World War I’s greatest Harlem Hellfighter

It was two brothers vs. a Kraut platoon at night, but this 1918 lithograph botched most other details (Image Credit: PM)

A century ago, President Wilson sent U.S. forces overseas to make the world safe for democracy. Despite deep domestic divisions — including extreme economic inequality and terrible racial injustice — people of all colors rallied to the cause.

W.E.B. Du Bois and other prominent black leaders urged African Americans to serve. Black valor during the Civil War had helped win emancipation and ephemeral legal equality during Reconstruction; perhaps, then, heroic sacrifice in the Great War could make a case for full citizenship in the 20th century.

African American soldiers earned equal pay, but had to serve in segregated units commanded by white officers. In 1917, a unit of black and Puerto Rican volunteers in the New York National Guard became the 369th (Colored) Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. They trained for combat and expressed eagerness to fight upon arrival in Europe, but for the first few months, the high command — lacking confidence in the courage and competence of nonwhites on the battle field — relegated the regiment to ditch digging and other menial tasks behind the lines.

When the French begged for reinforcements, General Pershing lent them the 369th. Having already lost a million men to trench warfare against Germany, France could ill afford the luxury of racial discrimination; its shorthanded Armée literally…