World War I Gold Star Records (MFM 821) includes copies of files for "soldiers who lost their lives in combat or by disease." The Tennessee State Library and Archives provides an online Index to the collection.
East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917 MFM 1040
World War I and the immediate postwar era were marked by a number of bloody racial confrontations. One of the most important and the one with the highest death toll occurred at East St. Louis, Illinois, on July 2, 1917. Because of the volume and nature of the surviving evidence, it is also the race riot which is most accessible to historians for scholarly investigation. Because the riot resulted in the virtual suspension of commerce between Illinois and Missouri for up to ten days, the U.S. Congressional committee that conducted the investigation was called the House Select Committee to Investigate Conditions in Illinois and Missouri Interfering with Interstate Commerce between These States. The transcripts of the hearings and related records reproduced in this collection are at the National Archives. Also included is the transcript of the criminal conspiracy trial of Dr. LeRoy Bundy, the principal leader of the East St. Louis black community who was charged with inciting the riot. See the printed guide to the collection, The East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917, in MFM Guides. Indexes included on microfilm at beginning of most volumes.
Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917-1925) MFM 1163
During the First World War and the subsequent Red Scare years the Justice Department and its Bureau of Investigation, the intelligence branches of the Army and Navy, the State and Post Office Departments, and other federal agencies engaged in widespread investigation of anyone deemed politically suspect. Black Americans were special targets because they were perceived by some as particularly receptive to the radical ideas. This collection of records provides a vast treasure of source materials documenting the major social movements and key figures in early 20th century black history, tracing the development of America's first domestic surveillance apparatus, and illuminating the conflict between the needs for a country to protect basic individual freedoms and to protect itself from threats to its security and existence. For more information on surveillance of radicals during this period, see MFM 1175, U.S. Military Intelligence Reports: Surveillance of Radicals in the United States, 1917-1941. (Item # 128).
Tennessee in the Great War, 1914-1918: A Guide to Collections at TSLA
Tennessee World War I Veterans' Questionnaires (Tennessee State Library and Archives) This overview of the collection includes an index to the names in the 4,453 questionnaires.
Karl M. Kleeman World War I Photograph Collection
World War I Collection, 1914-1934
