Black Yanks

Overview

Black Yanks is the story of how an African American soldier from Missouri ended up on death row in D-Day Britain – and the extraordinary campaign that set him free. The drama plays out over a tumultuous six weeks, set against a backdrop of the most audacious sea-borne invasion ever attempted.

As the build-up to D-Day escalates, Leroy Henry’s story unfolds, allowing us to view a pivotal point in history with an entirely new perspective: making race, the ‘special relationship’ and the British peoples’ collective powerful key considerations.

This fascinating, alternative timeline reveals an edgier wartime society, hidden tensions in Anglo-American relations and the moment the British tabloid press learned to roar. Ultimately, Leroy Henry’s court martial – and everything it stood for – provoked mind-blowing decision-making at the highest military level.

Kate Werran unearths a wealth of archival material to help disclose the story behind the first significant, if uncelebrated, win in the civil rights movement; a story that has been overlooked for nearly eight decades. Until now.

Author Biography

KATIE WERRAN is a specialist on the US army that was stationed in Britain before, during and after D-Day. Her first, award-winning book An American Uprising in Second World War England was optioned for documentary and scripted drama. Kate came to writing after a career in journalism, and she has produced critically acclaimed twentieth-century history programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5. In 2024, she was elected to the Royal Historical Society as an Associate Fellow.