The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Drexel’s English & Philosophy Department. The event will include introductions by Cooke, an adjunct writing instructor in the English & Philosophy Department of Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, and André Carrington, PhD, an assistant professor of English, who is co-hosting the event. The screening, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 13 during Black History Month, was rescheduled due to inclement weather.
Also in attendance will be family members of the late Philadelphian Andrew Nix, who is featured in the film. Nix was one of 2,221 African American GIs who accepted the “privilege” of taking a pay cut and reduction in rank to fight alongside white combat soldiers in Europe during the war’s waning days. The outstanding service of the 2,221 (the group produced two Medal of Honor winners) was pivotal to President Truman’s decision to desegregate the U.S. military in 1948.
The film, directed by Emmy Award winner Noel “Sonny” Izon, premiered in Nov. 2009 as a work-in-progress at the Hirshhorn Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. It was named “Best Military Film” at the Bakersfield Film Festival (2013) and “Best African American Film” at the Indie Film Festival in Los Angeles (2013).
Choc'late Soldiers From The USA (excerpt)
CHOC'LATE SOLDIERS FROM THE USA, directed by Emmy award winning director Noel Izon and co-produced by author Gregory Cooke, tells the story of 140,000 Black American soldiers and thousands of British civilians who cross a racial divide to forge an unexpected bond. While serving in a segregated military, Black men and women do much of the U.S. Army's "heavy lifting" by day, and introduce the British population to jazz, jitterbugging and Black American culture by night. For the first time, Black American soldiers experience what it is like to be treated as equals and as Americans.
CHOC'LATE SOLDIERS FROM THE USA is a feature-length documentary celebrating Black American military contributions during World War II. More than just a wartime military story, this landmark film illuminates how two culturally and racially different groups of people came to find their common humanity, leaving both richer for the experience.
The soldiers portrayed in the film, members of segregated Army units, were engaged in preparations for the Normandy invasion. Unexpected bonds formed between the African American soldiers and British civilians as the soldiers introduced the Brits to jazz, jitterbugging and Black-American culture. For the first time, African American soldiers experience what it is like to be treated as equals and as Americans. The documentary includes these veterans recounting their first-hand experiences.
Reflecting the Jim Crow practices of the time, the army and other branches of the U.S. armed forces were segregated. However, the realities of war, Hitler’s advancing army and pressure from civil rights leaders led Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to temporarily end segregation in the army and rush African American GIs to the front lines.
