Educational Media Reviews Online

Using first hand interviews with veteran African American soldiers, film footage of the war, the recollections of native Australians, plus scholarly commentary, Black Soldier Blues chronicles the experiences of African American soldiers who were stationed in Australia during World War II. The prime minister, John Curtin, while welcoming the white G.I.s, was adamantly opposed to having black soldiers stationed on Australian territory. For a while the men languished aboard ship while the two governments resolved this conflict. Paradoxically, once on Australian soil, black soldiers received favorable treatment from the peoples of a nation that had institutionalized racism in the form of a “whites only” policy.

In spite of the official Australian policy, fraternization took place between the American black soldiers and white Australian women. A black baseball team played against a white Australian team, and white girls flocked to the Dr. Carver Club, the black USO jazz club, because “the music was so fabulous.” The American military operated along strict lines of segregation; black soldiers were for the most part assigned to service units—engineering and quartermaster corps—while their officers were white. Conflicts between the two races occurred primarily between American blacks and whites with the military police and the shore patrol as particularly egregious offenders. As one veteran stated, the problem was “home grown. We brought it with us.”

Tensions escalated until riots broke out in Brisbane between black and white Americans during March of 1942. At this point the Queensland government asked that the black American troops be moved out of the city area. Later when the men were sent to the Pacific islands some troops were not given weapons; their officers feared arming their own soldiers. Australian troops on the other hand were friendly and welcoming, and some genuine friendships developed. Certainly it is difficult to argue with the conclusion that the war experience stimulated the struggle of American blacks for full civil rights.

Black Soldier Blues is a solid thoughtful production, yet the film is marred by the total absence of reference to Australian blacks. While Australia’s racism is clearly acknowledged, there is no attempt to explore whether African American soldiers had any contact with Australia’s people of color, or if the Americans even knew of Australia’s rigid separation policy. The Australian veterans maintain that they defended the black soldiers because they were American. The irony in having white Australians defend black American “underdogs’ is completely lost. Recommended for high school level and above.