Rental meant to fight in world war i. He examines the regiments leadership, its actions in the field of battle, and the challenges the men faced following the war. This is an hour and a half. Now, gives me great pleasure to introduce the man of the hour, jeffrey t. Sammons. A professor in the department of history at new york university, where he has taught since 1989, Rutgers Research fellow at Rutgers University camden and completed his critically acclaimedded beyond the ring role of boxing in American Society in 2001. Sammons was awarded a fellowship by the Shomberg Center of research. And received a National Endownment humanities in support of harlem rattlers and the great war. Sammons is a native of bridge ton, new jersey, earned his bachelors in history at rutgers college, where he graduated magna cum laude, and elected to identify Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. He earned a masters agreeing in history from Tufts University and a ph. D in American History in 1982. In 198384, he was a post doctoral fellow at the university of capetown. After his return from south africa, sammons became involved in the Antiapartheid Movement and played an Important Role in the city of houstons disinvestment campaign, sammons continued his Community Service as the director of a Charity Golf Event for the naacp Legal Defense fund, as a board member of the clear view legacy foundation, a black funded, owned, and operated golf course, on the National Historic registry in east canton, ohioat an adviser on historical and Diversity Matters in the professional Golfers Association of america, as a member of the museum of Library Committee of the United States golf association, and as a member of the usga, pga, africanamerican golf archives working group. Sammons has written widely on the subject of sport and race, and has participated and consulted on numerous documentary projects with independent filmmakers as well as large television networks. He is now deeply involved in efforts to collect, preserve, and represent that which relates to the africanamerican experiences in golf and will write his next book on the subject. Sammons has served on the Editorial Board of the journal of sport history, and as an assistant editor of sport and social issues. He has also taught at princeton university, and at holts college in virginia as a jesse ball dupont scholar. [applause] welcome to our stage. Please make yourself comfortable. Now, before you begin, youre not going to be but so long because we want to have time for conversation. Sure. Okay, all right. And then at that time, after you have done this, im going to introduce your conversation partner, okay, roger green. Have to listen to the women. I should have given her the short version of the resume so that we can have more time for the discussion, but in any event, i want to thank the adelaide sanford institution, dr. Linda k. Paterson, for coming up with the idea for this event, and for the support of the center for black literature at medgar Evers College, headed by dr. Brenda green, and by Clarence Reynolds, who have been a great help to me. Identity also like to thank roger green, who has actually completed the Monumental Task of reading this book. And lost a lot of sleep last night as a result. Let me move on to a brief introduction to harlems rattlers and the great war. Id like to begin first by reading from something that William Pickens wrote. William pickens was a scholar, an activist, with an naacp and the early 1900s, and this it was William Pickens says about blacks and the First World War. We to end overlook the First World War as an important event in the africanamerican experience. We think about civil rights movements, we sort of tie it to brown v. Board of education as if 1954 is the start of the civil rights movement, or rosa parks refusal to leave her seat on the bus, or maybe even tie it to world war ii, but we dont think about world war i as an important event in the history of africanamericans. Heres what pickens had to say about that. What the war made clear to all, especially blacks, was that character is more fundamental than reputation. Just think of that. Character is more fundamental than reputation. What does that mean . It means to me that reputation is something that is imposed from the outside, and that character is what comes from within, and one lesson i would like for you to take away tonight from this event is that black people need not worry so much about what others think about them, say about them, do to them. Its what we feel about ourselves that is really important. And im going to say one thing that i have found as a result of writing this book, and that is that we are one great people to have survived to have thrived, considering all that we have endured, and continue to endure. Now, i should also say, i did that at the harvard club, and i left it there. But we cant do it alone. We rev hauls needed white friends we have auld needed white friends. Frederick doug losses needed white friends. We needed white friend inside the civil rights movement, and we need white friends today, and as general james, general nag nathaniel james, the commander of the 369th regular minimum, will you stand up as he well knows with his lovely wife, who has been a stalwart in terms of the historical society, which general james heads as well as the Veterans Association, mrs. James, will you please stand. Thank you. [applause] im honored theyre here this evening. But general james knows how important Hamilton Fish iii was to the success of the 369th, especially after the war, and he is a charter member of the Veterans Association and his son, Hamilton Fish iv, a 13term congressman, as was his father, was very instrumental in the establishment or congressional approval of the 369th Veterans Association. But back to William Pickens. Pickens said that world war i showed clearly that blacks had become, from a most undesirable element to the most reliable element in america as symbolized and recognized by the calling out of the National Guard troops to protect the white house. The war had allowed blacks from africa and america the opportunity to make their first great record as a modern, international factor, and a positive world influence. And this was a lesson never to be lost on blacks. World war i helped to produce a selfconfident new negro, and all change that came later owes much to the forward looking and forwardmoving people of the time. So that is my introduction tonight to contextualize it. Id like to run through images in the book, whet your appetite so you will buy the book. Ill sign it for you. I hope to increase the value for you. And it also will introduce you some of the important events and figures in the regular meant regiment and will serve as some text for discussion that Professor Green and i will have. So here we have a commemorative history, and this was presented by the officers of the regiment to benjamin o. Davis, sr. , the first black commander of the 369th regiment, and you can see the first of the regiment. First to the ride, never lost a man to capture, never gave up a foot of ground that had been taken, and here we have also the symbol of the rattlesnake, and thats why this book is called holiday harlems rattlers. Thats that the men called themselves itch believe hard legal hellfighters was something that the press would give them, and believe it or not, the reason why it stuck in addition to its repetition in the press, was that the most visible symbol of the 369th after the war was the band. A lot of people dont know this but the 369th was disbanded after the war. It was decommissioned. There was no 369th anymore after world war i. So the band became the most visible representative of the 369th. They embraced the term hellfighters, often called the hellfighter band. Ive seen ads, past music album cover has hellfighters band, et cetera, its. So that says something about the Burt Williams was an early recruiter for the regiment. Very close to william haterman, its first commander. Here we have charles young, who should have been the first black commander of the regiment. In fact he should have been the first commander period. And he was drummed out of active duty and restored to active duty after the war. He actually died in africa, and this is when he is about to leave for africa. I think he dies in 1923. There we see an early shot of the men of the 15th National Guard which was their original designation, and then theyre drilling in harlem. Waldo sheet is an interesting character. He killed somebody in the regiment and almost destroyed the regiment in his courtmartial. There we have the men in the trenches with their french helmets, french equipment, but american uniforms, and well see the rifles and the grenade launchers. There at the bottom we have Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts. By the way, Henry Johnsons application for the medal of honor has passed muster with the secretary of the army. It is now on the secretary of defenses desk. Chuck hagel, as well as the chiefs of staff of the the army chief of staff, to see if Henry Johnson will get a medal of honor. This is two people who have been misidentified as Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts. Thats a photograph by james vanders. Famous rendering of the battle of Henry Johnson at the top, and then below it, the band led by james sure. Three portraits of members of the 369th, and we see here they have their brodys back. The brody is the flat helmet that could have happened before they actually were with the french or after, when they left the french service. Here these are at west point, by the way, and theyre in color. Very beautiful painting. S. Here we have general james, the monument, and this is the great assault of the 369th, where most obtained their glory. Remember, 171 individuals in the regiment and the entire regiment received an award as well. We didnt get we the k until 1997, after many years of battle. This is the yale old arman in the mountains near the german border. Many people dont know that there was a campaign there that involved the 369th, and below that is a plaque honoring the 369th for their service and this is the area close to the rhine, and the 369th were the first to the explain the first to cross it of the american troops. So then we have a painting representing the 369th on the rhine. Below that, colonel heyward with a number of recipients of the award. Here we have laurel r. Spencer, who is difficult to see but the person who is having a medal pinned on him is Hamilton Fish. Next to him is charles fill fillmore, the person most spoken for the regiments exist against, and then we have widows and mothers of deceased soldiers, and thin William Burt Butler who won the distinguished service award. And then Henry Johnson, upon his return, on ship. The parade of the party, people watching the parade, and of course at the armory, which was built in two stages, 1924 for the administrative building, and then the drill shed in 1930. There we have benjamin o. Davis senior, first commander, as i indicated. Chauncey hooper, the second black commander. Came up through the ranks, was Sergeant Major in the regiment in world war i and roger, you can appreciate, chauncey was very involved in new york city and state politics. Here we have a riff on john mccrays famous in plannedders field, written we abdi razoff who wrote songs with fats waller and is i didnt know he was of color but he is, and of course here is the famous rendering by Charles Rogers of the battle of Henry Johnson. He titled it, two first class americans. When it was rebushed in the black paper, the chicago defender, they said, two real americans. So they wanted to really establish how firmly these people, these men were americans. So, i am ready now to enter a discussion with Professor Green. I hope i was not too long. Dr. Patterson, dr. Green, mr. Reynolds, thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] thank you, professor, and i personally know that there is so much to this story, i compel you to be sure to review the book. Its so much information there. And now, as we get ready for our conversation, id like to introduce to you professor roger l. Green. Roger green is executive directyear of the dubois bunch center. The center is a think tank dedicated to advancing best practices in law and policy and Community Covenants that advance social and Economic Justice for urban communities within the United States and throughout the african diaspora. He was appointed as a distinguished lecturerred a meds gar Evers College in the City University of new york in 2006, from 1981 to 2005, he served as an elected member of the new york state assembly. During his tenure, in the state legislature, green was widely acknowledged as an expert on educational reform and children and family policies. A longstanding advocate of civil and human rights, green worked within the Legislature Within the legislative process to enact numerous laws that reflected his commitment to these principles. And in addition to his responsibilities at the dubois bunch center, green is a professor of Public Administration and the publisher of the soon to be released solutions journal. Welcome, Professor Green. [applause] so, this was a Monumental Task, and we have finals this week, and in many of my students are cramming. I crammed last night. But it was worthwhile, really was. This is an incredible book. I want to start basically from personal reflections, because a lot of times that sounds when you read a historical book of this nature, it forces you to reflect on some of your own personal experiences, and so i would start thinking about my father, who had served in the military during world war ii, and i was activist against the war, and i knew he was not happy about the vietnamese war either. But in his last days, he called my brother and i to his bedside, and he said, have you prepared . I want you to make sure all my stuff is in order. Ive written everything out, and he said, i want to be buried in the military cemetery. I was like i was shocked. He said, i want the flag over my casket. And i paused, and i said, are you sure . And he said, this is my country. Period. And [applause] and it really hit me. So reading this book, i think to a great extent really stirred up some serious emotions and i want to start the title is harlem rattlers and the great war. The undaunted regiment and the africanamerican quest for equality. Throughout the narrative its clear that youre trying to articulate the fact that the securing africanamerican regimental service was a was like breaking the glass ceiling, particularly in the context of a an error that was overwhelmed by jim crow laws, brutal racial oppression, and you documented that. On page chapter 1, page 24, you write black americans have long known that in the National Narrative of the nation, manhood finds no better representative than citizens than the citizen soak soldier who initially has secured the Nations Defense as a member of the militia. Could you articulate for us what you meant by that and how you attempted or you successfully demonstrated that particular thought throughout your book. Well, war is a gendering experience, and of course its been gendered mass christian, or masculine, or male, and for blacks to be denice the opportunity to demonstrate their man christianity or manliness will relegate them to second class citizenship. Blacks also saw military participation as an avenue to freedom. We have black participation in the revolutionary war. People name themselves,ed in freedom, jupiter liberty, so that so to the theyre aspiring to freedom if they have not received it already. Frederick douglass tells black men in new york city . His famous call colored men to arm, if we dont fight for freedom in the civil war against the slave owners, then freedom will lose half its luster. So this wases an opportunity for blacks to prove themselves and thats one of the reasons why establishing a National Guard unit in new york state was so important to all black new yorkers, but especially to black men. In another chapter in the book you talk about how in some states, particularly the state of illinois and chicago, they had already secured an africanamerican regiment, and new york was thinking theyre ve