Transcripts For CSPAN3 African American Soldiers In World Wa

Author of fighting for hope. The National World War Ii Museum in new orleans hosted this discussion and provided the video. Greetings, everyone. I am senior director of programs at the National World War Ii Museum in new orleans and it is my pleasure to welcome all of you to what promises to be a Great Program on the history of africanamericans in combat in the United States from world war i to world war ii with everything in between and in the immediate postworld war ii years, and i am joined by three of our nations preeminent scholars on this subject. Whohost is dr. John morrow, is franklin professor of history at the university of georgia and is coauthor with our second panelist, who is professor of harlemst nyu, of rattlers in the great war, which is a fantastic book about one of the great africanamerican units in the First World War were. Our third panelist is Robert Jefferson junior, associate professor of history at the , andrsity of new mexico the author of fighting for hope. I will turn it over to dr. John morrow. Dr. Morrow thank you, ed. Welcome to the National World War Ii Museums webinar on africanamerican soldiers in combat. Me, i will beed the moderator. Jeffrey sammons will focus on the First World War, and doctored and dr. Jefferson will focus on the Second World War. I will introduce you to the context of the times in which these men served and fought. The world wars occurred during reign of White Supremacy in the United States. Segregation as well. Americansn literally had no rights that americans were bound to respect. The years were dotted with lynchings and race riots, the latter of which, often in fact, boil down to being white massacres of black people. Ande a black person, consequently a black man, in the wereary meant the odds stacked against you, although africanamericans had served in warsn all the words the american colonies and the u. S. Had waged. Had relegated all black positions ofnial servitude, menial duties and positions of servitude. World war i, world war ii, until the very end of world war ii, although black sailors had served as fullfledged seamen throughout the 19th century. And the marines, who had been allwhite by inclamation and 1798 1798, only allowed black marines in in world war ii to perform logistical and supply duties. Onthe focus today adds up the u. S. Army. In the u. S. Army, white southerners set the tone for the treatment of africanamerican soldiers in both wars. And you might ask why. ,ecause the army reflecting the claims of southern politicians and officers, believed that southern black mennderstood better than other whites. But understood meant that they theumed black men lacked courage, initiative, and intelligence to be combat officers,much less , certainly notid pilots of combat planes. So what you had was this array of prejudices ranged against you. This presumption that white southern officers should lead black men meant that most black soldiers were condemned to the command of the most prejudiced officers in the u. S. Army, with some exceptions, but by and large this was the case. Went from Division Commanders all the way down to company commanders, and i would include the top brass of the the men whose attitudes denigrated the potential for black men for combat. Note are officers who did hesitate to call their men nword,y the inward which i am not using today, because High School Students ,ight end up using this, or bo , in order to often portray them as cowards and criminals. Although black soldiers fought well in world war one, the same racist conditions and attitudes prevailed in the Second World War. Became,why world war ii for africanamericans, a struggle for double victory victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. As we returned with my two colleagues to the first half of the 19th century, ask yourself, why did africanamerican soldiers who went to fight and die for their country have to serve under such abysmal circumstances . Individuals refer to this situation as sad. I have heard that term used. It was not sad. It was tragic. And this treatment occurred deliberately and purposely because what was at stake was equal rights for black americans in the United States. This is a story of tragedy and ultimate triumph, one against the odds and at the sacrifice of in blood of black americans the service of their country. It is my pleasure now to turn the program over to professor sammons first and then to professor jefferson. Dr. Sammons thank you, professor morrow. Blacks knew all too well this history of denigration and disparagement. Carpenter, a miami pastor, wrote in 1913, as a soldier, the American Negro equals any soldier in the world. We have every reason to be proud of our contribution to this government in times of war, but above that, we boast that, among our troops, not in a single case is there on record cowardice or the failure of a negro soldier to do his full duty. Yet in spite of this, there are those who insist that the negro has no flag. He has a flag. 1775, in 1812,n in 1863, and in 1898. He who says we have no flag denies the valor and patriotism onthousands of negros who, hundreds of battlefields, have proved their worth as soldiers and as men. Carpenter predicted that if black soldiers were not treated properly that there would be a bloody uprising unparalleled in the history of the world and, in that came to 1919ion in the summer of as chicago, washington, omaha, and in 1921, we heard so much about toll so, actually occurred, along with other cities and towns that corrupted in racial violence that resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives. In 1863, of course, Frederick Douglass pressed hard for the inclusion of black troops in the war to end slavery and goaded actually, told him he was fighting with a soft white whiteblack hand hand, the black hand tied behind its back, and he needed to use the iron fist of the black hand to defeat the confederacy. And Paul Laurence dunbar commented on blacks in the civil war. Rights, in the early days, you scorn them scorned them. Is spread abroad, then you called the colored soldiers, and the answer to your call. That has been repeated throughout the history of america, that only in cases of emergency or desperation or soldier has the black being used and then discarded like torn tissues or used tissues afterward. Continue to blacks press for service in the military . Blacks understood the importance of the military to the american psyche, to its actual existence. Crispushristmas addicks is considered to be the Crispus Atticus is considered casualty of the revolutionary war, the first blow against the British Occupation and tyranny. Continue tod blacks press for service . One,se they realized that, fighting in battle can bring freedom, but it also can bring respect, and if not seen by whites, it is certainly seen by other blacks. William pickett, moving on to world war i, told us why the black fought in world war i, and that is that blacks were able to establish their character as opposed to reputation, which is given to someone by others. Character is intrinsic. And he says that the character of black americans shown clearly in the black americans shone clearly in the light of war. Suddenly, the most undesirable element in the United States became the most reliable element, as symbolized and recognized by the calling out of president wilson of black National Guard troops to protect the white house. Blackse war had allowed from africa and america the opportunity to make their first great record as a modern international factor, a positive world influence, with the lesson never to be lost on blacks. World war i helped to produce a selfconfident new negro and all the change they came later of much to forwardlooking and forward moving people at that time. World war i has been written off as a lost cause in which blacks fought blindly for nothing, to be treated in the same way that they had before the war after the war. This could not be farther from the truth. Laidacks in world war i the foundation for what would happen in the interwar. Interwar period and what would happen in world war ii. I want to emphasize the point again, especially for students, that what is really important about these events and experiences is the effect they have on blacks themselves and what blacks internalize from them and not what others might represent them to be. I . What happens in world war 369th,ant to use the which was the 15th new york National Guard and the first black National Guard unit in new york state, not established until 1916, as a case study for the black experience in world war i. And it certainly is representative in many respects, but also different and different for very important reasons. After a prolonged struggle to become recognized as a National Guard unit, this happens, as i indicated, in 1916. And the unit will go on to serve with the french army. And this is one of the important the 15thons between new york National Guard, the 369th regiment and other africanamerican troops. Aso, the fact that they were National Guard unit and did not, at least at the beginning of their experience in combat, have those southern officers that professor morrow has referred to. Most of the officers came from the northeast and especially new york. And this made in important difference too, but there positioning with the french and this made an important difference too, but their positioning with the french was important. And they had five black officers in the regiment, four of whom were actually combat officers in the war. They were removed for reasons that i cannot get into now, except there was a movement by general pershing to not have any black officers actually be in the position to command white inserted,ho would be many of them replacement officers, some of them from the south. And this brings me to an important point about blacks is officers. And when that disparagement and integration occurs after the war disparagement and denigration occurs after the war, led by colonel allen greer, who was chief of staff of the 92nd leesion, also by robert e bullard, who was from alabama, commanded black troops in the spanishamerican war. I can tell you that familiarity did breed contempt in his mind about the black soldier. He would lead this campaign to disparage the black soldier, which would be picked up later in an official report that i will refer to at the end of my talk, the Army War College study of 1925. But i want to Say Something about black officers, and lets point to the nations leading military academy. Thefirst black graduate of United States military academy was henry ossian flipper. That happened in 1877, so in reconstruction. The second was John Hanks Alexander in 1887. And the third was charles young, and we have an image of what actuallyoung, who should have become the first black general in the united hetes military, but after reached the rank of colonel, was determined to have been unfit physically to continue in active service. And this came out of a complaint by a white southern lieutenant who served under young in the ninth cavalry and was picked up by a United States senator from mississippi and actually forced Woodrow Wilson and his secretary of war to inactivate young. So young is on the right, prematurely aged because of the way he was treated. Young tried to prove his fitness for service by taking a horse from ohio to washington, d. C. Not only did he ride it, he walked the horse a part of the way in order to rest the horse. And when he arrived, military Officials Say that said that you have only proven the fitness of the horse, not yourself. Interestingly, after the war, young was reinstated, sent to africa, and died of a tropical fever. So it was clear that this man was removed from service because the United States was not ready for a black general. And this takes me back to Something Else that occurred after the civil war that is very important for us to understand, and that is the origins of the segregated army. Now, we know there were black units in the civil war, most notably the 54th massachusetts its brotherd then or Sister Organization the 55th. In 1866, the u. S. Government passed a law establishing the segregated army in law. And out of that came the ninth calvary valrys cavalries. A graduate captain, of west point from alabama, saidew steele, in 1911, this was a worse act than anything he saw in the laws of mississippi and alabama at the time in terms of solidifying secondclass citizenship for blacks. And why was that done . In my opinion, it was done because to have integrated the United States military would have been an active social equality, which even the most enlightened sort of advocates of black rights did not support. So here we have something that, as professor jefferson will show us, will last until the korean war, the segregated United States army. 369th fights with the front, is sent to the after one month of training. Receive awill guerre, anduar de 174 individuals would also receive that honor, and one of the greatest heroes of world war i, who only recently has received the recognition that he deserved, is henry. Johnson. We have a couple slides of Henry Johnson. He is the bottom figure on the page on the right side. Henry johnson received the crois palm, thewith largest honor bestowed by order of the army. A number of 24, and fought them with grenades, knife,fle, bayonet, bolo and both men almost died in the process. Henry johnson would not receive an american honor until 1994 and that was the purple heart. He received the distinguished Service Cross in 2003, but there had been a campaign for Henry Johnson to receive the medal of 1980s, and it was not until 2015, under the obama administration, that Henry Johnson received the honor that he should have. And henry is not alone for not being recognized as one should. And in fact, there were some 70 black recipients of the andinguished Service Cross, recent Research Conducted by me has found that there were at least a total of eight recommended for the medal of honor and all of them were denied by general pershing personally except for fred beast freddie stours, whose case slipped through the cracks, and in 1991, he was the first to receive a medal of honor from world war i. There is no project, based in at the university and part in missouri at the center for study of the great war, attempting to do a systematic review of black soldiers in world war i for consideration for the medal of honor. Like to move on to the the recordespite that the 369th men and others as well not all of these men were from the 369th. William butler was another hero of the 369th who was recommended for the medal of honor, but so were seven others, some from the 92nd. I would like to move and we see this rendering of Henry Johnson, who looks quite different from the Henry Johnson photograph,in the riff on here we have a fieldccreadys flanders that spoke about the black sacrifice in world war i. I will move on to the next, which is actually a video of the march of the 369th on february avenue, whichifth david lewis claims is the beginning of the harlem renaissance. And what an impressive and imposing sight of these men marching in french formation, 16 apart. Anddespite their heroics the heroics of other blacks in world were one, the army in world war i, the Army War College took what people like had stated andrd made it official policy, formalized it. Man, hed to the white mentality,ior inherently weak in character. Particularly the officer, failed in the world war. And basically they said that what he was really good for was and service , that the negro officers under i am sorry, under negro officers, black soldiers displayed in aptitude itude foryed inept modern battle. Their tendency to be panic stricken can only be overcome with the leaders meaning white officers, southern officers. So we see this parade, this impressive display of black and it, and once is at once lauded and also seen as a threat. What will these men do in terms of the status quo . They be not in the case of the 369th, but others, especially those who were treated less well than members of the three 59th, they became sort of the vanguard of black militancy and the new postwar. Ement we see that formation of 16 across, a french formation, never before seen in the United States, and we are going to move up, and on my talk, with your being able to see Henry Johnson, who was clearly the hero of the moment in this tremendous black discipline and unity. I think he is coming soon, he is in a car, as henry had been in thatin the foot, leg episode. There we are. So that is Henry Johnson. Acknowledging the crowd. That ends my presentation. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. Dr. Morrow robert, the game goes to you. Dr. Jefferson i want to thank you, profess