MUSIC HAS A LONG TRADITION WITHIN THE U.S. MILITARY, dating back to the American Revolution- ary War, when unit musicians led troops into battle and helped maintain morale. But during the early days of World War II, music played a different role for some servicemem- bers, helping to open the door to desegrega- tion in the Navy.
These history-making musicians
were the 45 members of the all-black B-1 Band, organized in Greensboro, N.C. They were the first African- Americans to achieve a rank higher than messman in the modern Navy, according to Alex Albright, associate professor of English at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and author of The Forgotten First: B-1 and the Integration of the Modern Navy (R.A. Fountain, 2013).
Changing tides Following World War I, the Navy refused to admit African-Americans into its ranks. It wasn’t until 1937 that this policy was reversed — but even then, the only opportunities open to blacks were menial positions, such as messman. This sprang from the since-
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discredited belief of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox that black men com- manding whites “was a thing which instantly provokes serious trouble.” President Franklin Roosevelt at- tempted to nudge the Navy toward integration in June 1941 by suggesting the placement of “good Negro bands” aboard battleships. The idea failed to gain traction until several months into World War II, when it was de- cided black bands would be placed at preflight schools established at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the University of Georgia; the University of Iowa; and St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. Ultimately, bands initially were placed only at the University of North Carolina and St. Mary’s College, most likely because of the segregationist policies of Georgia
Gov. Eugene Talmadge and the lim- ited number of African-Americans living in Iowa at the time. In January 1942, the Navy sent a
recruiter to A&T College of North Carolina in Greensboro, which boast- ed one of the best black college bands in the nation. Abe Thurman, now 92, was a 20-year-old college student and trumpet player at the time. He recalls: “[The recruiter] said he was there to form a 45-piece Navy band composed mostly of black musicians. He had heard about the A&T band, and he said that since everybody in the band could read music and was well-versed in playing music, that he would like to take [all of us].” According to Thurman, who now
lives in Beaufort, N.C., the recruiter signed up 23 members of the A&T
PHOTOS: ABOVE AND PREVIOUS PAGE, NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION, UNIV. OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL LIBRARY; FACING PAGE, U.S. NAVY PHOTOS, COURTESY OF JAMES B. PARSONS AND ALEX ALBRIGHT
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