Last Of The Conquerors facts for kids

Last of the Conquerors is a 1948 novel by African-American novelist William Gardner Smith. It concerns African-American GI's serving in United States occupied Germany after World War II. The protagonist, Hayes Dawkins, falls in love with Ilse, a white German woman. He and Ilse fight against racist Army officers and policies to sustain a relationship that some white soldiers condemn (although there are also many friendly whites who help them).

Last of the Conquerors shows post-Nazi Germany as more racially tolerant than the United States. While this may or may not be correct, Smith's novel gives an opinion of the Marshall Plan claiming that American society should be a model for the world, while African-Americans continued to deal with racism.