The Forgotten African-American Regiments of World War 1

Over 380,000 African-American troops served in World War One according to the US National Archives. Here, Chris Fray looks at the role the Black Americans played in the war in the context of the time.

The ‘Hellfighters’ - Soldiers of the 369th (15th N.Y.), 1919. They were awarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action.

Most African-American troops were deployed to labor divisions within the US providing manual labor for the war effort.[1] Even the Black soldiers who were deployed to France were first put to work unloading supplies from ships, joining the supply troops known as ‘Stevedores.’ These battalions did not fight but aided by building bridges, repairing roads and ensuring the fighting troops were constantly supplied.

The uncomfortable truth of the matter is that the US high command were unsure whether White US troops would mix with Black troops and fight alongside them. Although slavery had been abolished in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, over half a decade later the rights of Black Americans had progressed very little. Attacks and racial violence were common, especially in the Southern states. At this time, US society was fully segregated and would remain so until 1948. The concept of ‘separate but equal’ had been adopted across the country, prohibiting Blacks to use White facilities such as bathrooms, schools and railcars by Law.

At the time when war broke out, thousands of Black-Americans were moving from the country to industrial centers in what is known as the Great Migration.[2] As the US economy grew, many more opportunities became available in cities, especially with labor shortages due to the War. Organizations such as the NAACP were formed, campaigning for the advancement of Black people, consolidating more confidence and power than before. One of the first mass protests in US history took place on the eve of the First World War in 1917, New York, known as The Silent Parade. Led by NAACP, 10,000 African Americans marched down 5th Avenue, New York in protest to a recent racist attack in East St. Louis where perhaps up to 200 African Americans were killed and 6,000 were made homeless due to racially motivated arson.[3] With this new Black organization came increased resentment and anxiety from Whites and especially the Police, leading to more and more violence.

Action in the war

Although very few in comparison to White soldiers, there were a number of African-Americans who did see action in the First World War. The most celebrated were the 15th New York “colored” Infantry Regiment, renamed US 369thInfantry Regiment but also, and much more dramatically known as the ‘Harlem Hellfighters.’ Harlem was home to 50,000 of the 60,000 African-Americans living in New York’s Manhatten in the 1910s.[4] After deciding that Regiments were better led and filled by soldiers of the same race, the 369th Infantry were assigned by the US army to the French army who, as a body were much more open to integration in their forces. French colonial troops had been integrated into the French army for decades.

The ‘Hellfighters’ quickly became renowned for their bravery and ferocity on the battlefield, in particular by the German troops they were fighting- who originally coined the term ‘Hellfighters.’ Their motto, “Don't Tread On Me, God Damn, Let's Go," sums up their determination and resilience very well. It was their resilience which they became famous for- The 369th Regiment spent more time in continual combat than any other US division of its size, with a staggering 191 days in the front line trenches.[5] One particular episode on 15th May 1918 shows the fortitude and strength of the soldiers of the Regiment. When on watch duty, Private Henry Johnson and Private Needham Robert’s position was attacked by German troops. The two soldiers fought off 12 Germans in brutal hand to hand combat, saving the position but Johnson receiving 21 wounds in the fight.[6] After the war, the Regiment as a whole were awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Army and returned to America as heroes.

Legacy

The irony of fighting for freedom abroad when you don’t have the benefit of it at home, can’t have been lost on these soldiers. However the success and bravery of the ‘Harlem Hellfighters’ saw the first serious calls for desegregation of the US army. Although desegregation was not signed until 1948 by President Harry Truman, the ‘Hellfighters’ paved an important way for recognition and opportunity for Black soldiers to come.

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[1] US Department of Defense - https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/1429624/african-american-troops-fought-to-fight-in-world-war-i/#:~:text=More%20than%20380%2C000%20African%2DAmericans,to%20labor%20and%20stevedore%20battalions.

[2] US Library of Congress - https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html

[3] https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/1917NAACPSilentProtestParade

[4] Smithsonian Magazine - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/one-hundred-years-ago-harlem-hellfighters-bravely-led-us-wwi-180968977/

[5] National Museum of African American History & Culture - https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/remembering-harlem-hellfighters#:~:text=Some%20members%20of%20the%20Harlem,to%20the%20369th%20Infantry%20Regiment.

[6] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Harlem-Hellfighters

America’s Long Lasting Legacy from World War One

World War One was notable for so many reasons. From understanding the current state of Eastern Europe to sewing the seeds of the Second World War, or understanding the falls of both the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia. The war also influenced the way the U.S. conducts foreign policy. Alan Cunningham gives his view.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson returning to America after the Versailles Peace Conference in July 1919.

American involvement in the First World War resulted from both the German Empire’s targeting of American ships via unrestricted submarine warfare and the sending of the Zimmermann telegram from Germany to Mexico. Wilson had the capability to claim that the U.S. was under threat from attack and did so, eventually contributing to the Western European war effort significantly and assisting in bringing the war to an end. From a strategic standpoint, Wilson’s overall stated goal was peace - he wanted the world to have the same ideals and beliefs that the United States itself had, or claimed to have. He repeatedly tried to broker a peace agreement between the warring factions.

I would argue that the most important result of U.S. intervention into the First World War was the retreat back into isolationism. Prior to WWI, the U.S. had been largely keeping to itself, largely engaging in domestic matters, and externally when the country was threatened (or perceived to be threatened) by a foreign nation within its sphere of influence. From the end of the Civil War to the First World War, the United States was becoming more involved in the global scene (with the taking of, what were essentially colonies, in the Philippines and Cuba in the Spanish-American War and multiple interventions in Mexico and Latin America). Despite this, the American public and political leaders retreated inward and left the global scene, instead focusing on “internal growth and development” by increasing tariffs, “that were enacted to restrict the influx of imported goods, thereby increasing domestic production”. While this was the initial motivation factor throughout the 1920s, the later collapse of the U.S. (and global) economy from 1929 further ingrained the idea that the U.S. should focus on domestic issues. The fact that congressional inquiries and anti-war books (USMC Gen. Smedley Butler’s War is a Racket among them) discussed wartime profiteering also put off many Americans on going to war for corporate desires.

Lack of commitment to the League of Nations

While these are certainly legitimate concerns for not going to war or becoming involved in the global stage, it is also possible that, had the U.S. been more committed to the League of Nations in the 1920s and 1930s, a stronger, global force may have been created that could have prevented Hitler’s rise to power, the rise of Fascism in Europe, and minimized the effect of the global economic depression of the 1930s.

David Carlin, a graduate of Williams College and a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, wrote in an article on the Second World War that, “Poor Western leadership allowed the Nazi menace to grow to monstrous proportions. This catastrophic failure in leadership offers important lessons for decision-makers today… [in 1935] given the early stage of Germany’s military preparations, Western pressure could have easily neutralized the military threat. Failing to act when the stakes were low was the West’s first mistake.” Having a strong, global power like the League of Nations, with support from the largest and strongest nations in the world could have assisted in many problems that arose from the Treaty of Versailles and the ending of the First World War.

The First World War, while highly important, is not discussed or remembered enough in the United States today. I hardly recall learning anything substantial about the conflict in my high school and even some college history courses; for the most part, it was summed up as an international conflict in which the U.S. entered late and won the war.

Yet, the global conflict has had a long-lasting and important impact upon the U.S. in more ways than one. One of the biggest impacts in the United States was the fact that women were able to play much more of a role in society and this eventually helped to pave the way for voting rights. David Smith, a correspondent for The Guardian, has also said that, “The war was a catalyst for the great migration of African Americans, and those who returned from the war, finding inequality intact, demanded civil rights. In addition, the conflict heralded the rise of conscription, mass propaganda, the national security state and the FBI. It accelerated income tax and urbanisation and helped make America the pre-eminent economic and military power in the world”. Not only this, but medical advancements and improvements, such as, “…screening for tuberculosis, treatment for tetanus, vaccines for typhoid, prevention of venereal disease and disinfection for surgery” came about during and in the aftermath of the war.

Without doubt, many economic, social and cultural achievements and advancements came about from World War I. The First World War’s greatest and most long-lasting impact upon the world has been in the way the United States defines itself and the role the country should have in global politics and affairs.

The impacts

The United States has often desired not to focus on foreign matters, but to look inwardly at domestic issues. This struggle is illuminated very well by the aftermath of World War One, in which the U.S. kept out of the League of Nations and retreated to focus on the economy and social issues, more domestic issues. This is the most important and long lasting effect as the U.S. still, as a country, has not been able to decide its place in the world. The desire of the public to focus on internal issues (such as the 2008 banking crisis) instead of the U.S. intervention in the Middle East (combined with the unclear strategies, controversies around COIN (Counterinsurgency), and the problem of trying to fight global terrorist groups) is a more recent example of this. The 2016 Presidential election of Donald Trump, a blatantly isolationist figure, also shows how many Americans desire not to be involved in foreign matters and become a “strong, isolationist” power.

This, in my view, is why the way in which the U.S. conducts foreign policy measures and engages in the world around them is one of the largest and longest-lasting impacts of the First World War.

What do you think of the influence of World War One on America? Let us know below.