Florida State University will host scholars from around the world Thursday, Feb. 19 through Saturday, Feb. 21 for a conference discussing the roles that Africa and African descendants played in how World War I and World War II were fought and how they are remembered.
“Africa and the African Diaspora and the World Wars” is sponsored by the Department of History’s Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, the Society for Black Military Studies, and Auburn University’s Department of History. The event, which features more than 15 international speakers, is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
“The conference will feature presentations by young scholars from Africa and speakers who recently immigrated to America, considering battles and other Military engagements during the World Wars that took place in Africa, and the military history of African American participation in World War II,” said Kurt Piehler, director of the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience and associate professor of history.
The event kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at the FSU Alumni Association Center with a public keynote address by Chad Williams, the Tomorrow Foundation Chair of American Intellectual History at Boston University and the author of four books on African American history. His address will focus on World War I, Black military history and William Edward Burghardt Du Bois –– an American sociologist, writer and Pan-African civil rights activist who lived from 1868 to 1963 and initially encouraged African Americans to support World War I efforts, believing it would help earn rights for Black citizens.
“Chad Williams is a remarkable scholar; he is one of the leading historians of military history in the 20th century, particularly for African American soldiers’ experiences of World War I,” Piehler said. “We were inspired to invite him to speak at the conference after an insightful conversation with my students regarding his book, ‘Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era.’”
Following the keynote address, five sessions will be held –– three on Friday, Feb. 20, and two on Saturday, Feb. 21 –– all at the FSU Alumni Association Center. Sessions will showcase various presentations covering themes including Black military service, military operations in Africa, social transformation under colonial rule, political communication and others.
“Africa and the African diaspora, the voluntary and involuntary movement of African descendants across the globe, are often overlooked in military history,” Piehler said. “We hope the conference will promote scholarship in this field and encourage scholars to submit papers to the Journal of Black Military Studies, a new journal established in 2024 by one of the conference’s sponsors, the Society for Black Military Studies.”
The Society for Black Military Studies, founded in 2022, aims to preserve and share Black soldiers’ contributions throughout history and raise awareness of the Black military experience in all its complexity.
“World War I and World War II cannot be understood without Africa and the African diaspora,” said Le’Trice Donaldson, founder and president of the Society for Black Military Studies and an assistant professor of history at Auburn University. “The World Wars were turning points in the making of modern Black politics and identities, shaping struggles such as citizenship, labor and freedom. This conference emphasizes that the World Wars were global Black history, not just European history.”
This event is funded by the George and Martin Langford Endowment and the Pearl Tyner Endowment.
To register for the conference, contact Piehler at kpiehler@fsu.edu. To learn more about FSU’s Department of History, visit history.fsu.edu.
For more on the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, visit history.fsu.edu/institutes/institute-world-war-ii-and-human-experience.