Racial Integration of the Armed Forces

Race, the World Wars, and the Early Cold War

During World War I, the U.S. armed forces initially sought to avoid relying on black manpower. Later, however, they shunted African Americans into support roles without regard to their qualifications; toward the end of the war small numbers of African Americans were permitted to take part in combat under the American flag through the poorly staffed, poorly trained, and poorly equipped all-black 92nd Division. Four black National Guard regiments assigned to the 93rd Division (provisional) fought ably within more receptive French infantry divisions. Some 380,000 African Americans ultimately entered the U.S. armed forces in World War I. They accounted for 9 percent of the Army and 8.15 percent of the American Expeditionary Force, but just 2.87 percent of the Army's combat strength. The artillery, the aviation corps, and the Navy remained almost entirely off-limits to African Americans. The majority of black volunteers and draftees, however, remained stateside. Under the “Work or Fight” laws that were enacted across much of the South in 1918, many were put to work as manual laborers on large plantations to alleviate labor shortages. For Sec. of War Newton Baker, the highest priority was the war effort, not meeting the demands of racial justice.

After the Armistice, the racism that had earlier been part of the normal order in the American military returned with a vengeance. While the black troops of the 92nd and 93rd Divisions awaited their return home, at the request of the Army, segregationist (“Jim Crow”) rules were imposed all over France. As the military downsized, the Army pursued every available means to limit the enlistment of blacks, shrink the size of the legally mandated black regiments, and consign those forces to demeaning duties. As late as 1940, a time when African Americans were nearly 10 percent of the population, blacks accounted for less than 2 percent of the ranks and an infinitesimal proportion of the officer corps.

...