This is Fresh Air.

I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross.

When you see movies about World War II and photos of Allied campaigns against the Axis

Powers, the American military personnel depicted are almost entirely white.

But more than a million black men and women served in World War II, finding it in Normandy,

Iwojima and the Battle of the Bulge, and serving in support roles that were critical to the

Allies' success.

Our guest historian, Matthew F. Delmont, has a new book about the African American

experience in World War II, and it isn't limited to their contributions to the war

effort.

Delmont describes the discrimination black Americans faced in the military and in civilian defense

industries, and the brutality many black servicemen suffered when stationed near white communities

that resented their presence.

Delmont writes that African Americans didn't receive many of the benefits Congress bestowed

on service members in the GI Bill, but many were energized and enlightened by their

experiences in the war and later became active in the civil rights movement.

Matthew Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth

College.

He's the author of four previous books, and has written for the New York Times, the Atlantic

and other publications.

His new book is Half American, the epic story of African Americans fighting World War II

at home and abroad.

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