For 144 years, Black Americans were banned from joining the Marines. But when the US needed support, 20,000 Black recruits stepped up to serve.

• In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reluctantly banned racial discrimination in the United States Marine Corps.
• Montford Point became the first training facility for Black Marines.
• Nearly 20,000 Black Marines successfully completed training and supported the war effort in the 1940s. 

In 1941, the United States Army needed to drastically bolster their recruits for the pending outbreak of World War II.

At the time, hiring discrimination was a common practice against Black Americans in the defense industry. Both then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Commandant of the Marine Corps Thomas Holcomb were resistant to diversifying the Marine Corps. In 1941, Holcomb told the Navy's General Board that "if it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather the whites."

Up to that point, Black Americans were allowed to serve in the United States Army and Navy, but only within segregated ranks or factions. The Marine Corps, however, had always prohibited Black Americans from joining. While around 13 Black Marines served in the American Revolutionary War, by 1798, a discriminatory policy prohibited Black Americans from joining the Marines.

Pressure from the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the largest and first Black labor unions, pushed Roosevelt toward changing that policy. Shortly before the Brotherhood's scheduled protest in Washington, Roosevelt took executive action to integrate the defense forces.

Montford Point

Under Executive Order 8802, as of June 25th, 1941, hiring discrimination was prohibited in the defense industry. It was the first executive action pertaining to civil rights since the Reconstruction Era of the 19th century. Officials appointed Montford Point, North Carolina, as the first training facility for Black Marines. 

"When we were first sworn in, we were all together in the same group," said Curtis Moore, a Marine officer who arrived at Montford Point in 1946. "I learned that the white Marines were on the way to a training camp in South Carolina, whereas the Black Marines were on their way to a training camp in North Carolina."

The first Black Marines arrived at Montford Point by 1942, while white Marines still reported for training in San Diego or Parris Island, South Carolina. The Montford facility was still run by white sergeants, instructors and officers. The Black Marines could not access surrounding, non-integrated facilities without a white Marine sponsor.

"My basic training, my travel far and near overseas for two and a half years was with a completely Black military outfit," said Moore. "Still the instructors, sergeants, and officers were all white that had us in their charge."

Some white members of leadership in the Armed Forces took special measures to try to limit Black Marines once they were allowed into the branch. Still embittered by the eventual overturn of hiring discrimination, Thomas Holcomb issued Letter of Instruction 421, which prohibited "colored non-commissioned officers senior to white men in the same unit, and desirable that few, if any, be of the same rank."

According to Moore, without institutional support, Black Marines built community outside of the military base in the surrounding towns.

"Black recruits normally went to cities in North Carolina near the training camp where there was a sizable Black population," Moore told Insider. "They had a barbershop, restaurants, and hotels that would support us when we left the Montford facilities."

'A very high sense of pride'

Over the course of 7 years, nearly 20,000 Black Marines completed their training at Montford Point and became known as the Montford Point Marines. Their sacrifices included deployment overseas in Guam, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima. It wasn't until 1948 that President Henry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 that effectively banned segregation in the armed forces. One year later, Montford Point facilities were decommissioned, but the enduring efforts of Black Marines, past and present, are preserved in history through the National Montford Point Marine Association. 

"If you knew any Marines that lived down the block, or any Marines that are in your family, they have a high sense of pride that they were in the Marine Corps," Moore told Insider. "They have a very high sense of pride that I don't think anybody could take it away from them." Curtis Moore passed away shortly after this interview on June 18th, 2023, at the age of 97.