Adams had dropped out of graduate school in order to join the war effort in 1942 after the WAC announced they were admitting 40 black women into its first officer training program. She quickly learned that Jim Crow laws applied even in the military. On graduation day, her white colleagues were called to the stage in alphabetical order. before she was allowed to cross the stage. (Adams should have topped the list). She became the first black woman ever commissioned in the Women's Army Corps
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