[African-Americana] [World War I] Colored Man is No Slacker

Chicago: E.G. Renesch, 1918. Original chromolithographic poster. 19 x 15 1/2 in. (483 x 394 mm). Mounted to linen, 23 7/8 x 19 7/8 in. (606 x 505 mm); a few scattered minor creases along edges. A handsome example. Not in Rawls

A rare World War I enlistment poster, published in an effort to recruit African Americans into the U.S. Army. In this poster, a young Black man bids farewell to his sweetheart as his regiment bravely marches past off to war in the background. Upon the United States's entry into the First World War in April 1917, many African Americans eagerly enlisted in the military to exercise their civic duty, and to show their patriotism with the hope of being recognized as equal citizens. Over 20,000 Black men enlisted immediately following the declaration of war, and in May, with the enactment of the Selective Service Act, the number skyrocketed into the hundreds of thousands. Although by the war's end over 350,000 African Americans had been enlisted or drafted, due to segregation and discrimination within the military they often found themselves serving in noncombative supportive roles, typically in the Services of Supply section of the American Expeditionary Forces, providing critical engineering and logistical support to the frontline. Notable exceptions to these noncombative roles were the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, and the 369th Infantry Regiment, better known as the "Harlem Hellfighters," who fought alongside the French Army in April 1918.

E.G. Renesch was a Chicago-based firm that specialized in chromolithographs of military and patriotic scenes.