Freedom to Serve: Truman, Civil Rights, and Executive Order 9981

On the eve of America’s entry into World War II, African American leaders pushed for inclusion in the war effort and, after the war, they mounted a concerted effort to integrate the armed services. Harry S. Truman’s decision to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, which resulted in the integration of the armed forces, was an important event in twentieth century American history.

In Freedom to Serve, Jon E. Taylor gives an account of the presidential order as an event which forever changed th...