From Alabama to Margraten
The Story of War Veteran Jefferson Wiggins in the Segregated US Army during World War II
9789048568369
176 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
When he returned to the Netherlands in 2009, decades after World War II, Jefferson Wiggins realized that no one he met knew about the segregated US Army during the war, nor did they know about the contribution of Black American soldiers to the liberation of the Netherlands. They were not mentioned anywhere in Dutch history books or in archives. Together with oral historian Mieke Kirkels, Wiggins sat down to record his memories. Wiggins passed away in 2013, and his widow, Janice Wiggins-Paterson, continued the project in his memory. With newly discovered archival material, and richly illustrated, this book gives a lively account of an undocumented story of WWII, Black American, and Dutch military history.
Author Bio
Mieke Kirkels is an oral historian and the author of several acclaimed books on oral history and Dutch war history. She is also an Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau.
