DEFYING RACIAL PREJUDICE: BRITISH WOMEN'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH BLACK GIS IN WW2 AND THE RAISING OF THEIR OFFSPRING

When American troops started to arrive in Britain in 1942 to prepare for an invasion of France, there was concern about British women’s potential intimacy with black GIs. To discourage such relationships, British troops, including the women in the Auxiliary Territorial Services, were lectured on the need to keep contact with black GIs to a minimum; a whispering campaign hinted at the high rate of VD amongst black Americans; women were prosecuted under Defence of the Realm Act for trespass if found with black GIs on military premises.

Despite all these restrictions and warnings, many women nevertheless had relationships with black GIs. Americans generally were attractive due to their relatively high pay and the allure of Hollywood. Black GIs were thought to have better manners and may have had particular appeal because black American culture was so focused on dance and music; dancing was one of British women’s main leisure pursuits. These relationships could not result in marriage however. All GIs had to get permission to marry from their commanding officers but in the case of black GIs it was invariably refused.

British women went on to have approx 1,700 mixed-race GI babies, despite being called ‘nigger lover’ and their children labelled ‘bastard’ and ‘half-caste’.  Drawing on a series of archival sources, including representations of these women in the press and interviews with their mixed-race offspring, I explore the lives of women who bravely keep their children against all odds.