An african American nurse, joined the racially segregated army in Jim Crow-era Arizona during World War II, Elinor Powell. The discrimination she faced compounded she was assigned after she fell in love with Frederick Albert, a German prisoner of war to whom. Journalist Alexis Clark told the NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano in regards to the couple’s unlikely story and her guide, “Enemies in Love.”
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IVETTE FELICIANO:
German soldier Frederick Albert ended up being captured in Italy in 1944 and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Arizona where he came across African American nurse, Elinor Powell.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
How did they fulfill? And what is the whole story of these courtship?
ALEXIS CLARK:
Frederick, who was a great cook, and a baker, worked in a mess hall. And, evidently, he saw Elinor for the first time and he stepped right up to her and said, “You ought to know my name. I’m the person who is going to marry you.”
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Also it was all sailing that is smooth here?
ALEXIS CLARK:
Well, she ended up being shocked, of course. After all, here is this prisoner that is german of, you realize, striking on her. Broad daylight. And so it was obvious he was, you understand, trying to court her.
IVETTE FELICIANO:
Can there be any such thing about their particular upbringings them more open to an interracial romance that you feel made?
ALEXIS CLARK:
She was from a prominent family that is black the Boston suburbs. It absolutely was actually extremely modern. It had been called Milton, Massachusetts. Went to schools that are white. Had friends that are white. And she had been from an informed family. So although she knew about discrimination. She was mainly secluded from that.
Now on the other hand, Frederick was from Nazi Germany. In which he ended up being from the extremely rich family members. a prominent household. And they had been nationalists that are german. (more…)