African Americans in WWI
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, African Americans were among the first to volunteer for service. Despite facing segregation, discrimination, and limited opportunities at home, Black Americans saw the war as a chance to prove their loyalty, advance civil rights, and challenge racist assumptions. Over 350,000 Black men served in uniform, while countless others contributed on the home front through labor, activism, and community support.
Their experiences in the war—both at home and abroad—left a lasting impact. World War I did not end racism in America, but it deepened the resolve of a generation to demand equality and helped lay the foundation for the civil rights movements that followed.
Serving Abroad: Between Hope and Discrimination
The majority of Black troops in World War I served in labor battalions—units tasked with building roads, unloading ships, burying the dead, and supporting logistics far from the front lines. These assignments reflected the military’s racist belief that Black soldiers were unfit for combat. Even in war, segregation shaped how African Americans were seen and treated.
Yet some Black units did see action. The most famous were the men of the 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters. Trained in New York and made up mostly of Black enlisted men and white officers, the Hellfighters were assigned to fight under French command because the U.S. Army refused to integrate its forces. In combat, they earned a reputation for bravery and endurance, spending more time in continuous battle than any other American unit.
Among the Hellfighters was Private Henry Johnson, who became one of the war’s most decorated American soldiers. In a nighttime raid, Johnson fought off a German patrol with a rifle, then a knife, and finally his bare hands to protect his injured comrade. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by France, though the U.S. military failed to fully honor him until decades later.
James Reese Europe, the regiment’s bandleader and a pioneering Black composer, also made his mark by introducing jazz to European audiences. His music became a symbol of Black cultural pride and a reminder that African Americans were shaping not just the battlefield—but global culture.
Despite these achievements, racism followed Black soldiers even after the war. Many returned home expecting more respect, only to find that the same social barriers remained—or had hardened. In some parts of the country, Black veterans were targeted for wearing their uniforms in public, seen by some as a challenge to the racial order.
The Home Front: Labor, Migration, and Protest
While Black soldiers fought overseas, African American communities contributed on the home front in equally important ways. The war created a huge demand for industrial labor, especially in northern cities. This opened new opportunities for Black workers, many of whom left the South in what became known as the Great Migration. Between 1916 and 1919, hundreds of thousands of Black Southerners moved north, reshaping cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York.
The migration wasn’t just about jobs—it was about escaping Jim Crow laws, voting restrictions, and racial violence. In northern cities, Black Americans built new neighborhoods, churches, and institutions, planting the seeds of modern Black political and cultural life.
Organizations also played a role. In 1918, the U.S. opened its first Veterans Administration hospital for Black soldiers in Tuskegee, Alabama, recognizing (at least in part) the need to provide care to African American veterans. Activists and intellectuals used the war to call attention to injustice. W.E.B. DuBois, editor of the NAACP’s The Crisis, urged Black Americans to “close ranks” and support the war effort—but he also warned that the promise of democracy abroad meant little if it did not exist at home.
By war’s end, Black newspapers, churches, and civic groups had helped shift public debate. The experience of serving, sacrificing, and contributing without equal recognition sharpened calls for change.
War, Disillusionment, and Determination
Many African Americans returned from the war disillusioned. They had fought for democracy, but faced racial violence, exclusion, and economic discrimination in return. The summer of 1919—known as the Red Summer—was marked by racial terror, including riots and lynchings across the country. White mobs often targeted Black veterans, seeing them as symbols of defiance.
Yet this disillusionment did not lead to silence—it led to renewed activism. Veterans and civilians alike began to organize more boldly for civil rights. Organizations like the NAACP grew in membership and influence. Black writers, artists, and thinkers of the 1920s—many of whom had lived through the war—challenged racism through literature, music, and political organizing.
World War I revealed the contradictions of American democracy, but it also helped build a generation unwilling to accept inequality. In the military and on the home front, African Americans had proven their value. Now, many were ready to demand what had long been denied: full citizenship, dignity, and justice.