History

Howard Wilkinson: Politics and More

0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

100th Anniversary Of WWI: African-Americans Who Served

91.7 WVXU

Published March 8, 2017 at 4:00 AM EST

U.S. Army infantry troops, African-American unit, marching northwest of Verdun, France, in World War I.

World War I began in Europe on July 28, 1914, but the United States did not enter the war until April 6, 1917. More than 17 million military personnel and civilians died, and another 20 million were wounded, in what was once known as "the war to end all wars." American deaths totaled more than 116,000.

WVXU's Howard Wilkinson is doing a series of reports to commemorate the 100th anniversary of America's entry into the war.

This afternoon, Howard Wilkinson, local historian and Ohio WWI Centennial Commission member Paul LaRue, and Carl Westmoreland, senior historian at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, join us to discuss African-Americans who served during WWI. African-Americans made up 13 percent of the wartime military, almost 400,000 men, including many from Greater Cincinnati.

To read Howard Wilkinson's story on African-Americans who served in the military during WWI, click here.

Paul LaRue has created two online lesson plans to help teachers and students learn more about WWI: Searching for Homer Lawson: African-American World War I Combat Troops, and African American Soldiers Labor for Victory.

The German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati will present a symposium sponsored by the Indiana German Heritage Society?: German-Americans and World War I, March 17 - 18. For information, contact Dr. Giles Hoyt at ghoyt@iupui.edu.