When the United States entered World War I in 1917, thousands of
African-American men volunteered to fight for a country that granted
them only limited civil rights. Many from New York City joined the 15th
N.Y. Infantry, a National Guard regiment later designated the 369th U.S.
Infantry. Led by mostly inexperienced white and black officers, these
men not only received little instruction at their training camp in South
Carolina but were frequent victims of racial harassment from both
civilians and their white comrades. Once in France, they initially
served as laborers, all while chafing to prove their worth as American
soldiers.
Then they got their chance. The 369th became one of the few U.S. units
that American commanding general John J. Pershing agreed to let serve
under French command. Donning French uniforms and taking up French
rifles, the men of the 369th fought valiantly alongside French Moroccans
and held one of the widest sectors on the Western Front. The entire
regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the French government's
highest military honor. Stephen L. Harris's accounts of the valor of a
number of individual soldiers make for exciting reading, especially that
of Henry Johnson, who defended himself against an entire German squad
with a large knife. After reading this book, you will know why the
Germans feared the black men of the 369th and why the French called them
"hell fighters."
