The Harlem Hellfighters

After training in South Carolina where they suffered much racism and discrimination, the first black troops to fight in World War I were sent to Europe but put to work as stevedores and day laborers. The American Expeditionary Forces refused to use them for combat. Only when the overwhelmed French Army begged for help did the United States release the all-"colored" 369th regiment into battle but under the oversight of the French command. Ultimately, one of the fiercest and most decorated units of the war, the regiment earned the "Harlem Hellfighters" nickname from the Germans, not the Allies. Brooks's lightly fictionalized and heavily researched account is based on real-life events and people, and White's stark black-and-white art gives the violence the immediacy of a newsreel. An LJ 2014 Best Graphic Novel; high school age and adults. ( LJ 3/15/14)