Chasing Durham
Texas recruited thousands of Black, Negro, Colored, Afro-Indigenous American and Latino American men to fight in WWI. They were trained in segregated camps by white men. Jim Crow was in full implementation at this time as they prepared to go and fight facism abroad. William Joseph Durham joined the army and became a member of the Afro-American elite fighters know as the Army Engineers. Upon his return to Texas he was decorated for his excellent service during WWI. His service in France bestowed upon him National notariaty.
WWI Sojourn
20th Engineers
Army Unit
William Joseph Durham Honored for His Fearless Service in France!
Finding William Joseph Durham on the battlefield of WWI, in France, was an unexpected piece of the chase that led to many more questions. How can one better understand this man and why his country chose to remove his great offering from Texas history and United States History? Why must William Joseph Durham be defaced and silenced from Texas and United States Records?
WWI Afro-American Soldiers
"Chasing Durham"
The men that fought in WWI returned home to an unwelcoming Jim Crow South and the prejudiced United States that wedge them into a corner that bore new fruit, a new horizon, and a new understanding that the fight for the country had an even more meaningful war before them. This new battle was one riddled with White Supremacy, racism, hate, ethnocide, identity theft, financial genocide, and open blunt murder. Now, what will be their response? Once again they are faced with the understanding that their lives and servitude would be of little value at home. Jim Crow South offered no rights, no representation, poverty-sustaining jobs,
sub-education, lynchings, and injustice. Where would they turn?
The American Dream was not designed for These Brave Men!