Beth Daley
Editorial Adviser , Europeana Foundation
As part of our contribution to Black History Month 2023, we talk to public historian Sebastiaan Vonk about Black Liberators in the Netherlands - a website that tells the stories of African Americans who played a role in the liberation of Europe in World War II.
Black Liberators in the Netherlands sprang from a chance remark from a member of the public during another historical project. Historian Mieke Kirkels was investigating the construction of the Netherlands American Cemetery - a World War II military cemetery in Margraten containing the graves of over 8,000 Americans - when a local said to her that they ‘felt so sorry for those Black boys’. At the time, the US army had been segregated into Black and white troops, and Mieke discovered that two companies of African American soldiers had helped to dig graves there. Mieke was ultimately able to get in touch with one of those soldiers - Dr Jefferson Wiggins.
‘Jefferson was very reluctant to talk to us at first,’ says Sebastiaan. ‘He had worked at the cemetery for a long time and had locked those painful memories away. But he thought the story should be told, not just for himself but for others as well. “People should know”, he said’. He started to work with Mieke to write down his memories and their book From Alabama to Margraten – memories of former gravedigger Jefferson Wiggins was published in 2014, a year after he passed away.
The publication of Jefferson’s book awakened memories and aroused interest from Dutch children of African American soldiers, who felt that their experiences had not been publicly acknowledged before. Mieke documented their stories in a new book, and from their testimonies, the Black Liberators in the Netherlands website was born.
The website wants to change the fact that Black Americans haven’t been represented in the overall historical narrative about World War II. It now contains the stories of 19 different people, those that served in the US army and those who are the children of African American soldiers. ‘A lot of oral history has been collected,’ says Sebastiaan. ‘However, we also want to find out more about the broader history of that time - how many soldiers, what were they doing, where were they stationed and so on.’
The Black Liberators website includes a ‘Digischool’ - a four-week educational programme for 14 - 15 year olds, with a teacher’s guide, texts, videos and assignments.
The purpose of this course, Sebastiaan tells us, is ‘to counteract all the mainstream narratives, movies and so on, that portray World War II as white. We want to push for more inclusive history in schools, and everywhere. Partly, it’s about finally acknowledging what others have been doing, but it’s also powerful in terms of self-identity, being inspired by role models who look like you.’
And it’s not just for use in schools. The Digischool is being used by a Black Liberators board member to train staff on inclusivity and diversity in the Dutch armed forces, particularly in the military police, to show that Black people have been part of the military for a long time and contributed significantly.
‘We’ve experienced that some people express sympathy, they feel it’s a wrongdoing that Black soldiers were treated differently and that these stories haven’t been told before,’ says Sebastiaan. ‘Simultaneously, they fail to understand or even outright deny how (the long history of) racism continues to impact society to this day. So, we see that learning about history doesn’t always inform views today. We hope that our Digischool course will help to change that.’
Talking about Black history is something we do more and more, during Black History Month and throughout the year. Sebastiaan reflects on the difficulties encountered in doing so. ‘When you talk about Black history, you always have some people who ask, “Why do you have to talk about race and skin colour again?” That does happen. My response? I feel that it was an issue back then so it’s an issue today, and we have to keep talking about it.’
But the research isn’t always easy. In Sebastiaan’s exploration of military records, he struggled to identify African American soldiers. ‘I used some digitised resources but I also spent a long time sitting in an archive turning pages and hoping for a mention of an African American soldier in American military documents, Black units or Black soldiers were labelled with an asterisk, or as “coloured”. African American soldiers who were killed and buried in Europe were labelled with race code 2. In European documents, race and skin colour aren’t often mentioned. They often simply talk about “the Americans”. To identify the subjects, you have to put together records from different places. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. An additional problem with Dutch records is that “Black soldier” often refers to something different like the Dutch men who volunteered for the Waffen-SS.’
Sebastiaan continues, ‘We've been in touch with families of African American soldiers who died and were buried in Margraten. They were appreciative of the fact that their relatives are not forgotten. But they tend to know little about the service of these soldiers. For example, for white Americans, service in the military is a story that’s passed on, it’s a source of pride in the family. But for African Americans, it seems that they’re aware their relatives served in the army but they have a different attitude to it - they’re not as occupied with the story, and it hasn’t been passed on as much. So, I fear that some stories have simply been lost to time.’
Black Liberators highlights hidden stories of Black people’s contribution to a global historical event. Sebastiaan tells us, ‘For World War I, we know that there were colonial troops fighting, it’s part of the narrative that is told in the museums at the former battlefields. But for World War II, that’s not yet the case. My advice for people trying to share stories from history is to first of all reflect and ask, “Do I have the full picture here or is something missing?”’
