Black veterans faced higher unemployment and far lower GI Bill benefit uptake.

Evidence

John C. Cannon was a black veteran who had earned the distinction of “a 2nd lieutenant’s commission” while serving in the US Army Medical Corps. Upon his return to civilian life, he received three employment options: “one as a bus boy, one as a porter, and one as a car washer.” By failing to recommend him for a health department position, the Los Angeles office violated governmental policy. By 1946 this type of employment discrimination resulted in an “11 percent higher” unemployment rate for African American veterans nationally than for their white counterparts. The discrimination was not limited to job placement benefits under the GI Bill. In 1947 when Veterans Administration officials surveyed black veterans nationwide, they discovered that only 5 percent “were enrolled in courses and programs under the GI Bill’s educational benefit.” As one returning black soldier observed: “This nation throughout its history has been more willing to fight a war for democracy than to actually practice it.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 356

Categorization

• XREF: The GI-Bill disparity is a concrete, citable counter to the objection that Black people received the same postwar benefits as whites — a strong evidentiary pillar for the saturated-system claim. — connects to: The GI Bill opened elite law schools to talented veterans regardless of class. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4058