History of the American Negro in the Great World War Part 7

The 92nd division was another exclusively Negro division. There were many more Negro troops in training in France and large numbers at training camps in this country, but the 92nd and 93rd, being the earlier formed and trained divisions, saw practically all the fighting. Units belonging to one or both divisions fought with special distinction in the Forest of Argonne, near Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, St. Mihiel district, Champagne sector, at Metz and in the Vosges mountains.

In the 92nd division was the 325th Field Signal battalion, the only Negro signal unit in the American army. The division also contained the 349th, 350th and 351st Artillery regiments, each containing a machine gun battalion; the 317th Trench Mortar battery; the balance being made up of Negro engineers, hospital units, etc., and the 365th, 366th, 367th and 368th Infantry regiments.

Enlisted, drafted and a.s.signed to active service, upwards of 400,000 Negroes partic.i.p.ated in the war. The number serving abroad amounted to about 200,000. They were inducted into the cavalry, infantry, field and coast artillery, radio (wireless telegraphy, etc.), medical corps, ambulance and hospital corps, sanitary and ammunition trains, stevedore regiments, labor battalions, depot brigades and engineers. They also served as regimental clerks, surveyors and draftsmen.

Sixty served as chaplains and over 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries, there being a special and highly efficient Negro branch of the Y.M.C.A. Numerous others were attached to the War Camp Community Service in cities adjacent to the army camps.

Negro nurses were authorized by the war department for service in base hospitals at six army camps-Funston, Sherman, Grant, Dix, Taylor and Dodge. Race women also served as canteen workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in this country.

One Negro, Ralph W. Tyler, served as an accredited war correspondent, attached to the staff of General Pers.h.i.+ng, Dr. R. R. Moton, who succeeded the late Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton as head of the Tuskegee Inst.i.tute, was sent on a special mission to France by President Wilson and Secretary Baker.

A race woman, Mrs. Alice Dunbar Nelson of Wilmington, Delaware, was named as a field worker to mobilize the Negro women of the country for war work. Her activities were conducted in connection with the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense.

The most conspicuous honor paid to a Negro by the administration and the war department, was in the appointment, October 1, 1917, of Emmett J. Scott as special a.s.sistant to the Secretary of War. This was done that the administration might not be accused of failing to grant full protection to the Negroes, and that a thorough examination might be made into all matters affecting their relation to the war and its many agencies.

Having been for 18 years confidential secretary to Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, and being at the time of his appointment secretary of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Inst.i.tute for Negroes, Mr. Scott was peculiarly fitted to render necessary advice to the war department with respect to the Negroes of the various states, to look after all matters affecting the interests of Negro selectives and enlisted men, and to inquire into the treatment accorded them by the various officials connected with the war department. In the position occupied by him, he was thus enabled to obtain a proper perspective both of the att.i.tude of selective service officials to the Negro, and of the Negro to the war, especially to the draft. In a memorandum on the subject addressed to the Provost Marshall General, December 12, 1918, he wrote:

"The att.i.tude of the Negro was one of complete acceptance of the draft, in fact of an eagerness to accept its terms. There was a deep resentment in many quarters that he was not permitted to volunteer, as white men by the thousands were permitted to do in connection with National Guard units and other branches of military service which were closed to colored men. One of the brightest chapters in the whole history of the war is the Negro's eager acceptance of the draft and his splendid willingness to fight. His only resentment was due to the limited extent to which he was allowed to join and partic.i.p.ate in combatant or 'fighting' units. The number of colored draftees accepted for military duty, and the comparatively small number of them claiming exemptions, as compared with the total number of white and colored men called and drafted, presents an interesting study and reflects much credit upon this racial group."

Over 1,200 Negro officers, many of them college graduates, were commissioned during the war. The only training camp exclusively for Negro officers was at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. This camp ran from June 15, 1917, to October 15, 1917. A total of 638 officers was graduated and commissioned from the camp. Negro Regulars and Negro National Army men who had pa.s.sed the tests for admission to officers training camps were sent mainly to the training schools for machine gun officers at Camp Hanc.o.c.k, Augusta, Georgia; the infantry officers training school at Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, and the artillery officers training school at Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. They were trained along with the white officers. The graduates from these camps along with a few National Guardsmen who had taken the officers' examinations, and others trained in France, made up the balance of the 1,200 commissioned.

In connection with the artillery training an interesting fact developed. It had been charged that Negroes could not develop into artilleryman. A strong prejudice against inducting them into that branch of the service had always existed in the army. It was especially affirmed that the Negro did not possess the mathematical ability necessary to qualify as an expert artillery officer. Nevertheless, out of a number of Negro aspirants, very small in comparison with the white men in training for officers' commissions at the camp, five of the Negroes stood alongside their white brothers at the head of the cla.s.s. The remainder were sprinkled down the line about in the same proportion and occupying the same relative positions as the whites. The prejudice against the Negro as an artilleryman was further and effectually dispelled in the record made by the 349th, 350th and 351st artillery regiments and their machine gun battalions in the 92nd division.

With the exception of the training camp for officers at Des Moines, Iowa, no important attempt was made to establish separate Negro training camps. In the draft quotas from each state were whites and blacks and all with few exceptions, were sent to the most convenient camp. Arrangements existed, however, at the different camps for the separate housing and training of the Negro troops. This was in line with the military policy of the Government, as well as in deference to the judgment of both white and black officers. It undoubtedly was necessary to separate the two races. Furthermore, as the military policy called for regiments, battalions and, divisions made up entirely of Negroes, it was proper to commence the organization at the training camps. Companies formed in this manner thus became h.o.m.ogeneous, accustomed to one another individually and to their officers.

The situation was different from the Spanish-American war, where Negro units, at least in one case, served in white regiments. Racial strife and rivalry were eliminated. The only rivalry that existed was the good-natured and healthy one of emulation between members of the same race. On the field of battle there was rivalry and emulation between the whites and blacks, but it was the rivalry of organizations and not of races. The whole was tempered by that splendid admiration and fellow-feeling which comes to men of all races when engaged as partners in danger or near death; in the defense and promotion of a great cause; the eternal verities of Justice and Humanity.

CHAPTER VIII.

RECRUDESCENCE OF SOUTH'S INTOLERANCE.

CONFRONTED BY RACIAL PREJUDICE-- SPLENDID ATt.i.tUDE OF NEGRO SHAMED IT-KEPT OUT OF NAVY-ONLY ONE PER CENT OF NAVY PERSONNEL NEGROES-MODIFIED MARINES CONTEMPLATED-FEW HAVE PETTY OFFICERS' GRADES-SEPARATE s.h.i.+PS PROPOSED-NEGRO EFFICIENCY IN NAVY-MATERIAL FOR "BLACK s.h.i.+PS"-NAVY OPENS DOOR TO NEGRO MECHANICS.

Old feelings of race prejudice and intolerance, appearing mainly in the South, confronted the Negro at the beginning of the war. The splendid att.i.tude of the Negro shamed and overcame this feeling in other sections of the country, and was beginning to have its effect even in the South. It is true that men of the race were not accepted for voluntary enlistment in numbers of consequence in any section, but had the voluntary system continued in vogue, the willingness and desire of the race to serve, coupled with the very necessities of the case, would have altered the condition.

No new Negro volunteer units were authorized, but the demand for men would soon have made it imperative. It would have been combatted by a certain element in the South, but the friends of the few volunteer units which did exist in that section were firm in their champions.h.i.+p and were winning adherents to their view that the number should be increased. The selective draft with its firm dictum that all men within certain ages should be called and the fit ones chosen, put an end to all contention. The act was not pa.s.sed without bitter opposition which developed in its greatest intensity among the Southern senators and representatives; feelings that were inspired entirely by opposition to the Negro.

It would have been a bad thing for the country and would have prolonged the war, and possibly might have lost it, if the selective draft had been delayed. But it would have been interesting to see how far the country, especially the South, would have progressed in the matter of raising a volunteer army without accepting Negroes. Undoubtedly they soon would have been glad to recruit them, even in the South.

Unfortunately for the Negro, the draft was not able to prevent their being kept out of the Navy. It is a very desirable branch of the service vitiated and clouded, however, with many disgusting and aristocratic traditions. When the Navy was young and the service more arduous; when its vessels were merely armed merchantmen, many of them simply tubs and death traps and not the floating castles of today, the services of Negroes were not disdained; but times and national ideals had changed, and, the shame of it, not to the credit of a Commonwealth, for whose birth a Negro had shed the first blood, and a Was.h.i.+ngton had faced the rigors of a Valley Forge, a Lincoln the bullet of an a.s.sa.s.sin.

The annual report of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, rendered to the Secretary of the Navy and covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, showed that in the United States Navy, the United States Naval Reserve Force and the National Naval Volunteers, there was a total of 435,398 men. Of that great number only 5,328 were Negroes, a trifle over one percent. Between June and November 1918, the Navy was recruited to a total force somewhat in excess of 500,000 men. Carrying out the same percentage, it is apparent that the aggregate number of Negroes serving, in the Navy at the close of the war, could not have been much in excess of 6,000.

Some extra enlistments of Negroes were contemplated, as the Navy had in process of establishment just prior to the armistice, a new service for Negro recruits. It was to be somewhat similar to the Pioneer units of the army, partaking in some degree of the character of Marines, just as the Pioneers partake of the character of infantry, but in general respects resembling more the engineer and stevedore units. About 600 men had been selected for this service when the project was abandoned on account of the ending of the war.

With the exception of a very limited number who have been permitted to attain the rank of petty officer, Negroes in the Navy were confined to menial occupations. They were attached to the firing forces as coal pa.s.sers, while others served as cooks a.s.sistants, mess attendants and in similar duties. Quite a number were full rated cooks. A few were water tenders, electricians and gunners' mates, each of which occupations ent.i.tled them to the aforesaid rank of petty officer. Among the petty officers some had by sheer merit attained the rank of chief petty officer, which is about equal to the rank of sergeant in the army.

The idea of separate s.h.i.+ps for the Negro might to some degree ameliorate the sting incident to race prohibition in that arm of government service. The query is advanced that if we can have black colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants in the army, why cannot we have black commanders, lieutenants, ensigns and such in the Navy?

Negroes have often and in divers ways displayed their intelligence and efficiency in the Navy. Take, for instance, the case of John Jordan, a Negro of Virginia, who was chief gunner's mate on Admiral Dewey's flags.h.i.+p the "Olympia" during the Spanish-American war, and was the man who fired the first shot at the enemy at Manila Bay. A Negro chief electrician, Salisbury Brooks, was the originator of inventions which were adopted without reservation by the Navy designers and changed the construction of modern battle s.h.i.+ps.

One of the princ.i.p.al instructors on the U.S.S. Ess.e.x, the government training s.h.i.+p at Norfolk, is Matthew Anderson, a Negro. He has trained thousands of men, many of them now officers, in the art and duties of seamans.h.i.+p. Scores of Negroes; men of the type of these in the Navy, would furnish the nucleus for officers and crews of separate Negro s.h.i.+ps.

In a recent issue of "Our Navy" a magazine devoted entirely to naval affairs, especially as regards the enlisted man, a writer reflects the opinion of these men in the following article: "Whether you like the black man or not, whether you believe in a square deal for him or not, you can't point an accusing finger at his patriotism, his Americanism or his fighting ability. It is fair to neither the white man nor the black man to have the black man compete with the white man in the Navy. True, we have black petty officers here and there in the Navy, and in some cases black chief petty officers. It stands to reason that they must have been mighty good men to advance. They surely must know their business-every inch of it-to advance to these ratings. Yet they are not wanted in these ratings because they involve the black man having charge of white men under him. Outside of the messman branch you will find comparatively few Negroes in the Navy today.

"There should be 'black s.h.i.+ps' a.s.signed to be manned by American Negroes. These are days of democracy, equality and freedom," continues the writer. "If a man is good enough to go over the top and die for these principles, he is good enough to promote in the Navy. Why not try it? Put the black men on their own s.h.i.+ps. Promote them, rate them, just the same as the white man. But above all keep them on their own s.h.i.+ps. It is fair to them and fair to the white men. The Brazilian and Argentine navies have 'black s.h.i.+ps.'"

Recruiting officers of the Navy have recently opened the doors to discharged Negro soldiers, and some civilians. If physically fit they are permitted to enlist as machinists and electricians. The Navy has opened a school for machinists at Charleston, S.C., and a school for electricians at Hampton Roads, Va.

Men for the machinists' school are enlisted as firemen 3rd cla.s.s. While in training they are paid $30 a month. They also receive their clothing allotment, their food, dry comfortable quarters in which to live, and all text books and practical working tools. In return for this chance to become proficient in a very necessary trade, all that is required of those enlisting is a knowledge of common fractions, ambition to learn the trade, energy and a strict attention to the instruction given them.

Subjects taught in the course are arithmetic, note book sketching, practical engineering, theoretical engineering, clipping and filing, drilling, pipe fitting, repair work, rebabbiting, brazing, tin smithing, lathes, shapers, milling machines and grinders. It will be seen that they get a vast amount of mechanical knowledge and practically two trades, machinists and engineering.

In the electrical school the course is equally thorough. The men get a high grade of instruction, regardless of cost of material and tools. The best text books that can be had are available for their use.

This liberality in order to get machinists and electricians in the Navy, argues that some change of att.i.tude towards the Negro is contemplated.

It may evolve into the establishment of "black s.h.i.+ps." The Negro sailor has been pleading for years that his color has been a bar to him. With a s.h.i.+p of his own, would come his chance. He would strive; do all within his power to make it a success and would succeed.

CHAPTER IX.

PREVIOUS WARS IN WHICH THE NEGRO FIGURED.

SHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD-CRISPUS ATTUCKS-SLAVE LEADS SONS OF FREEDOM-THE BOSTON Ma.s.sACRE-ANNIVERSARY KEPT FOR YEARS-WILLIAM NELL, HISTORIAN-3,000 NEGROES IN WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S FORCES-A STIRRING HISTORY-NEGRO WOMAN SOLDIER-BORDER INDIAN WARS-NEGRO HEROES

Our American school histories teach us that the "shot which was heard around the world",-the opening gun of the Revolutionary war, was fired at Lexington in 1775. The phrase embodies a precious sentiment; time has molded many leaders, the inspiration for almost a century and a half of the patriotic youth of our land. This is as it should be. All honor and all praise to the deathless heroes of that time and occasion.

But why has not history been more just; at least, more explicit? Why not say that the shot which started the Revolution-that first great movement for human liberty and the emanc.i.p.ation of nations-was fired five years earlier; was fired not by, but at, a Negro, Crispus Attucks? The leader of the citizens in that event of March 5, 1770, known as the Boston Ma.s.sacre, he was the first man upon whom the British soldiers fired and the first to fall; the pioneer martyr for American independence.

It is perhaps fitting; a manifestation of the inscrutable ways of Providence, that the first life given in behalf of a nation about to throw off a yoke of bondage, was that of a representative of a race; despised, oppressed and enslaved.

Botta the historian, in speaking of the scenes of the 5th of March says: "The people were greatly exasperated. The mult.i.tude ran towards King street, crying, 'Let us drive out these ribalds; they have no business here.' The rioters rushed furiously towards the Custom House; they approached the sentinel, crying 'Kill him, kill him!' They a.s.saulted him with s...o...b..a.l.l.s, pieces of ice, and whatever they could lay their hands upon.

"The guard were then called, and in marching to the Custom House, they encountered a band of the populace, led by a mulatto named Attucks, who brandished their clubs and pelted them with s...o...b..a.l.l.s. The maledictions, the imprecations, the execrations of the mult.i.tude, were horrible. In the midst of a torrent of invective from every quarter, the military were challenged to fire. The populace advanced to the points of their bayonets.

"The soldiers appeared like statues; the cries, the howlings, the menaces, the violent din of bells still sounding the alarm, increased the confusion and the horrors of these moments; at length the mulatto Attucks and twelve of his companions, pressing forward, environed the soldiers and striking their muskets with their clubs, cried to the mult.i.tude: 'Be not afraid, they dare not fire; why do you hesitate, why do you not kill them, why not crush them at once?'

"The mulatto lifted his arms against Captain Preston, and having turned one of the muskets, he seized the bayonet with his left hand, as if he intended to execute his threat At this moment, confused cries were heard: 'The wretches dare not fire!' Firing succeeds. Attucks is slain. Other discharges follow. Three were killed, five severely wounded and several others slightly."

Attucks was killed by Montgomery, one of Captain Preston's soldiers. He had been foremost in resisting and was first slain. As proof of a front engagement, he received two b.a.l.l.s, one in each breast. The white men killed with Attucks were Samuel Maverick, Samuel Gray and Jonas Caldwell.

John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, was counsel for the soldiers in the investigation which followed. He admitted that Attucks appeared to have been the hero of the occasion and the leader of the people. Attucks and Caldwell, not being residents of Boston, were buried from Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty. The citizens generally partic.i.p.ated in the solemnities.

If the outrages against the American colonists had not been so flagrant, and so well imbedded as indisputable records of our history; if the action of the military authorities had not been so arbitrary, the uprising of Attucks and his followers might be looked upon as a common, reprehensible riot and the partic.i.p.ants as a band of misguided incendiaries. Subsequent reverence for the occasion, disproves any such view. Judge Dawes, a prominent jurist of the time, as well as a brilliant exponent of the people, alluding in 1775 to the event, said: "The provocation of that night must be numbered among the master-springs which gave the first motion to a vast machinery-a n.o.ble and comprehensive system of national independence."

Ramsey's History of the American Revolution, says: