The Negro Soldier (1944). US War Department. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
The Negro Soldier
Written by Carlton Moss, who also appears as the preacher whose sermon frames it; made compulsory viewing for all US troops and later released to civilian cinemas.
- Year
- 1944
- Made by
- US War Department
- Directed by
- Stuart Heisler, produced by Frank Capra
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
Made for a segregated army, and constrained by that, it still did something no official American film had done: it addressed Black soldiers as full participants and asked white ones to watch. Moss wrote it and built it around a church service, which gives the whole film the shape and cadence of a sermon — the reason it survives its own compromises when heard rather than watched. Civil rights organisations pushed successfully for its general release. Federal work, no copyright.
The Negro Soldier, 1944. US War Department. Directed by Stuart Heisler, produced by Frank Capra. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
The soundtrack