The author connects the history of African American soldiers and veterans to issues such as the obligations of citizenship, combat and labor, diaspora and internationalism, homecoming and racial violence, "New Negro" militancy, and African American historical memories of the war. Democracy may have been distant from the everyday lives of African Americans at the dawn of the war, but it nevertheless remained a powerful ideal that sparked the hopes of black people throughout the country for societal change. Torchbearers of Democracy reclaims the legacy of black soldiers and establishes the World War I era as a defining moment in the history of African Americans and peoples of African descent more broadly.

Democracy at war : African Americans, citizenship, and the meanings of military service -- The "race question" : the U.S. government and the training experiences of African American soldiers -- The hell of war : African American soldiers in labor and combat -- Les soldats noir : France, Black military service, and the challenges of internationalism and diaspora -- Waging peace : the end of the war and the hope of democracy -- The war at home : African American veterans and violence in the long "red summer" -- Soldiers to "new Negroes" : African American veterans and postwar racial militancy -- Lest we forget : the war and African American soldiers in history and memory.