Del 0 - African American Experience Series

Loyalty in Time of Trial

The African American Experience During World War I

Häftad, Engelska, 2014

589 kr

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In one of the few book-length treatments of the subject, Nina Mjagkij conveys the full range of the African American experience during the "Great War.” Prior to World War I, most African Americans did not challenge the racial status quo. But nearly 370,000 black soldiers served in the military during the war, and some 400,000 black civilians migrated from the rural South to the urban North for defense jobs. Following the war, emboldened by their military service and their support of the war on the home front, African Americans were determined to fight for equality. These two factors forced America to confront the impact of segregation and racism.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2014-12-01
Mått152 x 229 x 15 mm
Vikt386 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SerieAfrican American Experience Series
Antal sidor250
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9780742570443

Tillhör följande kategorier

ChronologyIntroductionChapter 1: The Land of Jim Crow: African Americans at the Eve of World War IChapter 2: From Field to Factory: The Wartime Migration of African AmericansChapter 3: Fighting to Fight: The Struggle for Black Officers and Combat SoldiersChapter 4: Raising a Jim Crow Army: The Mobilization and Training of African American TroopsChapter 5: Over There: African American Soldiers in FranceChapter 6: Closing Ranks? African Americans on the Home FrontEpilogue: Returning to RacismDocumentsBibliographic Essay

African Americans have served in virtually every US war from the Revolution to the present. But their loyalty has not always been appreciated or rewarded. This was never more the case than during and after WW I. Historian Mjagkij (Ball State Univ.) meticulously describes the feudal world of the Jim Crow South with its sharecropping, lynching, and segregation on the eve of the war. During the war, more than 2 million African Americans reported to draft boards, and nearly 370,000 were inducted into the military. Black Americans hoped that loyalty to country and sacrifice on the battlefield would reinforce claims for equal rights once the war ended. Black soldiers served valiantly in segregated black units, but were routinely mistreated by white soldiers and subjected to atrocious conditions. African American soldiers returned home to lynchings and a wave of race riots. White supremacists such as Theodore Bilbo proclaimed 'This is strictly a white man's country,' and others insisted that the 'Negro' would have no more after the war than he had before. For African Americans, WW I was an experience of bitter betrayal. Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.