African American World War II Photo Album of Charles Turner, Serving in Segregated Navy Troops ca. 1940s

U S. Navy

Photograph

[African American Military][WWII] Black soldier's World War II photograph album, ca. 1940s, documenting the service of Charles Turner, who trained at Camp S-101, Pennsylvania, and deployed with an all-Black Navy unit in the Pacific Theater. Created during the era of segregated armed forces, the album captures the lived experience of Black military personnel serving in Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and at least one image from Bougainville during the Allied Pacific campaigns from 1943 through 1945. The photographs document Turner and his fellow servicemen within the broader history of African American participation in World War II, when over one million Black men and women served in segregated units while confronting racial discrimination at home and abroad. Images of troop landings, encampments, and base infrastructure, including a sign dedicating “Marine Drive” to the “Fighting Marines” built by the 53rd Navy Combat Battalion, 1st Marine Amphibious Corps, place the album within the operational geography of the South Pacific campaigns. The inclusion of photographs depicting Japanese soldiers, Allied convoys, and the aftermath of combat underscores the immediacy of frontline and occupation experiences, while the presence of tightly composed group portraits, many captioned with the names of fellow servicemen, reveals networks of camaraderie within segregated Black units.

Disbound photo album with stiff leatherette boards separated. 113 black-and-white silver gelatin photographs mounted across 28 album pages, accompanied by approximately 30 loose photographs. Images vary in size and include formal and informal group portraits, scenes of military landings and equipment, base life, interactions with Melanesian and Polynesian civilians, and photographs of Japanese soldiers and civilians in occupied settings. Approximately one-third of the images document life in the United States, including photographs of African American friends, fellow servicemen, and family members, providing visual evidence of Black community life during the 1940s. A later letter from an individual identified as Delores, expressing familial concern and referencing the inclusion of “Kennedy halves” to assist with food purchases, accompanies the album, extending its temporal scope into the postwar period and reflecting the economic and emotional networks sustaining veterans and their families.

Album pages chipped and worn, with boards detached; mounting surfaces fragile. Photographs generally sharp with strong contrast; minor edge wear and light handling evident on some prints. Loose photographs well preserved. Overall condition good, with photographic contents very good. As a cohesive visual record of African American military labor in the Pacific Theater alongside documentation of Black civilian life during and after the war, the album offers substantial research value for the study of segregated service, wartime racial dynamics, and mid-twentieth-century African American community history.

Item #18954

Price: $1,850.00