"I can almost remember the first time I saw a black
major, especially during World War II-that just didn't happen." (Video
Interview, Part 1, 29:17)
Pearle
Mack grew up in an integrated neighborhood in Topeka,
Kansas, and his first encounter with racism occurred when
he tried to enlist in the Army the day after Pearl Harbor
was attacked. He served in the segregated Army of World
War II, with few officers of his own color to look up to.
Then he made a life in the armed forces, watching the strict
bonds of segregation loosen and attitudes change over the
next thirty years, through two more wars. |