Black servicewomen like Myrtle Crawford supported the fight for democracy and freedom abroad while facing ongoing discrimination and prejudice at home.
Born on March 10, 1910, Myrtle Ethel (Johnson) Crawford was the oldest of seven children. She grew up in Austin’s historically Black Ward 3 in a working-class family where her father earned wages as a driver. She lived and worked in Austin as a cook and domestic laborer until her life was changed by World War II.
On August 8, 1944, Crawford enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the women’s branch of the U.S. Army that filled noncombat roles throughout the war. Black women numbered roughly 6,500 of the more than 200,000 total women to join the WAC. While white women usually served as technicians, mechanics, and clerks, Black women in the WAC were often assigned service and domestic roles. Crawford spent the war at Camp Swift in Bastrop County, where she likely performed the essential but stigmatized labor of cooking or cleaning.
Crawford was discharged on October 21, 1945, and returned to civilian life in Austin. Motivated by the unequal treatment that they faced during the war, many Black veterans joined the fight for equality and civil rights in the years that followed.
She died in August 1977 at age 67 and is buried in Bethany Cemetery. A military headstone honors her service.
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