"No Experiment… at This Critical Time"? Racial Integration at Fort Huachuca's All-Black Hospital During World War II

Abstract

Abstract:From the moment the US Congress adopted the draft in September 1940, the Army refused to give in to demands of racial integration expressed by Black activist organizations and the African-American press. The General Staff kept repeating that the war was not an appropriate time to try an « experiment » in racial integration, and that the country was not ready for it. In order to respect the 10% quota for African-Americans that President Roosevelt had agreed on, the Army extended the Southern regime of race relations to all its posts, and created all-black units, including two all-black divisions that were trained in the Arizona desert at Fort Huachuca. Paradoxically, this all-black post (one of only two in the country) was the site of an experiment in integration. It took place in what was designed to be a deluxe all-black hospital, under the leadership of medical officers coming from civilian practice and the North Eastern part of the country. A few other experiments in racial integration happened in the army during the war, but mostly abroad and at the end of the conflict. Fort Huachuca's racial regime was therefore unique. This article examines the conditions that made this experiment possible in the medical sphere, thus connecting the fields of race and medicine, and attempts to evaluate the effect it had on the post-war army and medical practice.