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Harlem Hellfighters Analysis

Decent Essays

The Harlem Hellfighters is recognized as a graphic novel that author, Max Brooks use to balance historical accuracy with vivid storytelling to publicize the story of those who served with the 369th, in the War to End All Wars. As Brooks stated in the novel before the story started, the story was a fictionalized account of the 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I. However, it “brings to life a long forgotten piece of American history.” - Spike Lee
Even though this story is fictionalized, majority of the events portrayed was either direct historical accounts or fictionalized versions of them. As figured, some of the characters in this story are fictional, such as Dave, Mark, and Edge. However, characters such as, Desmond Scatliffe and Sergeant Mandla were inspired by actual historical figures. Scatliffe’s character was inspired by several Caribbean-born Hellfighters, and Mandla’s character was based on the story of an actual full-blooded Zulu who served with the 15th New York. On the contrary, characters such as: Colonel William Hayward, Captain Arthur W. Little, Captain Hamilton Fish, Sergeant Noble Sissle, General Henri Gouraud, James Reese Europe, “The King of Jazz”, Eugene Jaques Bullard, who was a boxer, a nightclub owner, an activist, a pilot, and a veteran of both World Wars, and Henry Johnson, who was the first American (black or white) to receive the French Cross of War, were all nonfictional.
Throughout this entire story, Brooks emphasizes the way those who

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