"One of the first Army bases to implement on a large scale President Truman's call for racial integration of the armed forces, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, quickly took its place in the Defense Department's official history of the process. What reporters, and later on, historians, overlooked was the interaction between the integration of Fort Jackson and developments - in particular, the civil rights movement - in the wider communities in which the base is situated. In Black, White, and Olive Drab, Andrew H. Myers redresses this oversight; taking a case-study approach, Myers meticulously weaves together a wide range of official records, newspaper accounts, and personal interviews, revealing the impact of Fort Jackson's integration on the desegregation of civilian buses, schools, housing, and public facilities in the surrounding area."--Jacket.

A visit to Fort Jackson -- Organizational racism at Fort Jackson during the second world war -- Alienating black civilians: Columbia and Fort Jackson during the second world war -- Tangled connections and lost opportunities: Fort Jackson at the end of World War II -- The open secret of 1950: army integration at Fort Jackson -- Turning our soldiers: Fort Jackson after integration -- Getting them "off our neck": military bureaucracy and bus desegregation -- School desegregation on and around Fort Jackson: the unintended consequences of federal power -- Fort Jackson and the desegregation of public facilities: military-social relations at the local, state, and national levels -- Staying out of trouble: Fort Jackson soldiers and Columbia sit-ins -- Counting bodies in Columbia: Fort Jackson and equal housing -- Fighting at home and in Vietnam: Howard Levy, the UFO coffeehouse, and the Fort Jackson eight -- The forgotten decade of the Civil Rights Movement: the seventies.