Racial Integration in the Armed Forces

The transformation of the armed forces from a toally segregated to a fully integrated institution is an impressive achievement in directed social change. Yet within the military establishment there is cross-service variation in the distribution of Negro personnel. Concomitanth with desegregation have come morefavorable attitudes by white soldiers toward integration, improved performance of Negroes, and careers at enlisted levels becoming avenues of Negro mobility. Contrasting with on-duty integration, however, racial separatism is the general rule off-duty in both United States and foreign assignments. Differences in combat between whites and Negroes appear to have been eliminated by military integration. Finally, aspects of the armed forces' experience offer clues as to what one might expect in a racially integrated America.