On Tuesday, February 15, at 5 p.m. Allene Carter, trade union activist and African American labor history specialist, will discuss her book Honoring Sergeant Carter: Redeeming a Black World War II Hero’s Legacy (HarperCollins) at New York University’s Tamiment Library, located on the 10th floor of the NYU Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South. The event is free and open to the public; for further information call 212.998.2428 or email mn46@nyu.edu.
Written with Robert L. Allen, the book relates the story of Carter’s father-in-law, Sergeant Edward A.Carter II. A hero of World War II’s Rhineland campaign,he was refused permission to reenlist in the Army in 1949 because of his prior service in the Spanish Civil War. For years, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Eddie Carter fought unsuccessfully for an explanation of the charges against him.
In 1997, 36 years after his death, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Medal of Honor and apologized for the treatment he had received.
This event is co-sponsored by the Communication Workers of America and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
The Tamiment Library/Wagner Labor Archives at NYU is a unique center for scholarly research on the history and culture of American activism and labor. Tamiment’s many collections document the history of anarchist, communist, labor, radical, feminist, and socialist movements in the U.S. from the Civil War to the present.