8th August 2013
Local writer, Louisa Adjoa Parker, has produced a new book which explores stories of African American soldiers in Dorset during Second World War.
Most of the GIs came to the county to train for D-Day and were based across Dorset.
The book, entitled “1944 We Were Here: African American GIs in Dorset” is part of a project run by Development Education in Dorset (DEED) in partnership with Walford Mill Crafts and the Priest House museum. It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and JP Morgan.
The aim of the project was to gather stories about the black servicemen’s time in Dorset to share with the community. It was also to celebrate their presence here, as well as their contribution to World War II, which has historically been largely ignored.
Louisa Adjoa Parker, who is of British and Ghanaian heritage, carried out the research into the subject following on from previous publications, “Dorset’s Hidden Histories” and “All Different, All Dorset”.
Louisa said: “This local history has not been explored in great detail until recently, and is arguably an important part of Dorset’s heritage. It is highly likely that this is the only time in history that Dorset has had a large African Caribbean population. When other people from this ethnic background were here, including today, there would have been much smaller numbers. It is estimated that there were around 8,000 black GIs here in this period.
“It was important to gather the stories now, as the GIs’ children and the local people who remembered the GIs are getting older. The African Americans’ presence here left behind a lasting legacy – cultural influences; memories and stories that have been passed down in families and become part of local folklore; and a number of their children as a result of relationships with local women.”
The book is a collection of stories about the young men, as told through the eyes of the local people who remember them, and the GIs’ descendants. There are first and second-hand accounts of local people, who were children at the time, seeing and spending time with the African American men.
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Article source: http://www.viewfrompublishing.co.uk/news_view/27464/15/1/dorchester-book-explore-history-of-black