Turner Catledge …150

Alexander J. Allen …159

Mine Okubo …166

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Americans who had lived through the experience of World War II (1939–45) still recalled the overwhelming unity and patriotism exhibited on the home front. After the Japanese attacked the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor, almost all Americans fully supported the fight against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Yet for some, this home front spirit was flawed with contradictions, even hypocrisy: The United States joined the war to protect freedom and democracy overseas, but freedoms on the home front were severely limited for people of color. Black Americans, who made up 10 percent of the U.S. population, faced strong racial prejudice and discrimination in almost every part of daily life. This discrimination had been present in the United States for eighty years, since the end of slavery...