THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT AND THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

On November 4, 2008 an elderly man stood in line and waited for his turn to walk forward, ninety-two-year-old Samuel Powell stood under an umbrella as a light rain fell; the temperature was barely in the fifties.

Once he was inside a voice asked, “Name please.”

“Samuel Powell,” he replied.

“Do you need help with your ballot?” the voice asked.

“No,” Samuel replied.

He picked up his ballot and walked (without a cane) toward a booth. Once inside the booth he began to scan the names on the ballot – school board member, county commissioner, senator, governor. He saw the choices for president – Barack Hussein Obama or John McCain. Samuel could take pride in knowing that he had made it possible for Barack Obama’s name to be on the ballot – not as a third party candidate – but as a candidate from one of the major parties.

Samuel still remembers the sounds of Japanese fighter planes descending on his cruiser USS Helena. He also remembers the sound of the frantic voice over his ship’s 1MCs (intercom systems) shouting, "General Quarters, general quarters. This is not a drill, this is not a drill, all hands man your battle stations!" It was December 7, 1941 and the 22-year-old African American farm boy from Eastern North Carolina, Steward First Class Samuel Powell was a crewmember on Helena and he and his shipmates had to respond to the “general quarters.” They were in Pearl Harbor Hawaii and they were under attack. On that day Samuel’s past shaped Obama’s destiny and became Barack Obama’s future.

In 1941 America was thrust into a war against Nazism, Imperialism and Fascism but for the 1.2 million black Americans such as Samuel there was a greater battle they had to fight – first for the right to fight as they were not welcomed or wanted – and as Americans against the Axis powers that threatened their country.

African American military members who were invisible (unseen, ignored and unnoticed) warriors worked in kitchens, cooked meals for fellow service members, became stevedores and loaded and unloaded ships, or became truck drivers or grave diggers – a few became fighter pilots, at least one Army unit helped liberate a concentration camp, and many other African Americans demonstrated extraordinary courage against the enemy.

Black service members, including my much older brother Samuel, proved they were Americans first even though they did not enjoy the freedoms they were defending. In 1941 African Americans would not have been able to vote in most southern states – yet the greatest black generation’s service to America paved the way for Barack Obama to become president.

I am a baby boomer and my generation which includes President Barack Obama, stands on the shoulders of Samuel, and the rest of the invisible warriors from World War II. My brother is very humble about his role in making it possible for a black man to become president. I constantly thank him and other World War II veterans I meet for their service. Who Samuel voted for is his business – What is important is that the men and women of his generation who were born before the 1965 voting rights act was passed helped make it possible for an African American to become the leader of the free nation – the archaic ideas and beliefs about race are being swept away thanks to them.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

NAVY NAMES SHIP FOR CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST MEDGAR EVERS

My beloved navy is naming a supply ship after a slain civil rights leader. This civil rights leader, Medgar Evers (1925-1963) was also one of the 1.2 million African Americans who served during World War II. I stand on his shoulders. His stint in the army made a difference for my generation. And now a navy supply ship will bear his name.Navy Names Ship After Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers
Shared via AddThis

During the course of my research for my book I learned that many historians attribute the success of the civil rights movement to the African American men and women such as Edgars who returned home after serving during World War II and invigorated the civil rights movement. These black veterans had risked their lives for their country and thus believed they had earned the right to equal treatment and full citizenship.

Army veteran Medgar Edgars, who fought in both France and Germany during World War II before receiving an honorable discharge in 1946, was among that group. When he came home he did what many newly discharged veterans did – he went to college, met the girl of his dreams, got married and tried to achieve the American dream. However, Evers faced unbelievable odds toward achieving that dream – racism and discrimination. Evers began working in 1952 for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Evers organized nonviolent protests, voter registration drives and boycotts in his home state.

Sadly, on June 12, 1963, the 37-year-old Mississippi native was assassinated in the driveway of his home. The war veteran was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. His death prompted President John F. Kennedy to ask the Congress for a comprehensive civil rights bill. Since his death there have been many honors to this invisible warrior including naming a college after him and now a ship.

My generation stands on the shoulders of men like Medgar Evers and we owe them a debt of gratitude that perhaps we can never repay. Naming a ship for one of those invisible warriors is the least that we can do. I am so pleased to see that Evers is receiving this honor. It will be two years before USNS Medgar Evers is ready to sail but when she does sets sail the men and women who sail on that ship will be sailing on a ship named for an American hero.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

OFF TO WAR: 1.2 MILLION STRONG: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR II

"The man in uniform must grit his teeth, square his shoulders,
and do his best as a soldier, confident that there are millions of Americans outside the armed forces and more persons than he knows in high places within the military establishment, who will never cease fighting to remove all social barriers and every humiliating practice, which now confronts him. But only by being at all times, a first rate soldier can the man in uniform help in this battle which shall be fought and won."
Judge William H. Hasties, Dean of (HBCU) Howard University Law School, 1943

1942 – As the fighting progressed thousands of young men and eventually young women too, traded their civilian clothes for military uniforms. Some joined, but most men were drafted. After considerable pressure, draft boards began including black men, most in their early twenties in the World War II draft. Anxiously they waited for the notice, some hoping it would not come. It was a coin toss every time the postman came. When a young man received a letter with the salutation "Greetings from the President", he knew he had lost the coin toss and off to the induction station he went. There he had a choice between the Navy, Army, Coast Guard and eventually even the Marine Corps as a Montford Point Marine. Once the new inductee arrived at his training camp, he got a haircut, shots against exotic diseases and uniforms. Now he had to learn how to be a GI.

The wait for a draft notice was often unbearable. In a small farming community in Eastern North Carolina, it took so long for the draft notice to arrive that my uncle, Foster Brown, Sr. assumed he would not be called thus on a rainy Sunday evening, Uncle Foster and his future bride stood on a bridge between Halifax County and Warren County and said their vows. The couple had bought their marriage license in one county but wanted to get married in another county. The minister did not believe the marriage would be legal unless they stood on the county line. With his mother, Eva Brown, and my grandmother, Nora Alston, as witnesses my grandfather, Colonel Tee Alston, Sr. shined his headlights so the preacher could see his Bible, Uncle Foster married my mother's older sister, Alice. Unbeknownst to Uncle Foster he was not off the hook, as he soon received his "Greetings from the President" letter and on May 27, 1942 off to army boot camp Uncle Foster went. From basic training my uncle headed to Italy where he drove supply trucks. Alice waited patiently at home for her husband to come back safely.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED