A Festival Headliner Reveals a Serious Historical Error

Get Lit! Programs tries to bring to our festivals authors who have concern for the world and a desire to create a better future for underrepresented individuals. So we were pleased to find out that one of our nonfiction headliners for the 2011 festival is shedding light on a serious mistake in America's history.

Jack Hamann, a Seattle-based author, calls out for justice for a group of WWII soldiers in his 2005 book On American Soil, co-written with his wife Leslie. The book chronicles how 43 African-American soldiers stationed at Seattle’s Fort Lawton were wrongly accused and court-martialed for the lynching of Italian POW Guglielmo Olivotto in August 1944. Twenty-eight of those soldiers were dishonorably discharged.

Because of the book, in part, the U.S. Army reversed the verdict in 2007 and gave 14 of these soldiers honorable discharges; many, however, died in shame or haven’t been located. Hamann is still active in revealing the truth and pushing for the installation of educational markers at Fort Lawton so visitors will know what really happened.

At the festival, Hamann will read from and discuss On American Soil, as well as leading a workshop on writing journalistic nonfiction. Other authors, including Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner, will share their own perspectives on some of the important issues American soldiers face. We are pretty excited about it!