Foreword by Ashley Bryan – Also available in paperback
World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Tanya Lee Stone examines the little-known history of the Triple Nickles, America’s first Black paratroopers, who fought in an attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of First Sergeant Walter Morris, “proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability.” Learn how these men paved the way for other Black soldiers in the Army, and integrated the Army 6 months before Truman’s Executive Order.
Stone did extensive original research and put the pieces of this story together for the first time in full historical context for readers of any age. A labor of love that took nearly 10 years, this story is finally able to be told, complete with more than 100 photographs. Theirs is an extraordinary story.
