J.L.S. (DATES UNKNOWN) TO BERLIN / AEF / SOS. Circa 1917.
46 1/2x30 inches, 118x76 1/4 cm. Devambez, Paris.
Condition B / B-: extensive repaired tears, replaced losses, creases and overpainting in margins and image and along vertical and horizontal folds.
What at first glance appears to be a soldier scrambling to get to Berlin, is in fact two soldiers, one white and the other black, hurrying together. The United States Army remained segregated during the First World War, but African Americans served in their own units in the American Expeditionary Force, and in some cases fought side by side with French units. This rare image is one of the few World War I images to depict an African American soldier.