1942 1944 Second Anniversary Program (1 results)
More imagesPublished by [Waynesville, Missouri] 1944
Seller: Caroliniana, Aiken, U.S.A.Caroliniana
Contact seller5-star sellerStapled booklet measuring 8.5 x 5.5", [12] pp including printed covers. A scarce program for a World War II era anniversary ceremony held at an African American USO club at the segregated Fort Leonard Wood in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. While the central two pages print a program of events to celebrate the second anniversar…y of Fort Road USO Club, the rest of the program functions as a sort of guide to African American USO clubs in Missouri and elsewhere. Thus, the program prints brief histories of five different African American USO clubs (noting the contributions of the author, "your humble servant" William B. Walker), including Fort Road and two others in the Fort Leonard Wood area, as well as a club in Kansas and a club in Michigan. In addition, the program contains a directory of USO staff for the Fort Leonard Wood Area, and a list of African American USO Hostess Groups in the surrounding area who volunteered to host and entertain Black troops. A rare document of African American military life at a fort where, according to one soldier, "segregation was so complete you were hardly aware that it existed" (Motley, "The Invisible Soldier," 251). In very good condition with creasing and a hint of staining.
