More than a million Black Americans fought for the country in World War II, only to be segregated while in the service and denied civil rights when they returned home.
There's a reason the movement for civil rights gained so much momentum in the postwar years. We tell ourselves a heroic story of The Greatest Generation and its victory, but tend to leave out the Black people who made the victory possible.
That's where Matthew Delmont focuses in his book Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.
The author chats about shedding some light on a darker corner of our history.