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Alan Osur, Robert F. Jefferson. Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America. (War/Society/Culture.) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2008. Pp. xv, 321. $55.00, The American Historical Review, Volume 115, Issue 3, June 2010, Page 858, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.115.3.858
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The history of African Americans in the U.S. military is a large and dynamic topic that fortunately has been matched by an extensive literature. Robert F. Jefferson's book tells the story of the members of the segregated 93rd Infantry Division during World War II. Jefferson conducted many interviews with division personnel and performed extensive research in War Department and other public and private records to document the racial discrimination that challenged African Americans during the war. All military personnel have faced difficulties when they entered the army, but black soldiers had the added burden of the racism of a Jim Crow society. Also, as the text illustrates, racial discrimination in housing and recreation facilities was as onerous in Arizona as it was in any southern state.
Jefferson effectively presents his material and analysis. He includes a comprehensive essay on sources, although a traditional bibliography would be more useful. He discusses the division's training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and its operations in the Pacific and analyzes the impact of racism on individual soldiers. The stories told by division personnel allow Jefferson to convey the human side of their experiences, and these are well integrated into the narrative. However, the author makes no attempt to present a comprehensive military history of the 93rd. This is not his objective, although his approach can create some confusion in following the operational progress of the division and the 368th, 369th, and 25th Infantry Regiments, even with the maps that are provided. Readers do not get the full sense of the division's organization and its deployment in the South Pacific.
