The Hellfighters of Harlem Book

"From Harlem to the Rhine to Paris - spanning military valor and musical splendor - the story of the fighting 369th, the modern U.S. Army's first all-black regiment, along with its military forbears and descendants." "Their distinguished World War I record featured the longest frontline service of any American regiment, and they were the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine River, with not one soldier captured or a foot of ground lost to the enemy." "Their distinguished private, Henry Johnson, was awarded France's prestigious Croix de Guerre, for single-handedly knocking out a platoon of twenty-eight German troops - yet Johnson is today still denied America's Medal of Honor. Racism at home kept the 369th from fighting under American command, but the French government eagerly embraced them and honored their battlefield exploits, while the French people fell in love with the regimental band's hot jazz." "Harris follows the formation of the resilient 15th Regiment of Colored Infantry - later renamed the 369th - which, lacking a proper armory, drilled in the crowded streets of Harlem and in a local dance hall. The unit was ready to fight by 1917, but forbidden from serving by General John J. Pershing. A rousing story of arms and a band - led by jazz pioneer Lieutenant James Reese Europe - that toured Europe's hospitals, villages, and cities, this book provides a portrait of the soldiers whose return to U.S. soil, complete with a spectacular parade up Fifth Avenue, helped fuel the Harlem Renaissance." Spotlighting a regiment whose influence extended far beyond the trenches of the Great War, Bill Harris also surveys the history of black participation in all of America's wars - from slaves and freedmen serving as British and Colonial recruits in the Revolutionary War to high tech warriors in the Gulf War.