Some obits, from Guardian and NPR.
I hadn't known about his World War II experience, described by the Washington Post. It certainly is of a piece with how black soldiers were treated—
Drafted into the Army... Mr. Hendricks served in France after the Normandy invasion. But his most harrowing wartime experiences came from mistreatment by white soldiers in his own army, he recalled more than six decades later to Lee Ellen Martin, a University of Toledo graduate student writing a thesis on the singer. Mr. Hendricks said U.S. military police officers fired at him and other black soldiers they suspected of consorting with French women.He spent nearly a year in custody, before being returned to the front.
Out of fear, the black soldiers fled their unit. As a battalion clerk with access to military papers, Mr. Hendricks said he requisitioned a car and two trucks, loaded with gasoline, food and other supplies. He and the other African American soldiers sold the goods on the black market for several months before they were arrested and charged with "desertion in the face of the enemy."
"What enemy?" Mr. Hendricks said he responded. "You mean the white military police firing on us?"
It's an enormous legacy to try choosing from, but here's a treat from the early days:
