Decoding the Devil
Winner of the National Endowment for the Humanities 2024 Public Scholar Award.
Decoding the Devil tells the shocking true story of four women in segregated codebreaking units in the National Intelligence Agency during World War II and the Cold War.
Naomi, a Purdue University graduate, and Ethel, a German-language expert, joined the war effort as part of a racial hiring quota in 1941. Their unit broke Japanese codes and discovered the secrets of Nazi trade relations.
Iris, a school teacher from Texas, joined the Agency’s Russian Plaintext Unit in 1951 to counter the growing threat of Soviet nuclear war. A top-secret operation, the all-Black unit worked under armed guard to decode intercepted Soviet messages and find the location of nuclear sites.
Minnie, a graduate of the Philadelphia Girls School, broke the color barrier in 1953 to become an expert on Chinese intelligence and a cybersecurity pioneer.
Decoding the Devil highlights these women’s critical contribution to national security in the early civil rights era and promises to captivate readers with its fresh perspective on this pivotal moment in American history.
―Liza Mundy, author of Code of Girls and The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
“I am excited about this project. It is long overdue.”
“As a black cryptologist on submarines for 10 years, I was often unable to reconcile the contradictions of my race, cryptology, and the U.S Military. Nobody talked about the black cryptologists. I run a veterans writers workshop. I told them about the book, and it inspired them.”
― Steven Dunn, author of Water & Power
What Readers Are Saying…
“This book is MUST READ.”
“One of the book’s greatest strengths is its focus on individuals who have received little recognition despite their significant contributions to national security. Valentine highlights the experience of highly educated Black women who worked under difficult conditions, facing racial segregation, wage disparities, and limited opportunities even while performing critical intelligence work.”
“Fascinating, eye opening, and deeply important.”
“Sarah Valentine uncovers the extraordinary story of two segregated African American codebreaking units whose work played a vital role in U.S. intelligence operations during World War II and the early Cold War. By bringing together military history, intelligence studies, and civil rights history, she reveals a chapter of American history that deserves far greater recognition.”
“Revelatory”
“Readers new to Valentine’s chosen, vividly arrayed portraits of Black women willing to toil on behalf of a nation that generally scorned them, as well as those with inherent interest in the verities of their courageous work, will wish to further explore her literary offerings.”
From the Archives
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![Black and white photo of an office or classroom with women working at desks, a man in a suit standing, and maps on the walls. The desks are arranged in rows with papers and typewriters.]()
1944
The Commercial Code Unit. Coffee’s group was the first and only professional unit of African Americans in the Agency.
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![Two men standing in store garage with stacks of boxes and large bags filled with items.]()
1946
Salvage Dump and Supply Division. Most African Americans held service positions in the Agency until the late 1950s.
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![Black and white photo of a large, multi-story industrial building with a tall chimney in the background, power lines, a sidewalk, and leafless trees in the foreground.]()
1948
Building A, Arlington Hall Station. There are no official photos of the Russian Plaintext Unit, and their work remains classified.
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![A black and white photo of diverse people sitting inside a bus, some wearing mid-20th century clothing and hats, with advertisements on the bus windows.]()
1954
Bus Trip, Arlington Hall Station. The Army was officially desegregated in 1948, but racial tensions remained.
