Harlem hellfighters which had the distinction of

The U. But a different kind of violence soon spread—at home, most notably in East St. Louis, where, on July 2, , the rumor that a black man had killed a white man resulted in the murder of nine whites and hundreds of blacks, not to mention half a million dollars in property damage.

On August 23, , black soldiers in the 24th Infantry garrisoned in Houston revolted when one of their comrades was beaten and arrested by two white police officers after he tried to stop them from arresting a black woman. Quickly, rumors flew that a white mob was approaching the camp, which, whether true or not, prompted the black troops to scour the camp for ammunition under the notion that the best defense is a good offense.

Marching through the rain to Houston, they killed 15 people, including four policemen and a member of the Illinois National Guard. Two of the black soldiers died in the fighting, one shooting himself in the head rather than risking capture. Of the , blacks who served in World War I, , shipped out overseas, but even in the theater of war, few saw combat. Most suffered through backbreaking labor in noncombat service units as part of the Services of Supply.

Lentz-Smith puts the number of combat troops at 42,, only 11 percent of all blacks in the army. For the first of the two black combat divisions, the 92nd, the Great War was a nightmare. During the war, the Harlem Hellfighters spent more time in continuous combat than any other American unit of its size, with days in the front-line trenches.

They also suffered more losses than any other American regiment, with more than 1, total casualties. The extraordinary courage of the Harlem Hellfighters earned them fame in Europe and America, as newspapers recounted their remarkable feats.

After the war, the French government awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre medal to members of the regiment, as well as a Croix de Guerre citation to the unit as a whole. Some members of the Harlem Hellfighters received military awards from the U. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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Rather, the Modern War Institute provides a forum for professionals to share opinions and cultivate ideas. Baltimore: Penguin Books, Inc. Consider the Source: Historical Records in the Classroom.

The New York State Archives. This book includes a letter from one of the officers of the th Infantry. Crew, Spencer R. Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, Europe, James Reese. James R. Europe's th Hell Fighters' Band. Lawrence, Jacob. The Migration Series. Edited by Elizabeth Hutton Turner. Washington, DC: Rappahannock Press, Nalty, Bernard C. New York: The Free Press, New York's famous th regiment arrives home from France Click to Enlarge.