The American Expeditionary Forces was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front during World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of then-Major General John J. Pershing. It fought alongside French Army, British Army, Canadian Army, New Zealand Army and Australian Army units against the Imperial German Army. A small number of A. E. F. troops also fought alongside Italian Army units in 1918 against the Austro-Hungarian Army. The A. E. F. helped the French Army on the Western Front during the Aisne Offensive in the summer of 1918, and fought its major actions in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the latter part of 1918.
The 369th Infantry Regiment, originally formed as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment before being re-organized as the 369th upon federalization and commonly referred to as the Harlem Hellfighters, was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I and World War II. The regiment consisted mainly of African Americans, though it also included men from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guyana, Liberia, Portugal, Canada, the West Indies, as well as American white officers. With the 370th Infantry Regiment, it was known for being one of the first African-American regiments to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I.
Noble Lee Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry".
The 93rd Infantry Division was a "colored" segregated unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. However, in World War I only its four infantry regiments, two brigade headquarters, and a provisional division headquarters were organized, and the divisional and brigade headquarters were demobilized in May 1918. Its regiments fought primarily under French command in that war. During tough combat in France, they soon acquired from the French the nickname Blue Helmets, as these units were issued horizon blue French Adrian helmets. This referred to the service of several of its units with the French Army during the Second Battle of the Marne. Consequently, its shoulder patch became a blue French helmet, to commemorate its service with the French Army during the German spring offensive.
Horace Pippin was a self-taught American artist who painted a range of themes, including scenes inspired by his service in World War I, landscapes, portraits, and biblical subjects. Some of his best-known works address the U.S.'s history of slavery and racial segregation. He was the first Black artist to be the subject of a monograph, Selden Rodman's Horace Pippin, A Negro Painter in America (1947), and the New York Times eulogized him as the "most important Negro painter" in American history. He is buried at Chestnut Grove Cemetery Annex in West Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania State historical Marker at 327 Gay Street, West Chester, Pennsylvania identifies his home at the time of his death and commemorates his accomplishments.
Hubert Henry Harrison was a West Indian-American writer, orator, educator, critic, race and class conscious political activist, and radical internationalist based in Harlem, New York. He was described by activist A. Philip Randolph as "the father of Harlem radicalism" and by the historian Joel Augustus Rogers as "the foremost Afro-American intellect of his time." John G. Jackson of American Atheists described him as "The Black Socrates".
Maximillian Michael Brooks is an American actor and author. He is the son of comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He is a senior fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, New York.
William Henry Johnson, commonly known as Henry Johnson, was a United States Army soldier who performed heroically in the first African American unit of the United States Army to engage in combat in World War I. On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while suffering 21 wounds, in an action that was brought to the nation's attention by coverage in the New York World and The Saturday Evening Post later that year. On June 2, 2015, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House.
The military history of African Americans spans from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. In every war fought by or within the United States, African Americans participated, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
"New Negro" is a term popularized during the Harlem Renaissance implying a more outspoken advocacy of dignity and a refusal to submit quietly to the practices and laws of Jim Crow racial segregation. The term "New Negro" was made popular by Alain LeRoy Locke in his anthology The New Negro.
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after The New Negro, a 1925 anthology edited by Alain Locke. The movement also included the new African-American cultural expressions across the urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by a renewed militancy in the general struggle for civil rights, combined with the Great Migration of African-American workers fleeing the racist conditions of the Jim Crow Deep South, as Harlem was the final destination of the largest number of those who migrated north.
805th Pioneer Infantry was an all-African American infantry regiment of the United States Army during World War I. The 805th contained black soldiers from the state of Mississippi. The regiment landed in France in July 1918 and served in Europe until July 1919; the division saw 39 days of action.
Maffrécourt is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.
William Miles was an American filmmaker. Born in Harlem, New York, he used his deep knowledge and experience of that iconic neighborhood to produce films that tell unique and often inspiring stories of Harlem's history. Based at Thirteen/WNET in New York City, William Miles produced many films dedicated to the African-American experience that have been broadcast nationwide.
The 369th Regiment Armory is a historic National Guard Armory building located at 2366 Fifth Avenue, between West 142nd and 143rd Streets, in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It was built for the 369th Regiment, also known as the "Harlem Hell Fighters", founded in 1913 as the first National Guard unit in New York State composed solely of African-Americans. It later became home to the 369th Sustainment Brigade.
The Harlem Hellfighters is a graphic novel written by author Max Brooks with illustrations done by Caanan White. It is a fictionalized account of the experiences of the largely African American 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the "Hell-fighters" by German soldiers, during the First World War.
Jeffrey Thomas Sammons is an American historian and professor. His areas of research and interest include African-American history, military history, and sports history. He is the author of Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society and co-author of Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality. He is currently a professor of history at New York University (NYU).
Dr. John Howard Morrow Jr., Ph.D., is an American historian. As of 2022, Morrow is an Emeritus Professor at University of Georgia. From 1988 to 2022, he was the Franklin Professor and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the history of Modern Europe and of warfare and society at the University of Georgia. His expertise included Modern European history, war and diplomacy, World War I, and world history. Morrow is the author of several books. His most recent publication is Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality, which he co-authored with Dr. Jeffrey T. Sammons.
Susan Elizabeth Frazier was a thought leader on the issues of women's and African Americans' rights and capacity. She was an active and accomplished substitute teacher in New York City Public Schools at a time when such opportunities for African American women were very limited.
Camp Wadsworth was a World War I-era training facility for the United States Army. Located near Spartanburg, South Carolina, the post was in operation from its opening in July 1917 until it was inactivated in March 1919, following the Armistice that ended the war.
