---
title: '"True to a Fighting Tradition!"'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/true-to-a-fighting-tradition-alston-1943/
description: A pencil drawing arranges five Black American soldiers, one per conflict, dated 1776, 1863, 1898, 1918 and North Africa 1943.
section: Collection
---

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3. "True to a Fighting Tradition!"

[!["True to a Fighting Tradition!", 1943 US cartoon: A pencil drawing arranges five Black American soldiers, one per conflict](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/true-to-a-fighting-tradition-alston-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/true-to-a-fighting-tradition-alston-1943.jpg)

# "True to a Fighting Tradition!"

A pencil drawing arranges five Black American soldiers, one per conflict, dated 1776, 1863, 1898, 1918 and North Africa 1943, with the 1943 soldier largest in the foreground. The technique tell is transfer: the earlier wars' soldiers and the 1776 flag lend their historical standing to the present-day soldier, framed by the caption's 'tradition'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
1776
1863
1898
1918
NORTH AFRICA
1943
"TRUE TO A FIGHTING TRADITION!"
Alston OWI
```

[← Nippon Eigasha newsreel, intertitle on Prime Minister Tojo's visit to Java and the Central Advisory Council](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tojo-java-central-advisory-council-newsreel-1943/) [Tu défends la Belgique... en luttant au front de l'Est (You defend Belgium... by fighting on the Eastern Front) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tu-defends-la-belgique-ss-wallonie-1943/)

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