After four years of cancelled celebrations, Mardi Gras returned in 1946. For the veteran flambeaux carriers—a dangerous and physically taxing job—the need for better wages resulted in a historic strike that caused “a post-war rude awakening.”

USS Mason was the first US Navy fleet vessel crewed by a majority of African American sailors.

In the four years of war, Americans on the home front were asked to do their part and to go without certain items for the sake of the war effort. For residents of New Orleans, World War II also meant going without Mardi Gras.

On February 3, 1945, the US Army sent over 800 Black women overseas to England aboard the SS Ile de France. Their mission was unknown to them.

This new series features master’s student papers from the University of New Orleans. The first submission delves into American memory of World War II.

Jackie Robinson is best known for breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Less well known, but just as pivotal, is his 1944 court-martial after refusing to move to the back of a military bus.

A look past the pages of a written letter home.

African American truck drivers of the Red Ball Express kept American units supplied in the race across France during the summer and fall of 1944.

Today we pause and take the time to reflect on one of the most heinous atrocities committed in the twentieth century. The Holocaust has left a dark shadow on human history and lives in the memories of the Survivors.

Sgt. Thomas Sweeney, 71st Infantry Division, was one of the many American medics and liberators who found themselves woefully underprepared in rendering aid to survivors of Nazi atrocities. At the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp in May 1945, they found thousands of individuals barely clinging to life.

In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and in celebration of The National WWII Museum’s new exhibit Dimensions in Testimony: Alan Moskin, the New Orleans Public Library has created a supplemental reading list to accompany the exhibition.

The Museum highlights educational resources for teachers and students that can be used to explore the tragedy of the Holocaust.