Howard P. Perry: First African-American to Enlist in the USMC

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Howard P. Perry: First African-American to Enlist in the USMC

 

By: Callie OettingerDate:June1 , 2011

 

Howard P. Perry was the first African-American to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, after the Corps changed its 100-plus years policy, June 1, 1942.

 

From the Quantico Sentry:

 

Prior to 1942, the Marine Corps did not recruit African Americans, American Indians or other minorities.

That changed when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s creation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1941 ordered the Corps, to begin recruiting African American Marines.

The Corps’ first black recruits would continue to receive segregated training until 1949.

Upon completion of basic training, African American Marines were put into all-black units and were not even allowed to step foot on their neighboring base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. unless accompanied by a white Marine.

With the demise of ‘‘separate but equal” in 1949, the military took the forefront of the cultural revolution and started training all men and women, regardless

http://www.commandposts.com/2011/06/howard-p-perry-first-african-american-to-enlist-in-the-usmc/