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Relationships With the French
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The relationship between the colored soldiers, the colored welfare
workers, and the French people was most cordial and friendly and grew
in sympathy and understanding, as their association brought about
a closer acquaintance. It was rather an unusual as well as a most
welcome experience to be able to go into places of public accommodation
without having any hesitations or misgivings; to be at liberty to take
a seat in a common carrier, without fear of inviting some humiliating
experience; to go into a home and receive a greeting that carried with
it a hospitality and kindliness of spirit that could not be questioned.
These things were at once noticeable upon the arrival of a stranger
within the gates of this sister democracy, and the first ten days in
France, though filled with duties and harassed with visits from German
bombing planes, were nevertheless a delight, in that they furnished to
some of us the first full breath of freedom that had ever come into our
limited experience.
The first post of duty assigned to us was Brest. Upon arriving there
we received our first experience with American prejudices, which had
not only been carried across the seas, but had become a part of such an
intricate propaganda, that the relationship between the colored soldier
and the French people is more or less a story colored by a continued
and subtle effort to inject this same prejudice into the heart of the
hitherto unprejudiced Frenchman.
We had gone to this city under protest, because we felt that since
there were only three colored women in France among approximately
150,000 colored soldiers, that our first duty should be to the men at
the front, who were without doubt suffering the greatest hardships.
But we were told that in this city there was a great need, and that we
had better serve out a probation here, before being sent to the more
arduous tasks at the front.
Imagine our surprise, then, at being told immediately upon our arrival,
that there was no need for colored women in that section; that the
colored men were too rough; that they were almost afraid to locate
a man among them, to say nothing of a woman. We were permitted to
tarry, however, a few days, during which time we discovered a colored
Chaplain, the Rev. L. C. Jenkins, of South Carolina, who immediately
made us welcome, and arranged for us to talk to his men. They were much
grieved when they were frankly told of the reputation that had been
given them, and assured us of every consideration and courtesy if we
were permitted to remain among them. Every effort was put forth to get
the office to change its decision concerning us, but to no avail. In
due time, we made our return trip to Paris.
In talking with the soldiers, however, and ultimately with the French
people, we were told that the story of the roughness of the colored
men was being told to the civilians in order that all possible
association between them might be avoided. They had been systematically
informed that their dark-skinned allies were not only unworthy of any
courtesies from their homes, but that they were so brutal and vicious
as to be absolutely dangerous. They were even told that they belonged
to a semi-human species who only a few years ago had been caught in the
American forests, and only been tamed enough to work under the white
American’s direction.
Another ten days in Paris was filled with more duties, and more
opportunity for contact with the French people. We met again the first
colored woman to arrive in France, and at her suggestion and guidance,
went to a small hotel in the rue d’Antin, where very few Americans
were located. Here the proprietor and all his assistants were smiling
and courteous, ever ready to make one comfortable, and to give all
necessary information and many helpful suggestions.
At this time we were assigned to the 92nd Division, in the Haute Marne
region, but the great July Offensive started, making it impossible
for us to get through the lines, so we were told, and we were
finally assigned to St. Nazaire. Here we were very happy to have the
opportunity to go where we could have the association of our co-worker,
who had gone there as the pioneer colored woman for that section.
Here, as elsewhere, the French people had been informed as to the
shortcomings of the colored Americans, and among other things had
been told that they were incapable of becoming officers, and leading
their own people. In October, 1918, thirty-three colored Lieutenants
of Artillery landed at this port. Upon meeting them on the street, the
writer informed them of this false impression, and requested them to
show themselves in the business and residence sections of the city.
In one shop the proprietor immediately turned to a white officer,
and remarked that these men wore the identical insignia that he had
seen on many other officers, and that he would thank some one for an
explanation. When these same men entered the French Artillery School,
near Vannes, they were forbidden to attend entertainments where it was
thought they would in all probability meet the French people.
Literature was gotten out through the French Military Mission and
sent to French villages explaining how Americans desired the colored
officers to be treated; that they desired them to receive no more
attention than was required in the performance of their military
duties; that to show them social courtesies not only would be
dangerous, but that it would be an insult to the American people. The
literature was finally collected and ordered destroyed by the French
Ministry.[4]
In one city, the soldiers informed us, colored Americans were confined
to certain streets in order that their contact with the French people
might have all possible limitations.
Following is a copy of an order gotten out, and a duplicate preserved:
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BATTALION,
804TH PIONEER INFANTRY,
A. E. F., FRANCE.
WARCQ, FRANCE, March 20, 1919.
Enlisted men of this organization will not talk to or be in company
with any white women, regardless of whether the women solicit their
company or not.
By Order of CAPTAIN BYRNE.
A True Copy,
S/L/D/
This propaganda was spread from the streets of the large cities to the
topmost peaks of the Alps Mountains, away up among the little shepherd
girls, who knew nothing except what others came up to tell them.
“Soldat noir-vilain,” they remarked to the writer one day, while she
sat down to gather strength to finish her trip to the little chapel
whose ruins stood on the highest pinnacle; even their minds had been
poisoned with the thought that “black soldiers were villains.”
These little shepherd girls dwelt in a portion of France that was used
for a Leave Area. In the beginning both white and colored soldiers
found rest and pleasure in visiting the historic and picturesque
region about Challes-les-Eaux and Chambery, but later it was set aside
by the Y. M. C. A. for colored soldiers only. Naturally the inhabitants
were much amazed to find that they were not being molested in any way,
and toward the close of the work the different impressions that were
being gathered by the French people became almost a constant topic of
conversation. The teachers and proprietors of the hotels came often
to converse, and some of them helped gratuitously in the performance
of our duties. Many of the children came to play upon the lawn of
the Y. M. C. A. at Challes-les-Eaux, where the writer had charge of
the woman’s work for a period, and the mayor came as the official
representative of the town, to assure us of all good wishes and
sympathetic greetings; while the mayor at Chambery gave out a public
invitation for the colored people to return to France and become a part
of their civilization.
Often the staff of secretaries at Challes-les-Eaux would be invited to
dinner, especially at the hotel Chateaubriand, where the hostess and
her daughter, dressed and smiling, amidst a bower of flowers, opened
their hearts again and again concerning their entire satisfaction with
the conduct of our soldiers, and how different they were from their
original representation. They had received instructions before their
coming as to just the manner in which they should be treated, but
they not only found no cause for such instructions, but found many
characteristics in the colored men which were a pleasure and a delight.
During the victory parade in Paris, no colored Americans were permitted
to participate, notwithstanding the fact that numerous individuals as
well as organizations had been cited or decorated for bravery. This
the French people were not able to understand, but in due time they
learned that it was all due to the American policy of discrimination.
They gradually discovered that the colored American was not the wild,
vicious character that he had been represented to be, but that he
was kind-hearted, genteel and polite. One could frequently hear the
expression, “soldat noir, tres gentil, tres poli” (black soldier very
genteel, very polite); this characteristic appealed greatly to these
people who have always been noted for their innate politeness.
The French women were especially kind and hospitable to their
dark-skinned allies. The writers had the pleasure of living in one
French home for nearly nine months. Here they were treated with all
courtesy, respect, and almost reverence. One of them became ill, and
was sick unto death for nearly five weeks, during which time the
hostess called in her own family physician, administered the medicine,
and nursed her as if she had been her own child.
[Illustration: FRIENDLY INTERCOURSE WITH THE FRENCH
1. Group of Colored Officers visiting French family. 2. Mayor, hotel
proprietors and teachers at Challes les Eaux fraternizing with
Colored Soldiers and Y. M. C. A. Secretaries. 3. Group of French
Students taken with Colored Soldiers resting while on a hike.]
When the French women learned that the Americans were trying to control
the social intercourse of their homes, they deeply resented it. At one
time the 92nd Division had issued the following orders:
HEADQUARTERS, 92ND DIVISION,
A. E. F.