Africa and the African Diaspora in the World Wars
February 19–21, 2026 | Alumni Center, Florida State University
Conference Overview
Africa and the African Diaspora and the World Wars convenes scholars whose work examines Black military service, empire, citizenship, gender, labor, and global struggle across the First and Second World Wars.
Sponsors
• Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, Florida State University
• Society for Black Military Studies
• Department of History, Auburn University
Thursday, February 19, 2026
5:00 PM | Welcome
Jennifer Koslow (Chair, Department of History, Florida State University)
G. Kurt Piehler (Director, Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, Florida State University)
Le’Trice Donaldson (Auburn University; President, Society for Black Military Studies)
Public Keynote Address
Chad Williams (Boston University)
“W. E. B. Du Bois, World War I, and Black Military History”
Reception
Immediately following the keynote
Friday, February 20, 2026
8:30–9:30 AM | Continental Breakfast
9:30–11:30 AM | Session I: African Americans, Empire, and the First World War
Chair: George White (York College, City University of New York)
Brian K. Feltman (Georgia Southern University)
“The Negroes Are Loyal!: The First World War Experience of African Americans in Bulloch County, GA.”
Robert F. Jefferson Jr. (University of New Mexico)
“The Making of Diaspora Soldier Citizens in Uncle Sam’s Army: Afro-Caribbean GIs, Race, and Citizenship in the United States Military of the 1940s.”
Liz Timbs (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
“Phaphami Zulu: The Recruitment of Zulu Service for the First and Second World Wars.”
11:30 AM–1:00 PM | Lunch (on your own)
1:00–3:00 PM | Session II: Africa, Empire, and the Global War
Chair: Maxine Jones (Florida State University)
Roy Doron (Winston-Salem State University)
“Welcoming the ‘Strangers in a New Land’: African soldiers’ daily lives and British control and the Burma Campaign.”
Daniel Hutchinson (Belmont Abbey College)
“Defending the Lands of Their Ancestors: The African American Military Experience in Africa during World War II.”
Stephanie Makowski (U.S. Air Force Academy)
“‘Be kind, but not intimate’: Interracial Relationships and the Contradictions of Public Policy in World War II Britain.”
3:00–3:30 PM | Coffee Break
3:30–5:30 PM | Session III: Memory, Citizenship, and Postwar Legacies
Chair: Amanda Nagel (Command and General Staff College)
Michelle Bumatay (Florida State University)
“Drawing Tirailleurs Sénégalais in WWII: What Legacies for Francophone African Soldiers?”
Waliu Alao Ismala (Utah Valley University)
“World War II Veterans and Postwar Life in Nigeria, 1945–1960.”
Zachary Wilmoth (University of Florida)
“Combat and Consciousness: A Reinterpretation of Black South Africans in the Second World War.”
Saturday, February 21, 2026
9:00–9:30 AM | Continental Breakfast
9:30–11:30 AM | Session IV: Disability, Propaganda, and Digital History
Chair: Michael Creswell (Florida State University)
Reena N. Goldthree (Princeton University)
“War-Scarred Heroes: Disabled Veterans’ Activism in the Interwar British Caribbean.”
Nnaemeka Enemchukwu (Southern Illinois University)
“The Mongoose versus the Cobra: Propaganda and Mobilization in Old Eastern Nigeria during World War II.”
Rashida K. Braggs (Williams College) and Bryan Carter (University of Arizona)
“Digitizing Legacies of African American Involvement in World War II.”
Anotida Chikumbu (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
“The Forgotten Men: African and Colored Servicemen of the Second World War and the Rise of African Nationalism in Southern Rhodesia (Colonial Zimbabwe), c. 1939–1980.”
11:30 AM–12:30 PM | Lunch (on your own)
12:30–2:30 PM | Session V: Gender, Labor, and the Home Front
Chair: Françoise N. Hamlin (Brown University)
Olubukola Stella Adesina (Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan)
“The War at Home: Nigerian Women, Labour, and Resistance on the Colonial Home Front (1914–1945).”
Adeyemi Ademowo (University of Ibadan)
“Women on the Home Front: African Women’s Roles, Resistance, and Resilience during the World Wars.”
Elizabeth Coble (Command and General Staff Officer Course)
“Liberia and the United States During World War II – How the Reverse Lend-Lease Program Impacted Their Diplomatic Relationship and Influenced Global Military Activities.”
Winnifred Wambui Mwikali (Pwani University)
“From Herds to Helmets: The Paradigm Shift in Akamba Masculinity, Labour, and Military Service in Colonial Kenya, 1914–1963.”
Registration
There is no fee to attend the conference. Registration is required for sessions on February 21 and 22.
To register, contact G. Kurt Piehler: kpiehler@fsu.edu
Acknowledgments
This conference is supported by funds derived from the George and Marian Langford Endowment (Department of History, Florida State University) and the Pearl Tyner Endowment (Institute on World War II and the Human Experience).