Women of the Post Quotes

“Many of them [Negroes] were given blue cards as they left active duty, discharges that stripped them of the many benefits for the G.I. Bill, like education and homeownership that so many fought for and deserved. Negroes were five times as likely to be discharged this way compared to white veterans.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“On the matter of Jim Crow, we are not as changed as we would hope. Our country is the same, possibly worse off for the example set by the Nazis. When it comes time for you to come on home, you’ll need to be mindful that lots of Negroes have been killed for wearing uniforms in public.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“The idea of coming back fills me with mixed emotions, if I’m honest. I do miss you and Mama, but I am aware that the freedom from prejudices and Jim Crow I have so enjoyed here are not possible still in America.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“He lived in her imagination as part of a protected, untouchable unit of valiant soldiers like the Panthers General Patton led in the Pacific or the Tuskegee Airmen who showed those Nazis that the Aryan race was indeed not superior and that Negro men could fly, they could soar. They were majestic.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“The Negroes coming home complained among themselves that while victory over fascism felt imminent, the war against racism at home was not.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“I’m sorry I didn’t say what I knew earlier on. But Mary Alyce, what you didn’t know helped get you farther in life than anyone in this family has ever gone. Things back here will always be closed to you if you live as a colored woman. And I think I know my girl well enough to know that you will decide to be honest—even if it makes your life worse.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“But I have no idea what life will be like for me when we get back home. We hear news on the radio or by way of other families that Negro vets are being attacked without punishment. The word is that the Nazis have learned a thing or two from Jim Crow laws in America.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“I’m thankful for all of you supporting my idea,” she said. “For keeping me company while we are on this adventure. The work we are doing here is going to help many people who will never know us or our stories. But we’ll know, and what a beautiful thing that is. Happy Thanksgiving, family.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“I don’t have to tell you this is not glamorous work. But the reason we made it here is because you will likely live on. Your name, your legacy, the history of this unit will live on because of what you do here, whether or not you receive that recognition in your lifetime. You will always have yourself and you will always have your service.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“Yes, I know it is a daunting amount of mail. But there was a lot of sweat and sacrifice and petitioning to bring you here to fulfill this important mission. And if we do well here, your reputation will follow you and Negro women for generations in the military. If you fail to excel here, you will sever the ties of approximately three million enlisted men from their loved ones. You will snuff out the little bit of home within them that remains.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“Her family couldn’t understand why a girl so pretty would choose frumpy uniforms, bad food and uncomfortable bunks. And the news reports about the women were often mean-spirited. Male reporters wrote that Negro women were being deployed abroad to keep Negro male soldiers from harassing white women. They were expected to be chauffeurs or prostitutes.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“It’s hard to imagine that any Negroes, let alone Negro women, would want to give more to America than what we already have,” Stacy said. “At least that’s how my folks took it. But I have military family going back all the way to the Civil War. So they understood. Sort of. They expect men to serve, I guess, because of the draft and all. It was the voluntary part that was harder to explain.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“I’ve found that the most challenging assignments I’ve experienced have taught me the most—often lessons in patience and empathy that I might otherwise have missed. You may yet learn something about yourself, as well about Mary Alyce in the days to come.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“A girl should be satisfied to be a mother or a wife, probably both,” he said. “A girl in a uniform means she doesn’t really want to do any of that."
He shook his head. “Doll, it’s just not natural for us to wear the same kind of clothes.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“A vocal group of Negro leaders, including a courageous and influential Negro woman named Mary McLeod Bethune, was beginning to help women officers and military officials break down even more barriers than the initial campaigns by the Negro press.
The first fights were for Negro soldiers to serve in combat and for Negro women to be allowed in the women’s army.
Segregation in civilian life was still very much the law of the land, but the wartime needs in all areas of the military forced the government to admit that they would need to make some exceptions in order to win the war.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“Seems to me, thinking about it, praying on it, that groups like the Klan guard the idea that whites and colored folk were made so different that we might as well keep our lives on parallel tracks.
But everywhere I look on post, I see lives that intersect. Some officers are curt with me, but I have won a few of them over. Just a few.
It’s been a revelation to be around white folks and not feel unsafe.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“Learning by watching and doing is what Judy did at home, so she could see that life in the WAC would not be that different from life at home in one important way: no one would teach Negro women what they needed to get ahead. The women would have to figure it out on their own.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“So many Negroes wanted to work, and President Roosevelt had even passed a law to help, Executive Order 8802. The problem was nobody wanted Negroes having good pay and benefits. As soon as the president’s Fair Practices in Employment went into effect, white workers from Oakland to Atlanta to Brooklyn protested with violence, screamed and howled about forced integration.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“She was proud that Herbert was a part of the war effort—so few Negroes were chosen to fight and the military told them it was a privilege for them to be selected to die for this country. Herbert was doing a noble thing.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“We all found ways to mirror her contributions to America, even when our country never gave us back all that we gave it. It's a shame that it takes going to other places to help us see how to transform into who we are really meant to be.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“Support units are the spine of the war effort. Because we do a job that is invisible and does not take place on the battlefield does not mean what we do isn't difficult or dangerous.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“The most important thing is those letters... They keep soldiers connected to the most significant people in their lives. Their families, their children, their wives and mothers. That keeps them motivated to fight and to remember what they are trying to win victory for. You get them those letters, you inspire them to live and fight another day. Without the mail, morale sinks.”
― Joshunda Sanders, Women of the Post

“It is the fight of his life - of our lives - to defend our country and maybe it will show white people that we can also belong to and defend this place. We built it too, after all. It is as much our country to defend as anyone else's.”
― joshunda sanders, Women of the Post