Artist Kehinde Wiley learns that his great grandfather, Lewis Standifer, was one of 380,000 African American men that served during World War I.
As an African American during World War I, service in the military meant that you were serving in a segregated unit. Very few African American men were in combat, instead, they were assigned to service units, which often included digging trenches, removing unexploded shells and burying soldiers.
Like many black soldiers, Lewis Standifer was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, a non-combat unit relegated to supply tasks. Black soldiers were not always treated well, and in the camp where Lewis spent his time in training, there were reports of soldiers being harassed and beaten. When he arrived in France, his position in the army was to remove dead bodies from temporary graves for reburial in army cemeteries.
Due to prejudice and racism, the armed forces remained largely opposed to placing African American soldiers in combat. When the War Department finally created black combat units in 1917 - the 92nd and 93rd Divisions - African Americans still did not receive equal treatment and were often treated with hostility.
Despite their service to this nation, when these veterans returned home, they were at risk of experiencing violence and many were targets of white aggression. Because of their military service, black veterans were seen as a particular threat to the Jim Crow segregated South and it was feared that these veterans would demand better working conditions and greater equality. As a result, some black veterans were assaulted, threatened, abused, or lynched following military service.
