African Americans in the World Wars Era (1914-1945)

This topic examines how African Americans used military service and wartime mobilization to expand demands for citizenship at home and abroad.

Why This Topic Matters on AP AAS

• It bridges Reconstruction-era unfinished business with the postwar civil rights movement.
• It supports causation prompts linking wartime service to political and legal change.
• It introduces the international dimension of Black freedom struggles (Pan-Africanism, anticolonialism).

1) World War I and the Postwar Backlash

• About 380,000 Black Americans served in WWI, though most in segregated labor units.
• The 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters) fought under French command and earned the Croix de Guerre.
• Returning Black veterans faced the Red Summer of 1919: at least 25 anti-Black riots and a wave of lynchings.
• The Pan-African Congress (Paris, 1919), led by W.E.B. Du Bois, linked Black American demands to global anticolonial struggle.

2) The Interwar Foundation

• The NAACP's anti-lynching campaign produced the Dyer Bill (passed House 1922; killed by Senate filibuster).
• Black workers built unions in steel, meatpacking, and Pullman service despite AFL exclusion.
• Mary McLeod Bethune's Black Cabinet advised FDR on race issues during the New Deal.
• The Great Depression hit Black workers first and hardest; New Deal programs were administered with discriminatory effects.

3) World War II and the Double V Campaign

• About 1.2 million Black Americans served in WWII, still in mostly segregated units.
• The Tuskegee Airmen flew over 1,500 missions in Europe and demonstrated Black aviator competence.
• The 761st Tank Battalion served under Patton in 183 days of continuous combat.
• The Pittsburgh Courier launched the Double V campaign in 1942: victory over fascism abroad and racism at home.

4) Wartime Federal Pressure

• A. Philip Randolph's threatened March on Washington (1941) forced FDR to issue Executive Order 8802, banning racial discrimination in defense industries and creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee.
• Smith v. Allwright (1944) ended the white primary in Texas and weakened Southern disenfranchisement.
• Executive Order 9981 (1948, Truman) desegregated the U.S. armed forces.

5) Core AP Patterns

6) High-Yield Terms

• Harlem Hellfighters (369th Infantry)
• Red Summer (1919)
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Double V campaign
• Executive Order 8802
• Smith v. Allwright (1944)

7) AP Writing Tips

1. Link Black military service to specific federal actions (EO 8802, EO 9981) when arguing causation.
2. Frame the Red Summer as evidence that wartime gains provoked white backlash, not as a one-off event.
3. For continuity prompts, treat the Double V campaign as a precursor to the postwar civil rights movement, not a separate moment.

Quick Check

• Why did Black participation in WWI lead to both new political organizing and severe racial violence at home?
• How did A. Philip Randolph use the threat of mass mobilization to extract a wartime concession?
• What does the Double V slogan reveal about how Black Americans framed WWII?