The four established all-black Regular Army regiments were not used in overseas combat roles but instead were diffused throughout American held territory. By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical, engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists, and intelligence officers.Īlthough technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks got the opportunity to serve in combat units. Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and the Coast Guard. While still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race relations than the other branches of the military. Although comprising just ten percent of the entire United States population, blacks supplied thirteen percent of inductees. African American men who owned their own farms and had families were often drafted before single white employees of large planters.
Wwi color machine gun registration#
It was fairly common for southern postal workers to deliberately withhold the registration cards of eligible black men and have them arrested for being draft dodgers. One Georgia county exemption board discharged forty-four percent of white registrants on physical grounds and exempted only three percent of black registrants based on the same requirements. Now instead of turning blacks away, the draft boards were doing all they could to bring them into service, southern draft boards in particular. Although there were no specific segregation provisions outlined in the draft legislation, blacks were told to tear off one corner of their registration cards so they could easily be identified and inducted separately. Draft boards were comprised entirely of white men. When it came to the draft, however, there was a reversal in usual discriminatory policy.
Within one week of Wilson’s declaration of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black volunteers because the quotas for African Americans were filled. The men in these units were considered heroes in their communities. When World War I broke out, there were four all-black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. During the Spanish-American War, all four regiments saw service. These regiments were posted in the West and Southwest where they were heavily engaged in the Indian War.
The two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th, were retained. In 1869, the infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and 25th Infantry. They viewed the conflict as an opportunity to prove their loyalty, patriotism, and worthiness for equal treatment in the United States.įollowing the Civil War, the Army disbanded volunteer “colored” regiments, and established six Regular Army regiments of black troops with white officers. Even before the act was passed, African American males from all over the country eagerly joined the war effort. The standard volunteer system proved to be inadequate in raising an Army, so on Congress passed the Selective Service Act requiring all male citizens between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for the draft. When the United States declared war against Germany in April of 1917, War Department planners quickly realized that the standing Army of 126,000 men would not be enough to ensure victory overseas. Yet despite that, there were many African American men willing to serve in the nation’s military, but even as it became apparent that the United States would enter the war in Europe, blacks were still being turned away from military service. America was a segregated society and African Americans were considered, at best, second class citizens. As the people of the United States watched World War I ignite across Europe, African American citizens saw an opportunity to win the respect of their white neighbors.
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