USM Professor to Speak at 2024 Annual History Lecture
Wed, 04/17/2024 - 09:32am | By: Gabriela Shinskie
Dr. Douglas Bristol, co-director of the Center for the Study of the Gulf South and associate professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Gulf Park Campus, will give the 2024 Annual History Lecture at Delta State University Tuesday, April 23 at Jobe Hall beginning at 7 p.m. Dr. Bristol鈥檚 presentation, 鈥淲ar As Labor: Mechanization, Mobilization, and the Changing Role of Black GIs in World War II鈥�, is free and open to the public.
In his lecture, Dr. Bristol will examine racial discrimination and segregation among Black men serving in U.S. military in World War II. The role of many Black GI鈥檚 was transformed from performing manual labor to training for service on the battlefield in the second World War when internal combustion engines revolutionized warfare, such as during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
鈥淢y research shows that Black GIs in the Army Service Forces during World War II were not only indispensable to keeping the American war machine running around the globe, but their success performing jobs that had previously been done by white GIs helped convince President Harry Truman to issue Executive Order 9981 desegregating the U.S. armed forces,鈥� explained Dr. Bristol.
鈥淧olitical pressure from civil rights organizations and Black newspapers also influenced top commanders, such as Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall, to modify their views on Black troops.鈥�
Dr. Bristol is a Fellow in USM鈥檚 Dale Center for the Study of War & Society; his research expertise includes African American history. He is the author of Knights of the Razor: Black Barbers in Slavery and Freedom, and Khaki Globe Trotters. Dr. Bristol鈥檚 work is also featured in the PBS documentary 鈥淏oss: The Black Experience in Business.鈥�
about Dr. Douglas Bristol鈥檚 lecture.