How WWII Liberty Ships Named for African Americans Helped Democracy Win at Home and Abroad
They not only fought for democracy overseas but also helped African Americans fight for democracy at home.
From the moment the United States was suddenly thrust into World War II on December 7, 1941, the country’s merchant marine fleet came under severe pressure. German submarines, or U-Boats, quickly took up stations off the U.S. East Coast and began intercepting and sinking cargo vessels taking war supplies to Europe. The U-Boats were very good at their job. In January of 1942 alone, at least 16 U.S. merchant ships were torpedoed as they attempted to cross the Atlantic. By the end of that year, more than 500 U.S. ships had been sunk or damaged.
Liberty Ships to the rescue
At that early stage of the war, when the U.S. was just beginning its mobilization, the country’s greatest contribution to the war effort was not its Army or Navy, but it's Merchant Marine. The supplies sent across the Atlantic to England quickly became a lifeline for that embattled nation. That’s why the success of the German U-Boat campaign in the North Atlantic posed an existential threat to the Allied war effort. Something had to be done to replace all that lost shipping capacity.