First African-American Marines

Week of March 15, 2010

The Marine Corps began recruiting African Americans in 1942 by establishing a camp in Montford Point, N.C. that served as a recruit depot to train African-American Marine recruits. Between 1942 and 1949, approximately 20,000 recruits received basic training at Montford Point, most of them going on to serve in the Pacific during World War II as members of support units. For more information on the Montford Point Marines, including educational resources, visit the Montford Point Marines 28 website at http://www.mpma28.com/mainpage2.html, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's Montford Marines website at http://library.uncw.edu/web/montford/, the University of North Carolina Press website at http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=1501, and the U.S. Marine Corps' Montford Point webpage at http://www.marines.com/main/index/winning_battles/history/leaders/montford_point.

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