Present to Past
Military Service
![A real photo postcard of a group of military service men and women taken at the YMCA camp near Chambery, France, during World War I. The image depicts five women standing in a row on a lawn, with four men crouched in a row in front of them. Addie Waites Hunton is in the center of the back row; the other women and men are unidentified. In the background is a large building with a double staircased entrance. A temporary sign reading [Y.M.C.A.] has been placed on the portico at the top of the stairs. Other individuals are visible along the top and bottom of the stairs. The verso has printing reading [CARTE POSTALE] with spaces for [Correspondance] and [Adresse] and a horse and horsehead mark for the publisher Guilleminot. The postcard has not been sent, but there is an inscription across the back by hand in brown ink reading [From Sgt. Thomas, who / was on leave at colored, / Y.M.C.A. at Chamberry / France]. There is an inscription by a different hand in graphite above the [Adresse] label reading [(ALFRED JACK THOMAS)].](/static/a8a50cec61ab5e0102520bf511582008/4f091/2014_63_77_001.webp)
1914Serving During the World Wars
Fighting on Multiple Fronts
African American servicemen and women saw radical change by the mid-20th century. The military was officially desegregated by executive order in 1948. The Korean War put this new policy to the test. As Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Gragg explained, “You still had white units, and Black units . . . 90 percent of all Black units were commanded by white officers.” Despite continued discrimination, Black servicemen and servicewomen served in all combat elements and participated in all major operations, earning Medals of Honor, Purple Hearts, and Bronze Stars. The struggle for military integration paralleled the struggle for the integration of American society that would continue playing out over the ensuing decades.
Prior to 1948, the fight against European Fascism brought the contradictions of American democracy into sharp view. Some people felt African Americans should not risk their lives for a country that violated their civil rights. Others felt the war brought an opportunity to advance the fight for equality both abroad and at home. In 1942 The Pittsburgh Courier published a letter from a defense worker in Wichita, Kansas, who asked, “Should I Sacrifice to live ‘Half American'?” Referencing the popular V for Victory signs, he called for the creation of a double V for victory sign—victory over enemies without, victory over enemies within. The Courier published the Double V Campaign on February 7, 1942, and garnered widespread support for military participation and domestic activism amongst African Americans. Despite the campaign, African American soldiers in World War II, like the Tuskegee Airmen, served in a segregated military just as they had for World War I.
Most African Americans who enlisted in World War I became part of segregated non-combat supply divisions based in France, but in December 1917, the 369th Infantry regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, became the first Black combat unit in Europe. Black women also participated in war efforts in Europe, working with the YMCA in France to manage leave stations, canteens, and hostess houses for American soldiers. After the war, during the Red Summer of 1919, more than 80 African Americans were lynched, some wearing their military uniforms.