americans) need an international free trade zone to accelerate industrially because +80 percent of our talent can't activate and isn't online.