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The Churchill Government and the Black American Troops in Britain during World War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

David Reynolds
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Extract

Just before lunch on Tuesday 13 October 1942 the British War Cabinet assembled for a hasty meeting in the Prime Minister's room in the House of Commons. Sandwiched on the agenda between discussion of the impending visit of the South African premier and the arrangements for celebrating Armistice Day was a unique item, one on which no less than six different Cabinet ministers had submitted papers. The subject was the treatment of the black soldiers who were in Britain as members of the US Army's expeditionary force. The American policy was to segregate them as much as possible from white troops. The Cabinet had now to make up its mind about a War Office proposal that British troops should be encouraged to adopt a similar attitude to the black GIs. The issue, bluntly stated, was whether the British Government should approve a discreet colour bar.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 35 , December 1985 , pp. 113 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1985

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References

1 Aspects of this subject have been dealt with in Hachey, Thomas E., ‘Jim Crow with a British accent: Attitudes of London Government officials toward American negro soldiers in England during World War II’ Journal of Negro History, 59 (1974), 65–77 (a collection of edited documents)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thorne, Christopher, ‘Britain and the black G.I.s: Racial issues and Anglo-American relations in 1942’ New Community, 3 (1974), 262–71Google Scholar; Smith, Graham A., ‘Jim Crow on the home front, 1942–1945’ New Community, 8 (1980), 317–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Flint, J. E., ‘Scandal at the Bristol Hotel: Some thoughts on racial discrimination in Britain and West Africa and its relationship to the planning of decolonisation, 1939–47’ Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 12 (1983), 74–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This article concentrates on the policy of the British government rather than the wider questions of the race issue in transatlantic diplomacy, colonial policy or wartime Britain, as discussed by Thorne, Flint and Smith.

2 Joseph, C. L., ‘The British West Indies Regiment, 1914–1918’ Journal of Caribbean History, 2 (1971), 94–124Google Scholar; Greenhut, Jeffrey, ‘Race, sex, and war: The impact of race and sex on morale and health services for the Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914’ Military Affairs, 45 (1981), 71–4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

3 House of Commons, , Debates, 5th series, vol. 352, columns 1083–4, 19 10 1939Google Scholar.

4 War Cabinet minutes, 25 Jan. 1940, Public Record Office, CAB 65/5, WM 23 (40) 3. (Crown copyright documents are quoted by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.)

5 Malcolm MacDonald, memo, 22 Jan. 1940, War Cabinet papers, PRO, CAB 67/4, WP(G) 4015.

6 ”See Colonial Office papers, PRO, CO 876/41–43, and Richmond, Anthony H., Colour prejudice in Britain: A study of West Indian workers in Liverpool, 1941–1951 (1954)Google Scholar. (Place of publication is London unless otherwise stated.)

7 F. E. Evans, minute, 22 Jan. 1942, PRO, Foreign Office General Political correspondence FO 371/26206, A 10036/257/45.

8 War Office to Military Attaché, Washington, tel. 78528, 17 July 1941, PRO, War Office papers, WO 193/321.

9 Col. S. Arnott to V. Cavendish-Bentinck, 2 Aug. 1941, PRO, FO 371/26227, A 8364/538/45.

10 See Cabinet Office papers, PRO, CAB 79/20, COS 126 (42) 11, 21 April 1942, and CAB 80/62, COS (42) 104 (0); Chaney to War Dept., tel., 25 April 1942, in US War Dept., Operations Div., Diary, copy in Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas, USA; Eisenhower, memo, 25 April 1942, National Archives, Washington, DC, USA, Record Group RG 165, Operations Division, OPD 291.2.

11 E. Bridges to J. Martin, 21 July 1942, in Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York, USA, Harry Hopkins papers, box 136.

12 Cf. Angus Malcolm, minute, 28 Dec. 1942, PRO, FO 371/30680, A 11903/990/45.

13 Sir Ronald Campbell to FO, tel. 4086, 12 Aug. 1942, PRO, FO 954/30A, f. 151. On US policy see Lee, Ulysses, The employment of negro troops (Washington, 1966)Google Scholar in the series ‘US Army in World War II: Special studies’; and MacGregor, Morris J. Jr, Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965 (Washington, 1981)Google Scholar.

14 Cf. New Statesman and Nation, 26 Sept. 1942, p. 202.

15 See Walvin, James, Black and white: The negro and English society, 1555–1945 (1973), esp. chap. 13Google Scholar; May, Roy and Cohen, Robin, ‘The interaction between race and colonialism: A case study of the Liverpool race riots of 1919’ Race and Class, 16 (1974), 111–126CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Little, K. L., Negroes in Britain: A study of racial relations in English society (1947)Google Scholar, based on research done in Cardiff in 1941.

16 See Colonial Office memo, Aug. 1942, PRO, CO 876/14, f. 4. Moody, Harold A., The Colour Bar (1944), 8Google Scholar, suggests a figure of at least 10,000 for 1939, which is probably too high.

17 E.g., James Warburg to Elmer Davis, 1 Sept. 1942, National Archives, Washington, RG 107/47, box 124, ASW 291.2; extracts from Regional Commissioners' reports, Jul.–Nov. 1942, PRO, FO 371/34123, A 866/33/45.

18 See Eisenhower's directives of 16 July and 5 Sept. 1942, National Archives, Washington, RG 332: European Theater of Operations, US Army (ETOUSA), Adjutant General records, (AG), Classified General Correspondence (CGC) 291.2.

19 Cf. War Cabinet minutes, 10 and 31 Aug. 1942, PRO, CAB 65/27, WM (42) 109/6 and 119/6.

20 Home Office circular, 4 Sept. 1942, annex to PRO, CAB 66/29, WP (42) 456.

21 ‘Notes on relations with coloured troops’ annex to PRO, CAB 66/29, WP (42) 441.

22 Quoted in report by Regional Information Officer, Manchester, 23 July 1942, in PRO, CAB 123/176.

23 Minutes of BC (L) (42) Misc. 3, 1st mtg., 12 Aug. 1942, in PRO, CO 876/14.

24 BBC West Regional Director, memo, 14 Aug. 1942, in BBC Written Archives, Caversham Park, Reading, R 34/912/1. Quoted by permission.

25 Sunday Pictorial, 6 Sept. 1942, p. 3.

26 New Statesman and Nation, 22 Aug. 1942, p. 121, and 19 Sept. 1942, p. 184.

27 H. C. Debs., 5s, 383: 670, 29 Sept. 1942.

28 Letters to author from MrsNorth, J. C., Ministry of Defence, 29 07 1983Google Scholar, and Dr M.J. Jubb, PRO, 7 June 1982 (on relevant FO papers also destroyed).

29 This account reconstructed from the draft WO paper in PRO, CO 876/14, esp. para. 12.

30 PRO, CAB 66/29, WP (42) 441.

31 PRO, CAB 65/28, WM 140 (42) 4, 13 Oct. 1942; cf. The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 1938–1945, ed. Dilks, David (1971), 483Google Scholar.

32 SirBryant, Arthur, The Turn of the Tide, 1939–1943 (1957), 320Google Scholar.

33 Minute, 12 Sept. 1942, PRO, CO 876/14.

34 Memo of 2 Oct. 1942, PRO, CAB 66/29, wp (42) 442.

35 Memo of 9 Oct. 1942, ibid., WP (42) 455. Back in 1934 Simon's wife had greatly angered the US Ambassador by interrogating him at an official luncheon as to ‘when you southern people are going to stop your hideous, horrible lynching of negroes.’ Bingham, Robert W., diary, 30 10 1934, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, U.S.A.Google Scholar

36 Cadogan, , Diaries, 483Google Scholar.

37 PRO, WM 140 (42) 4.

38 See Keith, min., 24 Oct. 1942, min. by Sir Arthur Dawe (quotation) and letter from Col. Rolleston, 31 Oct. 1942, PRO, CO 876/14.

39 Law, min., 5 Oct. 1942, Eden, notes, PRO, FO 371/30680, A 9731/990/45.

40 PRO, CAB 65/28, WM 143 (42) 3, and CAB 66/30, WP (42) 473.

41 Cf. Prime Minister's papers, PRO, PREM 4, 26/9, f. 864.

42 PRO, WM 143 (42) 3, and Cripps, memo, WP (42) 473. My interpretation differs somewhat from that of McLaine, Ian, Ministry of Morale: Home front morale and the Ministry of Information in World War II (1979), 271–3Google Scholar, who suggests that little was done to guide opinion.

43 C. L. Frankland, memo, 21 Aug. 1942, in Public Record Office, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Cabinet Secretariat files, CAB 9CD/225/19. (Quoted by permission of the Deputy Keeper.)

44 Because of the diminishing number of incidents and the desire to avoid Anglo-American controversy at the time of the North African invasion, by late Oct. 1942 Grigg wanted to postpone issuing the guidance memo until further trouble occurred. It would seem that he was trying to return to the covert and more extreme guidance policy that the WO had been following until drawn out into the open by the Colonial Office. But the Cabinet Office was aware of Grigg's foot-dragging, and Cripps successfully argued that the papers should be issued to avert renewed incidents rather than in the wake of them. (See papers in PRO, CAB 120/727 and CAB 127/62.)

45 See Ruppenthal, Roland G., Logistical support of the armies, vol. I (Washington, 1953) 100, 129Google Scholar; Lee, , Negro troops, 433Google Scholar; statistical summaries in National Archives, Washington, RG 332: ETOUSA, Admin. 424.

46 Sir Harry Haig, memo, 6 Sept. 1943, PRO, FO 371/34126, A 10199/33/45.

47 Grigg to Churchill, 2 Dec. 1943, PRO, PREM 4, 26/9, ff. 804–10.

48 Quotations from Evans, min., 21 July 1941, and Cavendish-Bentinck to Brigadier P. G. Whitefoorde, 11 July 1941, PRO, FO 371/26227, A 8364/538/45.

49 Quotations from Butler, min., 12 Feb. 1944, PRO, FO 371/38623, f. 120 (‘kindness’), and mins. of 24 Nov. 1943, FO 371/34126, ff. 231, 236. Butler's juniors in the North American Dept. disagreed with him about ‘educating’ civilians.

50 Butler to Michael Wright, 14 Mar. 1944, PRO, FO 371/38609, AN 587/159/45.

51 Halifax to Eden, 5 Jan. 1942, Churchill College, Cambridge, Hickleton papers, A4.410.4.15.

52 PRO, CAB 66/29, WP (42) 441, annex.

53 H.C. Debs, 5s, 397: 3–4, 15 Feb. 1944; PRO, FO 371/38623, AN 738/275/45.

54 PRO, CAB 81/48, BC(L) 15 (42) 6, 29 July 1942.

55 QMC 10 (43) 6, 11 June 1943, copy in PRO, FO 371/34117, A 5706/32/45.

56 AAR/M 2 (44) 10, 16 Feb. 1944, PRO, WO 163/222. See also Reynolds, David, ‘GI and Tommy in Wartime Britain: The Army “Inter-Attachment” Scheme of 1943–1944’ Journal of Strategic Studies, 7 (1984), 413Google Scholar.

57 National Archives, Washington, RG 332, ETOUSA, AG, CGC, 291.2, ‘Report of Investigation’ esp. exhibit G; Hq ETO to CG, ETO, 27 Feb. 1944, copy in Library of Congress, Washington, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People papers, II/A, box 587: ‘White's European tour’.

58 All quotations from reports in PRO, FO 371/34126, A 6556/33/45.

59 Police report, Leicester city, 15 Jan. 1944, PRO, FO 371/38624, AN 2089/275/45. ‘“Hard labour” at this time meant that the prisoner performed whatever labour he or she was medically fit to do, and also went without a mattress during the first fourteen days of the sentence’. Smithies, Edward, Crime in wartime: A social history of crime in World War II (1982), 7Google Scholar.

60 It is interesting to note that when US units were moved to Britain again in large numbers during the Korean War, the Foreign Office once more did its best to discourage the sending of black troops. Among the reasons given were the likelihood of ‘numerous black babies’ the danger that discrimination by white GIs against blacks would arouse anti-American feeling among the British public, and the opportunities thereby provided for communist propaganda. PRO, FO 371/90966, esp. AU 1194/20, J. N. O. Curie, min., 7 Nov. 1951.

61 Cf. Lorimer, Douglas A., Colour, class and the Victorians: English attitudes to the negro in the mid-nineteenth century (Leicester, 1978)Google Scholar.

62 Current Affairs, 32 (5 12 1942), 11Google Scholar.

63 George Padmore to Walter White, 29 April 1947 and enclosed memo of 24 April, in NAACP papers, II/A, box 631: ‘US Army-brown babies’; Ebony, 4 (03 1949), p. 22Google Scholar; Life, 23 Aug. 1948, p. 41 (22,000). To give some sense of proportion: about three million US servicemen passed through Britain in the years 1942–5 (cf. TSFET, Transportation Corps, Progress report, 30 Sept. 1945, Table I, in RG 332, ETOUSA, Admin. 452.)

64 E.g. Davis, memo, 24 Dec. 1942, National Archives, Washington, RG 107/47, box 123, ASW 291.2.

65 William Phillips, diary, vol. 28, 28 Aug. and 18 Sept. 1942 (quotation), Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, U.S.A. Cf. The War Diaries of Oliver Harvey, ed. Harvey, John (1978), 21 07 1942, p. 141Google Scholar.

66 Churchill to Law, 16 Feb. 1944, PRO, PREM 4, 27/10, f. 1261.

67 Throughout the war, Colonial Office staff continued to protest against what they called the ‘blimpish’ attitude of other departments on race questions, especially that of the War Office. E.g., A. H. Poynton, min., 17 Mar. 1944, PRO, CO 537/1223.

68 Cf. this comment by a junior FO official on ‘educating’ civilians to shun black GIs: ‘Apart altogether from the ethical aspect, even to attempt to proceed as the Americans suggested would obviously be political dynamite for ourselves in most parts of the Colonial Empire.’ Donnelly, J., min., 16 11 1943Google Scholar, PRO, FO 371/34126, A 10199/33/45.

69 Cf. Wasserstein, Bernard, Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939–1945 (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar; Bethell, Nicholas, The Last Secret (1974)Google Scholar; Hare, J. E. and Joynt, Carey B., Ethics and International Affairs (1982), 80–87Google Scholar.

70 Research for this article was generously supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the British Association for American Studies, the British Academy, the Mellon fund, the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and the US Army Military History Institute. The author is also grateful to Professor J. E. Flint (Dalhousie University) and Dr J. A. Thompson (Cambridge University) for helpful comments on a draft version.