National Archives Marks 75th Anniversary of Executive Orders Integrating the Armed Forces and Federal Workforce
By Angela Tudico | National Archives News
WASHINGTON, July 27, 2023 — To mark the 75th anniversary of President Harry S. Truman desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces and federal workforce, Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 are on display at the National Archives.
Featured Document Display, "Summer of 1948: A Step Forward for Equality for all in the U.S. Armed Forces," at the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. Photo by Jennifer Johnson.
The records will be on view in the Featured Document Display in the West Rotunda Gallery at the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, from July 25 through 31. Admission to the National Archives Museum is always free, and reservations are not required.
More than one million Black men and women served during World War II in racially segregated units. Executive Order 9981 had a swift impact that led to a desegregated military by the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The federal workforce had been segregated under the Woodrow Wilson administration more than 30 years earlier, and when President Truman signed Executive Order 9980 Washington, DC, was a segregated city.
"It is difficult for us to appreciate how significant Truman's action was," said Truman Library Director Kurt Graham. "These executive orders were in some measure the opening act of the larger Civil Rights Movement that we typically associate with the major legislation of the mid 1960s.”
To honor the anniversary, the Truman Library and Truman Library Institute are convening a three-day Truman Civil Rights Symposium in Washington, DC, July 26–28. Events will be held at the Library of Congress, George Washington University, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The keynote event, “Freedom to Serve,” will be the evening of July 27 in the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives Building and streamed online.