From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (African American Women Veterans in and from Kentucky)

Zagar, Joy L.

(born: 1922) 

Military Branch

Women's Army Corps

Active Duty Entered

May 15, 1943

Notes

Joy L. Zagar was married when she enlisted in the Army in Denver, CO, according to her record in the National Archives, Access to Archival Databases; and in Ancestry. Both sources also give her race as Negro and her birth location as Kentucky. It is not known at this time how Joy L. Zagar self-identified or if her noted race was an error in her military records.

Joy was the wife of Jack J. Zagar, Jr., and the couple lived in Pueblo, CO. Jack J. Zagar, Jr. is enumerated as white in the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census and in his World War II Draft Registration card and Social Security records (both in Ancestry). The couple is listed in the 1942 city directory for Pueblo. [Interracial marriages were illegal in some regions of Colorado and not illegal in other regions.]

Sources: "Coloradoans hurt on African front," The Daily Sentinel, 5/17/1943, p. 4; Pueblo (Pueblo County, Colo.) City Directory 1942, p. 393; and McMakin, Ryan, "A Study in Decentralization: Colorado's two sets of marriage laws," online at Miles Institute, 6/12/2020.

Outside Kentucky Place Name

References

Cited in this Entry

NKAA Source: National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (online)
NKAA Source: Ancestry (online)
NKAA Source: Daily sentinel (newspaper)
NKAA Source: Pueblo (Pueblo County, Colo.) city directory

Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Zagar, Joy L.,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed March 29, 2023, https://ukscrc001.net/nkaa/items/show/300004533.

Last modified: 2023-02-03 21:37:26