World War I Era Portraits of Black Soldiers in Uniform Serving in Segregated U.S. Army Units, 1917-1919

W W. I Black Troops

Photograph

[African American Military][W.W.I] African American U.S. Army soldiers photo archive, circa 1917–1919, documenting Black military service during the First World War, when more than 350,000 African American men served in a rigidly segregated army structure. Created during the period of American mobilization following entry into the war in 1917, these photographs capture uniformed Black soldiers at a time when military participation was both a patriotic duty and a site of entrenched racial discrimination. Most African American troops were assigned to labor battalions or segregated formations such as the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, with units including the 369th Infantry Regiment later earning distinction under French command. The archive supports research into African American military citizenship, segregation policy, wartime training culture, and the visual representation of Black soldiers during the Progressive Era and early twentieth-century civil rights struggle.

Archive comprises five original black and white silver gelatin prints, each measuring approximately 3.5 x 5.5 inches. The soldiers are posed formally, standing at attention in World War I-era U.S. Army uniforms, including campaign hats, wool service tunics, and long greatcoats consistent with stateside training camps or early deployment contexts. Their erect posture and composed expressions reflect military discipline and the representational conventions of early twentieth-century portrait photography. No unit insignia are visible that would definitively identify specific regiments, but the uniforms and format firmly situate the images within the wartime mobilization period. The small-format prints suggest personal or family circulation, indicating their likely preservation as private commemorative objects rather than official documentation.

Photographs of African American soldiers from the World War I period remain comparatively scarce, in part because Black units were under-documented and often excluded from official commemorative narratives. These images preserve evidence of service at a moment when military participation became a central argument in African American claims to full citizenship, even as returning veterans confronted racial violence and the upheavals of the Red Summer of 1919. The archive thus bridges wartime service and the broader trajectory of early twentieth-century Black political consciousness. Light surface wear, minor creasing, and faint tonal fading consistent with age; images remain clear with strong legibility of uniform detail; overall good to very good. A substantive visual collection of African American soldiers in the segregated U.S. Army during the First World War.

Item #21339

Price: $2,400.00