Executive Order 9981 - Wikipedia

On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order No. 9981 to desegregate the US armed forces, directing "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the military.

"Blacks in the military worked under different rules that delayed their entry into combat. They had to wait four years before they could begin combat training while a white American would begin training within months of being qualified. The Air Corps was deliberately delaying the training of African Americans even though the Air Corps needed more manpower (Survey and Recommendations[2]). In an Army survey conducted among 250 white officers and sergeants who had a colored platoon assigned to their company the following results were found: 77% of both officers and sergeants said they had become more favorable towards colored soldiers after having a colored platoon assigned to their company (no cases were found where someone said their attitude towards them had turned less favorable), 84% of officers and 81% of sergeants thought the colored soldiers had performed very well in combat, only 5% of officers and 4% of sergeants thought that colored infantry soldiers were not as good as white infantry soldiers, and 73% of officers and 60% of sergeants thought the colored soldiers and white soldiers got along together very well.[3] According to this particular survey there are no reasonable grounds for segregation in the armed forces."