Seleste L. Chandler papers
The Seleste L. Chandler papers document Chandler's service as an African American medic serving in France during World War I. The collection includes Chandler's diary, photographs, correspondence, and an obituary notice.

Richard W. English papers
The papers of educator and World War II veteran, Richard W. English, contains correspondence, educator and military records, and photographs related to his service in the all-black combat unit, the 761ST Tank Battalion, during World War II (1942-1945), his post-war service in Germany (1945-1950), and his work as a teacher and administrator in the public schools of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Arthur Dorsey papers
This collection consist of an audiocassette tape and transcript of an oral interview conducted by Dr. Edward Dees of his uncle Arthur Dorsey, World War II Merchant Marine Veteran. Dorsey describes his battle against segregation and personal experiences as chief radio operator on board the USS Dan Beard as it was torpedoed off the British Isles on December 10, 1944 with a loss of 51% fatalities.

History.com

How the GI Bill’s Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans

National Museum of African American History & Culture

A revolutionary fight for freedom

The African American experience in World War I

Diaries and Letters by African American Soldiers

National World War II Museum

African Americans Fought for Freedom at Home and Abroad during World War II

National Public Radio

This WWII battle wasn't against Nazis. It was between Black and white GIs in England

Nieman Reports

The Black Press: Past and Present

United States Army

Black Americans in the U.S. Army

History of the Harlem Hellfighters and Tuskegee Airmen

She survived under the guise of a man: The Story of Cathay Williams

The 761st Tank Battalion: Fighting the Enemy, Beating Stereotypes

U.S. Army Women's Museum

U.S. Naval Institute

Books

Britain’s ‘brown babies’: The stories of children born to black GIs and white women in the Second World War by Lucy Bland/Manchester University Press

Dutch Children of African American Liberators: Race, Military Policy and Identity in World War II and Beyond by Mieke Kirkels and Chris Dickon/McFarland Books

Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting WWII at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont (Viking)

Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks/Penguin Random House

History is Not What Happened by Howell Raines/Crown

Invisible Generals by Doug Melville/Atria Black Privilege

The Lost Eleven by Denise George and Robert Child/Penguin

Race After Hitler: Black Occupation Children in Postwar Germany and America by Heide Fehrenbach/Princeton

Newspapers

The Guardian

History is Not What Happened: Howell Raines on The Civil War and Memory Review (12/27)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/27/howell-raines-silent-cavalry-civil-war

Military Times

Signs of White Supremacy, Extremism Up Again In Poll of Active Duty Troops by Leo Shane III (2/6/2020)

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/02/06/signs-of-white-supremacy-extremism-up-again-in-poll-of-active-duty-troops/

Carnegie Endowment For International Peace
Diversity in the High Brass by Christopher Chivvis and Sahil Lauji

https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/09/06/diversity-in-high-brass-pub-87694

To submit additional links and works to this dynamic website please email RogerRapoport@me.com

For questions about this archive contact Roger Rapoport at rogerdrapoport@me.com or (231) 720-0930 (voice only).

You can also write to Glenside Productions 2441 Westwood Street, Muskegon, Michigan 49441.

Plays & Film

Books

Websites, Video & Audio Links

Additional Resources

These resources include academic studies of unproduced or seldom produced work as well as references to major figures in African American military history including Crispus Attucks, Dorie Miller and Cathay Williams. Video links are also included.

Doctoral Thesis

Home Front As Warfront, African American World War I Drama
by Anna Katherine Egging, University of Kansas PhD

Egging’s thesis profiles these World War I plays:

Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson
Aftermath by Mary P. Burrill
On The Fields of France by Joseph S. Cotter Jr.
Everyman’s Land by S. Randolph Edmonds
In The Dust by May Miller
The Colored Soldier by Langston Hughes
Sweet Land by Conrad Seiler
Liberty Deferred by Abram Hill and John Silvera

Thank you for visiting this dynamic website, to access plays and resources focused on the black experience in the American military dating back to the revolutionary war. It also encompasses theater on the war at home as well as the impact of these soldiers serving abroad.

This selection ranges from Pulitzer Prize winners to unproduced scripts. A wide variety of plays offer opportunities for fully staged productions, adaptations, table reads and development of unfinished work. In addition, resources for new play development are listed. In the future we will be adding announcements of plays on this important theme scheduled for theaters, universities and schools. Please let us know if you would like to recommend additional resources. We look forward to updating this site with details on new productions.