I figured I'd better write this column while doing so is still legal , but I don't recommend reading it aloud in a third-grade classroom.There's a piece of legislation sitting in the House Veterans Affairs Committee——that cuts a swath 75 years deep into American history and attempts to undo the sort of wrong we're no longer supposed to talk about in the classroom. Introduced in November by Reps. James Clyburn and Seth Moulton, the bill, called the Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. and Sgt.
The bill is named in honor of two African-American vets of World War II who unintentionally found their way into the historical record because of what was done to them. One of them, Sgt. Joseph Maddox, had been accepted into a master's program at Harvard, but . . . sorry, man. The VA denied him financial assistance to"avoid setting a precedent.", experienced Jim Crow America slightly differently: as a billy club in the eye.
There were other consequences as well, including national outrage and financial support for Woodard and his family. And President Truman, shocked by what had happened, created a presidential commission on civil rights and, in 1948, at the commission's recommendation, signed an executive order to desegregate the U.S. military. But ultimately it was pretty much forgotten. Jim Crow mostly kept getting what he wanted, at least for a few more decades.
Wow