Migration and pan african and radical black International Movements and the new negro renaissance and of course, experiences of africanamerican soldiers and veterans and the war was a moment of profound disjuncture, trauma, and possibility. And i believe that is in seeing the war as a moment of a possibility that we can begin to truly appreciate what the war meant for africanamericans and what it can mean for us today. President Woodrow Wilson framed americas participation in the war as a crusade to make the world safe for democracy. Africanamericans seized upon this to transform the war into a battle to make demeanocracy a reality for their everyday lives. Black people did not need the war to remind them that they were indeed citizens worthy of democracy. However, the war created the conditions and provided the opportunities for black people to mobilize their citizenship and democratic consciousness and demand that america be true to its promise and potential. They faced considerable