[TWENTY-FOUR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 364th ENGINEER GENERAL SERVICE UNIT WORKING ON INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN THE SOUTH DURING WORLD WAR II].

[African-American Photographica]: [World War II Photographica]:

Edité par [Various places in Arkansas and Tennessee. ca. May 1943].

A propos de cet article

A collection of official and unofficial photographs of the African-American 364th Engineer General Service Regiment, at work on the home front in World War II constructing levees, purifying drinking water, and guarding against historic floods on the White River. After training at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, the 364th was deployed to Arkansas to protect peoples' homes and the all-important cotton crop from severe flooding caused by a series of tornadoes in the state. The larger part of the photographs here appear to be official documentation of their activities, each with an ink stamp reading "Not For Public Release" on the verso, although some were undoubtedly meant for the press. Indeed, the Army did much to tout the Engineers' efforts on the home front. In the May 23, 1943, issue of The Tennessean, the paper reported a dispatch "written especially for the United Press," which proudly stated, under the headline "Army Flood Work Regarded Among Top Home Victories," that "the largest flood to hit these flat-lands of Arkansas since 1927 was being checked today by troops. Army engineers have become flood fighters. Their work has allowed practically all of these low-land residents to remain in their homes. Furthermore, the fight which the six engineer outfits have been putting up against the overflowing White River has saved several thousand acres of precious cotton." The photographs collected here document that important (and laborious) work. The men of the 364th are shown at camp and mess, at work filling and hauling sandbags, purifying drinking water, marching between sites, building levees, and traveling upriver in assault boats. Each of the official photographs has a typed caption and date, describing the location and activities depicted. The slightly smaller photos, likely copy prints, depict more vernacular scenes and show the men at work in large vehicles and construction equipment, digging roads, and building bridges. Most of the photographs are from Peach Orchard Bluff and Sand Hill, roughly halfway between Little Rock and Memphis, though a handful depict other worksites such as an aerial view of the regiment at work on the Mississippi River in Tennemo, Tennessee. The presence of one photo mount with handwritten caption, a handwritten annotation on the front of another image, and remnants of mounts on the verso of a handful of others suggest that some or all of these photographs may have once been part of an album compiled by one of the soldiers. The annotated photo depicts three African-American soldiers working on a machine which purifies drinking water, and labels the men "Ratliff," "Ray McMillian," and "Harry Gordon." The other, more revealing captioned photo is mounted to a black photo album leaf with corner mounts, and depicts three White officers of the engineering regiments. The only photograph in the entire group that depicts a White person, the official caption on the back reads: "WHITE RIVER. Discussing plans for fighting the flood on the White River are; left to right, Col. Roy M. McCutchen, Col. Jarvis J. Bain, District Engineer, and Col. R.H. Nicholson of the 359th Engineer General Service Regiment." The serviceman's handwritten caption below, however, tells a more interesting story: "Confab of 'The Big Three from Tennessee': Results Arkansas furnishes the Sand. Government furnishes the Bags. U.S. Army furnishes the 'Darkies.' 'We Build A Levee.'" While relations between locals and the 364th were generally cordial, there was at least one instance of racially motivated violence against the soldiers recorded during their time in Arkansas. On May 20, a group of men from the 364th were on leave in the nearby town of Cotton Plant, dutifully remaining in the "colored section" of town, when the visibly intoxicated constable approached them and demanded that they "move along," drawing his gun on them when they refused. The soldiers responded immediately to this threat, and Constable James Jordan was wounded by a.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: [TWENTY-FOUR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 364th ENGINEER GENERAL SERVICE UNIT WORKING ON INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN THE SOUTH DURING WORLD WAR II].
• Éditeur: [Various places in Arkansas and Tennessee. ca. May 1943].