We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity - Hardcover

Nat'l Mus Afr Am Hist Culture

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1588346722 ISBN 13: 9781588346728

Publisher: Smithsonian Books, 2019

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

The SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE's mission is to provide for the collection, study, and establishment of programs and exhibitions relating to African American life, art, history, and culture. Contributors to this volume include Lonnie G. Bunch III, Lisa Budreau, Brittney Cooper, John Morrow, Krewasky Salter, Chad Williams, Jay Winter, and Joseph Zimet.

Review:

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
Starred Review. “Using photographs, images of objects, and medals, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has created a rich compilation of visual sources to present an extremely important segment of American history that needs to be preserved. An essential purchase.”
–Susan Catlett, Green Run High School, VA

About this edition

• Publisher: Smithsonian Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1588346722
• ISBN 13: 9781588346728
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Conwill Kinshasha Holman