African Americans In World War One
Initially, when World War One started, the US was involved in it. However, the African Americans saw the war as an opportunity to win respect in the society that was segregated and treated the African Americans as second class citizens. The African Americans, despite their treatment, were willing to serve their nation when it became clear that the US would be entering the war. Unfortunately, even then the military was turning them away. |
In April 1917, when the US declared war against Germany, the planners at the War Department realized that their strength of soldiers was not sufficient to give the Americans a victory. Hence, on May 18th, 1917, the US Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which required all male US citizens from the age of 21 years to the age of 31 years to be drafted into the army. It is important to note that before the passing of the Act, African Americans were joining the army as a way to prove their patriotism and loyalty, so that they would get fair treatment in the country.
The US had 6 regiments of African American troops that were led by white officers. Then later on, in the year 1869, the regiments were organized into 4, namely the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and the 24th and 25th Infantry. However, once it was announced that the US would be taking part in the First World War, the War Department stopped accepting African American volunteers as the quota was filled up.
However, when the draft came into the scene, the African Americans were drafted. It was seen that though the African Americans comprised just 10 percent of the US population, 13 percent of the inductees were blacks. The US Army was discriminatory, but the extent was not as much as seen in other branches. The African Americans could not become Marines; and the Navy and Coast Guards allowed the blacks to serve just in limited and menial positions. However, by the time World War One ended, African Americans were in the cavalry, infantry, signal, medical, artillery and engineer units. In addition, they were working as intelligence officers, surveyors, chaplains, chemists and truck drivers.
Unfortunately, very few African Americans worked in combat units, as majority of them were relegated to labor battalions. The 4 African American regiments were not deployed overseas. This resulted in the African Americans protesting, which led to the War Department forming the 92nd and 93rd Divisions in the year 1917 as combat units for African Americans. With the creation of these combat units, the War Department started looking for African American officers and this led to a segregated but equal training camp for officers. Fort Des Moines became the training camp for African American officers in the year 1917 and about 1,970 blacks attended the training camp. Out of these 250 were already non commissioned officers, while the remaining were civilians. Soon after the training was over and the cadets commissioned, the Des Moines camp was shut down. Thereafter, African Americans were sent to Puerto Rico, Panama, Hawaii and the Philippines for training.
Once the African Americans soldiers were sent to Europe, they worked very hard. They were responsible for unloading ships and then transporting materials to bases, ports and railroad depots. As the war progressed, the African American labor units were given the responsibility of digging trenches, burying the dead, removing unexploded shells, clearing barbed wires and equipment that was no longer functional.
The African American combat units did not have a bond or cohesion as the men trained separately, and this would explain why the Meuse Argonne campaign did not go well for the units. While the American Army did not think much about the African American combat units, the French decorated the soldiers belonging to 365th Infantry and 350th Machine Gun Battalion for their bravery and aggressiveness.
When armistice occurred on 11th November 1918, the African American soldiers celebrated just like all other soldiers in their victory. They thought that would be greeted as heroes on returning to their country. However, this was not to be. But this did not stop the African Americans from enlisting in the military.
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