"In America, following the upheaval in southern agriculture, hundreds of thousands of Afro-Americans migrated to the northern industrial centres in search of new opportunities. The period also witnessed the participation in the heroic contribution to World War I (1914-1919) by Africans and Afro-Americans. About 400,000 Afro-Americans were drafted, of whom 200,000 were sent to France, where they got a broader vision of the world.
the rallying cry before the end of the war was that of MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY AND EXTENDING JUSTICE TO ALL. White Americans placed high values on democracy and and 'the American way of life'. Naturally, this had raised vague hopes among blacks that their anomalous opposition in American society might finally find a resolution. Unfortunately, when the war ended the hopes and expectations which Afro-Americans had so anxiously nursed were dashed to the ground."
MY TAKE: although stories of blacks helping this country through countless wars/battles/skirmishes are popular, one has to ask whether or not they were beneficial. Whether it be the Buffalo soldiers killing the native population here in the Americas...the Tuskegee airmen fighting for a place in the American arsenal...or Black vietnam veterans coming back to their sub-citizen status, black people are still trying to fight for equality within the context of someone else's game. I thought that it straight up a waste of time but there are some benefits after all. Steve Cokely is suspicious of ANY black man participating in the armed forces but realizes he benefits revolutionaries can gain from their experience and knowledge...
PLUS, continuing on in the book,
"Although the human status and dignity of the black man was consciously violated in attempts to pin him down to his original place as a slave and a pariah in the western society, the post-war Negroe was a different animal to deal with. Unlike his forebears he was no longer the docile and submissive person whom whites recognised and stereotyped. He was militant and very responsive because of his experiences in the war."