Marion Maria Leona Thomas

b. September 8, 1915

worked in an aircraft plant in Evanston, IL and in a sewing facility in Los Angeles, CA; retired seamstress and dress designer

"Well, the soldiers found out that the black man wasn't there to hurt 'em, they could get along with some of 'em...I think the soldiers learned a lot about that [race relations] because when my cousins came home an' my nephews came home and they had friends, buddies, that were white. "They kept in touch...they had to see each other ever so often, you know what I mean, and it wasn't like that before, you know. You couldn't pay a white guy to go into a colored neighborhood years ago."