The Harlem Hellfighters Erased

They went to war for a country that refused to see them as human. In 1918,

while America still called them second-class citizens, Black soldiers were sent to fight a

white man’s war. Not for freedom they had. But for freedom they were promised.

For 191 days longer than any American unit the Harlem Hellfighters lived inside the trenches

of death. Mud. Gas. Gunfire. Screams in the dark.

They never lost a single inch of ground. They never abandoned a wounded brother.

Not once. The Germans feared them so much they gave them a name whispered with dread:

“Hellfighters.” France didn’t hesitate. They pinned the Croix de Guerre on every chest and