What impact did World War 1 have on African Americans?
In ‘America’s women’ Gail Collins writes; ‘There were nearly 200,000 African american servicemen overseas. Black women volunteered to help, but were nearly alwasy rebuffed by white officials. Some Red Cross administrators refused to allow them to do canteen work in the United States because they did not want African Americans wearing their uniform. Two thousand black nurses volunteered and were certified as ready for duty overseas, but american officials prefered not to bother finding them accomadation. Addie Waites Hunton, a college graduate who was on the national board of the YMCA, was turned down when she first requested that the organisation send her overseas. Eventually the Y did agree to send Hunton and two other black women. Hunton and her friends wound up as virtually the only African American women serving in Europe. They were overwhelmed by the black soldiers’ reaction to their presence, and the men’s longing for the women they had left behind. One night when they were showi
