A richly illustrated commemoration of African Americans' roles in
World War I highlighting how the wartime experience reshaped their lives
and their communities after they returned home.
This stunning book presents artifacts, medals, and photographs alongside
powerful essays that together highlight the efforts of African Americans
during World War I. As in many previous wars, black soldiers served the
United States during the war, but they were assigned to segregated units
and often relegated to labor and support duties rather than direct
combat. Indeed this was the central paradox of the war: these men and
women fought abroad to secure rights they did not yet have at home in
the States. Black veterans' work during the conflict--and the respect
they received from French allies but not their own US
military--empowered them to return home and continue the fight for those
rights. The book also presents the work of black citizens on the home
front. Together their efforts laid the groundwork for later advances in
the civil rights movement.
We Return Fighting reminds readers not only of the central role of
African American soldiers in the war that first made their country a
world power. It also reveals the way the conflict shaped African
American identity and lent fuel to their longstanding efforts to demand
full civil rights and to stake their place in the country's cultural and
political landscape.
