The Board of County Supervisors has proclaimed February 28 “Montford Point Marine Day.” In doing so, the community commemorates the first African American recruits in the Marine Corps trained at the Montford Point in North Carolina.
During the early 1940s, the United States was preparing to enter World War II and needed recruits. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a problem; Hiring discrimination based on race was still the norm in the defense industry.