HOME-FIRES
“Keep the home-fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning;
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home;
There’s a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining;
Turn the dark cloud inside out
Till the boys come home.”
To the American returning from France in 1919, the whole country that
had been the scene of the war came back like a panorama or a dream.
The moans of the dying and the devastation of homes and villages
mingled with the treasures of art and the shrines of devotion. Perhaps
he recalled the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the Palace of Kings
at Fontainebleau, the tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau and Hugo, the
Luxembourg, or the never-to-be-forgotten Promenade at Nice. Roman ruins
and amphitheatres, the parade on Bastille Day, fireworks on the Seine,
nights at the opera, the games at the Pershing Stadium, the endless
coming and going at Brest, even memories of Héloïse and Abelard, all
crowded upon the mind to awaken wonder. But above all, far above all,
came back the France of the Great Soul, of Liberty and Fraternity and
Courage, of the “Marseillaise,”--of Verdun and the deathless word, “Ils
ne passeront pas.”
It is a country to love, a country worth dying for. Yet few Americans
would prefer even France to their own wonderful land. Memories of those
at home rushed back even on the field of battle; and though he lived in
Mississippi or Montana, to the returning soldier even the harbor of New
York spoke of home. After all there is nothing like the land of one’s
birth and loved ones. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
To the Negro soldier who went to France the experience was, as for
every soldier, one ever to be remembered. Some men who in Alabama or
Louisiana had in all their lives hardly been twenty-five miles from
home were suddenly taken thousands of miles away, across the Atlantic,
to decide the fate of empires. Altogether four hundred thousand Negro
men answered their country’s call. Of these a little more than half saw
service abroad, and many never came back.
Of those who remained at home importance attached to an organization of
which little has been said in these pages, that of the Students’ Army
Training Corps. Units of this were established in twenty representative
educational institutions, and with inspiring ceremony on October 1,
1918, the flower of the young men of the nation, in these and other
colleges, took the oath of loyalty to the flag. Meanwhile black
fathers and mothers invested millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and
War Savings Stamps and contributed generously to all the numerous
“drives”; and history has not yet told of how much the Negro woman,
working hard in the fields of the South, did to feed her country and
the world while the war was on.
To the Negro soldier no thought was dearer or more inspiring than
that of these women at home, so largely defenceless; and no hope was
stronger than that the future might be better for them and their
children. Only such feeling explains the tenderness, even the tears,
with which the men in uniform greeted the women of their race who in
one way or another strove to help them. At Camp McClellan one man was
daily growing weaker from pneumonia. One morning a Negro woman who was
a member of the Red Cross brought some flowers to be given to him. A
beautiful rose was selected by the Chaplain who, when giving it to
the soldier, said, “This is the flower that the lady brought you this
morning.” “For me?” asked the man; then, looking at the gift with all
its beautiful suggestion, he said, “Chaplain, I am twenty-three years
old. Do you know that this is the first time anyone ever gave me a
flower?” Overseas it was the same. To one talented young woman who went
to France to try to bring good cheer, and who inspired the men by her
beautiful playing on the piano, a soldier wrote appreciatively: “I just
want to thank you for the way you entertained us soldiers last evening
and say that you really did bring sunshine to us all. To-day it seems
that a burden has been lifted off us, and we wish you could stay in
our camp forever. I feel better than I have felt in the whole eleven
months that I have been overseas. All the soldiers are talking of you
to-day; it has been a year since some of them saw a colored woman. A
friend of mine is from Cincinnati and he joins me in wishing you Good
Luck and Godspeed.”
Not only through the personal presence of such a worker as this but
in far-reaching and unseen ways the influences of home were brought
to bear upon the men at the front. Sometimes in the darkest night the
great good cheer and the big heart of the Negro shone forth. More than
one man “higher up,” while on patrol in No Man’s Land, was buoyed up
by the simple faith of an untutored Negro lad. “Officer,” said one, in
such a situation, “it is hard, but I’m with you to the end.” On another
night, before they went over the top, six boys were in a dug-out. After
talking things over, one suggested that they say the Lord’s Prayer.
Only one knew it; but while a game of dice was going on in another
corner, the little group knelt and repeated the words, gathering
strength for the attack that was to come before the new day. Hearing
a slight noise toward the close, they turned and saw that a major had
come into the dug-out. “Let’s say it again, boys,” he said, “it gives
me more courage too.” Then they knelt again and the officer joined with
them in the prayer.
In many ways the war meant the awakening of new impulses. As one
traveled through the South, again and again he noticed a service
flag at the window, sometimes in a cabin forlorn and dilapidated,
sometimes in one neat and in a cluster of trees or surrounded by
cotton. Sometimes there was only one star, but often there were two;
and whenever those stars appeared they meant that the deeper springs
of life were being stirred, and that a people whose horizon had been
limited was beginning to think in terms of the world. If such was
the influence at home, even stronger was that with the men who went
to France. They were thrilled with a new hope. One and all they were
willing to give their very lives if things might be better for those
in the little home in South Carolina or Georgia. They had seen their
glorious Stars and Stripes and they knew that they had not fully
realized its benefits; but now as never before that banner unfurled
meant democracy, and as a beacon light it pointed the way for all
lovers of liberty. Negro men went to war believing that a new day was
dawning for them, and that loyalty to their country’s cause in her hour
of need would be the means of their enjoying in fuller measure the
blessings for which they were fighting. In that faith they were willing
to face shells and gas at Verdun, in Champagne, and in the Argonne, or
wherever duty might lead them.
When the war closed then, it is unfortunate that the experiences of
thousands of these men had embittered them instead of bringing them
into the freedom for which they had longed. Let us pass over smaller
matters and consider only two of the larger reasons that accounted
for their feeling. It is possible that no group similarly situated
did more to make Armistice Day possible than did the American Negro
soldiers; and we have seen that the record of the 369th Infantry
was such that it was given the honor of leading French troops to the
Rhine. When, however, in Paris, on July 14, 1919--on Bastille Day,
the day of freedom--the Allied generals and their armies participated
in the greatest military demonstration in the history of the world,
the American Negro was not there. Other nations had all the races
that fought under their flags in line. Belgium had her black colonial
troops; England had Indians and Africans with her own sons and her
soldiers from the colonies; and France had her Senegalese, Moroccans,
Algerians, Soudanese, and Madagascans: every race that came to her
defence was in her victorious army on that memorable day. Only America
left her Negro troops behind. The last soldiers in the Victory Parade
passed down the Champs Elysees, and still the hero of the 369th or the
371st had not appeared. He alone in the day of glory was the Disowned,
the Disinherited.
Then there was “Le Panthéon de la Guerre,” a great painting by “Pierre
Carrier-Belleuse, Auguste François Gorguet, and their associates, who
on the morrow of the victory of the Marne undertook a work for the
glorification of France.” Standing before the painting one beheld
thousands of French heroes, officers of all ranks, and soldiers,
gunners, horsemen, sailors, and aviators--every group that represented
France. Along the right of this great circular painting were seen
the Allied nations, represented by their sovereigns, statesmen, and
military leaders, with representatives of the groups that assisted in
the great struggle. Colonial as well as European soldiers were there.
In the American group President Wilson stood in the center with one of
his peace documents, and on either side were members of the cabinet,
statesmen, military and naval leaders. Every group of Americans was
supposed to be represented, and all were there--soldiers, sailors,
business men, farmers, cowboys, Indians,--all except the Negro, the
Negro soldier, and the stevedore who bore the heavy load. It was not
sufficient to say to the Negro that this was an accidental omission; he
knew better.
This, then, is the question for Americans. Either these things are true
or they are not. Either they are just or they are not. That they are
true everybody knows. That they are just we leave to the conscience of
our readers.
Meanwhile let us remember that now as ever the Negro has faith in his
country and in the principles for which it stands. In every crisis he
has been loyal and true. In the World War, in spite of propaganda,
he answered promptly every call. For him, as for others, the draft
was a great Americanizer. It did within a year what decades of quiet
existence would not have done. It carried him far from his home and
showed him other peoples and other customs; and as never before he
realized that he was to do a man’s part for his own country’s welfare.
As a result of the war also there was co-operation between the races
in communities where previously little or none had existed. The
inter-racial committees that have been organized throughout the South
are the direct outgrowth of efforts to work together in the course of
the war. The welfare organizations moreover introduced for Negro young
men and women such wholesome recreation as had not been enjoyed by them
in large numbers before. Through this work standards developed and a
new appreciation of the place that such recreation should have in the
lives of the youth of the race.
And in the years to come who will read of the work of the Negro
stevedores without feeling that America owes a great debt to these
men? They had a heavy and sometimes an unpleasant task, but the zeal
with which they worked hastened the peace and saved the lives of
thousands of men. In the 92nd Division also more than 20,000 Negro men
were moulded into a great fighting organization, officered largely by
Negroes for the first time in the history of America; while the record
of the 93rd Division is one to make not only every Negro but also every
American proud.
Such memories linger in the mind of every man who played his part on
the field of battle, and also of that one who offered himself for
his country but happened not to be called to the front. Forgetting
themselves, but uplifted with hope, they went forth in the spirit of
the Master. Risking life itself, they were willing to die, if need be,
that others might live. They had only sublime faith in their country,
and over all was the divine purpose, “For God and Home and Native Land.”
Transcriber’s Notes
- Where hyphenation was inconsistent, this has been standardized using
the one more common in this text. Where that was not possible to
discern, the most common hyphenation in use at the time of publication
has been used.
- Several unconventional spellings for French locations have been left
as per the original, except where otherwise noted.
- Page 28: “The fact than many” changed to “The fact that many”
- Page 36: “The Plattsburgh idea of military training was” changed to
“The Plattsburg idea of military training was”
- Page 42: “manual of physical” changed to “manual or physical”
- Page 46: “words of farewell and mpressed” changed to “words of
farewell and impressed”
- Page 46: “a surprisingly efficient organzation” changed to “a
surprisingly efficient organization”
- Page 60: “not always carried out.”” changed to “not always carried
out.”
- Page 70: “his own comrades in arms” changed to “his own comrades in
arms.”
- Page 80: “the first Satuday of each month” changed to “the first
Saturday of each month”
- Page 89: “was at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, O.” changed to “was at
Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio.”
- Page 103: “erected for Negro stevedores” changed to “erected for
Negro stevedores.”
- Page 114: “The next moring a hundred white and colored soldiers”
changed to “The next morning a hundred white and colored soldiers”
- Page 116: “Here there was a minstrel troup” changed to “Here there
was a minstrel troupe”
- Page 124: “the young woman who recieved the yarn” changed to “the
young woman who received the yarn”
- Page 143: “317th Engineers, The task” changed to “317th Engineers.
The task”
- Page 168: “positions of Champey, Bouières, La Côte,” changed to
“positions of Champey, Bouxières, La Côte,”
- Page 179: “measles, parolitis” changed to “measles, parotitis”
- Page 188: “by a heavy minewerfer” changed to “by a heavy minenwerfer”
- Page 197: “northeast of Châlons in the Campagne” changed to
“northeast of Châlons in the Champagne”
- Page 212: “Vauxaillon with the Arlette Canal” changed to “Vauxaillon
with the Ailette Canal”
- Page 227: “General Garnier Duplossis” changed to “General Garnier
Duplessis”
- Page 236: “capturing the town of Ardueil.” changed to “capturing the
town of Ardeuil.”
- Page 248: “not only ever Negro but also every American proud” changed
to “not only every Negro but also every American proud”