SEYMOUR, Ind. – Freeman Army Airfield Museum Curator Larry Bothe will present a program on the Freeman Field Mutiny for its 80th anniversary at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Jackson County Public Library (JCPL) in Seymour.
The Freeman Field Mutiny is the term used to describe the events surrounding a group of black officers, part of the 477th Bombardment Group, who protested against the segregated officers’ clubs at Freeman Field when they arrived for training in 1945.
According to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, on April 5, 1945, the African American officers began a display of resistance. “In small groups of just a few officers at a time, they began entering the white ‘instructor’ club, 36 of them getting arrested in the process. The next night, the same tactic played out again, with another 25 arrested,” according to the Smithsonian. The club was then closed, with more than 100 officers writing to the Army Inspector General seeking an investigation into their arrests. “The complaint specifically noted the inherent hypocrisy of U.S. racial policies in the context of the struggles of World War II, stating: ‘The continuance of this policy can hardly be reconciled with the world wide struggle for freedom for which we are asked, and are willing, to lay down our lives,’” according to the Smithsonian.
Eventually, 101 officers who were arrested in the aftermath were ordered released by President Harry Truman. Three faced a court-martial. The Freeman Field Mutiny led to drastic change for the time, including the eventual integration of airbase facilities and the integration of the entire U.S. military. In 1995, the U.S. Air Force exonerated those who had been arrested, finally removing reprimand letters from the records of those charged and expunging the one conviction that resulted from the incident.
For more information on programs and events offered at the Jackson County Public Library, visit the library’s website, follow the library on Facebook, or call 812-522-3412, option 4 (teen & adult) in Seymour, 812-793-2927 in Crothersville, or 812-966-2278 in Medora.
