Promises of Citizenship: Film Recruitment of African Americans in World War II by Kathleen M. German (review)

After American losses following the Ardennes offensive in 1944, US government and military leaders realized that victory could not be achieved without greater involvement of African Americans. The Negro Soldier (1944), along with several other government-sponsored films, addressed the attitudinal and social barriers to African American enlistment. These positive onscreen representations of African Americans fractured the long tradition of degrading minstrel images by transforming black men into competent soldiers, providing the foundation for the evolution of racial attitudes and behaviors that eventually culminated in expanded civil rights. Drawing upon original sources and extensive previous scholarship, this book argues that these films marked a historical shift in racial identities. The role of African Americans was renegotiated onscreen to support immediate military victory with unforeseen consequences on social justice in ensuing decades.

original advertisement for The Negro Soldier (1944).