The 2023 General Buford “Buff” Blount Professorship Lecture in Military History to be Presented by Dr. Douglas Bristol

Tue, 10/17/2023 - 12:28pm | By: Gabriela Shinskie

The Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) presents the 2023 General Buford “Buff” Blount Professorship Lecture in Military History on “War as Labor Mechanization, Mobilization and the Changing Role of Black GIS in World War II” presented by Dr. Douglas Bristol on Monday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. in the Liberal Arts Building, Room 108 on the Hattiesburg campus.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception begins at 5:30 pm followed by the lecture. The event is sponsored by the USM School of Humanities and College of Arts and Sciences.

“Even though more than 80% of Black GIs in World War II served in service rather than combat units, their story remains largely untold,” said Bristol. “My lecture will give an overview of their wartime experiences and how they contributed to winning the war.”

Dr. Bristol is an Associate Professor of History at the University’s Gulf Park Campus. He is a historian of the African American experiences, United States race relations and War and Society with an emphasis on World War II. Bristol has conducted research extensively on beliefs, institutions and strategies of American lives. He has been a USM faculty member since 2003.

“The mechanization of warfare in World War II transformed the work of services forces, making it more skilled, and provided opportunities for Black GIs to do work previously done by only White GIs. This set the pattern for the desegregation of the military and explains the origins of the modern military in which most soldiers work in service forces rather than fight in combat forces,” said Bristol.

Bristol has published two books including Knights of the Razor: Black Barbers in Slavery and Freedom and Integrating the U.S. Military: Race, Gender, and Sexuality since World War II. He is currently working on another book titled War as Labor: Black GIs in the Army Service Forces in World War II. He has appeared on numerous publications including the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times and for the PBS documentary Boss: The Black Experience in Business.