"This will give you an idea of how the men dress over here. Notice his short pants? They're made of leather." ~Lorraine Hurdle, Photo with an elderly man in Germany, ca. 1950s Lorraine Hurdle was a Black lesbian woman who served as a…

"And let me give you a little thing and point out, many of our fellas came from the South, they were brought up to be well, sort of shuffling when they walked, maybe mumbling when they talked, soft spoken and everything, very deferential and things…

“I wanted to be accepted by the army for two reasons. Foremost was my great desire to belong, to be needed, and to join the stream of activities around me. Second, I wanted my parents to be proud of me. Almost invariably when my name was mentioned,…

"One of the symptoms of my PTSD is that I'm very untrusting of people; I'm a loner, I want to be alone. I have a hard time accepting people into my life. With the dog, I know she loves me without question, and it's a calming…

"But surely this campaign of horror will turn on its creator and smash him also. Surely this wave of barbarism will weaken the ranks of Fascism and restore the faculty of healthy criticism to the mobs blinded with enthusiasm-- We should aid the…

“I was not naive regarding segregation and discrimination but going into a completely segregated situation was constantly a shock to me.I think I stayed angry most of my army career, even though the whole experience was interesting, maddening,…

"Oh, I had to go. I thought, it'll be a change. I'll get to travel. I was so happy that I did join, that I got a good job."~Carmen Contreras Bozak, VOCES Oral History Project, 2002 Born on New Years Eve 1919, in Cayey, Puerto Rico, near San Juan,…

“I had just given this poor boy anesthesia when a bomb hit. We were supposed to hit the floor, but he was out and didn’t know what was going on. I took a tray and put it over our heads. It wasn’t because I was brave. I was just scared.”~Sophie Gran,…