The Unknown Soldiers [Paperback]

Arthur E. Barbeau (Author), Florette Henri (Author), Bernard C. Nalty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1996

During World War I 370,000 African Americans labored, fought, and died to make the world safe for a democracy that refused them equal citizenship at home. The irony was made more bitter as black troops struggled with the racist policies of the American military itself. The overwhelming majority were assigned to labor companies; those selected for combat were under-trained, poorly equipped, ad commanded by white officers who insisted on black inferiority. Still, African Americans performed admirably under fire: the 369th Infantry regiment was in continuous combat loner than any other American unit, and was the first Allied regiment to cross the Rhine in the offensive against Germany.The Unknown Soldiers, the only full-scale examination of the subject, chronicles the rigid segregation; the limited opportunities for advancement; the inadequate training, food, medical attention, housing, and clothing; the verbal harassment and physical abuse, including lynchings; the ingratitude, unemployment, and unprecedented racial violence that greeted their return. The Unknown Soldiers is an unforgettable, searing study of those wartime experiences that forced African Americans to realize that equality and justice could never be earned in Jim Crow America, but only wrested from its strangling grip.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"This competently written and carefully researched study provides the first full-scale scholarly treatment of black soldiers during World War I" (LJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Arthur E. Barbeau is professor of history and anthropology at West Liberty State College. Florette Henri's books include The Unknown Soldiers,Black America 1900-1920 and, for young adults, Bitter Victory: Black Soldiers in World War I.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306806940
• ISBN-13: 978-0306806940
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in American Military History, June 20, 2001

By 

Amy Knapp (Carlisle, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Unknown Soldiers (Paperback)

First published in the mid 1970's, this has been the only book on the subject for many years. An excellent treatment of the racial climate in America on the eve of the war, and the subsequent actions taken by the Army with America's entry in 1917. It provides a stark picture of the treatment given to African-Americans as they attempted to serve. It provides the reader with brief histories of the 92nd and 93rd Divisions, the two "Colored" divisions in the AEF and also gives a summation of the treatment given the returning troops. It has good footnotes and sources, and this edition has the added bonus of a forward by Bernard C. Nalty. If any criticism can be leveled at this book it would probably be that new scholarship in this field has uncovered more facts and new interpratations. Anyone interested in the American experience in World War one should read this book. It is written so that it is accessable to the scholar and history buff alike.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Known At Last, March 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Unknown Soldiers (Paperback)

When you think you know everything there is to know about American history in general, and World War I in particular, somebody like Arthur Barbeau and company comes along and educates you as to how ignorant you were. This book is a wonder and, with "The Unwept: Black American Soldiers And The Spanish-American War" by Edward van Zile Scott, provides a remarkable history of Afro-American soldiers in two wars over a period of twenty years.

Barbeau's indignation shines through when he asks the same questions a reader must ask about the injustices Black soldiers were subjected to in America as they prepared to depart for Europe, the indignities they suffered while attempting to fight a war to save democracy once in Europe while denied it in their homeland, and the suffering they experienced in Europe and upon their return to the United States after the war. But Barbeau's indignation is muted, reasonable, logical, and unobtrusive considering the horrors he describes Black troops being subjected to and the slanders against the bravery they displayed in spite of poor equipment, if any;poor training, if any;poor, non-supportive, and/or racist commanders;inadequate support; the institutionalized racism of the military that constantly demeaned them by declaring their inferiority in order to affirm white superiority;and the constant effort to develop Black soldiers as a slave-labor force instead of one prepared for combat. The descriptions of the outrages committed against these soldiers as they prepared to return to America and then after they did arrive "home" speak volumes about the all-important need to support the concept of white supremacy and enforce that of black inferiority in spite of the well-researched and documented facts Barbeu presents as to the fallacy of each.

Barbeau clearly establishes that there was more than one war being waged in Europe regarding the service of Black troops. But his documentation of the service and efforts of those troops in spite of their treatment by their own military can only cause one to marvel at the heights to which racial and national pride urged these brave men forward. The history of Black troops in WWI is known at last thanks to Mr. Barbeau's important contribution to an accurate history of warfare and the people who fight it.

Barbeau,et al, suggest that the "New Negro" of the post-World War I period was a direct outcome of the increased pride and dignity Black soldiers found during their service in Europe and which the French military saluted and honored many times with military awards, even though the US military attempted to discourage that recognition in various ways, including the distribution of a secret communication that attempted to justify discrimination against Afro-Americans by the American military and promote it in the French military and general society.

Read this book. Add it to your library. You'll refer to it many times in the future.