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"BRATS: Our Journey Home" - Race on a Military Base: The Experience

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In 1948, President Truman issued an Executive Order integrating the United States Armed Forces, when Congress refused to do it. There was strong opposition and it didn't happen overnight. But as soon as the 1950s, military families of all races and religions were living next door to each other, going to school and church together, and dating each other. If a military child uttered a racial epithet on base, it was immediately reported to his military parent’s commanding officer, and he or she could be demoted because of it. Off base, some states still had anti-miscegenation laws.

Racism continued, of course. Soldiers protested. Epithets and warnings about interracial dating were issued privately at dinner tables. Black and brown brats were prepared for the “real world” by their parents. But it is still today a very unique upbringing, racially, and has had a profound effect on military brats, often for the rest of their lives.

Here are some of the racial experiences of military brats, young and old, as they describe this experience.

To participate in the Truman’s Kids: Truth & Reconciliation Project - the very first official study in history about race relations amongst military "brats" - go to: https://www.bratswithoutborders.org/brats-race.

To watch the award-winning documentary about growing up military - "BRATS: Our Journey Home" - narrated by Kris Kristofferson, and written and directed by Donna Musil - go to www.usabrat.org.

Because everybody needs a place to call home...
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