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African-American Veterans Hoped Their Service in WWI Would Secure Their Rights at Home. It Didn't.

Black people emerged from the war bloodied and scarred. Still, the war marked a turning point in their struggles for freedom.

March of the Bonus Army

In 1932, twenty-thousand unemployed WWI veterans descended on Washington, DC to demand better treatment from the federal government.
A drawing of a skeletal hand erupting from the ground and separating a house with a Harris/Walz sign and a house with a Trump/Vance sign. Face masks float in the wind.

There’s a Very Specific Issue Haunting This Election. No One Is Talking About It.

You can bury it. But you can’t escape it.
A photograph of John William Boucher superimposed over a collage of newspaper headlines about him being the oldest soldier in WWI.

The 72-Year-Old Who Lied About His Age to Fight in World War I

A Civil War veteran, John William Boucher was one of the oldest men on the ground during the Great War.
Tulsa, Oklahoma on fire during the Tulsa Massacre.

How World War I Inspired Black Americans to Fight for Dignity at Home

The war marked a sea change in how black men viewed their own citizenship.
Black and white photo of Women's Overseas Service League Members
partner

"Our Best Memorial to the Dead Would be Our Service to the Living"

By learning about an overlooked cohort of women who served in World War I, we can expand our understandings of memorials beyond physical statues and monuments.
Veteran and militia during 1919 Chicago Race Riot

Rereading 'Darkwater'

W.E.B. DuBois, 100 years ago.

The Free and the Brave

A patriotic parade, a bloody brawl, and the origins of U.S. law enforcement’s war on the political left.
Men with guns in street

How Tear Gas Became a Staple of American Law Enforcement

In 1932, the “Bonus Army” of jobless veterans staged a protest in Washington, DC. The government dispersed them with tear gas.
A crowd at an Industrial Workers of the World rally in New York in 1914.
partner

Why the Massacre at Centralia 100 Years Ago is Critically Important Today

Working-class radicalism once transcended nativist division — and can do so again.

The Ghosts of Elaine, Arkansas, 1919

In America’s bloody history of racial violence, the little-known Elaine Massacre may rank as the deadliest.
Black men confront armed whites in a Chicago street.

Hundreds of Black Deaths in 1919 are Being Remembered

America in the summer of 1919 ran red with blood from racial violence, and yet today, 100 years later, not many people know it even happened.
Black men confront armed whites in a Chicago street.

‘Ready To Explode’

How a black teen’s drifting raft triggered a deadly week of riots 100 years ago in Chicago.

One Hundred Years Ago, a Four-Day Race Riot Engulfed Washingon D.C.

Rumors ran wild as white mobs assaulted black residents who in turn fought back, refusing to be intimidated.

The Mob Violence of the Red Summer

In 1919, a brutal outburst of mob violence was directed against African Americans across the United States. White, uniformed servicemen led the charge.

The St. Louis Roots of 'Make America Great Again'

The American Legion was a forerunner to today's American nationalist organizations.
Two white men stone a Black man who is lying on the ground.

1919 Race Riots in Chicago: A Look Back 100 Years Later

A century after the tragedies that shaped the nation's race relations.

How Black Philadelphians Fought for Soldiers During World War I

A brief history of the Crispus Attucks Circle, an African American relief agency.
U.S. Base hospital No. 13, Dansville, NY, with porches and awnings over open windows.

Neuro-Psychiatry and Patient Protest in First World War American Hospitals

Though their wishes were often overshadowed, soldier-patients had voices.

How Horror Changed After WWI

The war created a new world, an alternate reality distinct from what most people before 1914 expected their lives to be.

Between War and Water: Saratoga Springs and Veteran Health after the First World War

The First World War prompted the politicization of nearly all aspects of American life.
Soldiers in the 15th New York.

Retracing Du Bois’ Missteps

A historian probes the ‘tragedy’ of the famed scholar's failed WWI history.

Black and Red

The history of Black Socialism in America.

Memorial Day and Our African American Dead

Are we honoring all of our American heroes this Memorial Day?

The Tragic, Forgotten History of Black Military Veterans

The susceptibility of black ex-soldiers to extrajudicial murder and assault has long been recognized by historians.
Soldiers in the 15th New York.

Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans

Black veterans were once targeted for racialized violence because of the equality with whites that their military service implied.

War and Prosthetics: How Veterans Fought for the Perfect Artificial Limb

The needs and entrepreneurship of wounded soldiers have driven many of the most significant advances in prosthetic technology.
Rednecks by Taylor Brown.

The Battle of Blair Mountain and Stories Untold

An interview with Taylor Brown, author of the novel "Rednecks."
Picture of the book, "Cracks in the Outfield Wall," by Chris Holaday.

American Legion Baseball, Episode 1

The story of an incident that may have been the first time the issue of race was ever addressed on a baseball field in the Carolinas.
Group of African-American World War I veterans

The Meaning of ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’

“I’d assumed this practice was a manifestation of military decorum.”

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