Lynching of African-American veterans after World War I
After young African-American men volunteered to fight against the Central Powers, during World War I, many of them returned home but instead of being rewarded for their military service, they were subjected to discrimination, racism and lynchings by the citizens and the government.
[1] Labor shortages in essential industries caused a massive migration of southern African-Americans to northern cities leading to a wide-spread emergency of segregation in the north and the regeneration of the Ku Klux Klan.
Although members of different races who had fought in World War I believed that military service was a price which was worth paying in exchange for equal citizenship, this was not the case for African-Americans.
[2] The decades which followed World War I included blatant acts of racism and nationally recognized events which conveyed American society's portrayal of African-Americans as 2nd class citizens.
World War I began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 and it ended with the signing of the Armistice of November 11, 1918.
[1] Though the fighting stopped, the war's potential to resume still existed and peace was only reached when representatives of Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Despite the segregation and the mistreatment which they were constantly being subjected to by everyday society, many African Americans volunteered to join the Allied war effort.
[3] On top of that, during the course of World War 1, over 400,000 black citizens who were searching for defense jobs migrated from the rural south to the urban north in order to fill the need for laborers which existed in essential industries.
[4] During a homecoming celebration for African-American veterans of World War I in Norfolk, Virginia a race riot broke out on July 21, 1919.
[5] On August 16, 1917, Senator James K. Vardaman of Mississippi spoke of his fear of black veterans returning to the South, as he viewed that it would "inevitably lead to disaster.
During an April 5, 1919, market day in Sylvester, Georgia, black veteran Daniel Mack was walking through a busy street and brushed against a white man.
A few days into his sentence, on April 14, a white mob broke into the prison, took him out into the wilderness and lynched Mack; he survived by playing dead.
On July 24, 1919, while walking the streets of Newberry, South Carolina, he allegedly insulted a 14-year-old girl, who promptly reported him to the authorities.
[3] The following is an incomplete list of African Americans who had served in the military during WWI and were killed by white mobs with no trials for alleged crimes.
[27] However, there was still a major contrast in the treatment received from white and black veterans after World War 1, leading to public unrest and loss of life.
A monopolized media industry and racial prejudice from white Americans led to the unwillingness to consistently recognize the efforts and sacrifices of African-American veterans.
[2] In fact, during the war the African American community hosted protests against segregation and discrimination, but lacked the ignition to cause real change.
[33] The combination of the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance allowed African American intellectuals to secure social equality through literature.
