Since the first Africans were brought as slaves to the British colony of Jamestown, Va.

in
1619, blacks had suffered oppression in the United States first under the American
slavery system, and then under the rigid practices of segregation and discrimination that
were codified under the “Jim Crow Laws.” With the entry of the United States into the
Great War in 1917, African Americans were eager to show their patriotism in hopes of
being recognized as full citizens. After the declaration of war, more than 20,000 blacks
enlisted in the military, and the numbers increased when the Selective Service Act was
enacted in May 1917. It was documented on July 5, 1917 that over 700,000 African
Americans had registered for military service. However, they were barred from the
Marines and served only in menial roles in the Navy. Blacks were able to serve in all
branches of the Army except for the aviation units.

The government made no provision for military training of black officers and soon
created segregated training camps for that purpose. Disheartened, blacks protested
against this discriminatory practice. Despite the outcry, Fort Des Moines in Iowa became
one of the segregated camps and in October 1917 over 600 blacks were commissioned
at the camp as captains and lieutenants.

African-American soldiers provided much support overseas to the European Allies.

Those in black units who served as laborers, stevedores and in engineer service
battalions were the first to arrive in France in 1917, and in early 1918, the 369th United
States Infantry, a regiment of African-American combat troops, arrived to help the
French Army. Earning the reputation from the Germans as “Hell Fighters,” the 369th was
nicknamed the“Harlem Hell Fighters” because the regiment “never lost a man through
capture, lost a trench or a foot of ground to the enemy.” The 369th was also the first to
reach the Rhine River and provided the longest service of any regiment in a foreign
army. They fought in the trenches for 191 days and the entire regiment received the
Croix de Guerre medal for their actions at Maison-en-Champagne.

A Black Delawarean at
War: One Soldier's
Experience
William Henry Furrowh of Wilmington was drafted into the U.S. Army on Aug. 1, 1918.
Like so many African Americans who served during World War I, he was assigned to a
segregated labor unit in the American Expeditionary Forces that had joined the British
and French troops along the Western Front in France. To record his military experiences,
Furrowh wrote brief notations in his diary. His unit sailed for France on Sept. 20, 1918
from the military port in Hoboken, N.J., and arrived in Brest, France on Oct. 1, 1918. He
noted that one of his first duties with the Depot Labor Company #23 was to unload flour
at the Navy yard.

While serving in France, Furrowh dealt with his feelings of homesickness by writing and
sending postcards to his mother, relatives and friends. On special occasions and
birthdays, he also mailed beautiful, silk-embroidered greeting cards of a type sold to
soldiers. He traveled to several other towns before starting his new military duty on Nov.
2, 1918 at the American ordnance repair shop in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, located in central
France. Furrowh’s skilled vocation in the Army was as a pipefitter. After 11 months of
service, he returned to the United States and received an honorable discharge at Camp
Dix, N.J. on July 24, 1919. In August 1919, he was issued a bronze victory lapel-button
for his service.

Black Medical Officers

Virtually unknown today is the story of 104 African-American medical doctors who
volunteered to serve during World War I. They were assigned to care for the wounded
and sick in the all-black units of the 92nd and 93rd divisions. Most of these men
graduated from the three black colleges that specialized in the training of medical
professions: Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., Howard University College of
Medicine in Washington, D.C. and the Leonard Medical School at Shaw University in
Raleigh, N.C.
To prepare for their military service, the doctors completed training at the segregated
Medical Officers Training Camp at Fort Des Moines in Iowa. Training started in August
1917 and the doctors learned sanitation procedures, camp infirmary work and military
medical procedures for combat zones. This rigorous training program was attended by
118 doctors, but only 104 successfully completed the courses to the satisfaction of the
Army.

For military service in France, eight doctors were selected out of the 104 African-
American medical officers to complete additional medical training at Camp Mead, Md.
They left for France in May 1918 and supported the black troops in field hospitals and
field artillery.

The Leonard Medical School produced 13 volunteer doctors who served during World
War I. One was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross: First Lieutenant
Urbane Francis Bass, class of 1906. Under heavy German fire, the Richmond, Va. native
made the ultimate sacrifice while aiding wounded soldiers of the 93rd Division’s all-black
372nd Infantry Regiment near Monthois, France.

To learn more about these 104 servicemen, see “Suggested Reading,” below.

Delaware's Poet &

Activist: Alice Dunbar-
Nelson
Delaware poet and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson and her third husband, Robert J.
Nelson, became well known in 1916 for their civil rights activities in Wilmington. During
the Great War, Dunbar-Nelson helped to promote the military service of black soldiers
through her work as a field representative of the Women's Committee of the Council of
National Defense in 1918. She also used her literary talents to write the play Mine Eyes
Have Seen, published in the April 1918 edition of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People’s news magazine, The Crisis. In the play, she discussed
the deep sacrifice of African-American men in World War I who were drafted to serve in
the midst of discriminatory conditions.

“I'm no slacker when I hear the real call of duty. Shall I desert the cause that needs
me? ...”

Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Mine Eyes Have Seen, 1918

Aftermath of World
War I for African
Americans

African Americans used the Great War to show their patriotism and to prove they could
contribute to the protection and advancement of the country. The National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People encouraged this spirit of Americanism to
counteract racial tension and stereotypes. Because of their valorous service in protecting
democracy in Europe, African-American service men began to expect more equality in
wages and job opportunities when they returned home. This ideology of advocating for
social change and greater respect from white Americans, known as the New Negro
Movement, was supported by African-American leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, and
publicized by black newspapers. Founded in 1917 by Hubert Henry Harrison, a writer,
educator and political activist from the West Indies, the movement attracted black
writers, poets and activists to openly voice the need for equality.
The New Negro Movement also brought increased social fears and racial tension that
erupted in the Red Summer of 1919. Some 25 race riots were reported throughout the
country. With the end of slavery and the promises of advancement for African
Americans, it was believed at the beginning of the 20th century that white and black
people could live in harmony and receive the same opportunities. Reactions after the
end of World War I proved the United States had a long way to go in race relations.

African Americans realized they would have to fight for racial equality on all fronts.
Racism was even experienced in the suffrage movement when African-American women
like Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Alice Dunbar-Nelson supported the need for women’s
voting rights. During an organized women’s suffrage march in 1913, the organizers of
the National American Woman Suffrage Association asked black women to march
separately. Although the 19th amendment was passed to grant the vote to women, it
was not until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s that African-American
women could exercise this right without discrimination.