Tag Archives: African American soldiers in the French Army

Ebony Doughboys-WWI Re-enactors- New York Historical Society

The Ebony Doughboys were pleased to participate in a WWI Living History exhibit at the New York Historical Society representing the 369th Infantry commonly known as the “Harlem Hellfighters” The 369th Infantry was formerly known as the 15th New York National Guard based in Harlem NYC.

This famous unit of majority African American soldiers had one of the best combat records of any infantry unit that served in France during the great war.

For more information on this famous combat unit click: www.ebonydoughboys.org

Ebony Doughboys-WWI Reenactors-African American Doctors of WWI

April 29, 2017 Black WW1 Doctors Visit Raleigh’s Pope House Museum The Ebony Doughboys Participate in the “Black Pioneers in Uniform” Program: For years, the legacy of African American World War One servicemen has largely been unsung, least of all the stories of those doctors who volunteered to be medical officers. However, this is slowly changing. Black Pioneers in Uniform: Shaw University’s Leonard Medical School & the Great War is a new living-history event hosted by the Pope House Museum to commemorate those Leonard graduates who became medical officers, including the community that nurtured them, and the life of Dr. Manassas Thomas Pope. Many of them were taught by Dr. Pope, who was himself a veteran of the Spanish-American War, Raleigh’s first licensed African American physician and a bold civic leader who ran for mayor in 1919. Today his home, acquired by the City of Raleigh in 2011, stands anachronistically in the central business district, an artifact of the then-black residential Fourth Ward and testimony to his influence.

By the turn of the 20^th century, only three Historically Black Colleges and Universities had medical programs: Meharry in Nashville; Howard in Washington, DC; and Leonard at Shaw University in Raleigh. Leonard Medical was the first, opening in 1880, yet due to rising costs closed in 1919. However during this period, it produced 400 physicians which included 13 of the 104 African American volunteer doctors of the First World War.

“This program is designed to connect a community with its own World War One legacy; we are honored to participate,” said Art Collins, founder and president of the Ebony Doughboys, the only organization of living-historians educating the public on the impact of those African Americans serving in the Great War. Ebony Doughboys was pleased to have W. Douglas Fisher author of “African American Doctors of WWI to talk about these groundbreaking heroes. “We are excited to have the unit support our event,” said Ernest Dollar, manager of the Pope House Museum. “They bring knowledge, and dedication, to a story that is largely unknown.”

Ebony Doughboys- WWI Reenactors-Newville Pa-WWI-GWA

The Ebony Doughboy’s were very busy the weekend of11/7/15. Two Elements of the Ebony Doughboys were attending two different events.

The Illinois contingent was manning the trenches as Red Hand soldiers in Newville, Pa. Our East Coast contingent was representing the state side soldiers of the 93rd Infantry Division in Dover Delaware’s Veterans Day Parade with Caesar Rodney’s JROTC. CRJROTC displayed outstanding military discipline and drilling skill.

The Fall event in Newville Pa is a WWI tactical combat reenactment. This event includes military vehicles, reenactors dressed in period WWI uniforms with weapons, participating in WWI trench warfare. This event is the premiere tactical event of the two that we participate in each year in Newville.

Both contingents of Ebony Doughboys portrayed their WWI counterparts with distinction while on the reenactment battlefield and on parade duty.

Ebony Doughboys WWI Re-enactors

Ebony Doughboys are a group of African American living historians who are focused on telling the story of the outstanding record of service of African Americans during the First World War. Founded in 2014, we are the offshoot of other African American reenactors who for many years educated and enlightened the public on the involvement of African Americans in WWI. We form an overarching structure for African American reenactors who hail from the east coast, the mid-west and the southern United States. For more information about our organization please visit our website at www.ebonydoughboys.org .