African Americans and the Ledo-Stilwell Road

About Me 

          I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA.  I was surrounded by a loving family and extended family who, upon reflection, protected me from any memories of Segregation. No one at my house or in my "colored" circle EVER talked about white people to me.  I knew that some of my white teachers--I didn't have a black teacher until high school--didn't seem to be fair:  a C for memorizing all of "Evangeline" or moving my seat after I answered, upon being asked, that I liked it just fine or being slapped on the back for no apparent reason.  But, my mother --upon the report of the injustice--moved me to another school, and I didn't have to deal with that problem again.  However, that did mean that I went to over six (6) elementary schools. But it was never attributed to race, so I just never made the connection until it was too late to be damaging.

          We lived in an integrated neighborhood in Pittsburgh, but I was not allowed in our Italian neighbor's house. Period.  My mother forbade it.  So, I was always thankful that the Italian family never invited me in, and I didn't have to find an excuse to not go.  My Mother!  Wow.  ( I found myself doing the same with my boys in Richmond,VA.  It still worked.)

I was at Howard before I connected the dots.  When I asked my parents why we had never discussed race issues, they said they had hoped "it would be different for me."  

My Research

 All of my graduate research is based on issues related to Jim Crow.  My MA looks at how the definition of race changed over time and how that is reflected in America's Law and in America's fiction.

My dissertation looks at how America's fiction is a conversation between those who are advocates of Jim Crow and those who argue against it:  The Literature of Jim Crow:  Call and Response. 

African Americans 

and the Ledo Stilwell Road

It seems clear now that all of the earlier work  prepared me to research the Ledo Road particulars.  Because the campaign was not common knowledge, I needed primary documents, including photos, and I needed oral histories  to capture the stories of those who served.  Their stories would join Ms Lesesne's to present the whole picture.

This project attempts that.