Business was booming on Monday at the Liberty Memorial and the National World War I Museum, where people who were serious about observing Memorial Day came to pay their respects. One of the long weekend's events was a panel discussion on "The Relevance and Importance of African Americans in World War I."
Speaking that day were history professors Pellom McDaniels of UMKC and Chad Williams of Hamilton College in New York. McDaniels may be more widely known in Kansas City as a defensive lineman for the Chiefs in the 1990s, but these days he's a scholar and an educator.
African Americans might not have been fighter pilots, but they definitely served as soldiers, McDaniels pointed out. Though their contributions have been forgotten -- or more likely purposefully erased -- among McDaniels' many projects is restoring them to their rightful places in our collective memory.
"In the Midwest, hundreds of African Americans served in the Great War," he said. "They came back with a new sense of patriotism, manliness, citizenship." After fighting overseas to, in President Woodrow Wilson's words, "make
the world safe for democracy," they returned to try to make democracy
safe for themselves in the United States.
But as we all know, that would take many more decades. Memories of slavery were still fresh, Jim Crow was in full control and lynchings were common. The influential movie wouldn't be The Flying Ace but D.W. Griffiths' KKK-promoting The Birth of a Nation. So, McDaniels said, he had some pictures to show us, "images that refute and deny images from the same time that show blacks as second-class citizens."
He wanted us to think about how the country might have viewed African Americans differently, if the images he was about to show us were the ones that had prevailed. "Take a couple of minutes to look at each frame," he said.
One by one, a half-dozen photographs of black soldiers went up on the screen. Rather than explaining anything about them, McDaniels said nothing. Deep, awed silence fell over the auditorium as each picture spoke for itself.
When the last photo had been up for a few moments, McDaniels said, simply, "Thank you very much" -- and the auditorium burst into applause.
Much, much more of McDaniels' work is up through June 20 at UMKC's African American Culture House. The exhibition, called "They Came to Fight: African Americans and the Great World War," is all online, too, right here, so you can stare at the pictures in your own stunned silence, just like all of us did on Monday at the Liberty Memorial.
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Wonderful comments Major....I will be bringing some artifacts out in May...and perform a small memorial at the gravesite in Verdun...blessings
What a wonderful tribute...I just found this while researching...I am truly grateful for Prof. ...these stories must be told...I have created a permanent exhibit of the Black presence in WW1..which includes Caribean and African contributions...There was a African American Fighter pilot who flew in the French Escadrille...Eugene Bullard...born in Columbus Georgia...he
was also a prize fighter...and night club owner in Paris in Pigalle...there are many hidden treasures...it is my passion to uncover...I will be going to Paris in hopes of mapping out a WW1 Black tour...I also have installed a Black Rail Road Experience at the Gold Coast Rail Road Museum in Miami....Best Regards Alan Laird expressionsart@aol.com
Mr. McDaniels,
Great article. I agree that there is not enough attention paid to this subject and applaud your resolve in telling this compelling story.
One of my greatest inspirations is a man I never met who died before my birth, my grandfather, the late Sergeant Luther James Battiste, Sr. (1898-1968), of the 351st Machine Gun Battalion, 92nd Infantry Division (Colored). He was a combat infantryman in the First World War who at the age of 19 voluntarily enlisted in the very segregated U.S. Army in 1917 and fought with valor in France in the Meuse-Argonne. His brother Corporal Eugene Battiste served in the U.S. 93rd Infantry Division (Colored) under French leadership and command fighting the Germans while wearing the uniform, helmet and bearing the arms of France. Both endured tense battles and suffered burns from the noxious mustard gas. Both have stories of water contaminated by poison gas and Franch rations of bread and wine. Of the liberated women at the time and thier propensity for 'dipping snuff'. My grandfather's youngest brother Walter Battiste, served as a Mess Attendant (the only job for a person of color in the U.S. Navy during that time) aboard the U.S.S. Minnesotan where he made seven trips back and forth across the Atlantic ferrying Soldiers off to war in France...
There are many stories which highlight the racism of the day by uniformed white brethren such as telling the French citizens that black troops had tails which came out at night... That they were there to rape white women (the Europeans did not have the racist beliefs prevalent of the average American of the day and did not dissuade interracial liasons)... And that blacks made poor combat Soldiers. There are accounts of the intentional murder of black Soldiers overseas to include lynchings and fratricide. None of these stories are given proper attention.
There was an overt practice of institutionalized racism, often from the same white officers who led black troops (even at senior levels such as with Allied Expeditionary Forces Commander, General John 'Blackjack' Pershing who made a name for himself during the Indian Campaigns and Mexican Punitive Expeditions while serving with black troops in combat), black troops demonstrated valor and unwaivering loyalty.
In 1988, the Secretary of the Army directed that the Army conduct an investigation to determine whether there had been any barriers to African-American Soldiers in the Medal of Honor (MOH) approval process. In 1990 the case a MOH recommendation from the First World War was discovered bearing the name of Corporal Freddie Stowers who was killed (six weeks before the end of WWI) in 1918 as he led a squad from the all-black 371st Infantry Regiment (93rd Infantry Division) into no-man's land in France and defeated German troops. His commanding officer recommended him for the MOH, but the nomination languished for over 70 years - "misplaced". In 1991, then President George Bush awarded the medal posthumously to Stowers' two surviving sisters. Stowers was the sole African-American of WWI awarded the Medal of Honor.
I have been to the Meuse-Argonne where my grandfather fought and to the American Cemetery adjacent at Romagne, France where I saw the grave of Corporal Freddie Stowers.
Today the struggle for equity in the award of the Medal of Honor during the First World War continues with the case of Sergeant Henry Johnson. He was the first American of any color to be awarded the French Croix De Guerre Medal with palm. Johnson�s outfit the 369th Infantry Regiment (was the sister unit to Stowers 371st) was like the 317st, also partitioned off to the French to serve under their leadership.
I only wish that I had been present last year to witness the discussion. Good luck in continuing to tell the world the story of these valiant men, these forgotten heroes.
Sincerely,
Major Andre A. Battiste, Sr., USA
Special Operations Command Europe
Stuttgart, Germany
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