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Posts tagged as “WWI African-American fighting unit”

General Nathaniel James, 79, Dedicates Life to Raising Profile of WWI Heroes, The Harlem Hellfighters

Maj. Gen. Nathaniel James in front of a mural dedicated to the 369th Regiment. To General James, who joined the New York Army National Guard at 17, his most important job has been promoting the Harlem Hellfighters. (OZIER MUHAMMAD / THE NEW YORK TIMES)

By the beginning of September, the corner office on the second floor of the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem was nearly empty. Squares of dust outlined where framed pictures once hung. Only a desk remained, with Maj. Gen. Nathaniel James, 79, sitting behind it.

General James has considered the armory at 142nd Street and Fifth Avenue his second home for more than 60 years.  Before he retired, his military career in the New York Army National Guard had spanned from private, corporal, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, major and lieutenant colonel. To him, though, his most important job had been as president of the Harlem Hellfighters Historical Society.
Now, the armory, built in 1933, is being closed for renovations. Its occupants have had to find temporary space elsewhere. General James and everything belonging to the historical society had to be out by Wednesday.
In 1959, General James learned about a room in the armory where artifacts of the Harlem Hellfighters — a black unit that fought under French command in World War I — were gathering dust. He put the items on display every New Year’s Day for a few hours.
“We cleaned everything and had an open house for everybody in the unit,” he said.  “When I joined there was no written history,” said General James, who joined the New York Army National Guard when he was 17.
General James’s family moved north in 1939, fleeing racism in Branchville, S.C., where he was born.  “My family moved to Harlem and we’ve never left,” General James said. He married and had four children, who called him General instead of Dad.
“We got up in the mornings to work out with him, and we made sure we got up early enough to get to school on time,” said one of his sons, Nathaniel James Jr., 52. “O dark thirty is O dark thirty, no exceptions,” he added.
General James decided that the Hellfighters artifacts should be more widely seen, and the history of black soldiers should be more widely known, after watching a biographical movie about Gen. George S. Patton, which, he noticed, made no mention of a black unit that he knew had been under Patton’s command.
And his children, he said, were noticing gaps in what they were taught at school. “They started seeing history wasn’t proper,” he said.
Mr. James remembers looking in his history books for the stories of the black soldiers his father had told him about. He could not find much.  “I asked my teacher about it, and she said the only history they have is about the Buffalo Soldiers,” he said.
Members of the James family decided to take matters into their own hands.  General James’s sons held parties in the mess hall and in the auditorium of the armory, taking donations. The general’s wife, Mary, and his daughter, Rosalyn, organized dinners, fashion shows and Mother’s Day events.  “We used to D.J. when they had parties here,” said Courtney Dixon, 52, a neighbor.

Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Buy Film Rights to WWI Graphic Novel "The Harlem Hellfighters"

Harlem Hellfighter Book Cover - P 2014

Sony has picked up rights to The Harlem HellfightersMax Brooks‘ upcoming graphic novel based on the true story of an African American WWI Army infantry unit.  Caleeb Pinkett and James Lassiter will produce for Overbrook Entertainment.  Hitting stores on April 1st via Broadway Books, The Harlem Hellfighters is based on the Army’s 369th infantry division, an African-American unit fighting in Europe during World War I. Breaking down racial barriers, the unit spent more time in combat than any other American unit, never losing a foot of ground to the enemy, or a man to capture, and went on to win countless decorations.
Though they returned to the U.S. as heroes, the unit faced tremendous discrimination, even from their own government. The story chronicles their journey from the enlistment lines in Harlem to the training camp at Spartanburg, South Carolina, to the trenches in France.  The graphic novel was illustrated by Caanan White. Brooks will also adapt the script.
Brooks, the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, wrote the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which was adapted for Paramount’s Brad Pitt-starring film that grossed $202 million domestically and $540 million worldwide. A sequel is currently in development.
article by Rebecca Ford and Borys Kit via hollywoodreporter.com