Long-Term Impact
Obelisk in Harlem New York honoring the 369th Regiment. Courtesy of the Clio.
"Henry Lincoln Johnson (1897-1929), who served valiantly as part of the 369th regiment (known as the Harlem Hellfighters) received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony at the White House on June 2, 2015, almost one hundred years after his return from war." - America Comes Alive
Desegregation went on to be a long process. It had been a very lengthy dilemma because it involved many reluctant states. In 1948, Harry S. Truman decide to break down this invisible wall. He issued Executive Order 9981 which would do away with racial segregation in the armed forces. Eventually this executive order would lead to the desegregation everything, not just the armed forces. Schools, places of business, and even restrooms would eventually be desegregated. However, it took three years for the army to follow this command, because they were so defiant. This changed the course of history.
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"Today, 104 years since the original Hellfighters first fought for equality and against naked aggression in Western Europe, the Brigade Headquarters, Battalion Headquarters, and Headquarters Company are deployed to the Middle East fighting The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The unit continues to build upon the strong foundation laid over a century ago despite facing seemingly insurmountable odds at times. The unit, first commanded by Colonel William Hayward, a former U.S., is now commanded by Col. Stephen Bousquet, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. Bousquet, a Supervisory Health Physicist with the US Army Corps of Engineers, commands a high degree of respect from his Hellfighters as a master logistician who leads several thousand Hellfighters in the US Army Central Command's Area of Operations." - U.S Army
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“In many ways the war changed all of black America. The war, and the participation of the Harlem Hellfighters against a skilled and determined enemy, demonstrated that courage and bravery and heroism knew no color lines. They were all Americans.” The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage