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The Army had no written policy on what to do if an officer training camp became integrated, so each camp was allowed to decide for itself the manner in which the integration was executed.

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The 92nd division was to be the first and only class to graduate from Fort Des Moines; the War Department shut it down soon after their departure.

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On 15 October 1917, 639 African-American men received their commissions as either captain or first or second lieutenant, and were assigned to infantry, artillery, and engineer units with the 92nd Division.

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The War Department determined that the instruction at Fort Des Moines was poor and inadequate.

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They practiced drilling with and without arms, signaling, physical training, memorizing the organization of the regiment, reading maps, and training on the rifle and bayonet.

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The average man attending the Des Moines camp only had to have a high school education, and only twelve percent scored above average in the classification tests given by the Army.

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Two hundred fifty of those men in Des Moines were already non-commissioned officers, and the rest were civilians.

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Approximately 1,250 men attended the camp in Des Moines, Iowa.

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In May 1917, Fort Des Moines opened its doors to black officer-trainees.

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The army created segregated but supposedly equal, office training camp to reduce the chance of an uprising.

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There was such a backlash from the blacks for the military not allowing them to fight that the War department created two primarily black combat units.

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The four regiments with blacks in them were not sent on overseas combat missions, rather distributed throughout American territory.

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Most blacks were limited to labor battalions.

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Although technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks got the opportunity to serve in combat units.

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By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical, engineer, and artillery units, etc...

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Blacks could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and the Coast Guard.

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Blacks could not serve in the marines.

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The army was far more progressive in race relations than other branches of the military

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Although African Americans comprised 10 percent of the US pop, they supplied 13% of inductees.

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African American men with families and their own farm were often drafted more than single white men of large planters.

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It was common in the Southern postal to deliberately hold registration cards of black men to get them arrested for draft dodging.

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Although there were no outlines of racial preference in the draft, it was dominantly white even though there were many African Americans registering.

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African Americans were told to tear off the corner of their registration card to the draft so they could be identified as that race beforehand.

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Within one week of Wilson's declaration of war, the war department had to stop accepting African Americans , for their quotas were full.

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The four all-black regiments were the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th infantry.

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When WWI broke out, there were four all-black regiments.

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Even before the draft was passed, many African Americans were eager to join the war anyway.

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Many African Americans were still being turned away by the military service for their color.

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Although you would expect them to not want to go in war for the way they were treated in America, many wanted to.

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African American troops saw this war as a way to win the respect of their white "neighbors". They wanted to be seen as equal to the white people.