Lynching in America

Red Summer: Black Soldiers Return from World War I
In the years leading up to World War I, African Americans were nearly 50 years out of
bondage but in the depths of the lynching era. In 1910, approximately 90 percent of black
Americans still lived in the South, where they faced the daily threat of injury and death at
a white person’s whim and were deprived of the security and enjoyment of full citizenship.
As a result, African Americans were divided about whether to support the war effort. The
national rhetoric declared that America was joining the war to make the world safe for
democracy, but for black Americans who were being terrorized and denied their constitutional
rights, that battle cry rang hollow.
Among African American leaders, views were split. Influential activist and labor organizer
A. Philip Randolph was not optimistic that participating in the war effort would improve
the lives of black people. African Americans had sacrificed their lives in every American
war since the Revolution, he reasoned, and they had yet to receive full citizenship. 43 In
contrast, W.E.B. Du Bois, a black sociologist and founding member of the NAACP, advised
the black community that “while the war lasts, [African Americans should] forget our special
grievances and close our ranks shoulder to shoulder with our white fellow citizens and
allied nations that are fighting for democracy.” 44 Some 380,000 African Americans heeded
Dr. Du Bois’s advice and joined the armed forces during World War I. 45
Black servicemen were established members of the American military by this time, but
few held leadership or combat positions. The majority of black soldiers were assigned to
labor and stevedore battalions that built bridges and roads and dug trenches behind the
front lines. This work was essential to the war effort, but white officials’s conscious effort
to confine them to a lesser status within the military increasingly frustrated black servicemen.
46
Due to prejudice and racism, the armed forces remained
largely opposed to placing black soldiers in combat.
While 200,000 black soldiers were sent to Europe
during World War I, only about 42,000 saw battle. 47 As
one historian observed, black soldiers “anxiously awaited
the chance to demonstrate their valor on the battlefields
. . . and to win the democracy they had so longingly
strived for.” 48 Many black soldiers who were given the
chance to fight did so heroically. Their bravery was widely
celebrated by African Americans at home, and for a moment,
by the entire nation.
During World War I,
black soldiers rarely
saw combat, and were
instead assigned to
labor and stevedore
battalions.
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