We Return Fighting

"We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity," produced in connection with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and shaped by the curatorial perspective of Kinshasha Conwill, examines a pivotal but often underexplored chapter in American history: the role of African American soldiers, workers, and communities during the First World War and the profound ways that experience influenced Black political consciousness in the decades that followed. The book takes its title from a widely cited 1919 editorial by W.E.B. Du Bois, published in The Crisis, in which he urged Black veterans returning from the war to continue fighting for justice and equality at home. That phrase captures the animating spirit of the volume, which argues that the war years were not simply a footnote in Black history but a turning point that helped shape the modern civil rights movement.

The book traces the experiences of the nearly 400,000 African American men who served in the U.S. Army during World War I, most of whom were relegated to labor battalions and support roles rather than combat positions, reflecting the deeply entrenched racial segregation of the military at the time. It also highlights the achievements of units such as the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, who fought valiantly under French command and earned recognition abroad even as they faced discrimination upon their return to the United States. This contrast, between valor recognized overseas and hostility encountered at home, forms a recurring theme throughout the narrative.

Beyond the battlefield, the book gives significant attention to the home front, exploring how Black communities mobilized in support of the war effort while simultaneously demanding greater rights and opportunities. It discusses the Great Migration, which saw large numbers of African Americans leave the rural South for industrial cities in the North and Midwest, driven both by wartime labor demands and by a desire to escape the violence and oppression of Jim Crow laws. This migration reshaped urban Black communities and laid important groundwork for cultural and political movements that would follow, including the Harlem Renaissance.

The volume also addresses the painful reality of the Red Summer of 1919, a period marked by a wave of racial violence and riots across the United States, often directed at Black veterans and communities that had grown more assertive in demanding equal treatment. This section underscores how the war's promise of democracy abroad clashed sharply with the persistence of racial injustice at home, a contradiction that many Black intellectuals and activists of the era, including Du Bois, articulated forcefully in their writing and organizing.

What distinguishes this book is its integration of visual and material culture alongside historical narrative. Drawing on the resources of the Smithsonian, the text incorporates photographs, artifacts, and personal accounts that bring the era to life in a tangible way. This approach helps convey not only the broad historical trends but also the individual human experiences of soldiers, families, and communities navigating a period of profound transformation.

The writing is accessible without sacrificing depth, making the book suitable for general readers as well as those with a more specialized interest in African American history or World War I studies. It succeeds in connecting military history with social and cultural history, demonstrating how the war years catalyzed shifts in Black identity, political organizing, and cultural expression that would resonate well into the twentieth century.

Overall, "We Return Fighting" offers a thoughtful and well-documented exploration of a critical period in American history. It illuminates the complex intersections of race, patriotism, and resistance during and after World War I, and it situates these themes within the broader arc of the African American freedom struggle. For readers seeking to understand how the war shaped Black identity and activism, this book provides a valuable and thoroughly researched contribution.