Black Women in WAC, Segregated Army Service Including 8th Service Command Insignia, and Segregated Veteran Support, Photo Archive, 1945

African American WAC WAC Women’s Army Corps

Photograph

African American women's military photograph archive, 1945, documenting the admittance of African American women into military service through the Women's Army Corps with racially segregated assignments to units and institutions, reflecting both the expansion of wartime opportunities and the persistence of official segregation in the United States. Notably, three images feature 8th Service Command uniform insignia associated with African American contributions to the Army Service Forces (ASF) in the American South and Southwest during WWII. Operating under Jim Crow laws, the command’s Black service members faced segregated living conditions while performing essential logistical duties vital to the overall Allied war effort.

The photographs By 1945 fewer than ten thousand Black women had served in the WAC, a small fraction of the more than 150,000 women who entered the corps during the war, making photographic documentation of their service comparatively uncommon. The images move between military ceremony, portraiture, and veterans' organizational life, preserving evidence of Black women's participation in institutions from which they had long been excluded, and the pervasive nature of war time segregation into ceremonies and collectives for veterans.

Photo archive of 6 silver gelatin and sepia toned photographs, ranging from approximately 3 x 5 to 8 x 10 inches, United States, circa 1945. The photographs show African American women in U.S. Army uniforms, including a formal portrait of a smiling servicewoman in dress uniform and cap; a snapshot of a uniformed woman posed outside military housing or barracks; and three official large format photographs depicting a military ceremony attended by an audience composed largely of Black women in uniform. One image records a presentation of an award likely for "good conduct" by a male officer to a female service member, while another shows two women shaking hands on a stage before assembled personnel. "8svc-13-45-2287" appears on one of the official photographs, likely indicating military photographic documentation produced in 1945. An additional photograph depicts a woman seated before a banner reading "Ladies Aux. V.F.W. 7597," linking the group to The New Murray Bell VFW Post 7597 and its Ladies Auxiliary, located in Farrell, Pennsylvania, which historically served as an important hub for Black veterans and their families. Named in honor of Murray Bell, a Black soldier from Farrell, the post was established as a segregated space where African American veterans of foreign wars and their spouses could find community, support, and advocacy during an era when mainstream veterans' organizations routinely excluded them.

The archive includes documentation of the closing year of World War II, when African American women served in segregated Women's Army Corps units at training centers, hospitals, administrative installations, and overseas assignments while confronting restrictions that mirrored the broader racial order of the United States. Their service preceded President Truman's Executive Order 9981 of 1948, which formally initiated the desegregation of the armed forces. Photographs of Black women in uniform from this period remain considerably less common than images documenting white WAC personnel. The group records uniforms, rank structure, military ritual, and African American female participation in institutions operating under segregation at the moment the wartime military establishment was beginning to confront demands for racial equality. Scattered fading, and minor curling to smaller prints; several photographs with edge wear and age toning. Overall in good condition.

Item #23582

Price: $3,500.00