An Army Project in the Duty-Time General Education of Negro Troops in Europe, 1947-51

Abstract

Until rather recent years the United States Army looked upon the utilization of Negro troops as a special problem, aggravated by their low educational levels, low scores in the Army General Classification Test (AGCT) of selected aptitudes and abilities, and a high rate of disciplinary cases. Under the approved policy of racial segregation, the problem was accentuated by the organization of Negro troops into all-Negro units fed through an all-Negro replacement and assignment stream. In Europe it was further intensified, during the early days of the occupation of Germany, by the fact that large numbers of Negro troops sometimes remained in replacement depots, unassigned, for long periods.