Photos: A look back at the courageous Harlem Hellfighters of WWI

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

"Give em Hell!"

Photos: A look back at the courageous Harlem Hellfighters of WWI​

The all-Black regiment were WWI heroes​

By Radhika Chalasani and Indira Babic​

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August 25, 2021, 12:46 PM​

• 15 min read​

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1:50 Congressman wants to award Congressional Gold Medal to ‘Harlem Hellfighters’​

Tom Suozzi of New York announced he's introducing a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal...​

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New York -- The 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, were the first African American regiment to serve with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. Their accomplishments and heroism stood in stark contrast to the racism and discrimination they faced on the home front. Their story has largely been overlooked in mainstream U.S. history.​

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Now, 103 years after the regiment's service in World War I, it will receive Congress' highest award, the Congressional Gold Medal. The House and Senate voted unanimously to honor the Hellfighters. President Joe Biden signed HR 3642, the “Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act,” into law on Aug. 25, 2021.​

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Library of Congress​

African American men recruited for the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, later known as...​

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In 1916, New York Gov. Charles Whitman formed the 15th New York (Colored) National Guard Regiment, which became the 369th Infantry Regiment after the U.S. entered World War I. The majority of the men were from Harlem -- in their ranks were hotel porters, mailmen and doormen. The men were the first Black soldiers in New York's National Guard.​

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The governor appointed his former campaign manager William Hayward, a white lawyer, as commander of the unit. The officers Col. Hayward appointed were mostly white due to the politics and prejudices of the time. However, among his Black recruits was James Reese Europe tapped to lead the regimental marching band. Reese joined the regiment as a lieutenant and convinced many established Black musicians to sign up.​

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When the regiment was deployed to Brest, France, the band, led by Lt. Europe, played a jazz rendition of "La Marseillaise" upon arrival on the docks to the surprise of their French audience.​

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Adoc-Photos/Getty Images​

The 369th Infantry Regiment performs during an Independence Day concert directed by conducto...​

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In October 1917 the unit was ordered to Camp Wadsworth in Spartansburg, South Carolina. The men faced harassment and abuse from the local population. Col. Hayward, worried about possible violence and tragedy, asked that they be relocated or deployed to France.​

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Prior to their deployment to Europe, they were denied permission to take part in the farewell parade for the Army's 42nd Division, known as the "Rainbow Division." Hayward was told "Black is not a color of the rainbow." It was a sign of the lack of acceptance, prejudice and discrimination Blacks faced in the military and the country at large. African Americans were considered inferior and not up for serving as soldiers. Their patriotism, intelligence and courage were questioned.​

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Continued at the link above​

 

[fncceo]

"Let's GO, Hellfighters!"

 

[Lysistrata]

Even though these guys were hated in their home country, they fought courageously for this same country. Heroes all.

 

[Asclepias]

Even though these guys were hated in their home country, they fought courageously for this same country. Heroes all.

Yeah I dont know how they did it. I cant imagine the emotions involved in fighting for a country that discriminates against me.

 

[fncceo]

It's ironic that segregated units often went on to create some of the most distinguished combat records...

10th Cavalry
332nd Fighter Group
17th Naval Construction Battalion
442nd Infantry Regiment

are but a few of the segregated units that carry regimental colors strewn with decorations.

It is the exceptional bravery of segregated units that finally convinced some backwards thinking Americans of the insanity of separating Americans on the field of battle or at home.

To all those who fell and to those who made it home ... I salute you.

 

[Lysistrata]

Yeah I dont know how they did it. I cant imagine the emotions involved in fighting for a country that discriminates against me.

It took some profound moral courage. A belief in something greater. We are living in just such a moment.

I am a female whose father's folks came from Ireland and my mother's parents came from eastern Europe and did not speak English well. When I got a birthday card from my under five-foot Nana it meant something. She sent her sons off to war in WWII. She sent the socks and the goodies. One of her sons drove a tank in North Africa and later at Anzio. My mother ran down Town Path every day to get the quinine when one of her brothers got shipped home with malaria.

I think that was my Nana who taught me to be an American,. Little woman. Big American Heart.

 

[Godboy]

"Give em Hell!"

Some fucking moron wants to give all these guys a Medal of Honor? That isnt how the MoH works. What a stupid stupid person.

 

[whitehall]

FDR was president but discrimination in the military was a fact of life. The Harlem Hellfighters and the Tuskeegee Airmen seem to be celebrated more for overcoming systemic (democrat party) racism rather than actually accomplishing any significant victories.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Half the posts in this thread had nothing to do with the OP. If you aren't here to discuss the topic move on.

 

[DudleySmith]

Or maybe in real life, outside of commie propaganda and assorted modernist fashion victims' whitey hating bigotry, many people preferred self-segregating and life back then just wasn't nearly the Dystopian hellhole it's has been portrayed to be by the likes of PBS specials and racist blacks and other 'minorities' and the usual mentally ill pseudo-intellectuals infesting college faculties. According to the whiners and whitey hating racists, all the 'minorities' should all be dead now from all the genocides n stuff and shouldn't be around now to constantly snivel and use whitey as excuses for their own cultural failures and personal problems by the 10's of millions today.

 

[DudleySmith]

FDR was president but discrimination in the military was a fact of life. The Harlem Hellfighters and the Tuskeegee Airmen seem to be celebrated more for overcoming systemic (democrat party) racism rather than actually accomplishing any significant victories.

Oh nonsense; blacks and Chinese and other minorities invented everything and won all the wars and built everything. All Whitey did was drink and lynch people.

 

[fncceo]

10th Cav Buffalo Soldiers ... together with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders (1st USVC)... went up San Juan Hill together... in the consummate battle of the Spanish American War 1899.

 

[IM2]

FDR was president but discrimination in the military was a fact of life. The Harlem Hellfighters and the Tuskeegee Airmen seem to be celebrated more for overcoming systemic (democrat party) racism rather than actually accomplishing any significant victories.

You best check the record son. And systemic racism is bi partisan.

All Rise!

Todays lesson

Republican Herbert Hoover's Betrayal of Black Republicans was the beginning of Blacks turning to the Democratic Party. (1,000th edition)

During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Walter White, then the president of the NAACP visited the Mississippi delta. When he returned to New York he had some very choice words for the conditions he saw that blacks had to endure. Whites report caught the attention of the Secretary of Commerce who was a guy named Herbert Hoover. Hoover was responsible for flood relief. So after the NAACP roasted the government, Hoover, who was thinking about a presidential run, was told by advisors to find prominent blacks and get them involved in evaluating the condition reported by White in order address the criticism from the NAACP. So Hoover decided he needed to create a Colored Advisory Committee. This committee was appointed to investigate the NAACP’s complaints. The Colored Advisory Committee was chaired by Tuskegee Institute president Robert Moton.

The Committee visted Mississippi to investigate the situation. On December 12, 1927, The Colored Advisory Commission sent Hoover a letter with the findings from their investigation. Moton presented the findings of the commission to Hoover and advocated for immediate assistance to those most in need. Hoover asked Moton to not let information contained in the commission report be known to the public. In return for doing that, Hoover hinted to Moton that if he get elected president, Moton and his people would be part of the Hoover administration. Hoover also implied that as president he would to divide the land of planters bankrupted from the flood into African American-owned farms. Moton did as requested and kept the findings from the public.

Because of these promises, Moton made sure the Commission did not leak the full story of what they saw and were told by blacks who were suffering mightily in the Mississippi delta. Moton then pumped up the Hoover's candidacy in the African American community. Once he was elected President in 1928, Hoover caught a case of amnesia and forgot about the promises he made to Moton and the black community. To quote Ice Cube, Moton got, “fucked out of his green by a white boy with no Vaseline.” In 1932 Moton withdrew his support for Hoover and switched to the Democratic Party. His move created a historic shift as African Americans began to abandon the Republicans Party.

The racism has been bi partisan. Republicans did nothing about Jim Crow. Democrats desgregated the military, and it's just simply time you republican racists shut your mouth trying to put racism on democrats when we see it from your asses here every day.

Walter White, The Negro and the Flood, The Nation, Vol. 124, No. 3233, April 15,1927.

The Mississippi River Great Flood of 1927, Malik Simba, The Mississippi River Great Flood of 1927 •

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927-Ain’t Got No Place to Go, Laura Coyle, Published Sept. 7, 2016; updated Jan. 11, 2019, The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927

Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission, Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission | American Experience | PBS

Robert Moton's Second Report, Robert Moton's Second Report | American Experience | PBS

 

[whitehall]

You best check the record son. And systemic racism is bi partisan.

All Rise!

Todays lesson

Republican Herbert Hoover's Betrayal of Black Republicans was the beginning of Blacks turning to the Democratic Party. (1,000th edition)

During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Walter White, then the president of the NAACP visited the Mississippi delta. When he returned to New York he had some very choice words for the conditions he saw that blacks had to endure. Whites report caught the attention of the Secretary of Commerce who was a guy named Herbert Hoover. Hoover was responsible for flood relief. So after the NAACP roasted the government, Hoover, who was thinking about a presidential run, was told by advisors to find prominent blacks and get them involved in evaluating the condition reported by White in order address the criticism from the NAACP. So Hoover decided he needed to create a Colored Advisory Committee. This committee was appointed to investigate the NAACP’s complaints. The Colored Advisory Committee was chaired by Tuskegee Institute president Robert Moton.

The Committee visted Mississippi to investigate the situation. On December 12, 1927, The Colored Advisory Commission sent Hoover a letter with the findings from their investigation. Moton presented the findings of the commission to Hoover and advocated for immediate assistance to those most in need. Hoover asked Moton to not let information contained in the commission report be known to the public. In return for doing that, Hoover hinted to Moton that if he get elected president, Moton and his people would be part of the Hoover administration. Hoover also implied that as president he would to divide the land of planters bankrupted from the flood into African American-owned farms. Moton did as requested and kept the findings from the public.

Because of these promises, Moton made sure the Commission did not leak the full story of what they saw and were told by blacks who were suffering mightily in the Mississippi delta. Moton then pumped up the Hoover's candidacy in the African American community. Once he was elected President in 1928, Hoover caught a case of amnesia and forgot about the promises he made to Moton and the black community. To quote Ice Cube, Moton got, “fucked out of his green by a white boy with no Vaseline.” In 1932 Moton withdrew his support for Hoover and switched to the Democratic Party. His move created a historic shift as African Americans began to abandon the Republicans Party.

The racism has been bi partisan. Republicans did nothing about Jim Crow. Democrats desgregated the military, and it's just simply time you republican racists shut your mouth trying to put racism on democrats when we see it from your asses here every day.

Walter White, The Negro and the Flood, The Nation, Vol. 124, No. 3233, April 15,1927.

The Mississippi River Great Flood of 1927, Malik Simba, The Mississippi River Great Flood of 1927 •

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927-Ain’t Got No Place to Go, Laura Coyle, Published Sept. 7, 2016; updated Jan. 11, 2019, The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927

Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission, Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission | American Experience | PBS

Robert Moton's Second Report, Robert Moton's Second Report | American Experience | PBS

FDR's defense is that the previous republican president was worse than he was? Bad defense.