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Different aspects of the African American experience during World War One have been covered since the release in 1974 of Florette Henri’s and Arthur E. Barbeau’s The Unknown Soldiers: African American Troops in World War I. All these studies concur in their assumptions that World War One opened up a new quest for full citizenships and galvanized soldiers and officers alike. A new era started right in the middle of the conflict fueling African American units with hope of change. World War One turned into the matrix for a new form of militancy. However, perhaps World War One did not only trigger a new form of militancy among African Americans. Something else might have snapped in African American (and perhaps African) leaders of the time. What if World War One had nurtured the awakening of a “colored manifest destiny”?

Summary

Chapter 1 examines how Italians responded to the interracial encounters that took place during the war and in the immediate postwar years. In the midst of economic difficulties, fears of crime dominated public opinion, and foreigners were blamed (especially if they had a dark skin) along with the women who associated with them. The fraternization between Allied soldiers and civilians generated tensions that triggered frequent clashes between Italian men and the male occupiers, competing for the favors of Italian women. Interracial sex was often cast as a form of moral degradation, obscuring the genuine love relationships that also occurred between Italian women and non-white Allied soldiers.

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African Americans, World War I, and the Awakening of a “Colored” Manifest Destiny

1 - “Undesirables”

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2 results

African Americans, World War I, and the Awakening of a “Colored” Manifest Destiny

1 - “Undesirables”

Summary