The First Black Panthers - 761st Tank Battalion of World War ll
SUNDAY MORNING
The Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
Morgan Freeman: Elevating a Black WWII tank battalion from obscurity
BY DAVID MARTIN
AUGUST 13, 2023 / 10:04 AM / CBS NEWS
Morgan Freeman's work is already in the Library of Congress, as part of the National Film Registry of movie classics. And now, he's here in person, visiting one of the great public spaces in America – the Library's main reading room.
"Nothing says history like this room," said Martin.
They are here because the Library of Congress was the only place we could find a copy of this book: "Come Out Fighting: The Epic Tale of the 761st Tank Battalion 1942-1945." It tells the story of the first Black tank battalion to fight in World War II, a time when the armed forces were still segregated and Blacks were limited almost entirely to support duties behind the front lines.
The book was written by Trezzvant Anderson, a young Black reporter who accompanied the 761st as it fought its way across Europe. Freeman said he had not heard of him.
"He deserves to be better known," Martin said.
"All of this deserves to be better known, all of this," he replied.
Freeman has set out to make that happen, with a documentary, "761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers," which will air on the History Channel, complete with a cameo appearance by Lloyd Austin, the nation's first Black secretary of defense.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a book about this forgotten Black Battalion. Listen to a sample of this audiobook
The Liberators: Fighting On Two Fronts in World War ll
This 1992 documentary film co-produced by Bill Miles and Nina Rosenblum was narrated by the actors Louis Gossett Jr. and Denzel Washington. Using interviews, photographs, and diary readings, it tells the story of the primarily black 761st Tank Battalion and 183rd Combat Engineers during World War II, including their experiences of racism in the United States and their involvement in the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Wikipedia
EDITED VERSION
This is an edited version of the controversial documentary, "The Liberators: Fighting on 2 Fronts", released in 1992. It was met with criticism almost immediately by white pundits, historians, and even Jews, because of alleged inaccuracies about Black soldiers being among the 'liberators' of Buckenwald and Dachau concentration camps. This documentary tried to show that Jews and Blacks had a common enemy, racism, especially during WWII, but it turned out that white american racism was too much for this documentary to stand, thus in early 1993, it was 'recalled' (withdrawn from public viewing). I was fortunate to record it on VHS in 1992, when it first came out, and I edited out all of the parts pertaining to the holocaust, and left the meat of the documentary, which was: Black Americans facing brutal racism in the military, and at home during World War II. Black Americans fighting for American freedom, and yet the very people they are fighting for......are the ones who want to restrict their freedom.This video is for educational purposes only. This video may contain copyrighted material. This material is being made available in an effort to advance understanding of historical, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. that constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
