History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With MexicoSweeney, William Allison
History
History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico
Sweeney, William Allison
African American soldiers; African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
How groundless such fears, may be seen from the statistical record of
the draft with relation to the Negro. His race furnished its quota
uncomplainingly and cheerfully. History, indeed, will be unable to
record the fullness and grandeur of his spirit in the war, for the
reason that opportunities, especially for enlistment, as heretofore
mentioned, were not opened to him to the same extent as to the whites.
But enough can be gathered from the records to show that he was filled
not only with patriotism, but of a brand, all things considered, than
which there was no other like it.
That the men of the Negro race were as ready to serve as the white is
amply proved by the reports of local boards. A Pennsylvania board,
remarking upon the eagerness of its Negro registrants to be inducted,
illustrated it by the action of one registrant, who, upon learning that
his employer had had him placed upon the Emergency Fleet list, quit his
job. Another registrant who was believed by the board to be above draft
age insisted that he was not, and in stating that he was not married,
explained that he "wanted only one war at a time."
The following descriptions from Oklahoma and Arkansas boards are
typical, the first serving to perpetuate one of the best epigrams of
the war:
"We tried to treat the Negroes with exactly the same consideration
shown the whites. We had the same speakers to address them. The
Rotary Club presented them with small silk flags, as they did the
whites. The band turned out to escort them to the train; and the
Negroes went to camp with as cheerful a spirit as did the whites.
One of them when asked if he were going to France, replied: 'No,
sir; I'm not going "to France". I am going "through France".'"
"In dealing with the Negroes," the Arkansas board report says, "the
southern boards gained a richness of experience that is without
parallel. No other class of citizens was more loyal to the
government or more ready to answer the country's call. The only
blot upon their military record was the great number of delinquents
among the more ignorant; but in the majority of cases this was
traced to an ignorance of the regulations, or to the withholding of
mail by the landlord, often himself an aristocratic slacker, in
order to retain the man's labor."
Many influences were brought to bear upon the Negro to cause him to
evade his duty to the government. Some effort in certain sections of the
country was made to induce them not to register. That the attempt to
spread German propaganda among them was a miserable failure may be seen
from the statement of the Chief of the Bureau of Investigation of the
Department of Justice, made to the United States Senate committee:
"The Negroes didn't take to these stories, however, as they were
too loyal. Money spent in the south for propaganda was thrown
away."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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