When Jim Crow met John Bull
Black American Soldiers In World War II Britain
by Graham A. SmithThe first black soldiers posted in England during WWII arrived in 1942 amid much controversy. England's ruling class wanted as few blacks as possible. The US, motivated partly by the NAACP and partly by the fact that certain menial positions were mostly occupied by blacks, did not accede to Britain's request. During the war, more than 100.000 black GIs were sent to Great Britain. Despite official attempts to keep these GIs away from whites and in particular white women, fraternization occurred. Brittain had a fairly small black prewar population and most of the Brittish had never met someone who was not white. Therefore they did not have the hostility of the American white towards blacks. The propaganda intended to place hostility in whites towards blacks gave blacks an allure to some people. Hundreds or maybe thousands of babies were born to white Brittish mothers and black GIs.
Largely pedantic, this book skips from topic to topic, time to time, and setting to setting. Although one of my motivations in reading this book was to find out what John Bull was, the phrase was not once mentioned. Statistics are frequently quoted, but their incongruities are not explained.
Happy reading
