Little known fact: The Navy B-1 Band
The military did not train African Americans in Chapel Hill during World War II, but the Navy stationed an all-black band there. Even though the military was racially segregated at the beginning of the war, the mobilization of resources was so vast that marginal groups such as women and blacks were pulled into the defense effort. North Carolina’s black leaders requested participation in the war effort and found a cooperative partner in Frank Porter Graham. Thirty-one of the forty-five bandsmen came from the all-black Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina in Greensboro, and were already experienced, accomplished musicians. There were three other pre-flight training centers in the nation, but only Chapel Hill accepted an African American band.
When the 40+ young men left Raleigh for Norfolk on the morning of May 27, 1942, they were headed for basic training. A few were recent college graduates, a few recent high school graduates. They knew they were entering World War II, and they also were stepping into history, becoming on that May day the first African Americans to serve in the modern U.S. Navy in any capacity other than galley work.
U.S. Navy B-1 Band parades in Hawaii.
Surviving members of the Navy B-1 Band talk about their experiences in this collection of youtube videos:
Part I Part II Part III Part IV
From 2007 – Music With Honors:
Simeon Holloway introduces members of the B-1 Navy Band during a ceremony honoring the group at the Franklin Street Post Office in 2007. Photo by Kirk Ross
They stood on the steps of the Franklin Street Post Office and received a key to the Town of Chapel Hill. Later, they filed into the building that served as their barracks some 65 years ago and had praises heaped upon them by a grateful community.
The reception given the B-1 Navy Band — know affectionately in town as the Navy Preflight Band — was vastly different than their first march through the streets of Chapel Hill, when they were met with jeers, insults and, reportedly, handfuls of flying mud as well.
But last weekend they stood proud — just as residents remember they did during their days in Chapel Hill, where they were on the front lines of the integration of the U.S. Navy and an inspiration to a community just coming to grips with the fact that its time as a segregated society was nearing an end.
Most of the men are now in their early 90s, and of the scores who served in the band, their number has dwindled to 14.
But despite their age, they climbed the post office steps on a warm Saturday afternoon and stood patiently while they were given their long-awaited due.
The day before, UNC Chancellor James Moeser offered an apology for the band’s treatment by the university, which was all-white at the time and did not want them in the barracks on campus with the rest of those involved in the Navy preflight school. It was an apology, Moeser said, that was 65 years too late.
At the post office, Mayor Kevin Foy echoed that sentiment, and in presenting bandleader Simeon Holloway with the key to the town said the town was proud of their efforts as leaders at a time when Chapel Hill was still segregated.
Read the rest of this wonderful history here.