#310 1918: The Harlem Hellfighters

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2020

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On February 17, 1919, in the waning months of World War I, the Harlem Hellfighters – officially the 369th Infantry Regiment, originally a New York National Guard division that had just come from intense battle in France – marched up Fifth Avenue to an unbelievable show of support and love. The Hellfighters were comprised of young African-American men from New York City and the surrounding area, its enthusiastic recruits made up of those who had arrived in the city during a significant period of population migration from the Reconstruction South to (only slightly) more tolerant Northern cities. They were not able to serve in regular American military units because of segregation, but because of an unusual series of events, the regiment instead fought alongside the French in the trenches, for 191 days in the year 1918, more than any other American unit during the war. They became legends. They were known around the world for their valor, ferocity and bravery. This is the story of New York musicians, red caps, budding painters, chauffeurs and teenagers just out of school, serving their country in a way that would become legendary. FEATURING the voices of World War I veterans telling their own stories. PLUS some brilliant music and a story from Barack Obama (okay it’s just a clip of the former president but still.) boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Barking Irons Applejack. Applejack is back and
0:05.4	Barking Irons is reinventing the original American craft spirit for modern
0:10.1	New Yorkers. Distilled upstate, then barrel aged and bottled in Brooklyn,
0:14.7	Barking Irons Applejack is always made from only 100% to the finest New York
0:19.3	apples. Now in Tuesday, March 17th, you can join me, Greg from the Bowrie Boas,
0:25.1	at Housing Works Bookstore in Cafe for a New York themed trivia night
0:30.0	partnered with Barking Irons Spirits and at the event specialty New York
0:34.9	themed Applejack cocktails will be served. Serve to those responsible drinkers
0:39.5	21 and over. Meet us there. Grab tickets now before they sell out at Barking Irons
0:45.2	Spirits.com. And before we get started, we thought that we would announce
0:50.8	something kind of special. Very exciting Greg. We are so excited to announce
0:55.5	that in 2020, this year, the Bowrie Boas are partnering with our friends at the
1:01.0	New York Historical Society. Throughout this year, we're going to be hosting
1:05.5	several live events at the New York Historical Society's Museum and Library
1:10.0	on Central Park West, bringing together our podcast subjects with the museum's
1:14.8	exhibitions. And we've already got a couple show dates lined up. So mark your
1:19.8	calendars for Wednesday, April 15th and Wednesday, June 17th.
1:27.8	Episode 310 of the Bowrie Boas. 1918, the Harlem Hell Fighters. Hey, it's the Bowrie
1:35.9	Boas. Hey, support for the Bowrie Boas is provided by our listeners. Join us for
1:42.2	as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowrie Boas.
1:48.0	Hi there. Welcome to the Bowrie Boas. This is Greg Young. And this is Tom Myers.
1:55.0	In today's show, we're going to World War One. Following along the fighting men
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tom Meyers, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tom Meyers and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.