Black Troops: The Afro-American military – They came from the other side of the ‘pond’
Around 240,000 of the US troops that came to Britain during WW2 were African Americans, who had seen their participation in the war as a mean to escape the extreme segregation and colour bar found in America.
Troops started to appear in different areas of the country, and the North was no different. In many places where they were stationed, people had never seen a Black person previously.
Despite the lack of sources and research, many Black troops were stationed in Yorkshire and Northumberland, with several sources revealing that they had been seen, during 1943/44, in areas like Newcastle and Durham.
Although there are no records of the latter, it is logical to think that during the periods of rest, they would go around to see villages and would meet people. In areas like Hull or Northumberland, there are several people that mention remembering seeing them when they were children, and others pass the memory that had been told by older relatives or friends, now deceased.The common opinion from different areas of the North, is that Black troops had been a source of entertainment and interest, because they were so different from what they had seen all their lives.
British people, in villages and cities around the North, where they were stationed, revealed a special affection for African American soldiers, coming into their defence when they saw the racism and discrimination dispensed by American White troops.The general opinion, confirmed by the contributions we recorded and the many that did not have any facts, like names or places, but could remember the event, was that those Black ones were well-educated, and friendly, whereas the White American were labelled as rude, bullies, acting as they owned the area and tried to dictate how British should behave.
Segregation was fully in place with a complete division of sleeping arrangements, entertainment, meals and even training, and American military tried to impose the same norms to British people, asking them to reject the ‘coloured soldiers’.
Whilst preparing for a possible German’s invasion, Britain became unwittingly part of a new social change, related to the Black troops’ arrivals, as they came from the colonies, and from the African-American military, also known as GIs.
And those essentially White areas were never going to be the same, with an injection of new cultures, behaviours, languages, and a window wide open to America.
Black soldiers slept in barracks separated from their White counterparts, This segregation shocked British people. Source: Frank Bolden Collection
After several complaints from the US Government about the fact that British people had their doors open to African-American troops, dismissing the attempts from the Americans to enforce their segregation, Britain issued the following letter.
(Source: Fold3, US, WWII European Theater Army Records, 1941-1946)
According to the Imperial War Museum, to make sure instructions were going to be followed, a booklet was published In 1942 by the United States War Department to American Servicemen advising them on the peculiarities of the ‘British, their country, and their ways’.
The guide was intended to lessen the culture shock for those embarking on their first trip to Great Britain, and for the most part, abroad. The instructions are a wonderful interpretation of the differences between the two allies. By turns hilarious and poignant, many observations remain quaintly relevant today.’
Source: US National Archives
