Comparative Work of African American and Colonial North African Troops Experiences in WWI France

Abstract

When it comes to World War One history, historians have general debated over how open minded France was during the war on the issue of race. Some historians claim that the French were an open minded people, based on positive praise that they received from the African American troops serving under them. However, African Americans weren’t the only black troops that served under the French. Colonial North African troops fought under the French as well, and seem to paint the French in a far more racist light than their African American counterparts. So the question remains, which black forces paint a clearer picture of French racial attitudes during World War One, and what might be the reasoning behind such ideologies? The main focus of this capstone is address this question while at the same time make comparisons between these black forces that has rarely been done. In order to accomplish this, first the works and theories of historical will be analyzed in greater detail on French racism, then a short history of either black force will be detailed as well. Then finally, personal accounts of soldiers’ lives will be looked at, in the hope of gaining the purest opinion on what they thought of other black forces as well as the French which they fought under. In an attempt to answer if France was really as open minded toward race as though in previous decades.