{"id":61579,"date":"2021-09-21T03:42:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T03:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=61579"},"modified":"2021-09-21T03:42:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T03:42:23","slug":"when-the-war-started-she-took-a-job-in-an-air-force-office-where-she-was-surprised-to-realize-she-was-passing-for-white-she-set-the-record-straight-and-asked-if-she-would-still-get-her-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=61579","title":{"rendered":"When the war started, she took a job in an Air Force office, where she was surprised to realize she was passing for white. She set the record straight, and asked if she would still get her promotion. The answer was no. \u201cI walked out on the U.S. government and told them to shove it,\u201d she later wrote in her 2018 memoir \u201cSign My Name to Freedom.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many who came west, the war years brought increased opportunity, and rising expectations, which would help fuel the civil rights and women\u2019s movements. For Ms. [Betty Reid] Soskin<\/a>, who had grown up in racially mixed neighborhoods and schools, it also brought her first experiences with overt, formal segregation.<\/p>\n

When the war started, she took a job in an Air Force<\/a> office, where she was surprised to realize she was passing for white<\/a>. She set the record straight, and asked if she would still get her promotion. The answer was no. \u201cI walked out on the U.S. government and told them to shove it,\u201d she later wrote in her 2018 memoir \u201cSign My Name to Freedom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same week, her husband Mel, a star college athlete who\u2019d enlisted in the Navy<\/a> only to be relegated to working as a cook, left the service. \u201cHe was going to fight for his country,\u201d she said. \u201cBut he found out he could only cook for his country.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jennifer Schuessler, \u201c\u2018America\u2019s Oldest Park Ranger\u2019 Is Only Her Latest Chapter<\/a>,\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, September 20, 2021. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/20\/us\/betty-reid-soskin-100.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many who came west, the war years brought increased opportunity, and rising expectations, which would help fuel the civil rights and women\u2019s movements. For Ms. [Betty Reid] Soskin, who had grown up in racially mixed neighborhoods and schools, it also brought her first experiences with overt, formal segregation. When the war started, she took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28051,24354,16992,2640,2327],"class_list":["post-61579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts","tag-betty-charbonnet","tag-betty-reid-soskin","tag-jennifer-schuessler","tag-new-york-times","tag-the-new-york-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61580,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61579\/revisions\/61580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}