Were blacks confined to quarters at Camp White during WWII?

[PonderThis]

A forum poster has stated that during WWII at local Camp White black soldiers were confined to quarters while German prisoners of war were allowed into town. I promised to reveal whatever my research found.

So far, all I'd found was someone saying they pulled the shades on train cars with black soldiers. And, a newspaper story saying local people let blacks use their swimming pools (inferring they weren't welcome at public pools perhaps?). But while tantalizing, neither seemed definitive. This was during a period of alleged "sundown" laws as well.

So I sent an email off to local historian (Ben Truwe) and asked him:

"On a local forum, someone says that during WWII at Camp White, that the black soldiers were confined to barracks, while German POW's were escorted into town.

Can you shed any light on whether these statements could possibly be true, mostly true, sometimes true, or outright lies?

Thank you very much in advance if you can refer me to any references on this."

I got his response today. Here's what he says:



"Nonsense. There was a blacks-only USO in Medford, for one thing, and
before that was opened the society ladies welcomed them into their homes.

There's a lot of mythology around racism and Medford. Yeah, Medford was
racist, but not an iota more than the rest of the country.

I've filed a ton about the USO and race in the vertical files at the
SOHS library.

I haven't done a lot of work on Camp White history otherwise, but I've
never heard any stories about POWs visiting Medford. Could have
happened, I suppose.

Ben"


I've got another email off to a Camp White history site, and I haven't heard back from them. But unless someone can show me some pretty good evidence otherwise, so far at least I'm going to have to rate this one as an untrue statement.

[Wonky]

A forum poster has stated that during WWII at local Camp White black soldiers were confined to quarters while German prisoners of war were allowed into town. I promised to reveal whatever my research found.

So far, all I'd found was someone saying they pulled the shades on train cars with black soldiers. And, a newspaper story saying local people let blacks use their swimming pools (inferring they weren't welcome at public pools perhaps?). But while tantalizing, neither seemed definitive. This was during a period of alleged "sundown" laws as well.

So I sent an email off to local historian (Ben Truwe) and asked him:

"On a local forum, someone says that during WWII at Camp White, that the black soldiers were confined to barracks, while German POW's were escorted into town.

Can you shed any light on whether these statements could possibly be true, mostly true, sometimes true, or outright lies?

Thank you very much in advance if you can refer me to any references on this."

I got his response today. Here's what he says:



"Nonsense. There was a blacks-only USO in Medford, for one thing, and
before that was opened the society ladies welcomed them into their homes.

There's a lot of mythology around racism and Medford. Yeah, Medford was
racist, but not an iota more than the rest of the country.

I've filed a ton about the USO and race in the vertical files at the
SOHS library.

I haven't done a lot of work on Camp White history otherwise, but I've
never heard any stories about POWs visiting Medford. Could have
happened, I suppose.

Ben"


I've got another email off to a Camp White history site, and I haven't heard back from them. But unless someone can show me some pretty good evidence otherwise, so far at least I'm going to have to rate this one as an untrue statement.

The sins of the past are serious, especially if we don't make a honest attempt to learn from them.
Reviewing these painful memories from time to time should help guide us toward a more reasonable attitude and standards now.

More than than, I wonder about the value of dragging this into the spotlight to be rehashed once again. We understand we can't solve past actions, and at some point we might be better served to take note of it, and move on. Notice I said "might".

But, that's a personal opinion and I admit to not have given it a whole lot of thought. Do as you will Ponder, and hope for something that makes a difference now, based on the history you are trying to put front and center again.

Can't hurt.

[illcommandante]

My step-grandfather was the steam-fitter who put Camp White's system, when it was being built, and stayed through the war to manage it, while my grandmother ran the Stage Coach Inn. She was pleased and proud that Blacks were insulted by confinement. He was not. She was Klan, and he was a Wobbly. I attended Jack Reed Club meetings with him. Where they wondered why our local high and mighty weren't hung for supporting Hitler. Materially.

[illcommandante]

The Historical Society is down to two employees (From ninety some). So, we were making history for a while. But now, we'll just have to do with the history we had.