A Different Race

On December 7, 1941 the United States suddenly found itself at war with the Empire of Japan. Alaska's Aleutian Island chain led through the North Pacific from Japan to North America, and the army desperately needed to convoy the material of war to Alaska's undefended coastline. That required a 1600-mile road through northern Canada and Alaska. The army dispatched four white and three segregated Black engineering regiments north to build the Alaska Highway. One of the Black regiments, the 97th En