Addie Hunton (1875–1943) and Kathryn M. Johnson (b. 1878)

Abstract

Churchwomen and social workers, Hunton and Johnson succeeded against considerable opposition in going to France in 1918 as YMCA workers specifically to administer to the needs of the African-American troops, most of whom were systematically denied access to the services provided to white soldiers. Their book about their year abroad, Two Colored Women with the A. E. F. (1920), uncompromisingly records the atmosphere of racism and discrimination which they observed and encountered and seeks to set the record straight regarding the service of black troops and their officers, whose courage and capabilities were being publicly attacked, especially by Southern white officers.