The 8th was an outlier in the Army as it was the only unit that had Black officers leading Black soldiers. Prior to World War I, the 8th served in Cuba during the War of 1898, and served on the border of the United States and Mexico during the 1916 Mexican Punitive Expedition. The unit was tasked with making sure Pancho Villa and his soldiers didn’t enter the U.S.
After it became clear that the United States would enter World War I, the 8th traveled to Camp Logan for training in Houston, Texas in August 1917. The unit was designated as the 370th Infantry, which was part of the 93rd Division, one of two African American divisions during the war.
In April 1918, the 370th left for France. However, when the 3,000 men in the company arrived in Europe, they were made to train and fight under the French army, much to their chagrin. The French had been asking the U.S. forces for reinforcements, and General John Pershing, the commander of the American army in WWI, didn’t want to give up any white units, so the French got the 370th. The soldiers were disillusioned by the way they were discarded by their own military and angered at having to quickly learn French weapons and military techniques.
President Woodrow Wilson, a virulent racist who famously screened
Birth of a Nation at the White House, believed that African Americans were intellectually and morally inferior to whites. His view of race relations meant that the armed forces remained segregated. He believed that Black men were incapable of leading or giving commands to white soldiers. General Pershing also did not want Black officers in his Army. The U.S. military stripped all of the 370th’s commanding officers of their duties by declaring them too sick or otherwise unfit to lead the unit. The introduction of white officers was a severe blow to the morale of the unit.
In June 1918 the 370th moved to the Western Front in France. They were thrown into combat and tasked with “holding the line,” which meant they stood their ground in attempt to stop German soldiers from advancing. These soldiers were also responsible for security details out in “No Man’s Land,” which was the name given to the area between the German and Allied lines. This was extraordinarily dangerous work.
In September and October of 1918, the 370th fought their fiercest battles as part of the French military’s 59th Division. They were brave in battle and forced the retreat of the Germans in a crucial military campaign. Their bravery prompted the Prussian Guard to call the men, “The Black Devils,” and the French allies nicknamed them the “Partridges” for their apparent cockiness in battle.
In total, 665 men from the 370th perished in World War I. The unit was honored and revered by the French forces, and 71 men in the unit received the highest French military award.
In February 1919, the soldiers of the 370th returned home, and thousands of people turned out downtown to see them parade down Michigan Avenue. Returning African American soldiers believed that fighting for the United States would mean that they would enjoy greater rights and freedoms once they returned home. Unfortunately, those cheers turned to jeers by the summer of 1919 when racial tensions between white and Black Chicagoans came to a head during the Race Riot. The 8th Regiment Armory in Bronzeville became a staging ground for the Black veterans who defended the Black community from white rioters. Many of the veterans of the unit had come back from the war with a transformed racial and political consciousness. These soldiers became involved in what is considered the first wave of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
In 1927, the Victory Monument was built to honor the regiment’s service and bravery in World War I. The monument is located at 35th and King Drive in Chicago.
