Jefferson Wiggins is an author, educator, lecturer, mentor and community leader. Born in rural Alabama to sharecropper parents, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a teenager and received a field commission during World War II. He was one of the few black officers of that era.
Despite a high enlistment rate in the U.S. Army, African Americans were not treated equally. Racial tensions existed. At parades, church services, in transportation and canteens the races were kept separate. Most black units were given non-combat support tasks to help the white combat troops.
Jeff is the only surviving member of his all black unit, which had the task of digging 28,000 graves for fallen soldiers in the fields of Margraten, a small town in the Netherlands. Jeff describes this experience as the most difficult thing he has ever done in his life.
Jeff has since left the army to become an accomplished teacher and author. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Briarwood College in Southington, Connecticut. In 2001, he was named Connecticut Multicultural Educator of the Year. He is founder of the Wiggins Institute for Social Integrity and co-author , with Laura Stegmaier-Pettinato, of Hearts of Believers, the screenplay adaptation of his memoir; Another Generation Almost Forgotten.