African American Soldiers in World War I
During World War I, African-American soldiers faced discrimination despite their service. Conceding that the government would not admit blacks to white training camps, the NAACP supported Joel Spingarn’s 1917 call for a segregated officers’ training camp. The War Department established a separate camp in Des Moines, Iowa, and Spingarn helped recruit the 1,250 enrollees, mostly college students or graduates. But treatment of black trainees was deplorable, and after basic training, most black servicemen were assigned to labor units. Lt. Colonel Charles Young, the highest-ranking black officer at the start of World War I, was retired under protest to prevent him having a command in Europe; the NAACP successfully fought for his reinstatement. W.E.B. Du Bois investigated the treatment of black troops in France in 1919. This issue of The Crisis is devoted to the Negro soldier and features articles about black soldiers.
During World War I, African-American soldiers faced discrimination despite their service. Conceding that the government would not admit blacks to white training camps, the NAACP supported Joel Spingarn’s 1917 call for a segregated officers’ training camp. The War Department established a separate camp in Des Moines, Iowa, and Spingarn helped recruit the 1,250 enrollees, mostly college students or graduates. But treatment of black trainees was deplorable, and after basic training, most black servicemen were assigned to labor units. Lt. Colonel Charles Young, the highest-ranking black officer at the start of World War I, was retired under protest to prevent him having a command in Europe; the NAACP successfully fought for his reinstatement. W.E.B. Du Bois investigated the treatment of black troops in France in 1919. This issue of The Crisis is devoted to the Negro soldier and features articles about black soldiers.