/0/7676/coverbig.jpg?v=efe70ae286244124246aeb9cf6d92dee)
A New Era Begins
On 30 October 1954 the Secretary of Defense announced that the last racially segregated unit in the armed forces of the United States had been abolished.[19-1] Considering the department's very conservative definition of a segregated unit-one at least 50 percent black-the announcement celebrated a momentous change in policy. In