Democracy Abroad, Jim Crow at Home: Charlottesville's Black Veterans of World War I

Race is complicated. And few aspects of race in America have been more conflicted than the relationship between white people and black veterans. At one extreme, black veterans have been lynched simply for daring to wear their uniforms in public. At the other, they've been held up as the finest representatives of their community. In Charlottesville, no African American veterans were lynched. But black men in uniform weren't always honored either. It's a story worth telling. Today, I'm going to tell it about World War I. Read more →