From 1941 to 1945, 30,000 African-American infantrymen were stationed at Fort Huachuca near the Mexican border. It was the only 'black post' in the country. Separated from white troops and civilian communities, these infantrymen were forced to accept the rules and discipline that the US Army, convinced of their racial inferiority, wanted to impose on them. Mistrustful of black soldiers, the Army feared mutiny and organized a harsh segregation that included strict confinement, control of the infantrymen during training and leisure, and the physical separation of white and black officers to diffuse any suggestion that equality of rank translated into social equality. In this book, available for the first time in English, Pauline Peretz uncovers America's tortuous relationship with its black soldiers against the backdrop of a war fought in the name of democracy.

‘A Black Army is a rewarding read. Focusing on Fort Huachuca, the largest Black training camp in US history, Peretz offers a deeply-researched, absorbing account of African American soldiers' day-to-day lives in America's World War II Army.'

Tom Guglielmo - George Washington University

‘Recent years have treated historians to an ever richer and deeper treatment of the history of race, segregation and World War II. Where other scholars have offered sweeping narratives, Pauline Peretz zooms in on the little-told history of the all-Black US Army post in the open borderlands of southern Arizona – Fort Huachuca. There she finds a gem – a revelatory micro history of segregation during the war. Sensitive to every detail of the on-the-ground and day-to-day experiences of the men and women posted there – all from different regions and backgrounds – Peretz offers new insights into both the unexpected possibilities and harsh limitations that the war created for African American troops.'

Jennifer Mittelstadt - Rutgers University