Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: W. Allison Sweeney]
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 THE REBELLION, THE INDIAN WARS ON
THE FRONTIER, THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, AND THE LATE IMBROGLIO WITH
MEXICO.
BY
W. ALLISON SWEENEY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR OF THE CHICAGO DEFENDER.
PROFUSELY AND BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED
1919
THIS HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR IS REINFORCED
BY THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT INCLUDING TRIBUTES FROM
FRENCH AND AMERICAN COMMANDERS
* * * * *
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN WORDS BY
J. E. MORELAND INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY Y.M.C.A.
ROBERT SENGSTACKE ABBOTT EDITOR CHICAGO DEFENDER
RALPH TYLER EX-THIRD AUDITOR THE NAVY
JULIUS ROSENWALD PHILANTHROPIST
COLONEL CHARLES YOUNG UNITED STATES ARMY
WILLIS O. TYLER MEMBER LOS ANGELES BAR
CAPT. R.P. ROOTS VETERAN SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
* * * * *
WITH A COMPLETE SUMMARY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 370th "OLD EIGHTH" IN
THE WORLD WAR FROM THE COUNTRY'S CALL TO THE DAY OF ITS MUSTERING OUT
BY CAPT. JOHN H. PATTON, ADJUTANT
HISTORY
OF THE
AMERICAN NEGRO
IN THE
GREAT WORLD WAR
* * * * *
CONTENTS
Chapter I. SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION OF NATIONS.
THE MARCH OF CIVILIZATION--WORLD SHOCKS TO STIR THE WOULD HEART--FALSE
DOCTRINES OF THE HUN--THE IRON HAND CONCEALED--THE WORLD BEGINS TO
AWAKEN--GERMAN DESIGNS REVEALED--RUMBLINGS IN ADVANCE OF THE
STORM--TRAGEDY THAT HASTENED THE DAY--TOLSTOY'S PROPHECY--VINDICATION OF
NEGRO FAITH IN PROMISES OF THE LORD--DAWN OF FREEDOM FOR ALL RACES
Chapter II. HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
LIKENED TO BELSHAZZER--THE KAISER'S FEASTS--IN HIS HEART BARBARIC PRIDE
OF THE POTENTATES OF OLD--GERMAN MADNESS FOR WAR--INSOLENT
DEMANDS--FORTY-EIGHT HOURS TO PREVENT A WORLD WAR--COMMENT OF STATESMEN
AND LEADERS--THE WAR STARTS--ITALY BREAKS HER ALLIANCE--GERMANIC POWERS
WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING--SPIRIT WINS OVER MATERIALISM--CIVILIZATION'S
LAMP DIMMED BUT NOT DARKENED
Chapter III. MILITARISM AND AUTOCRACY DOOMED.
GERMANY'S MACHINE--HER SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR TO MOLD SOLDIERS--INFLUENCE
ON THOUGHT AND LIVES OF THE PEOPLE--MILITARISM IN THE HOME--THE STATUS
OF WOMAN--FALSE THEORIES AND FALSE GODS--THE SYSTEM ORDAINED TO
PERISH--WAR'S SHOCKS--AMERICA INCLINES TO NEUTRALITY--GERMAN AND FRENCH
TREATMENT OF NEUTRALS CONTRASTED--EXPERIENCES OF AMERICANS ABROAD AND
ENROUTE HOME--STATUE OF LIBERTY TAKES ON NEW BEAUTY--BLOOD OF NEGRO AND
WHITE TO FLOW
Chapter IV. Awakening of America.
President Clings to Neutrality--Monroe Doctrine and Washington's
Warning--German Crimes and German Victories--Cardinal Mercier's
Letter--Military Operations--First Submarine Activities--The Lusitania
Outrage--Exchange of Notes--United States Aroused--Role of Passive
Onlooker Becomes Irksome--First Modification of Principles of Washington
and Monroe--Our Destiny Looms
Chapter V. Huns Sweeping Westward.
Toward Shores of Atlantic--Spread Ruin and Devastation--Capitals of
Civilization Alarmed--Activities of Spies--Apologies and Lies--German
Arms Winning--Gain Time to Forge New Weapons--Few Victories for
Allies--Roumania Crushed--Incident of U-53
Chapter VI. The Hour and The Man.
A Beacon Among the Years--Trying Period for President Wilson--Germany
Continues Dilatory Tactics--Peace Efforts Fail--All Honorable Means
Exhausted--Patience Ceases to be a Virtue--Enemy Abandons All
Subterfuges--Unrestricted Submarine Warfare--German Intrigues with
Mexico--The Zimmerman Note--America Seizes the Sword--War is
Declared--Pershing Goes Abroad--First Troops Sail--War Measures--War
Operations
Chapter VII. Negroes Respond to the Call.
Swift and Unhalting Array--Few Permitted to Volunteer--Only National
Guard Accepted--No New Units Formed--Selective Draft Their
Opportunity--Partial Division of Guardsmen--Complete Division of
Selectives--Many in Training--Enter Many Branches of Service--Negro
Nurses Authorized--Negro Y.M.C.A. Workers--Negro War
Correspondent--Negro Assistant to Secretary of War--Training Camp for
Negro Officers First Time in Artillery--Complete Racial Segregation
Chapter VIII. Recrudescence of South's Intolerance.
Confronted by Racial Prejudice--Splendid Attitude of Negro Shamed
It--Kept out of Navy--Only One Percent of Navy Personnel
Negroes--Modified Marines Contemplated--Few Have Petty Officers'
Grades--Separate Ships Proposed--Negro Efficiency in Navy--Material for
"Black Ships"--Navy Opens Door to Negro Mechanics
Chapter IX. Previous Wars in Which Negro Figured.
Shot Heard Around the World--Crispus Attucks--Slave Leads Sons of
Freedom--The Boston Massacre--Anniversary Kept for Years--William Nell,
Historian--3,000 Negroes in Washington's Forces--A Stirring
History--Negro Woman Soldier--Border Indian Wars--Negro Heroes
Chapter X. From Lexington to Carrizal.
Negro in War of 1812--Incident of the Chesapeake--Battle of Lake
Erie--Perry's Fighters 10 Percent Negroes--Incident of the "Governor
Tompkins"--Colonists Form Negro Regiments--Defenders of New
Orleans--Andrew Jackson's Tribute--Negroes in Mexican and Civil Wars--In
the Spanish-American War--Negroes in the Philippines--Heroes of
Carrizal--General Butler's Tribute to Negroes--Wendell Phillips on
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Chapter XI. Hour of His Nation's Peril.
Negro's Patriotic Attitude--Selective Draft in Effect--Features and
Results--Bold Reliance on Faith in People--No Color Line
Drawn--Distribution of Registrants by States--Negro and White
Registrations Compared--Negro Percentages Higher--Claimed Fewer
Exemptions--Inductions by States--Better Physically than Whites--Tables,
Facts and Figures
Chapter XII. Negro Slackers and Pacifists Unknown.
Such Words not in his Vocabulary--Desertions Explained--General Crowder
Exonerates Negro--No Willful Delinquency--Strenuous Efforts to Meet
Regulations--No "Conscientious Objectors"--No Draft Evaders or
Resisters--Negro's Devotion Sublime--Justifies His Freedom--Forgets His
Sorrows--Rises Above His Wrongs--Testimony of Local Boards--German
Propaganda Wasted--A New Americanism
Chapter XIII. Roster of Negro Officers.
Commissioned at Fort Des Moines--Only Exclusive Negro Training
Camp--Mostly from Civilian Life--Names, Rank and Residence
Chapter XIV. Across Dividing Seas.
Black Thousands Assemble--Soldiers of Liberty--Severing Home Ties--Man's
Work Must be Done--First Negroes in France--Meeting with French
Colonials--Early History of 15th New York--They Sail Away--Become French
Fighting Men--Hold 20 Percent of American Lines--Terror to Germans--Only
Barrier Between Boche and Paris--Imperishable Record of New
Yorkers--Turning Point of War
Chapter XV. Over There.
Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts--The Tiger's Cubs--Negro First to Get
Palm--Johnson's Graphic Story--Smashes the Germans--Irvin Cobb's
Tribute--Christian and Mohammedan Negroes Pals--Valor of 93rd
Division--Laughter in Face of Death--Negro and Poilu Happy
Together--Butte de Mesnil--Valiant and Humorous Elmer McCowin--Winning
War Crosses--Verdict of the French--The Negro's Faith
CHAPTER XVI. THROUGH HELL AND SUFFERING.
COLORED OFFICERS MAKE GOOD--WONDERFUL RECORD OF THE 8TH ILLINOIS--"BLACK
DEVILS" WIN DECORATIONS GALORE--TRIBUTE OF FRENCH COMMANDER--HIS
FAREWELL TO PRAIRIE FIGHTERS--THEY FOUGHT AFTER WAR WAS OVER--HARD TO
STOP THEM--INDIVIDUAL DEEDS OF HEROISM--THEIR DEAD, THEIR WOUNDED AND
SUFFERING--A POEM
CHAPTER XVII. NARRATIVE OF AN OFFICER.
SPECIAL ARTICLE BY CAPTAIN JOHN H. PATTON, ADJUTANT OF 8TH
ILLINOIS--SUMMARIZES OPERATIONS OF THE REGIMENT--FROM FIRST CALL TO
MUSTERING OUT--AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT--IN TRAINING CAMPS, AT SEA, IN
FRANCE--SERVICE IN ARGONNE FOREST--MANY OTHER ENGAGEMENTS--A THRILLING
RECORD--BATTALION OPERATIONS IN DETAIL--SPECIAL MENTION OF COMPANIES AND
INDIVIDUALS
CHAPTER XVIII. BLOOD OF BLACK AND WHITE IN ONE RIVULET.
LINCOLN'S PROPHETIC WORDS--NEGROES ALONGSIDE BEST SOLDIERS IN THE
WORLD--HOLD THEIR OWN--THE 372ND REGIMENT--BRIGADED WITH VETERANS OF THE
MARNE--FAMOUS "RED HAND" DIVISION--OCCUPY HILL 304 AT VERDUN--NINE DAYS
BATTLE IN "BLOODY ARGONNE"--ADMIRATION OF THE FRENCH--CONSPICUOUS
COMPONENTS OF 372ND--CHRONOLOGY OF SERVICE
CHAPTER XIX. COMRADES ON THE MARCH--BROTHERS IN THE SLEEP OF DEATH.
POLICY OF SUBSTITUTING WHITE OFFICERS--INJUSTICE TO CAPABLE
NEGROES--DISAPPOINTMENT BUT NO OPEN RESENTMENT--SHOWED THEMSELVES
SOLDIERS--INTENSER FIGHTING SPIRIT AROUSED--RACE FORGOTTEN IN PERILS OF
WAR--BOTH WHITES AND BLACKS GENEROUS--AFFECTION BETWEEN OFFICERS AND
MEN--NEGROES PREFERRED DEATH TO CAPTIVITY--OUTSTANDING HEROES OF 371ST
AND 372ND--WINNERS OF CROSSES
CHAPTER XX. MID SHOT AND SHELL.
IN TRENCH AND VALLEY--THE OPEN PLAIN--ON MOUNTAIN TOP--IN NO MAN'S
LAND--TWO CLASSES OF NEGRO SOLDIERS CONSIDERED--TRAINED GUARDSMEN AND
SELECTIVES--GALLANT 92ND DIVISION--RACE CAN BE PROUD OF IT--HAD SIX
HUNDRED NEGRO OFFICERS--SETS AT REST ALL DOUBTS--OPERATIONS OF THE
DIVISION--AT PONT A MOUSSON--GREAT BATTLE OF METZ--SOME
REFLECTIONS--CASUALTIES CONSIDERED
CHAPTER XXI. THE LONG, LONG TRAIL.
OPERATIONS OF 368TH INFANTRY--NEGROES FROM PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND AND
SOUTH--IN ARGONNE HELL--DEFEAT IRON CROSS VETERANS--VALIANT PERSONAL
EXPLOITS--LIEUTENANT ROBERT CAMPBELL--PRIVATE JOHN BAKER--OPERATIONS OF
367TH INFANTRY--"MOSS'S BUFFALOES"--365TH AND 366TH REGIMENTS--THE GREAT
DIVIDE--THEIR SOULS ARE MARCHING ON--PRAISED BY PERSHING--SOME CITATIONS
Chapter XXII. Glory That Wont Come Off.
167th First Negro Artillery Brigade--"Like Veterans" said
Pershing--First Artillery to be Motorized--Record by Dates--Selected
for Lorraine Campaign--Best Educated Negroes in American Forces--Always
Stood by Their Guns--Chaplain's Estimate--Left Splendid
Impression--Testimony of French Mayors--Christian Behavior--Soldierly
Qualities
Chapter XXIII. Nor Storied Urn, Nor Mounting Shaft.
Glory not all Spectacular--Brave Forces Behind the Lines--325th Field
Signal Battalion--Composed of Young Negroes--See Real Fighting--Suffer
Casualties--An Exciting Incident--Colored Signal Battalion a
Success--Ralph Tyler's Stories--Burial of Negro Soldier at Sea--More
Incidents of Negro Valor--A Word from Charles M. Schwab
Chapter XXIV. Those Who Never Will Return.
A Study of War--Its Compensations and Benefits--Its Ravages and
Debasements--Burdens Fall upon the Weak--Toll of Disease--Negroes
Singularly Healthy--Negroes Killed in Battle--Deaths from Wounds and
Other Causes--Remarkable Physical Stamina of Race--Housekeeping in
Khaki--Healthiest War in History--Increased Regard for Mothers--An Ideal
for Child Minds--Morale and Propaganda
Chapter XXV. Quiet Heroes of the Brawny Arm.
Negro Stevedore, Pioneer and Labor Units--Swung the Axe and Turned the
Wheel--They were Indispensable--Everywhere in France--Hewers of Wood,
Drawers of Water--Numbers and Designations of Units--Acquired Splendid
Reputation--Contests and Awards--Pride in their Service--Measured up to
Military Standards--Lester Waltons Appreciation--Ella Wheeler Wilcox's
Poetic Tribute
Chapter XXVI. Unselfish Workers in the Vineyard.
Mitigated the Horrors of War--At the Front, Behind the Lines, at
Home--Circle for Negro War Relief--Addressed and Praised by Roosevelt--A
Notable Gathering--Colored Y.M.C.A. Work--Unsullied Record of
Achievement--How the "Y" Conducted Business--Secretaries all
Specialists--Negro Women in "Y" Work--Valor of a Non-combatant
Chapter XXVII. Negro in Army Personnel.
His Mechanical Ability Required--Skilled at Special Trades--Victory
Depends upon Technical Workers--Vast Range of Occupation--Negro Makes
Good Showing--Percentages of White and Colored--Figures for General
Service
Chapter XXVIII. The Knockout Blow.
Woodrow Wilson, an Estimate--His Place in History--Last of Great
Trio--Washington, Lincoln, Wilson--Upholds Decency, Humanity,
Liberty--Recapitulation of Year 1918--Closing Incidents of War
Chapter XXIX. Homecoming Heroes. New York Greets Her Own--Ecstatic Day
for Old 15th--Whites and Blacks do Honors--A Monster Demonstration--Many
Dignitaries Review Troops--Parade of Martial Pomp--Cheers, Music,
Flowers and Feasting--"Hayward's Scrapping Babies"--Officers Share
Glory--Then Came Henry Johnson--Similar Scenes Elsewhere
Chapter XXX. Reconstruction and the Negro. By Julius Rosenwald,
President Sears, Roebuck & Co, and Trustee of Tuskegee Institute--A Plea
for Industrial Opportunity for the Negro--Tribute to Negro as Soldier
and Civilian--Duty of Whites Pointed Out--Business Leader and
Philanthropist Sounds Keynote
Chapter XXXI. The Other Fellow's Burden. An Emancipation Day Appeal for
Justice--By W. Allison Sweeney
Chapter XXXII. An Interpolation. Held--By Distinguished Thinkers and
Writers, That the Negro Soldier Should be Given a Chance for Promotion
as Well as a Chance to Die. Why--White Officers over Negro Soldiers?
Chapter XXXIII. The New Negro and the New America. The Old Order
Changeth, yielding place to new. Through the Arbitrament of war, behold
a new and better America! a new and girded negro! "The Watches of the
night have PASSED!" "The Watches Of the day BEGIN!"
FOREWORD
He was a red headed messenger boy and he handed me a letter in a NILE
GREEN ENVELOPE, and this is what I read:
Dear Mr. Sweeney:
When on the 25th of March the last instalment of the MSS of the "History
of the American Negro in the Great World War" was returned to us from
your hands, bearing the stamp of your approval as to its historic
accuracy; the wisdom and fairness of the reflections and recommendations
of the corps of compilers placed at your service, giving you full
authority to review the result of their labors, your obligation to the
publishers ceased.
The transaction between us, a purely business one, had in every
particular upon your part been complied with. From thenceforward, as far
as you were obligated to the publishers, this History; what it is; what
it stands for; how it will be rated by the reading masses--should be,
and concretely, by your own people you so worthily represent and are
today their most fearless and eloquent champion, is, as far as any
obligation you may have been under to us, not required of you to say.
Nevertheless, regardless of past business relations now at an end, have
you not an opinion directly of the finished work? A word to say; the
growth of which you have marked from its first instalment to its last?
-The Publishers-
* * * * *
HAVE I--
A word to say? And of this fine book?
THE BEST HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR, THAT AS
YET HAS BEEN WRITTEN OR WILL BE FOR YEARS TO COME?
* * * * *
DOES--
The rose in bud respond to the wooing breath of the mornings of June?
IS--
The whistle of robin red breast clearer and more exultant, as its
watchful gaze, bearing in its inscrutable depths the mystery of all the
centuries; the Omniscience of DIVINITY, discovers a cherry tree bending
to--
"The green grass"
from the weight of its blood red fruit?
* * * * *
DOES--
The nightingale respond to its mate; caroling its amatory challenge from
afar; across brake and dale and glen; beyond a
"Dim old forest" the earth bathed in the silver light of the harvest
moon!
* * * * *
EVEN SO--
And for the same reason which the wisest of us cannot explain, that the
rose, the robin and nightingale respond to the lure that invites, the
zephyrs that caress, I find myself moved to say not only a word--a few,
but many, of praise and commendation of this book; the finished work, so
graciously and so quickly submitted for my inspection by the publishers.
THERE ARE--
Books and books; histories and histories, treatise after treatise;
covering every realm of speculative investigation; every field of fact
and fancy; of inspiration and deed, past and present, that in this 20th
century of haste and bustle, of miraculous mechanical equipment, are
born daily and die as quickly. But there are also books, that like some
men marked before their birth for a place amongst the "Seats of the
MIGHTY"; an association with the IMMORTALS, that
"Were not born to die."
This book seems of that glorious company.
* * * * *
IN THE--
Spiritualized humanity that broadened the vision and inspired the pens
of the devoted corps of writers, responding to my suggestions and
oversight in its preparation; the getting together of data and facts, is
reflected the incoming of a NEW AND BROADER CHARITY--a stranger in our
midst--of glimpse and measurement of the Negro. Beyond the written word
of the text, the reader is gripped with a certain FELT but unprinted
power of suggestion, a sense of the nation's crime against him; the
Negro, stretching back through the centuries; the shame and humiliation
that is at last overtaking it, that has not been born of the "Print
Shops" since the sainted LINCOLN went his way, leaving behind him a
trail of glory, shining like the sun; in the path of which, freed
through the mandate of his great soul, MARCHED FOUR MILLION NEGROES, now
swollen to twelve, their story, the saddest epic of the ages, of whom
and in behalf of whom their children; the generation now and those to
come, this History was collated and arranged. It is an EVANGEL
proclaiming to the world, their unsullied patriotism; their rapid fire
loyalty, that through all the years of the nation's life, has never
flickered--
"Has burned and burned Forever the same",
from Lexington to the cactus groves of Mexico; in the slaughter hells of
Europe; over fields and upon spots where, in the centuries gone, the
legions of Caesar, of Hannibal and Attila, of Charlemagne and Napoleon
had fought and bled, and perished! Striding "Breast forward" beneath the
Stars and Stripes as this History crowds them on your gaze, through the
dust of empires and kingdoms that; before the CHRIST walked the earth;
before Christianity had its birth, wielded the sceptres of power when
civilization was young, but which are now but vanishing traditions.
You are thrilled! History nor story affords no picture more inspiring.
MAKING DUE ALLOWANCE--
For its nearness to the living and dead, whose heroic and transcendant
achievements on the battle spots of the great war secured for them a
distinction and fame that will endure until--
"The records of valor decay",
it is a most notable publication, quite worthy to be draped in the robes
that distinguishes History from narrative; from "a tale that is told"; a
story for the entertainment of the moment.
AS INTERPOLATED--
By the writers of its text; read between the lines of their written
words; it is a History; not alone of the American Negro on the "tented
field"; the bloody trenches of France and Belgium, it is also a History
and an arraignment, a warning and a prophecy, looking backwards and
forward, the Negro being the objective focus, of many things.
IT PRESENTS--
For the readers retrospection, as vividly as painted on a canvas, a
phantasmagoric procession of past events, and of those to come in the
travail of the Negro; commencing with the sailing of the first "Slaver's
Ship" for the shores of the "New World", jammed fore and aft, from deck
to hold, with its cargo of human beings, to the conclusion of the great
war in which, individually and in units he wrote his name in
imperishable characters, and high on the scroll on which are inscribed
the story of those, who, in their lives wrought for RIGHT and, passing,
died for MEN! For a flag; beneath and within its folds his welcome has
been measured and parsimonious;--a country; the construing and
application of its laws and remedies as applied to him, has inflicted
intolerable INJUSTICE: Has persecuted more often than blessed. And so
and thus, its perusal finished, its pages closed and laid aside, you are
shaken and swayed in your feelings, even as a tree, bent and riven
before the march and sweep of a mighty hurricane.
* * * * *
LOOKING BACKWARDS--
The spell of the book strong upon you, you see in your mind's eye,
thousands of plantations covering a fourth of a continent of a new and
virgin land. The toilers "Black Folk"; men, women and children--SLAVES!
* * * * *
YOU HEAR--
The crack of the "driver's" lash; the sullen bay of pursuing hounds.
* * * * *
JUST OVER YONDER--
Is the "Auction Block". You hear the moans and screams of mothers torn
from their offspring. You see them driven away, herded like cattle,
chained like convicts, sold to "master's" in the "low lands", to toil--
"Midst the cotton and the cane."
YOU LISTEN--
Sounding far off, faint at first, growing louder each second, you hear
the beat of drums; the bugle's blast, sounding to arms; You see great
armies, moving hitherward and thitherward. Over one flies the Stars and
Stripes, over the other the Stars and Bars; a nation in arms! Brother
against brother!
* * * * *
YOU LOOK--
And lo, swinging past are many Black men; garbed in "Blue", keeping step
to the music of the Union. You see them fall and die, at Fort Pillow,
Fort Wagner, Petersburg, the Wilderness, Honey Hill--SLAUGHTERED! Above
the din; the boom of cannon, the rattle of small arms, the groans of the
wounded and dying, you hear the shout of one, as shattered and maimed he
is being borne from the field; "BOYS, THE OLD FLAG NEVER TOUCHED THE
GROUND!"
* * * * *
THE SCENE SHIFTS--
Fifty years have passed. You hear the clamor, the murmur and shouts of
gathering mobs. You see Black men and women hanging by their necks to
lamp posts, from the limbs of trees; in lonely spots--DEAD! You see
smoke curling upwards from BURNING HOMES! There are piles of cinders
and--DEAD MENS BONES!
* * * * *
NEARING ITS END--
The procession sweeps on. Staring you in the face; hailing from East,
West, North and South are banners; held aloft by unseen hands, bearing
on them--the quintessence of AMERICA'S INGRATITUDE,--these devices:
"For American Negroes:
JIM CROW steam and trolley cars;
JIM CROW resident districts;
JIM CROW amen corners;
JIM CROW seats in theatres;
JIM CROW corners in cemeteries."
YOU MUTTER--
"Are these indignities to CONTINUE? Is God DEAD?"
* * * * *
COMES--
A voice. You listen!
"WHEREFORE hear the word of the lord--
"THE days of thy mourning shall be ended--
"VIOLENCE shall no more be heard in the land--
"NEITHER sorrow nor crying--
"FOR the former things have passed away--
"BEHOLD I make all things new--
"ARISE, shine; for thy light has come.
* * * * *
HEREIN--
Lies the strength and worth of this unusual book, well and deservingly
named: A History of the American Negro in the Great World War. Beyond
merely recounting that story; than which there has been nothing finer or
more inspiring since the long away centuries when the chivalry of the
Middle Ages, in nodding plume and lance in rest, battled for the Holy
Sepulchre, it brings to the Negro of America a message of cheer and
reassurance. A sign, couched in flaming characters for all men to see,
appealing to the spiritualized divination of the age, proclaiming that
God is NOT DEAD! That a NEW day is dawning; HAS dawned for the Negro in
America. A NEW liberty; broader and BETTER. A NEW Justice, unshaded by
the spectre of: "Previous condition!" That the unpaid toil of thirty
decades of African slavery in America is at last to be liquidated. That
the dead of our people, upon behalf of this land that it might have a
BIRTH, and having it might not PERISH FROM THE EARTH, did not die in
vain. That, in their passage from earth, heroes--MARTYRS--in a
superlative sense they were seen and marked of the Father; were accorded
a place of record in the pages of the great WHITE BOOK with golden
seals, in the up worlds; above the stars and beyond the flaming suns.
IT IS A HISTORY--
That will be read with instruction and benefit by thousands of whites,
but, and mark well this suggestion, it is one that should be OWNED AND
READ BY EVERY NEGRO IN THE LAND.
* * * * *
TYPOGRAPHICALLY--
Mechanically; that is to say, in those features that reflect the
finished artistic achievement of the Print, Picture and Binding art; as
seen in the bold clear type of its text, its striking and beautiful
illustrations, its illuminating title heads of division and chapter;
indicating at a glance the information to follow; the whole appealing to
the aesthetic; the sticklers for the rare and beautiful; not overlooking
its superb binding, it is most pleasing to the sight, and worthy of the
title it bears.
[Illustration: signature]
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR
CHAPTER I.
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION OF NATIONS.
THE MARCH OF CIVILIZATION--WORLD SHOCKS TO STIR THE WORLD HEART--FALSE
DOCTRINES OF THE HUN--THE IRON HAND CONCEALED--THE WOBLD BEGINS TO
AWAKEN--GERMAN DESIGNS REVEALED--RUMBLINGS IN ADVANCE OF THE
STORM--TRAGEDY THAT HASTENED THE DAY--TOLSTOY'S PROPHECY--VINDICATION OF
NEGRO FAITH IN PROMISES OF THE LORD--DAWN OF FREEDOM FOR ALL RACES.
The march of civilization is attended by strange influences. Providence
which directs the advancement of mankind, moves in such mysterious ways
that none can sense its design or reason out its import. Frequently the
forces of evil are turned to account in defeating their own objects.
Great tragedies, cruel wars, cataclysms of woe, have acted as
enlightening and refining agents. Out of the famines of the past came
experiences which inculcated the thrift and fore-handedness of today.
Out of man's sufferings have come knowledge and fortitude. Out of pain
and tribulation, the attribute of sympathy--the first spiritual
manifestation instrumental in elevating the human above the beast.
Things worth while are never obtained without payment of some kind.
Individual shocks stir the individual heart and conscience. Great world
shocks are necessary to stir the world conscience and heart; to start
those movements to right the wrongs in the world. So long as peace
reigned commerce was uninterrupted, and the acquisition of wealth was
not obstructed, men cared little for the intrigues and ambitions of
royalty. If they sensed them at all, they lulled themselves into a
feeling of security through the belief that progress had attained too
far, civilization had secured too strong a hold, and democracy was too
firmly rooted for any ordinary menace to be considered.
So insidious and far reaching had become the inculcation of false
philosophies summed up in the general term Kultur, that the subjects of
the autocratic-ridden empires believed they were being guided by benign
influences. Many enlightened men; at least it seems they must have been
enlightened, in Germany and Austria--men who possessed liberated
intellects and were not in the pay of the Kulturists--professed to
believe that despotism in the modern world could not be other than
benevolent.
The satanic hand was concealed in the soft glove; the cloven hoof
artistically fitted into the military boot; the tail carefully tucked
inside the uniform or dress suit; fiendish eyes were taught to smile and
gleam in sympathy and humor, or were masked behind the heavy lenses of
professorial dignity; the serpent's hiss was trained to song, or drowned
in crashing chords and given to the world as a sublime harmony.
Suddenly the world awoke! The wooing harmony had changed to a blast of
war; the conductor's baton had become a bayonet; the soft wind
instrument barked the rifle's tone; its notes were bullets that hissed
and screamed; tinkling cymbals sounded the wild blare of carnage, and
sweet-throated horns of silver and brass bellowed the cannon's deadly
roar.
Civilization was so shocked that for long the exact sequence of events
was not comprehended. It required time and reflection to clear away the
brain benumbing vapors of the dream; to reach a realization that liberty
actually was tottering on her throne. German propagandists had been so
well organized, and so effectively did they spread their poison;
especially in the western world that great men; national leaders were
deceived, while men in general were slow to get the true perspective;
much later than those at the seat of government.
A few far-seeing men had been alive to the German menace. Some English
statesmen felt it in a vague way, while in France where the experience
of 1870-71, had produced a wariness of all things German, a limited
number of men with penetrating, broadened vision, had beheld the fair
exterior of Kaiserism, even while they recognized in the background, the
slimy abode of the serpent. For years they had sounded the warning until
at last their feeble voices attracted attention.
France, with her traditions of Napoleon, Moreau, Ney, Berthier and
others, with rare skill set about the work of perfecting an army under
the tutelage and direction of Joffre and Foch. The defense maintained by
its army in the earlier part of the struggle provided the breathing
space required by the other allies. All through the struggle the staying
power of the French provided example and created the necessary morale
for the co-operating Allied forces, until our own gallant soldiers could
be mustered and sent abroad for the knockout blow.
As is usual where conspiracies to perform dark deeds are hatched a clew
or record is left behind. In spite of Germany's protestations of
innocence, her loud cries that the war was forced upon her, there is
ample evidence that for years she had been planning it; that she wanted
it and only awaited the opportune time to launch it. It was a gradual
unearthing and examination of this evidence that at length revealed to
the world the astounding plot.
It is not necessary to touch more than briefly the evidence of Germany's
designs, and the intrigues through which she sought world domination and
the throttling of human liberty. The facts are now too well established
to need further confirmation. The ruthless manner in which the Kaiser's
forces prosecuted the war, abandoning all pretense of civilization and
relapsing into the most utter barbarism, is enough to convince anyone of
her definite and well prepared program, which she was determined to
execute by every foul means under the sun.
She had skillfully been laying her lines and building her military
machine for more than forty years. As the time approached for the blow
she intended to strike, she found it difficult to conceal her purposes.
Noises from the armed camp--bayings of the dogs of war--occasionally
stirred the sleeping world; an awakening almost occurred over what is
known as the Morocco incident.
On account of the weakness of the Moroccan government, intervention by
foreign powers had been frequent. Because of the heavy investment of
French capital and because the prevailing anarchy in Morocco threatened
her interests in Algeria, France came to be regarded as having special
interests in Morocco. In 1904 she gained the assent of Britain and the
cooperation of Spain in her policy. Germany made no protest; in fact,
the German Chancellor, von Bulow, declared that Germany was not
specially concerned with Moroccan affairs. But in 1905 Germany demanded
a reconsideration of the entire question.
France was forced against the will of her minister of foreign affairs,
Delcasse, to attend a conference at Algeciras. That conference discussed
placing Morocco under international control, but because France was the
only power capable of dealing with the anarchy in the country, she was
left in charge, subject to certain Spanish rights, and allowed to
continue her work. The Germans again declared that they had no political
interests in Morocco.
In 1909, Germany openly recognized the political interests of France in
Morocco. In 1911 France was compelled by disorders in the country to
penetrate farther into the interior. Germany under the pretext that her
merchants were not getting fair treatment in Morocco, reopened the
entire question and sent her gunboat Panther, to Agadir on the west
coast of Africa, as if to establish a port there, although she had no
interests in that part of the country. France protested vigorously and
Britain supported her.
Matters came very close to war. But Germany was not yet ready to force
the issue. Her action had been simply a pretext to find out the extent
to which England and France were ready to make common cause. She
recalled her gunboat and as a concession to obtain peace, was permitted
to acquire some territory in the French Congo country. But German
newspapers and German political utterances showed much bitterness.
Growling and snarling grew apace in Germany, and to those who made a
close study of the situation it became evident that Germany sooner or
later intended to launch a war.
One of the characteristic German utterances of the time, came from
Albrect Wirth, a German political writer of standing, in close touch
with the thought and aims of his nation. The utterance about to be
quoted may, in the light of later events, appear indiscreet, as Germany
wished to avoid an appearance of responsibility for the world war; but
the minds of the German people had to be prepared and this could not be
accomplished without some of the writers and public men letting the cat
out of the bag. Wirth said:
"Morocco is easily worth a big war, or several. At best--and even
prudent Germany is getting to be convinced of this--war is only
postponed and not abandoned. Is such a postponement to our advantage?
They say we must wait for a better moment. Wait for the deepening of the
Kiel canal, for our navy laws to take full effect. It is not exactly
diplomatic to announce publicly to one's adversaries, 'To go to war now
does not tempt us, but three years hence we shall let loose a world
war'--No; if a war is really planned, not a word of it must be spoken;
one's designs must be enveloped in profound mystery; then brusquely, all
of a sudden, jump on the enemy like a robber in the darkness." The heavy
footed German had difficulty in moving with the stealth of a robber, but
the policy here recommended was followed.
In 1914, the three years indicated by Wirth had expired. There began to
occur dark comings and goings; mysterious meetings and conferences on
the continent of Europe. The German emperor, accompanied by the princes
and leaders of the German states, began to cruise the border and
northern seas of the Fatherland, where they would be safe from listening
ears, prying eyes, newspapers, telephones and telegraphs. It became
known that the Kaiser was cultivating the weak-minded Russian czar in
an attempt to win his country from its alliance with England and France.
There were no open rumblings of war, but the air was charged with
electricity like that preceeding a storm.
An unaccountable business depression affected pretty much the entire
world. Money, that most sensitive of all things, began to show
nervousness and a tendency to go into hiding. The bulk of the world was
still asleep to the real meaning of events, but it had begun to stir in
its dreams, as if some prescience, some premonition had begun to reach
it even in its slumbers.
Finally the first big event occurred--the tragedy that was not intended
to accomplish as much, but which hastened the dawn of the day in which
began the Spiritual Emancipation of the governments of earth. The
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, nephew of the emperor of Austria, heir to
the throne of Austria-Hungary and commander in chief of its army, and
his wife the duchess of Hohenburg, were assassinated June 28, 1914, by a
Serbian student, Gavrio Prinzip. The assassination occurred at Sarajevo
in Bosnia, a dependency, or rather, a Slavic state that had been seized
by Austria. It was the lightning flash that preceeded the thunder's
mighty crash.
Much has been written of the causes which led to the tragedy. Prinzip
may have been a fanatic, but he was undoubtedly aided in his act by a
number of others. The natural inference immediately formed was that the
murder was the outcome of years of ill feeling between Serbia and
Austria-Hungary, due to the belief of the people in the smaller state,
that their aspirations as a nation were hampered and blocked by the
German element in the Austrian empire. The countries had been on the
verge of war several years before over the seizure of Bosnia and
Herzegovina by Austria, and later over the disposition of Scutari and
certain Albanian territory conquered in the Balkan-Turkish struggle.
Events are coming to light which may place a new construction on the
causes leading to the assassination at Sarajevo. It was undoubtedly the
pretext sought by Germany for starting the great war. Whether it may not
have been carefully planned to serve that object and the Serbian
Prinzip, employed as a tool to bring it about, is not so certain.
Several years prior to the war, the celebrated Russian, Tolstoy, gave
utterance to a remarkable prophecy. Tolstoy was a mystic, and it was not
unusual for him to go into a semi-trance state in which he professed to
peer far into the future and obtain visions of things beyond the ken of
average men. The Russian czar was superstitious and it is said that the
German emperor had a strong leaning towards the mystic and psychic. In
fact, it has been stated that the Kaiser's claim to a partnership with
The Almighty was the result of delusions formed in his consultations
with mediums--the modern descendants of the soothsayers of olden times.
Tolstoy stated that both the Czar and the Kaiser desired to consult with
him and test his powers of divination. The three had a memorable
sitting. Some time afterwards the results were given to the world.
Tolstoy predicted the great war, and he stated his belief that the torch
which would start the conflagration would be lighted in the Balkans
about 1913.
Tolstoy was not a friend of either Russian or German autocracy, hence
his seance may have been but a clever ruse to discover what was in the
minds of the two rulers. Germany probably was not ready to start the war
in 1913, but there is abundant warrant for the belief that she was
trimming the torch at that time, and, who knows, the deluded Prinzip may
have been the torch.
The old dotard Francis Joseph who occupied the throne of
Austria-Hungary, was completely under the domination of the Germans. He
could be relied upon to further any designs which the Kaiser and the
German war lords might have.
The younger man, Francis Ferdinand, was not so easy to handle as his
aged uncle. Accounts agree that he was arrogant, ambitious and had a
will of his own. He was unpopular in his country and probably unpopular
with the Germans. Being of the disposition he was, it is very likely
that the Kaiser found it difficult to bend him completely to his will.
Being a stumbling block in the way of German aims, is it not reasonably
probable that Germany desired to get rid of him, thus leaving
Austria-Hungary completely in the power of its tool and puppet, Francis
Joseph, and in the event of his death, in the power of the young and
suppliant Karl; another instrument easily bent to the German will?
The wife of the archduke, assassinated with him, was a Bohemian, her
maiden name being Sophie Chotek. She was not of noble blood as Bohemia
had no nobles. They had been driven out of the country centuries before
and their titles and estates conferred on indigent Spanish and Austrian
adventurers. Not being of noble birth, she was but the morgantic wife of
the Austrian heir. Titles were afterwards conferred upon her. She was
made a countess and then a duchess. Some say she had been an actress;
not unlikely, for actresses possessed an especial appeal to Austrian
royalty. The cruel Hapsburgs rendered dull witted and inefficient by
generations of inbreeding, were fascinated by the bright and handsome
women of the stage. At any rate, Sophie Chotek belonged to that virile,
practical race Bohemians, (also called Czechs) that gave to the world
John Huss, who lighted the fires of religious and civil liberty in
Central Europe, giving advent later to the work of Martin Luther.
Bohemians had always been liberty-loving. They had been anxious for
three centuries to throw off the yoke of Austria. There is no record
that Sophie Chotek sympathized with the aims of her countrymen or that
she was not in complete accord with the views of her husband and the
political interests of the empire. But the experiences of the Germans
and Austrians had taught them that a Bohemian was likely to remain
always a Bohemian and that his freedom-loving people would not
countenance plans having in view the enslavement of other nations. The
Germans may have looked with suspicion upon the Bohemian wife of the
archduke and thought it advisable to remove her also.
Prinzip was thrown into prison and kept there until he died. No
statement he may have made ever had a chance to reach the world. No one
knows whether he was a German or a Serbian tool. He does not seem to
have been an anarchist; neither does he seem to have been of the type
that would commit such a crime voluntarily, knowing full well the
consequences. It is not hard to believe that he was under pay and
promised full protection.
Probably no Bohemian considers Sophie Chotek a martyr; indeed, the
evidence is strong that she was not. Her heart and soul probably were
with her royal spouse. But an interesting outcome is, that her
assassination, a contributing cause to the war, finally led to the
downfall of Germany, the wreck of Austria, the freedom of her native
country, and that Spiritual Emancipation of nations and races, then so
gloriously under way.
Also, to the thoughtful and philosophic observer of maturing symptoms
transpiring continuously in the affairs of mankind; the fate of those
nations of earth that in their strength and arrogance mock the Master,
furnish a striking corroborative vindication of the Negro's faith in the
promises of the Lord; the glory and power of His coming. From the date,
reckoning from moment and second, that Gavrio Prinzip done to death the
heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his duchess, there commenced
not alone a new day, a new hope and Emancipation of the whites of earth;
empire kingdom, principality and tribe, but of the blacks; the Negro as
well, so mysteriously; bewilderingly, moves God His wonders to perform.
It was that subliminated faith in the ubiquity and omniscience of God;
the unchangeableness of His word; than which the world has witnessed;
known nothing finer; the story of the concurrent causes that projected
the Negro into the World War, from whence he emerged covered with glory,
followed by the plaudits of mankind, that became the inspiration of this
work--his story of devotion, valor and patriotism; of unmurmuring
sacrifice; worthy the pens of the mighty, but which the historian, as
best he may will tell: "NOTHING extenuate, nor set down AUGHT in
malice."