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CPR Seminar Series: Desmond Ang

Eggers Hall, 060

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Desmond Ang (Harvard Kennedy School of Government) will present "Vanguard: Black Veterans and Civil Rights after World War I" as part of the CPR Seminar Series.

Abstract: In 1919, hundreds of thousands of Black soldiers returned home to face widespread racial violence and discrimination. Leveraging the World War I draft lottery and millions of newly-digitized records, we document the pioneering role that these individuals played in advancing civil rights over the following decades. While military service provided little causal economic benefit, Black men who were randomly inducted into the U.S. Army were significantly more likely to take part in the ascendant NAACP. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that effects were largest for men from higher-skilled occupations and those who served in combat roles. Detailed analysis of the first African-American officer candidate class similarly reveals that commissioned officers were more likely to become civil rights leaders and other prominent members of civil society.


Category

Social Science and Public Policy

Type

Lectures and Seminars

Region

Campus

Open to

Faculty

Students, Graduate and Professional

Organizer

MAX-Center for Policy Research

Contact

Alyssa Kirk
315.443.9929

amkirk@syr.edu

Accessibility

Contact Alyssa Kirk to request accommodations

Exterior of Maxwell in black and white when there was no Eggers building

We’re Turning 100!


To mark our centennial in the fall of 2024, the Maxwell School will hold special events and engagement opportunities to celebrate the many ways—across disciplines and borders—our community ever strives to, as the Oath says, “transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Throughout the year leading up to the centennial, engagement opportunities will be held for our diverse, highly accomplished community that now boasts more than 38,500 alumni across the globe.