If you learned about WWI in school, the story that you learned of the first “World” War was probably very Euro-centric. The conflict began in 1914, so the story goes, when a white terrorist assassinated a white heir to the throne of an empire led by a white monarch. This kicked off a chain of events in which a bunch of European countries fought each other, often in bloody, death- and disease-filled trenches in countries such as France. Eventually, the Americans showed up to help turn the tide of the war and the Germans eventually surrendered and got blamed for starting the whole thing. The date of that surrender, Nov. 11, was enshrined in a bunch of national holidays, including our Veterans Day . Non-white folks, to the extent that they show up in this story at all, are usually given minor supporting roles. Because the Europeans had colonized most of the world in the centuries leading up to the war, a lot of Black and brown folks wound up fighting in the war or otherwise supporting...
