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This is a free in-person event, and seating is first come, first served.
Over one million Black men and women served in World War II. Without their crucial contributions to the war effort, the United States could not have won the war. And yet the stories of these Black veterans have long been ignored, cast aside in favor of the myth of the “Good War” fought by the “Greatest Generation.” Half American is American history as you’ve likely never read it before. Their bravery and patriotism in the face of unfathomable racism is both inspiring and galvanizing. In a time when the questions World War II raised regarding race and democracy in America remain troublingly relevant and still unanswered, this meticulously researched retelling makes for urgently necessary reading.
Matthew Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. A Guggenheim Fellow and expert on African American history and the history of civil rights, he is the author of four books: Black Quotidian, Why Busing Failed, Making Roots, and The Nicest Kids in Town. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, NPR, and several academic journals. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Delmont earned his B.A from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University.
Delmont will be in conversation with Thomas A. Guglielmo. Guglielmo is Associate Professor of American Studies at George Washington University. His most recent book is Divisions: A New History of Racism and Resistance in America's World War II Military (Oxford, 2021). It won the Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award and has been shortlisted for the Gilder-Lehrman Prize for Military History and the Museum of African American History Stone Book Award.
