Archive Of 34 Photographs Photographic Documentary Of The Harlem Hellfighters -

Archive of 34 photographs now separated from a photo album of a former member of the Hellfighters. Ca. 1916. Varying sizes with most measuring 4 1/4" x 3 1/4" inches. All photos very good or better. The Hellfighters were an all-black regiment under the command of mostly white officers. Participation in the war was problematic for African Americans. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) established the 14th Amendment which allowed for separate but equal treatment under the law. The U.S. army drafted both black and white men but they served in segregated units. The 369th Infantry helped to repel the German offensive and to launch a counteroffensive. They fought with the French Army and spent 191 days in combat, longer than any other American unit in the war. The Hellfighters were the first Americans awarded the Croix de Guerre; their extraordinary valor earned them fame in Europe and America. The 369th also helped introduce Jazz to the Europeans. Among the Hellfighters was James Reese Europe, a musician, who staged the first performance by an African-American at Carnegie Hall and was also the first African-American bandleader to receive a major recording contract. Europe formed a Hellfighters band that performed during the war. These performances were infused with a style that people were only beginning to call jazz.