A 'WHITE MAN'S WAR'? CANADIAN BLACKS' CONTRIBUTION TO CANADA'S EFFORT IN THE GREAT WAR.

The role of the Black Canadian community in the country's WWI effort is a peculiar case. The Blacks volunteered for enlistment in large numbers and were willing to serve the King and the country. On the other hand, until 1916, they were, almost automatically, rejected - mainly on the racial grounds. Those who did serve, however, left a record of courage, dedication, discipline and fighting spirit. That, combined with the Black contribution on the home front, proved the Canadian Black minority contributed to the war effort on a similar level to the other Canadian racial or ethnic groups. Still, in bare numbers, as Blacks constituted a fraction of the Canadian society, their participation in the Canadian armed forces was hardly visible. That led to either belittling their sacrifice or overdone comments on the unfairly low interest of the scholars in the Black soldiers. The paper sets out to analyse the enlistment, training and service of the Black soldiers, their motives and hopes connected with the service. Simultaneously, the article attempts at providing the right perspective to the contribution of the Blacks in a larger perspective of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and - more broadly - all the Canadian armed forces during the WWI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]