African American Soldiers in WWII Exhibit at Ole Miss

The University of Mississippi Museum is hosting an exhibit on African American soldiers in World War II and their impact on the civil rights movement.

The exhibit in the Skipwith Gallery includes original photographs, prints and cartoons demonstrating the impact of African Americans in Germany during the war.

Placed chronologically on the walls, the pieces take viewers through history, starting with World War II and moving through several major events of the civil rights movement.

The exhibit is being showcased in the United States and Germany, and Oxford is the third location in the United States to host the collection.

It holds several photographs that have not been shown before.

“The exhibit is so different; It tells a story and shows a part of history that we never really hear that much about,” Ashley Chaffin, museum program coordinator, said.

African American soldiers had a large influence on the battlefields abroad, making up two to three million of the 15 to 20 million soldiers stationed in Germany.

The goal of the exhibit is to educate people on an often overlooked subject.

“It is important for us to realize and recognize the role of African Americans during World War II and how their positions were so different once they were out of the United States and in Europe,” Tina Lutz, graduate associate at the University Museum, said. “It really is important to realize how crucial they were.”

Director of the exhibit, Maria Hoehn, is working on creating an online database that will allow anyone to access the photographs from the exhibit.

She anticipates it benefiting teachers and others interested in learning more about African American presence in Germany.

The photographs that Hoehn and her colleague Martin Klimke have collected are rare in their subject matter.

A photograph showing German soldiers being held hostage by an African American soldier gets Lutz’ attention.

“An African American man holding white men at bay — that is something that you would not have seen in America at the time,” Lutz said.

“The dichotomy is interesting, and so is seeing how differently people are perceived in other countries.”

The exhibit transitions from World War II photographs to pieces from the civil rights movement with a clip from a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. during a visit to Berlin in 1964.

Several images include events from the Black Panther Party, activist Angela Davis and civil rights marches in Germany.

“You always hear about Martin Luther King in the states, and especially his involvement in the South, but here in these images, we see civil rights activists going to Germany and places all over Europe,” Lutz said.

According to the University Museum, the exhibit has generated a significant amount of interest within the community and will be open until March 14.