Vanguard: Black Veterans and Civil Rights after World War I by Desmond Ang

Join us for another event in the Political Economy and Political Science Institutions (PEPSI) Seminar Series, Autumn Term 2023.

Join Desmond Ang from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as they present their research on Vanguard: Black Veterans and Civil Rights after World War I.

Abstract

Nearly 400,000 Black men were drafted into National Army during World War I, where they toiled in segregated units and received little formal training. Leveraging novel variation from the WWI draft lottery and millions of digitized military and NAACP records, we document the pioneering role these men would play in the early civil rights movement. Relative to observably similar individuals from the same draft board, Black men randomly inducted into the Army were significantly more likely to join the nascent NAACP and to become prominent community leaders during the New Negro era. We find little evidence that military service improved Black socioeconomic status. Notably, increased activism was driven by soldiers who experienced the most discriminatory treatment while serving their country, as measured across multiple dimensions discussed in War Department reports. Together, our findings corroborate historical accounts of how experiences of institutional racism in the military catalyzed postwar activism at the origins of the civil rights movement.

This seminar will be held in the Economics Common Room on Wednesday 4 October 2023 at 12.30pm. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public.