Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | J 940.412 MYE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 940.412 MYE | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The story of the Harlem Hellfighters is not simply one
of victory in a war. . . . It is the story of men who
acted as men, and who gave a good account of
themselves when so many people thought,
even hoped, that they would fail.
What defines a true hero?
The "Harlem Hellfighters," the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I, redefined heroism -- for America, and for the world. At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, these soldiers put their lives on the line in the name of democracy.
The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage is a portrait of bravery and honor. With compelling narrative and never-before-published photographs, Michael L. Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers and renowned filmmaker Bill Miles deftly portray the true story of these unsung American heroes.
Author Notes
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsberg, West Virginia. When he was three years old, his mother died and his father sent him to live with Herbert and Florence Dean in Harlem, New York. He began writing stories while in his teens. He dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. After completing his army service, he took a construction job and continued to write.
He entered and won a 1969 contest sponsored by the Council on Interracial Books for Children, which led to the publication of his first book, Where Does the Day Go? During his lifetime, he wrote more than 100 fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. His works include Fallen Angels, Bad Boy, Darius and Twig, Scorpions, Lockdown, Sunrise Over Fallujah, Invasion, Juba!, and On a Clear Day. He also collaborated with his son Christopher, an artist, on a number of picture books for young readers including We Are America: A Tribute from the Heart and Harlem, which received a Caldecott Honor Award, as well as the teen novel Autobiography of My Dead Brother.
He was the winner of the first-ever Michael L. Printz Award for Monster, the first recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. He also won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness, at the age of 76.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Thanks to his usual impeccable research, Walter Dean Myers with Bill Miles once again presents a rich history and assortment of photographs, facsimile reproductions of documents such as pay vouchers for soldiers, a Civil War ad for "white or colored" sailors, and political cartoons in The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. The book lays the groundwork for what was then called the Great War, describing the military history in the U.S. as well as conditions in Europe that led President Wilson to declare war on Germany in April 1917, then zeroing in on the title company-the men of the 369th Infantry. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Myers collaborated with historian and documentary filmmaker Miles to create this nonfiction tribute to the 369th Infantry Regiment, comprised entirely of African American soldiers (many from Harlem), who fought in World War I. After providing an abbreviated history of African Americans in the military and a brief introduction about the causes of the war, Myers traces the roots of the regiment, from its origin as the 15th New York National Guard and the unit's basic training in South Carolina through the soldiers' active combat at the side of the French, who treated the troops as equals. The authors emphasize the mixed message African Americans received about their military service: On the one hand, they were being trained to risk their lives in defense of the country, while on the other hand they were being told to accept their role as inferior citizens. The clear prose; effective use of white space; and numerous, often full-page black-and-white photographs will attract reluctant readers while enticing more dedicated history buffs to follow up with one of the adult titles from the selected bibliography. --Jennifer Hubert Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3--7--This is a tribute to the 369th Infantry Regiment, a unit comprised entirely of African American soldiers, and the role they played in World War I. Before describing the wartime realities these soldiers faced, the authors provide a brief history of the role African Americans played in the military in the decades before World War I. They describe the unique situation African American soldiers found themselves in as they fought for a country that did not recognize them as full-bodied citizens and the racism they faced from their fellow Americans. During World War I, the soldiers of the 369th fought in France alongside French soldiers who viewed them as equals. Overall, this tribute to these brave soldiers is a bit disappointing. Although it describes how the unit trained and fought in World War I, it lacks specific details about memorable contributions these soldiers made. Listeners do not connect with these men or realize the sacrifices they made for our country as much as they might if more personal anecdotes were included. Also, listeners do not benefit from seeing the photographs and other primary sources that are included with the printed book. VERDICT While the groundbreaking contributions of these soldiers should not be forgotten, this audiobook will not make the lasting impression these heroes deserve.--Anne Bosievich, Friendship Elementary School, Glen Rock, PA
Kirkus Review
A history of Harlem's all-black regiment and its exploits in France during the Great War is marred by uneven storytelling and inadequate documentation. Myers and Miles take their time with setup, providing histories of both African-Americans in combat and the conditions in Europe that led to the outbreak of WWI. Even when they reach the formation of the 15th New York National Guard, they back and fill in a dedication to exposition that leaves the reader wondering what the story is. The mobilization of the 15th--now the 369th--Infantry in France is similarly plagued with narrative snags, only occasionally offering up stories of bravery in combat that illustrate the courage of these men who fought to "make the world safe for democracy," even as they lived in most undemocratic conditions. These anecdotes, and the quotations from soldiers and their families, are shockingly poorly sourced, with neither textual references nor chapter notes to complement the brief bibliography. The whole reads like a second draft, with clunky transitions and a diffusion of focus that drag down what could have been an enormously inspiring tale. (Nonfiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
The Harlem Hellfighters When Pride Met Courage Chapter One Defending America Blacks have participated in all of America's battles. When the first Africans arrived in North America in 1619 as captive labor, they found a conflict between the white British and the Native Americans, who were here first. The colonists were hesitant to arm the very people they had enslaved, but blacks soon found themselves not only working the land but defending it as well. Later, during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), blacks were again called upon to help defend the British. When the American colonies declared their independence on July 4, 1776, thousands of blacks lived in the thirteen colonies. Most of them were slaves. Some were promised their freedom if they fought against the British; others were simply sent into the war as laborers, personal aides, or soldiers. The small American navy consisted largely of privately owned vessels called privateers, and many of these had black sailors among them. James Forten, a free black youth of fourteen living in Philadelphia, sailed with Captain Stephen Decatur Sr. aboard the Royal Louis in the summer of 1781. The first voyage of the Royal Louis resulted in a stunning victory against a British ship and the taking of the ship as a prize of war. Forten's luck did not last very long, and the Royal Louis was captured by a British warship. Forten, who had befriended the son of the captain who held him, refused the chance to go over to the British side and escape imprisonment. He saw himself, even during this period in which slavery was legal, as an American and remained loyal to the American cause. Eventually, more than five thousand black men would fight for the independence of the colonies. A Hessian soldier commented in his diary that there were blacks in every American regiment that he had seen. During the course of the war the British offered freedom to any slave who would fight with the British against the colonists. Many blacks did escape to the British lines and either worked as laborers for the British or participated in battles against the rebellious Americans. During the Revolutionary War the colonists were divided in the treatment of black men. On one hand they were being asked to fight for the liberation of the colonies, but on the other hand they were not being guaranteed their own freedom. Lord Dunmore, the governor of the Virginia Colony and a British loyalist, had worried about the presence of blacks in Virginia. He felt that the blacks would side with whoever offered them freedom. When the war began, he offered blacks their freedom in return for fighting with the British. Hundreds of black men joined the British army and fought against America, sometimes having to fight against the many thousands of blacks who fought for the colonists. The war ended successfully for the colonists, and many slaves who had taken up arms or labored for the Americans were recognized and given their freedom in thanks for their participation in the war. Blacks who fought for the British were, by agreement between the American and British governments, given their freedom and taken to the West Indies or to Canada after the war. Most of the battles in the War of 1812 against Great Britain took place at sea with mixed crews of blacks and whites. General Andrew Jackson, fighting off the British at the end of the war, put out a call to black citizens to fight in the American army: "Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist." Black soldiers served in this brief war both as soldiers and as laborers, building fortifications, carrying supplies, and even acting as spies. The United States of America is a constitutional democracy guaranteeing its citizens certain rights. During the period of American slavery these rights were not being given to black people. Throughout early American history there have been incidents in which black people revolted against those who would keep them in slavery. In 1822 a free black, Denmark Vesey, planned a slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1831 Nat Turner led an armed rebellion that ended with the deaths of more than fifty whites. In 1839 Africans aboard the ship Amistad killed the Spanish crew and captured the vessel. These revolts demonstrated that black people wanted freedom as much as anyone and were willing to fight for it. Recognizing that black people wanted to be free and would do what was necessary to achieve that freedom, slaveholders made it illegal for any black person to be in possession of a firearm, or for blacks to gather in large groups away from the plantations on which they worked. Free blacks were not allowed to travel in Southern states, where most of the slavery existed. By 1859 the Northern states had developed quite differently than those in the South. The Southern states were primarily agricultural and largely dependent on slave labor for economic success. The Northern states had a mixed economy, with a growing reliance on industry. Niles' Register , a nineteenth-century publication that often reflected Southern views, complained that if a Southerner died, he would be buried in a grave dug by a shovel manufactured in the North, buried in a casket made in the North, and preached over by a minister holding a Bible printed in the North. For young Southerners who did not want to be planters, the military became the pathway to becoming "an officer and a gentleman." A large number of the officers in the American army were from the slave states of the South. On October 16, 1859, they would be tested both as soldiers and as Southerners. Harper's Ferry, Virginia, was a small, somewhat sleepy town with little to distinguish it from the neighboring areas except for its military arsenal. It was this arsenal that was the target of . . . The Harlem Hellfighters When Pride Met Courage . Copyright © by Walter Myers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
1 Defending America | p. 1 |
2 War in Europe | p. 10 |
3 Trench Warfare | p. 15 |
4 The Problem of Race | p. 24 |
5 The National Guard | p. 32 |
6 The Fighting 15th | p. 38 |
7 Who Would Lead Colored Men into Battle? | p. 48 |
8 Training the Black Soldier | p. 59 |
9 Spartanburg, South Carolina | p. 70 |
10 Carrying the Flag to France | p. 83 |
11 On the Line | p. 97 |
12 The German Offensive | p. 106 |
13 In Enemy Hands | p. 114 |
14 The Battle of Meuse-Argonne | p. 119 |
15 The Parade | p. 133 |
16 Red Summer | p. 143 |
17 Heroes and Men | p. 149 |
Selected Bibliography | p. 152 |