2000.17.21

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c. 1965
8 in HIGH x 10 in WIDE
(20.32 cm HIGH x 25.40 cm WIDE)
Collection of the Oakland Museum of California
2000.17.21






Label attached to the foam core on the back, "Young soldiers get a last cup of stateside coffee before boarding their troop ship to South East Asia." Photo shows a group of soldiers standing around waiting to board the ship in the background. In the center is an African American soldier pouring himself a cup of coffee from a tray being held by an older woman wearing a little hat (possibly for the Red Cross), a heavy winter coat, and sandles. The soldiers are loaded down with equipment including weapons, handgun, backpack, etc. Littering the ground are various pieces of luggage.

Used: U.S. Army | Oakland Army Base

Picture This Information

This artifact is part of the OMCA's Picture This website. More about the context and history of this artifact is available at Picture This.

About the Picture This web project: California's Perspectives on American History is a resource for teachers and students to learn about the experiences of diverse peoples of California by using primary source images from the Oakland Museum of California's collections. Organized into 11 time periods spanning from pre-1769 to the present, more than 300 photographs, drawings, posters, and prints tell stories from the perspectives of different ethnic groups. Historical contexts are provided to offer a framework of California's role in relation to American history.

The National Archives state that primary sources, "fascinate students because they are real and they are personal: history is humanized through them." Picture This invites students to examine the historical record, encouraging them to connect history with real people and explore how images tell stories and convey historical evidence about the human experience. History becomes more than just a series of facts, dates, and events.      

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