Are there any other good films about Black servicemen/women in WW2?

In addition to The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), the following all contain stories of outstanding service by African-Americans in WW II, although some titles may be a bit misleading. These are pretty hard to track down in a search, and I'm sure I've left some out.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mason_%28DE-529%29 for background on the first two.

Proud (2007) - The true story of one of only two U.S. Navy ships that saw combat in World War II with African-American crews.

Proudly We Served (1995) - PBS documentary - interweaves the personal stories of individual crewmembers of USS Mason with archival footage of the ship and crew produced by the Navy and discovered during research for the book.

A Soldier's Story (1984) - An African American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II. I'm listing this here even under my assumption that it is not a factual story, because it is superbly done, authentic to the period, authentic to humanity, deeply insightful, moving, and genuine. Adolph Caesar's gives one of the top-notch performances in the history of cinema, and he is backed up to the hilt by the other actors.

Mutiny (1999) - Fact-based story about 300 predominantly black sailors who were killed on July 17, 1944 while loading munitions on a ship in San Francisco. Three weeks later, 50 survivors were court-martialed for refusing to load another shipment.

Inside Buffalo (2010) - The historic account of the 92nd Infantry Division, the African American segregated combat unit who fought in World War Two.

There is also a one-hour PBS documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen and a new one-hour documentary by George Lucas:

Thursday 05 January 2012

This special event - The Tuskeqee Airmen of World War II: a personal memoir by two of the first African-American military pilots (http://americas.sas.ac.uk/news/news-sinqle-item.html7tx ttnewsftt newsl =341&tx ttnewsfbackPid1=272&cHash=17b10eOce28527586c3366e50bf9eaeO) - is hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Americas (http://americas.sas.ac.ukJi in collaboration with the US Embassy in London.

Attendees will be able to watch the 60 minute Lucasfilm documentary Double Victory detailing the story of how the Tuskegee Airmen, the first-ever group of AfricanTAmerican aviators in the United States, fought fascism in Europe while fighting racism non-violently at home.

After the showing, there will be a rare opportunity to speak with two Tuskegee Airmen, Le Roy Gillead and Alexander Jefferson, and to hear about how America has changed in the years since they made history. Jefferson is the author of the book Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free, his memoirs of his time as an airman and ROW after he was shot down over France during WWII.

Double Victory is a Lucasfilm documentary which has not yet been released in the UK. It is narrated by Cuba Gooding, Jr., and features interviews with living Tuskegee Airmen interspersed with wartime footage. It was created by Lucasfilm to be paired with the upcoming Hollywood debut of the Lucasfilm action movie Red Tails, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., which is released in 2012.

This event is part of the US Embassy's January celebration of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. It will be held at the Institute for the Study of the Americas in Senate House on Tuesday 10 January 2012, 17:30-19:30.

***

On January 10th the Institute for the Study of the Americas hosted a screening of the documentary, 'Double Victory', an account of the Tuskegee Airmen and their exploits in World War Two. These pilots of the 332nd Figther Group and 477th Bomber Group of the U. S. Army Air Corps were the first African American aviators of the U.S. Armed Forces but they faced a struggle against institutionalised racism in order to fly, fight and be treated as equals during and after the war.

'Double Victory' is a documentary account of this struggle, narrated by Cuba Gooding Jr. and produced to be viewed alongside the film 'Red Tails' (both productions are Lucas Film projects). The high point of the evening, however, was the attendence of two Tuskegee Airmen, Le Roy Gillead and Alexander Jefferson. Gillead and Jefferson's recollections added a great deal to the evening, with Jefferson talking about the struggle for African American men to be allowed to fly and his experiences as a German POW and Gillead highlighting the struggle for equality undertaken by officers who did not see front line service.

Both men also talked about their pride at being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, along with roughly 300 other Tuskegee Airmen. During the award ceremony, President George W. Bush paid tribute to the airmen, saying, "The Tuskegee Airmen helped win a war, and you helped change our nation for the better. Yours is the story of the human spirit, and it ends like all great stories do – with wisdom and lessons and hope for tomorrow." A copy of the act bestowing the medals can be found here and Library holds a number of resources relating to the Tuskegee Airmen, their forces service and the relationship their actions had to the subsequent Civil Rights Movement.

The Library's collection of American newspapers contain a number of insights, with articles such as the Chicago Defender's, '332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without a Loss' and many accounts of how the Freedman Field Mutiny and other incidents regarding racial equality were reported. There are also published service accounts, Alexander Jefferson's, 'Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free' (shelfmark: YC.2005.a.5960) is a good example, and various journal articles on the exploits and legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen in Europe and the US.

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/americas/official-publications/

Sh-it's a secret!

Red Ball Express
"Allied HQ establishes an elite military truck route. One (racially integrated) platoon of this Red Ball Express"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045072/

"The Red Ball Express was organized in August 1944 to move supplies 24 hours a day to the front. Three out of four drivers were African American"
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_african_american.htm

Saints & Soldiers: The Void

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270114/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Much better than it's rating indicates