A-americans In Ww1

http://www.ritesofpassage.org/mil_wwone.ht m World War I (1914-1918) Unknown author Before World War I, military service was a source of Black pride. Black educators, clergymen, and the press frequently referred to Negro heroes of America's past wars. After the Civil War, the U.S. Army maintained four regular Negro regiments -- the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. These units included veterans of the civil war and the frontier Indian fighting. Retired sergeants from these organizations often became respected, conservative leaders in their communities.

In 1917 the United States entered World War I under the slogan "Make the World Safe for Democracy." Within a week after the United States entered the war, the War Department stopped accepting black volunteers because colored army quotas were filled. No black men were allowed in the Marines, Coast Guard or Air Force. They were allowed in the Navy only as messmen. When drafting began, of the more than 2,000,000 blacks registered 31 percent were accepted to 26 percent of the white men. Blacks then comprising 10 percent of the population, furnished 13 percent of the inductees.

World War I was a turning point in black American history. The small number of blacks moving out of the South after 1877 increased enormously as war industries and the decline of European immigration combined to produce demands for labor in Northern cities. The coming together of a large number of blacks in urban cities, the exposure of some blacks to European whites who did not hold the same racial attitude as American whites, and the war propaganda to make the world safe for democracy all combined to raise the hopes, dreams, and aspiration of blacks in America.

When American troops started arriving on the Western Front in France, four regiments belonging to the 93rd Division arrived ahead of their Brigade and Division staff (A WW I division consisted of two brigades each with two regiments, plus an artillery brigade) were the first to arrive. The French had been asking the United States for troops, so Gen. Pershing gave these four regiments to the French, saying that he wanted them back when the 93rd Division was formed. The French never gave them back, and the 93rd Division was never formed. One of the units, the 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters) received 11 unit citations from the French and was the first unit to reach the Rhine in 1918. The 369th Regimental Band

conducted by James Reese Europe and Noble Sissle is credited with the introduction of American Jazz into Europe. For more on the exploits of the 369th see:Badger, Reid. A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe. . Little, Arthur W. From Harlem to the Rhine: The Story of New York's Colored Volunteers. Miles, William, & Robinson, Nancy K. Men of Bronze. Video recording. When the 369th Infantry arrived in France on New Year's Day 1918, it was the first AfricanAmerican combat unit to set foot on French soil. The Regimental Band, under the direction of James Reese Europe, entertained troops and citizens in every city they visited and was received with great enthusiasm. Noble Sissle said at the time that the "Jazz germ" hit France, and it spread everywhere they went. It should be noted that these bandsmen also had to fight as Infantry since no one needed music during periods of combat. At the left members of the Hell Fighters Band pose with their battered instruments.

The British Army had been training American units as they arrived in France in 1917 and 1918, but when the 92nd Division arrived the British refused to train them. Gen Pershing protested to the British Gen. Haig, "These Negroes are American citizens. I cannot and will not discriminate against them." But to avoid making an issue of the case, the War Department scheduled the 92nd for training with the French. The French were delighted to work with the 92nd and asked to have them attached to the French Army. The War Department refused, and after training, the 92th the moved on to participate heroically in the September 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive.

Black Jack Pershing has this to say in his book, My Experiences in the World War: "Cables from the War Department about this time stated that the colored people were being told that Negro soldiers in France were always placed in the most dangerous positions, were being sacrificed to save white troops, and were often left on the field to die without medical attention. It was not difficult to guess the origin of this sort of propaganda. As a matter of fact, none of these troops had been in line except in quiet sectors. Those I had recently seen were in fine spirits and seemed keen for active service. The only colored combat troops in France were those of the 92d Division, then in a quiet sector in the Vosges, and the four infantry regiments of the 93d, each of which was attached to a French division. Several individuals in these units serving with the French had already received the Croix de Guerre for conduct in raids.

My earlier service with colored troops in the Regular Army had left a favorable impression on my mind. In the field on the frontier and elsewhere they were reliable and courageous, and the old 10th Cavalry (colored), with which I served in Cuba, made an enviable record there. Under capable white officers and with sufficient training, Negro soldiers have always acquitted themselves creditably. When told of these rumors, the colored troops were indignant, and later they did everything possible to counteract such false reports. It was gratifying to learn shortly afterward that Congress had passed very positive legislation against that sort of propaganda.

The following paragraph from a cable sent at the time is pertinent: ' June 20, 1918.

Exploit of two colored infantrymen some weeks ago in repelling much larger German patrol, killing and wounding several Germans and winning Croix de Guerre by their gallantry, has roused fine spirit of emulation among colored troops, all of whom are looking forward to more active service. Only regret expressed by colored troops is that they are not given more dangerous work to do. They are especially amused at the stories being circulated that the American colored troops are placed in the most dangerous positions and all are desirous of having more active service than has been permitted them so far." What was it about the Harlem Hell Fighters that produced so many creative people, in addition to James England and Noble Sissle, the 369th produced a great African American artist. In 1917, during World War I, Private Horace Pippin, Co. K, 369th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force, was sent to fight in the trenches of France. Twelve years after his return home, he began to paint his memories of his days as a soldier. "The war brought out all of the art in me," he said years later. "I came home with all of it in my mind, and I paint from it today." In Shell Holes and Observation Balloon, Champagne Sector, (left) Pippin recalls an abandoned battle site. The earth has been ruptured by shell fire; the farmhouses have been cracked and torn apart. Footprints mark the path where soldiers once tramped. An observation balloon rises on the horizon. The entire painting is desolate, painted in black, white, and tones of gray. It seems that life on this patch of land is over and will never return. Pippin kept a diary in which he recorded sketches and thoughts about his wartime experiences. "...After a month's training learning the French rifle," he wrote, "the 369th was sent into action in Bois-d'Hauze, Champagne. We stayed there until July 4th, 1918. Our ranks were thinned by the deadly German fire. We were completely worn out...." He went on to suggest why the shell holes feature so prominently in his painting: "...At daybreak we were to start our advancement.... Men laying all over wounded and dead, some was being carried. We wished we could help the wounded but we couldn't. We had to leave them there and keep advancing, ducking from shell hole to shell hole all day...the snipers were plentiful. I remember spotting a shell hole and made a run for it. Just as I was within three feet and getting ready to dive in I were hit in the shoulder. There was four in the shell hole. One bound my wound the best he could and they all left me alone...." Pippin's wound was severe enough to send him home with a partially paralyzed right arm. "I was discharged," he said. "My right arm was bound to me. I could not use it for anything." The war had been a shattering experience to Horace Pippin. He would not have admitted it. He may not have "known" it. But the drawings, and to a far greater degree the war paintings that

were to follow in twelve years, cannot be denied. He had seen the desolation of earth, the ruin of cities, the inhumanity of man. After returning home to Pennsylvania, Pippin married a widow, delivered laundry, and did whatever other odd jobs he could find that didn't require two strong arms. Then, at about forty years old, he discovered that even with his crippled hand, he could make drawings on wood. He would grasp a white-hot iron poker from the stove in his stiff right hand, balance the poker on his knee, then holding a wood panel in his left hand, maneuver it against the smoking tip of the iron. After making seventeen of these "burnt-wood" panels, he attempted painting. He found he could clasp a paintbrush in his deadened right hand, then use his left arm to push the hand and brush across the canvas. His first painting took him three years to finish. Once Pippin started viewing himself as an artist there was no stopping him. Even with his disabled arm he often painted seventeen hours at a stretch. He painted memories of his childhood, events from the lives of Abraham Lincoln and John Brown, and stories from the Bible. Altogether, Pippin painted seventy-five paintings during the last six years of his life. Pippin had no art training whatsoever. He paid no attention to what was going on in the art world and placed no value on the advice of established artists. He made his art out of his own memories and his own observations. "Pictures just come to my mind," he once explained, "and I tell my heart to go ahead." Art critics marveled at the way this unschooled or "naive" artist could produce works of such intensity. For Pippin there were no tricks, no rules: "The pictures...come to me in my mind and if to me it is a worthwhile picture I paint it," he said. "I do over the picture several times in my mind and when I am ready to paint it I have all the details I need."