Historian Matthew Delmont’s book, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, chronicles the lives of African Americans who fought in the war and the fight against racism in the United States. Award-winning author Clint Smith notes,
Delmont’s book is filled with compelling narratives that outline with nuance, rigor, and complexity how Black Americans fought for this country abroad while simultaneously fighting for their rights here in the United States. Half American belongs firmly within the canon of indispensable World War II books.
Thanks to a generous donation by the author and Dartmouth College, the Zinn Education Project offered 4,000 hardback copies of Delmont’s book to public school teachers, school librarians, and teacher educators, who shared a plan for using the text.
Delmont offered 10,000 copies of the new paperback edition, to be released in January.
The book includes stories that can be woven into the curriculum of key people and events, such as: Thurgood Marshall, the chief lawyer for the NAACP, who investigated and publicized violence against Black troops and veterans; Ella Baker, the civil rights leader who advocated on the home front for Black soldiers, veterans, and their families; James Thompson, the 26-year-old whose letter to a newspaper laying bare the hypocrisy of fighting against fascism abroad when racism still reigned at home set in motion the Double Victory campaign; and poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a war correspondent for the Black press.
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 five books. In addition to Half American, there are: Black Quotidian, Why Busing Failed, Making Roots, and The Nicest Kids in Town.
Book Request
Public school teachers, school librarians, and teacher educators were invited to complete a request form. As of now, all the books have been claimed. The offer is no longer available.
Learn More
Listen to an interview with historian Matt Delmont in conversation with ZEP team member Jesse Hagopian in our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online class.
Thank you so much for all that you do to bring this important history to our classrooms. We operate a summer literacy program and your resources have been invaluable in bringing history alive for our instructors and students. We reside in northern California less than 50 miles from Port Chicago, but almost none of our instructors knew about the Port Chicago story until we learned about it through this site. What you are doing is so important!
This is a great opportunity for students to learn real life stories of African Americans in WWII.
What a wonderful source of educational content and learning opportunities for educators and students.
Thank you for offering this. I am our school’s History Club advisor, and this year our club is focusing on Black history. These resources will be very helpful.