Fighting for Respect: African-American
Soldiers in WWI
As the people of the United States watched World War I ignite across Europe,
African American citizens saw an opportunity to win the respect of their white
neighbors. America was a segregated society and African Americans were
considered, at best, second class citizens. Yet despite that, there were many
African American men willing to serve in the nation’s military, but even as it
became apparent that the United States would enter the war in Europe, blacks
were still being turned away from military service.
by Jami Bryan, Managing Editor, On
Article originally appeared in On Point, an
Army Historical Foundation publication
When the United States declared war against Germany in April of 1917, War
Department planners quickly realized that the standing Army of 126,000 men
would not be enough to ensure victory overseas. The standard volunteer system
proved to be inadequate in raising an Army, so on 18 May 1917 Congress passed
the Selective Service Act requiring all male citizens between the ages of 21
and 31 to register for the draft. Even before the act was passed, African
American males from all over the country eagerly joined the war effort. They
viewed the conflict as an opportunity to prove their loyalty, patriotism, and
worthiness for equal treatment in the United States.
Following the Civil War, the Army disbanded volunteer “colored” regiments, and
established six Regular Army regiments of black troops with white officers. In
1869, the infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and 25th Infantry.
The two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th, were retained. These regiments
were posted in the West and Southwest where they were heavily engaged in the
Indian War. During the Spanish-American War, all four regiments saw service.
When World War I broke out, there were four all-black regiments: the 9th and
10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. The men in these units were
considered heroes in their communities. Within one week of Wilson’s declaration
of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black volunteers because the
quotas for African Americans were filled.
When it came to the draft, however, there was a reversal in usual
discriminatory policy. Draft boards were comprised entirely of white men.
Although there were no specific segregation provisions outlined in the draft
legislation, blacks were told to tear off one corner of their registration
cards so they could easily be identified and inducted separately. Now instead
of turning blacks away, the draft boards were doing all they could to bring
them into service, southern draft boards in particular. One Georgia county
exemption board discharged forty-four percent of white registrants on physical
grounds and exempted only three percent of black registrants based on the same
requirements. It was fairly common for southern postal workers to deliberately
withhold the registration cards of eligible black men and have them arrested
for being draft dodgers. African American men who owned their own farms and had
families were often drafted before single white employees of large planters.
Although comprising just ten percent of the entire United States population,
blacks supplied thirteen percent of inductees.
While still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race relations
than the other branches of the military. Blacks could not serve in the Marines,
and could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and the Coast
Guard. By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry,
infantry, signal, medical, engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving as
chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists, and intelligence officers.
Although technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks
got the opportunity to serve in combat units. Most were limited to labor
battalions. The combat elements of the U.S. Army were kept completely
segregated. The four established all-black Regular Army regiments were not used
in overseas combat roles but instead were diffused throughout American held
territory. There was such a backlash from the African American community,
however, that the War Department finally created the 92d and 93d Divisions,
both primarily black combat units, in 1917.
With the creation of African American units also came the demand for
African-American officers. The War Department thought the soldiers would be
more likely to follow men of their own color, thereby reducing the risk of any
sort of uprising. Most leaders of the African American community agreed, and it
was decided that the Army would create a segregated, but supposedly equal,
officer training camp. In May 1917, Fort Des Moines opened its doors to black
officer-trainees. Approximately 1,250 men attended the camp in Des Moines,
Two hundred fifty of those men were already noncommissioned officers, and the
rest were civilians. The average man attending the camp only had to have a high
school education, and only twelve percent scored above average in the
classification tests given by the Army.
Run by then LTC Charles C. Ballou, the fort’s staff of twelve West Point
graduates, and a few noncommissioned officers from the four original all-black
regiments put the candidates through a rigorous training routine. They
practiced drilling with and without arms, signaling, physical training,
memorizing the organization of the regiment, reading maps, and training on the
rifle and bayonet. However, as Ballou noted after the war, the men doing the
training did not take the job very seriously, and seemed to consider the
school, and the candidates, a waste of time. Consequently, the War Department
determined that the instruction at Fort Des Moines was poor and inadequate.
Also adding to the poor training was the fact that no one knew exactly what to
expect in France, so it was difficult to train as precisely as was needed.
On 15 October 1917, 639 African-American men received their commissions as
either captain or first or second lieutenant, and were assigned to infantry,
artillery, and engineer units with the 92d Division. This was to be the first
and only class to graduate from Fort Des Moines; the War Department shut it
down soon after their departure. Future black candidates attended either
special traning camps in Puerto Rico (from which 433 officers graduated), the
Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama, or regular officer training facilities in the
United States .
The Army had no written policy on what to do if an officer training camp became
integrated, so each camp was allowed to decide for itself the manner in which
the integration was executed. Some were completely segregated and others
allowed for blacks and whites to train together. Over 700 additional black
officers graduated from these camps, bringing the total number to 1,353.
Although African Americans were earning higher positions in the Army, that did
not necessarily mean they were getting equal treatment. Black draftees were
treated with extreme hostility when they arrived for training. White men
refused to salute black officers and black officers were often barred from the
officer’s clubs and quarters. The War Department rarely interceded, and
discrimination was usually overlooked or sometimes condoned. Because many
Southern civilians protested having blacks from other states inhabit nearby
training camps, the War Department stipulated that no more than one-fourth of
the trainees in any Army camp in the U.S. could be African American.
Even when integrated into fairly progressive camps, black soldiers were often
treated badly and sometimes went for long periods without proper clothing.
There were also reports of blacks receiving old Civil War uniforms and being
forced to sleep outside in pitched tents instead of warmer, sturdier barracks.
Some were forced to eat outside in the winter months, while others went without
a change of clothes for months at a time. Not all black soldiers suffered
treatment like this, however, as those who were lucky enough to train at newly
erected National Army cantonments lived in comfortable barracks and had
sanitary latrines, hot food, and plenty of clothes.
The first black troops sent overseas belonged to service units. Because the
work that these units did was absolutely invaluable to the war effort,
commanders promised special privileges in return for high-yield results. With
such motivation, the soldiers would often work for twenty-four hours straight
unloading ships and transporting men and materiel to and from various bases,
ports, and railroad depots. As the war continued and soldiers took to the
battlefields, black labor units became responsible for digging trenches,
removing unexploded shells from fields, clearing disabled equipment and barbed
wire, and burying soldiers killed in action. Despite all the hard and essential
work they provided, African American stevedores received the worst treatment of
all black troops serving in World War I.
Although not nearly as respected as any of the white soldiers involved in the
war effort, African American combat troops, in many respects, were much better
off than the laborers. The two combat divisions--the 92d and 93d Divisions--had
two completely different experiences while fighting the Great War.
The 92d Division was created in October 1917 and put under the command of BG
Charles C. Ballou, who had organized the first African American officer
candidate school. Organized in a manner similar to the other American
divisions, the 92d was made up of four infantry regiments, three field
artillery regiments, a trench mortar battery, three machine gun battalions, a
signal battalion, an engineer regiment, an engineer train, and various support
Although in no case did a black officer command a white officer, most of the
officers (up to the rank of first lieutenant) in the unit were African
American. Unlike just about every other American unit training to go into
battle, soldiers from the 92d were forced to train separately while in the
United States. The War Department, fearing racial uprisings, was willing to
sacrifice the unit’s ability to develop cohesion and pride. The lack of a
strong bond between the men was one of the factors that led to the unit’s poor
performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign.
The personal animosity between LTG Robert Bullard, commander of the American
Second Army, and BG Ballou was another problem. Bullard was not only a staunch
racist, but he also had a rivalry going with BG Ballou. In order to make both
Ballou and the black soldiers appear completely incompetent, Bullard spread
misinformation about the successes and failures of the 92d.
Even COL Allen J. Greer, Ballou’s chief of staff, was in on the plan to
sabotage the reputation of his African American unit, and helped put a negative
twist on stories from the front lines. Regardless of how well the 92d Division
actually did on the battlefield, it was virtually impossible to overcome the
slander from prejudiced officers.
Following some initial successes in Lorraine in mid-August, on 20 September
1918, the 92d was ordered to proceed to the Argonne Forest in preparation for
the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The division reached the front lines just before
the first assault. The 368th Infantry Regiment immediately received orders to
fill a gap between the American 77th Division and the French 37th Division.
However, due to their lack of training with the French, shortages of equipment,
and unfamiliarity with the terrain, the regiment did not successfully complete
this important assignment. The failure to accomplish this crucial mission
blemished the 92d’s combat record, and it was often used by military
authorities for more than thirty years to prove the inadequacy of African
American soldiers in combat.
After the disaster in the Argonne, the entire division was sent to a relatively
quiet area of the front in the Marbache sector. Their primary mission was
nevertheless a dangerous one: harass the enemy with frequent patrols. The
danger of the assignment was reflected in the 462 casualties sustained in just
the first month of patrolling. Although American commanders were dissatisfied
with the unit’s performance, the French obviously had a different opinion--they
decorated members of the 365th Infantry and 350th Machine Gun Battalion for
their aggressiveness and bravery.
By late 1918, the German Army was in full retreat, the Allied Commander in
Chief, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, wanted to apply heavy pressure for a
decisive breakthrough and defeat. The 92d was ordered to take the heights east
of Champney, France, on 10 November 1918. Although only lasting one day, the
attack was fierce and bloody, costing the division over 500 casualties.
As the 92d Division struggled to clear its reputation, the 93d Division had a
much more successful experience. Commanded by BG Roy Hoffman, the 93d Division
was also organized in December 1917. Unlike other American infantry divisions,
the 93d was limited to four infantry regiments, three of which were comprised
of National Guard units from New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Tennessee. Being made up of mostly
draftees and National Guardsmen, the 93d lacked any sort of consistency in its
experience or composition. The unit also lacked its full number of combat units
and support elements, and as a result never attained full divisional strength.
Seeming to have odds stacked against it, the 93d fared remarkably well when
faced with battle.
The situation was desperate in France, and with exhausted and dwindling armies,
the French begged the United States for men. GEN John Pershing, commander of
the American Expeditionary Force, promised them four American regiments. He
decided to give them the regiments of the 93d Division since the French, who
had used French colonial troops from Senegal, had experience in employing black
soldiers in combat. The first African American combat troops to set foot on
French soil belonged to the 93d Division. Armed, organized, and equipped as a
French unit, the 93d quickly adjusted to their new assignment. Although
experiencing some difficulties like language problems, the black soldiers were
treated as equals.
The 369th Infantry was the first regiment of the 93d Division to reach France.
They arrived in the port city of Brest in December 1917. On 10 March, after
three months of duty with the Services of Supply, the 369th received orders to
join the French 16th Division in Givry en Argonne for additional training.
After three weeks the regiment was sent to the front lines in a region just
west of the Argonne Forest. For nearly a month they held their position against
German assaults, and after only a brief break from the front, the 369th was
placed once again in the middle of the German offensive, this time at
Minacourt, France. From 18 July to 6 August 1918, the 369th Infantry, now
proudly nicknamed the “Harlem Hellfighters,” proved their tenacity once again
by helping the French 161st Division drive the Germans from their trenches
during the Aisne-Marne counter-offensive.
In this three-week period, the Germans were making many small night raids into
Allied territory. During one of these raids, a member of the 369th Infantry,
CPL Henry Johnson, fought off an entire German raiding party using only a
pistol and a knife. Killing four of the Germans and wounding many more, his
actions allowed an wounded comrade to escape capture and led to the seizure of
a stockpile of German arms. Johnson and his comrade were wounded and both
received the French Croix de Guerre for their gallantry. Johnson was also
promoted to sergeant.
From 26 September to 5 October, the 369th participated in the Meuse-Argonne
offensive, and continued to fight well throughout the remainder of the war. The
regiment fought in the front lines for a total of 191 days, five days longer
than any other regiment in the AEF. France awarded the entire unit the Croix de
Guerre, along with presenting 171 individual awards for exceptional gallantry
Although the 369th won much of the glory for the 93d Division, the 370th,
371st, and 372d Regiments, eached assigned to different French divisions, also
proved themselves worthy of acclaim at the front. The 370th fought hard in both
the Meuse-Argonne and Oise-Aisne campaigns. Seventy-one members of the regiment
received the French Croix de Guerre, and another twenty-one soldiers received
the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). Company C, 371st Infantry, earned the
Croix de Guerre with Palm. The 371st Regiment spent more than three months on
the front lines in the Verdun area, and for its extraordinary service in the
Champagne offensive, the entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre with
Palm. In addition, three of the 371st’s officers were awarded the French Legion
of Honor, 123 men won the Croix de Guerre, and twenty-six earned the DSC.
The 372d Infantry also performed admirably during the American assault in
Champagne, and afterwards assisted in the capture of Monthois. It was there the
regiment faced strong resistance and numerous counterattacks, resulting in many
instances of hand-to-hand combat. In less than two weeks of front line service,
the 372d suffered 600 casualties. The regiment earned a unit Croix de Guerre
with Palm, and in addition, forty-three officers, fourteen noncommissioned
officers, and 116 privates received either the Croix de Guerre or the DSC.
On 11 November 1918 at 1100, the armistice between the Allies and Central
Powers went into effect. Like all other American soldiers, the African American
troops reveled in celebration and took justifiable pride the great victory they
helped achieve. It was not without great cost: the 92d Division suffered 1,647
battle causualties and the 93d Division suffered 3,534. Expecting to come home
heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon their return. Back home,
many whites feared that African Americans would return demanding equality and
would try to attain it by employing their military training. As the troops
returned, there was an increase of racial tension. During the summer and fall
of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America. The
lynching of blacks also increased from fifty-eight in 1918 to seventy-seven in
1919. At least ten of those victims were war veterans, and some were lynched
while in uniform.
Despite this treatment, African American men continued to enlist in the
military, including veterans of World War I that came home to such violence and
ingratitude. They served their county in the brief period of peace after the
World War I, and many went on to fight in World War II. It was not until the
1948 that President Harry S Truman issued an executive order to desegregate the
military, although it took the Korean War to fully integrate the Army. African
Americans finally began to receive the equal treatment their predecessors had
earned in combat in France during World War I, and as far back as the American
For more reading on African American soldiers in WWI, please see: The
Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in WWI, by Arthur E. Barbeau
& Florette Henri, The Right to Fight: A History of African-Americans in
the Military, by Gerald Astor, and Soldiers of Freedom, by Kai Wri.
Written by Jami Bryan (Managing Editor of On Point)
Copyright © 2003 Jami Bryan