Professor Harris and the Harlem Hellfighters Project

February 1, 2022

Pictured above: Representative Tom Suozzi with Professor Richard Harris

January 25th, 2022 update

Professor Richard Harris has been selected by the Office of the U.S. Mint to head up the team that will design the Congressional Gold Medal to be created to honor the World War I African American U.S. Army infantry regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters. The bill proposing creation of the medal was signed by President Biden on August 25, 2021.

Professor Harris has been working principally with Dr. Krewasky Salter, Executive Director of the U.S. Army First Division Museum, in Wheaton, Illinois, to provide background on the unit and to suggest design elements for the medal. He and Dr. Salter have submitted their recommendations and in the next couple of months will be discussing the final design with artists from the Office of the Mint.

Members of 369th Infantry wave from a troop ship as they arrive back in New York City. The regiment was nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters and the Black Rattlers. Ca. 1919.

August 23rd, 2021 update

Professor Richard Harris, Assistant Dean and Director of the Humanities Program, is also co-chair of the Harlem Hellfighter Recognition Project. This project was the focus of a press conference held at the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem on August 13, 2021, to announce that the U.S. Senate had approved a bill on August 10 to honor the U.S. Army regiment known as the “Harlem Hellfighters” with a Congressional Gold Medal. The 369th was an African American unit that distinguished itself in France in World War I, spending more time in the war zone (191 days) than any other American combat unit, never losing an inch of ground or having a member captured, and was the first American regiment to reach the Rhine River in 1918.  

Professor Harris, also a member of the Board of Trustees of the North Shore Historical Museum in Glen Cove, was recognized for his role as co-chair of the Harlem Hellfighter Recognition Project Committee, which originally recommended that this action be taken.  Representative Tom Suozzi, who guided the bill through the House of Representatives, and Senator Chuck Schumer, who led the approval process in the Senate, were there to make the joint announcement. It is expected that President Biden will sign the bill during the week of the 23rd. Presentation of the medal will take place at the Smithsonian Institution at a date to be announced later.

View previous story and video about the Harlem Hellfighters project.

Members of the Harlem Hellfighters. Photo courtesy of Representative Tom Suozzi.