RECRUDESCENCE OF SOUTH'S INTOLERANCE
CONFRONTED BY RACIAL PEEJUDICE--- SPLENDID ATTITUDE 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 SHIPS PROPOSED--NEGRO EFFICIENCY IN NAVY--MATERIAL FOR
"BLACK SHIPS"--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
attitude 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 championship 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 passed 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 Washington had faced the
rigors of a Valley Forge, a Lincoln the bullet of an assassin.
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
passers, while others served as cooks assistants, 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
entitled 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 ships 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
flagship 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 ships.
One of the principal instructors on the U.S.S. Essex, the government
training ship at Norfolk, is Matthew Anderson, a Negro. He has trained
thousands of men, many of them now officers, in the art and duties of
seamanship. Scores of Negroes; men of the type of these in the Navy,
would furnish the nucleus for officers and crews of separate Negro
ships.
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 ships' assigned 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 ships. Promote
them, rate them, just the same as the white man. But above all keep
them on their own ships. It is fair to them and fair to the white
men. The Brazilian and Argentine navies have 'black ships.'"
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 class. 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 attitude towards the Negro is contemplated.
It may evolve into the establishment of "black ships." The Negro sailor
has been pleading for years that his color has been a bar to him. With a
ship of his own, would come his chance. He would strive; do all within
his power to make it a success and would succeed.