Those excellent resources of some of our partners, like the national archives, stanford History Education group, and the recent newsletter addressed americans all, and how in our diverse nation, groups and individuals affected the war, and were affected by it. University of minnesota professor dr. Saje mathieu will be speaking to just that. Africanamericans and the promise of 1917. Dr. Mathieu specializes in 20th century american and African American history with an emphasis on race, war, globalization, immigration, social movements, and political resistance. Keep your eyes peeled, she has a new book that will be coming out, the glory of their deeds a global history of black soldiers and the great war era. A former fellow, she has graced the stage of the famous fitzgerald theater. Help me welcome her to our stage this afternoon, dr. Saje mathieu. [applause] dr. Saje mathieu good afternoon. Thank you for being here and thank you for that wonderful introduction. I am new to the club. I have to embrace the reality i cannot get as much done without them. I think most people really want glasses until they actually need them, and then, it is not so fun. My name is saje mathieu. This afternoon, i will be moving at quite the pace so i can squeeze everything in our 45 minutes and have plenty of time for questions. I welcome them. If they pop up while i speak, do write them down. Lafayette, we are here, the promise of 1917. One of the enduring myths about the great war, both at the time and in contemporary literature, is the idea that africanamericans did not in fact think very much about or care about world war i, or at the least, they did not until late 1917, or 1918. That is absolutely not true. Part of this seductive appeal of believing African Americans had not thought about the war fits into the notion they were either too simple or too navelgazing to really care about what was happening abroad. In point of fact, africanamericans had been writing extensively about the great war as early as 1914, even before the war breaks out. They are already starting to keep an eye on what is happening and reporting about it extensively and regularly in the africanamerican press. Before i move any further, i want you to remember that first and foremost, africanamericans are americans, something that we forget far too frequently. This afternoon, i hope to hit on these main areas. First, the importance of the war the import of the war for African Americans. How africanamericans thought about and talked about the war globally, how, for them, it was a local war. This idea of a french utopia and in rapture with france, and the cost of war for African Americans. What do i mean when i say that africanamericans are first and foremost americans . Like other americans, they, too, wondered whether peace was a viable path. They wondered and questioned what exactly was their duty to, as americans, but also as African Americans, did they have any actual duty in this imperial conflict between european kissing cousins . How will the war, should they supported, should we as a nation get into it, how will the war derail the civil rights work that africanamericans were involved in before 1914 . This would have included, in particular, challenges to jim crow laws. And by 1915, africanamericans are pouring their resources, money, attention, theyre educated young people, into fighting, in particular the grandfather clause and obstructions to the vote. In addition to these questions, of course, africanamericans are really consumed by the pivotal importance of jim crow in american life. It is important for us to remember that by the time the great war begins in europe, jim crow, this set of laws and practices that reinforce segregation, jim crow is about 20 years old, right . We are talking about this first generation of africanamerican men who are born and raised under the jim crow jackboot, if you will. What, then, do we make of them . Is this the assessment of the racist future . The other thing afternoon the other thing after africanamericans are thinking about is, they are rounding the 300th anniversary of the first african encounter with the americas. They are thinking carefully and writing about 50 years since the end of the civil war and in some respects, reconstruction and its failed possibilities. Theyre talking about, they are looking at the end of slavery in puerto rico. They are talking to a lesser extent, but nonetheless it is happening, the end of the war of 1812 and 1814. There, as well, there were promises. They are especially concerned with american encroachment in the caribbean, especially in the case of haiti. They are thinking both locally and globally. And probably the thing that dominates africanamerican concern in this era is the spread of racialized violence. We talk about lynching and it is apparent, in terms of how much of a problem this is, how it comes to define unfairly, in many respects, an entire region of the country, where lynching is happening almost everywhere in the country. The additional practice of racial terrorism that deeply concerned African Americans, in fact terrorizes them, is the bizarre, macabre, deeply disturbing practice of lighting africanamericans on fire. Not just their property. Arson is a problem, but lighting black people, in particular, on fire. So again, these are the kinds of things were talking about. Therefore, an important backdrop for how then africanamericans will compare and contrast their position with what is happening in the rest of the world. Even before africanamericans suited up for war, they were aware of other black people involved in the great war. In particular, african soldiers who are normally referred to by a french name, regardless of where they are from. There are going to be called senegalese sharpshooters by people all over the world. They are concerned about them, about black people in the caribbean who are now, as a result of being a part of the british empire, drawn into the war, and canadians. I will come back to that. These men articulating, and women articulating, political concerns are known by a term that web dubois coined. The man on your right. They are called soldiers without after thethout board. War, it captures the sense of urgency for a lot of asking americans. Yesterday, dr. King talked about how African American organizations like the naacp are in their stage of infancy at this time. It is important for us to remember that so, too, are africanamerican newspapers. For these men and women who are professionally trained, college educated, usually elite college educated, the newspaper will become an important way of not only legitimizing and explaining the war, but also legitimizing and explaining their professional voices, as these intellectual activists, these soldiers without swords. The man on your left is mr. Trotter, who makes everyone seem soft. Harvard educated, unrepentant, he becomes a thorn in wilsons side because he holds the president s feet to the fire. Hes in particular known for opposing, or at least questioning the terms under which africanamericans will enlist in the war. But also, really coordinating an International Campaign to quash the release of birth of a nation, the homage to the klan. That came out in 1915. By webmy favorite quotes dubois on the war, written before the United States enters the war officially, he says, absolute loyalty in arms and civil duties need not for a moment lead us to abate our just complaints and just demand. For African Americans, like other americans, they will say, against the accusation that they lack patriotism, they lack a robust understanding of a citizenship duty to the nation, a citizens do determination, he will say instead, it is precisely because i understand the true meaning of patriotism that i say that my country must listen to our urgent needs, and must respond in exchange for our support. This is exactly what women are doing. Lets be clear, war is a perfect time for concessions, or at least to ask for them, as you because you are needed. It is true. It is totally true. Another person who is, i describe her as a little lady who packs a lot of punch, ida wells. She had in fact made the case for the urgency and alarming practice of lynching, long before her male counterparts understood this problem. Ida b. Wells is another journalist who is writing about the war and writing about this crisis, both moral and physical, for africanamericans. In the case of wells and dubois in particular, though not exclusively, it is important to remember that they have connections overseas. They went to school overseas or lectured overseas, so they are able to tap into those alliances to find out what is happening in whate, to find out humanitarian responses might be needed, and to bring that information back to africanamerican communities. This next picture is of africanamerican journalists who are gathering at a conference in washington dc and trying to outline what will be the key issues that they may press with the president. You will notice that there are, in the front row, some french soldiers who are already there. And some french diplomats are who are involved in the war. Web dubois and Monroe Trotter at the center. This meeting proved so contentious, wilson has one of his many conniptions and decides he will no longer have African Americans come to the white house to air their grievances. The man could hold a grudge because by the versailles treaty and negotiations, he also refuses to hear or have an audience with dubois in particular but African Americans at large. My second point was this question of a global war, and what does it mean for africanamericans. This political cartoon captures perfectly, for me, how africanamericans thought globally and use this global language to reflect back on the case of the africanamerican experience. This is from the crisis magazine. The script that was on the bottom, it might be too small, i retyped voice of the congo if you only left us our hands, albert, we could be of more use to you now. This, to me, is powerful because it makes clear both an interest for African Americans and these in these global debates, and absolute understanding of what is happening, and indictment of what was happening in the belgian congo before. But also a warning for americans of what could happen here, in their own time of need. There are a few countries that africanamericans talked about repeatedly leading up to 1917. They used these as platforms for a sublimation of their own political concerns. This, of course in addition to a genuine humanitarian concern for these locations. It is serving double duty. In the case of belgium, African American intellectual activists would say that in some respects, what the germans were doing to the belgians was a comeuppance long overdue given what the belgians did in the congo, and that this kind of brutal exploitation that was reserved for the congolese was the very essence of a belgian moral and spiritual decay. That is what awaited americans if they did not pull back from their commitment to racialized terrorism. For many africanamericans, south africa is in a close second, especially given its growing commitment to apartheid. We see a lot of comparable editorials calling attention to the brutality that south africans and especially the separatists in south africa are starting to do in that Little Pocket at the bottom of africa. Poland and ireland are frequent guests in africanamerican newspapers, in part because africanamericans will hold onto those two countries in particular as kind of a hope for an independent, successful independent future for otherwise oppressed europeans. Sometimes, in the case of poland they will even talk about how negroes. Thises language is especially important because there it is religious ,nd in some senses, ethnic especially in the case of poland. Russia is very important for africanamericans prior to 1917, both because again the patterns that occurred in russia leading up to the war, and because of the revolution in 1917, that becomes a place where it seems possible to topple the impossible. So for African Americans it will become a way of talking about what they might want to consider for themselves. Finally, the armenian genocide. A matter that africanamericans take up as early as 1890s. Maybe even earlier. I have a separate piece on that in particular. There are so many echoes between the experiences of African Americans and armenians, including this bizarre practice of lighting people on fire. In the case of all of these countries, africanamericans pooled their very limited resources and create either programs or campaigns to help these imperiled europeans. For example, by 1917, africanamericans will have a campaign to raise money to send enough baby food to take care of belgian babies for three months. They will pledge, by 1917, to raise 1 million for african orphans and their widows. Again, there is this constant peace in the newspaper of what is happening to african soldiers. They are in artillery units. They are in machine gun units. While the u. S. Is still debating whether African Americans should be part of the war in 1917, African Americans will say, the french and british have been doing this for three years, why are we still talking about this . There is even a very bizarre case of a jamaican born turned austrian fanatic who wins the iron cross for the austrians in 1917. He is celebrated in the africanamerican press as again, a possibility of what can happen when you take jim crow out of the equation. We are talking about a population that is overwhelmingly working in a cash poor sector. Right . Cotton farming. To take the few dollars that they do get when they get them and to make the decisions to , in effect, on an abstract concept, african soldiers all the way over there. To make that decision as early as 1914, is for me, another way that the war is something that africanamericans start to contemplate a lot earlier. Of course, africanamericans will talk about the caribbean is as a cautionary tale, because wouldelieved, and dubois be in that group, that the United States is stretching itself into the caribbean, trying to make it yet another deep south under the distraction of war. Haiti, puerto rico, even the panama canal zone become hotly contested racial spaces, and africanamericans think that this is the only this is only the start. The attractions are the deep ports available in some of these islands like the danish west indies, st. Kitts. There is another problem, the british. The frenemy. At this very time, canada was sell to greatd britain to have a caribbean island, ideally jamaica, given to them as a thanks for coming out with this war gift. We nearly got jamaica as a province but instead got newfoundland. The argument made consistently, both in the press and in official military documentation is that canada needed its own deep south. It needed to prove its modernity by having black people they could control. There is a lot of concern over what to do with the vote if we have this extra island because we dont necessarily have a legal jim crow structure, like the United States. Africanamericans are keeping an eye in all of these places as the war unfolds. One of those spaces is france. Where africanamericans are joining the war before as individuals, just like other americans. Here we have Eugene Bullard who joins the lafayette espadrilles. What is important here is that africanamericans are seduced by the same language of patriotic martial heroism as all other americans. In particular because successes s gives the lie to the core promise offered by jim crowe, by segregation. That is, when racial lines hold violently, if necessary blacks and their inescapable inferiority will be confirmed. When Eugene Bullard when we see him here, what is dangerous about him is not that he is an ace pilot fighting alongside ivy leaguers, it is that we see this healthy body decorated with awards, the very embodiment of manliness that is not, in a cosmopolitanism, that is not supposed to happen. This is a mistake. Worse, the french celebrate him. This question of black men in uniform will be such a prickly one that after the war we have an uptick in not just black veterans being singled out for attacks, we know that some are even lynched in their uniforms, but there are also these smallscale attacks, spitting on them, ripping off parts of their uniform. The canadians are so distraught by what they see happening in the United States that they take the added precaution of requiring that their black soldiers take off their uniforms before they even board the ship in Great Britain to come back to the americas. Again, this spreads beyond the simple american borders. Images like this would have been problematic. These are the french elite cavalry. They are working with, training with african soldiers that i mentioned earlier. Roughly translated to african sharpshooters. By the wars end, at least 500,000 african soldiers will have served under the french flag alone. That does not even yet account for the british, the west indians, the black canadians who also joined the armed forces. Americans enter world war i having already thought about a black martial experience before they reach european shores. Here we see a picture of canadas number two construction battalion, attached to the forest street the forestry c orps. You are not looking at canadians. You are looking at largely americans. By my calculation, africanamericans accounted for at least 40 of black men serving under the canadian flag, not that we actually have one. That does not even yet include descendents of African Americans whose ancestors came as black loyalists or who came during and after the war of 1812. This is also an army that has a robust representation of west indians. The british will float them up from the caribbean to all gather up at halifax and have one shipment. From what i have seen with charting the borders and when these men are coming, they are theving largely from detroit area, but not lucidly. Not exclusively. Many of these men are coming from georgia, florida, alabama. They are citing at the border that joining the army is a correction to unemployment. What does this mean to me . First of all we are getting a concrete reminder that the great migration expanded beyond chicago and cleveland in the way that we normally talk about it. These men continued seeking work wherever that work was available. If it meant crossing borders, they did. Crossing the border would not have been easy for black people at this time. Canada adopted a ban on africanamerican immigration in particular in 1911. It did not stay on the books for long, but it was there. The spirit of that law never went away. There are all of these shady, to use current street parlance of ways of keeping these men out. What i love is that canadians were not very good at identifying race, though they wanted to be. So they did. You see on the enlistment records, all of these, i think he is black but im not sure. He looks sallow. These words were common. They will describe them as yellow, as perhaps not well cleaned. At the end of the summer, they have tanned. My brother would fall in that category. It points to this desire to identify race, but inability to do it as well as the americans. Bizarrely, once the canadians mandate that everyone must serve, then that you actually send headhunters down into the then they actually send headhunters down into the United States to bring back canadians who had moved and west indians who had moved to the United States and forcibly marched them back to canada to serve. The last thing i want to say, about the canadians, is that the reason cited for not wanting black soldiers were comical, including my personal favorite, they would not look good in kilts, because so many were in highland units. One often overlooked way that African Americans had been engaging in this war physically and intellectually is that africanamericans had been cutting across the atlantic since 1914. Mending,rking ships, caring for the horses and mules that the british and the french were buying by the hundreds of thousands. New orleans and newport news, virginia, were awash in black people, southerners in particular, who had not only been keenly aware of the war, the submarineted infested waters back and forth throughout the month, and there is a great case of a sinking that i dont have time to talk about, but i spent a summer writing about it. There is Something Weird for all of us who are historians. When you find a great story, you are so excited. It seems wrong, but you are like, i found a sinking, 200 people died, it will be great. I was definitely that happy. Now, of course, the punitive war, right . That is what war meant to africanamericans before we turn to europe. The quote under this cartoon says, uncle sam, did you send the eighth regiment of illinois to protect this country or be shot down by texans . So africanamericans were seasoned soldiers. In the press, you see constant references to being in the war of independence or the most recent conflict. They had been in the philippines. There is no question of their patriotism and their martial heroism. They found it quite insulting that it even took, that there was any public debate about it, and that it took so long for the Wilson Administration to make some firm decisions. Going into the war, there were approximately 10,000 career soldiers and another 5000 African Americans who were national guardsmen. However, after the mutiny in houston, as it was called, the United States does the exact opposite of what would seem logical. Rather than take the men who had field experience, the very few american soldiers who had field experience, who even had some experience with the debacle called our aerial wall warfare in mexico, rather than send them to france as the first wave, we send them to the parts of the philippines and hawaii in order to quell this concern that if you talked if you taught black men to shoot, they would turn their guns on white people. For africanamericans, this is an added insult because they feel as though they are in fact well positioned to serve their country. In the case of the expedition, pershing had singled them out as his righthand men. There had even been some attempts at informal integration during the punitive expedition. Not something to break about to brag about, but pershing had turned the other cheek when it came to integrated brothels in mexico. Total opposite when it comes to france. There were some heroes for africanamericans. Charles young, the west point graduate. For most, he seemed like the logical choice as a black officer who could lead, ideally, africanamericans but whoever wanted to work with him, into battle. We know the War Department would have none of it. They forcibly retire him. One of the concessions that we get instead is officer Training Camp in fort des moines, iowa. A location selected, the War Department said, because it was in the middle of nowhere, 400 , and landlocked in iowa that iowa, because it had no people, had no racial tensions. And because they were in the middle of nowhere, it would make it harder for white women to get to these men. This officer Training Camp becomes the embodiment of that hope and promise for africanamericans in 1917. What is important for us to remember here is that it is not just soldiers. This is also a camp where nearly 1000 africanamericans oedipal met medical professionals are being trained and hoping or commission. None will get to be in the medical corps, will be in charge of black troops. Jim crow requires commitment and resources. This is a photograph of africanamerican dentists who are being prepared to be sent to france. When youre talking about a country that has only 478 black dentists for 10 million people, the impact of a single loss is felt greatly. In the 50 years of Howard Universitys existence, it had graduated roughly 4500 people and half of all of the doctors in the country. Howard was the university that sent the most doctors into this war. Nearly 20 . The impact on the cost for africanamericans is great and for them then it is a measure of their commitment and contribution to the nation. So, black fraternities, historically black colleges and universities, are the first to respond to this call to war and in particular, this calling of. He nation for officers but women, of course, respond, as well. While the red cross initially banned black women, once the influenza outbreak began, they realized they are going to need help. So they finally admit 2000, or they ask for 2000 black women. As with white women, these were not just nurses, but they were also, as part of that talented tents, the rare educated crest of educated society. They spoke french, german, and were translators, cultural pundit wits, and far more conduits, cultural and far more important given their small numbers. In the end, they got 16 black nurses in france for 50,000 soldiers. So what we get as our starting point for 1917 is a replication, nation,aroscuro carefully crafted for jim crow. Black white, black white and not necessarily together. Even the hostess huts or hostess houses that the ymca set up over seas were separated by race. We have here again a photograph of black women who were at that officer Training Camp in iowa. Here we have motor corp. Women who are driving around helping Wounded Soldiers as they find them. We know that there was a lot of concern about what to do with these black men socially. If nothing else, the women are wiped in france and the french are looser in many ways. We have a lot of these photographs reassuring americans that the disruption, the language they use at the time is, we cant let the french ruin. But it is large, the concern about ruin. Abouta sexual ruin, it is an ideological or political ruin. They are concerned that communists will get to the black disgruntledpecially russians who are still stuck in france. And that they will start having all these ideas. We know that during the st. Louis riots, there is also a concern of not just germans but japanese and mexicans getting into africanamerican minds. Why are we concerned about the black people . They are on the move. They are voting with their feet. They are leaving regions where it is no longer possible for them to achieve a healthy lifestyle. We think of this great migration is being forced by a panic over racial violence, and that is true, but it is also because ll weevil and bo floods and the collapse of cotton prices have made a barely sustainable life impossible. 30 per month,of in cash no less, will be a very seductive, will have its own seductive appeal for people leaving the region. About 5 of African Americans left the south in 1916. Africanamericans are still largely southern, rural farmers, even into world war i. In fact, this armys ability to pay in cash will be a reason cited why africanamericans couldnt beat couldnt be excused from service. They will say the 30 you will make with us is more than you will make on farming. Even if you have dependents, you still have to go and do your bit. However, sorry, i skipped a page. Here, i wanted you to remember that the way africanamericans move will be determined by the preexisting networks and paths available to them. The mississippi and steamship is still the cheapest way to get out of the south. Rail lines and actual roads. There are several real lines rail lines that go along the yellow line. This speeds up that migration and the ability to get that money in your pocket and buy a ticket for the first time. This wonderful painting captures that promise that we are talking about. It is children, old people, people in top hats, and people with a rag on their head, the woman through the chicago door on the left. It is an opportunity for africanamericans, like europeans coming here, to follow their dream to a migrant experience. However, 1917 is also a year of extreme violence. These are just five locations where we have race riots between may and late fall of 1917. As we are asking them to die for their country, they are being killed in their country. The one that is best known is east st. Louis. It is written about as a labor beente that, unions had opposing or calling attention to the fact that africanamericans were being brought in as strike breakers. They respond violently and this is what happens. In truth, it is much more complicated than that. More disturbing is the role that women and children had in particular in the st. Louis crisis. The accounts of ripping peoples without and hitting them frying pans and so on, it. Ndicates the level of vitriol it is estimated that 1500 africanamericans sped out of the region just during the early days of this race right. This race riot. The response by the local press and to a certain extent, the government, the response of saying that, if africanamericans fought back, it is because the germans were whispering in their ears, right . It isnt something they wouldve done by themselves. They have always been happy with their oppression. If they had an opinion at all. Thishing is, i argue that turn to a german or japanese or mexican plot actually allows for greater surveillance of africanamericans, especially africanamerican intellectuals, under the espionage act. Unless it is the work of an enemy, then there is not as great of an emergency. And urgency. This is a time for africanamericans when there is a heightened surveillance of their talent, their most educated, vocal, politically enlightened. Hes said of hoover that cut his teeth trying to silence these africanamericans. They are no fools. They quickly adopt alternative ways of making themselves heard. This is the silent parade that we get in 1917. Emphasis on the word parade. They deliberately do not call it a march. That is to ensure it is a patriotic act and not a protest. It is a celebration of what is right. That is, the first blood for american independence was shed by a negro. Attucks. We see the politics of respectability, right . These are church women, children, they are wearing white, the color of mourning but also a color of protection so that if shot or stabbed, you could see it well in the thatgraph, a tragedy continues through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. As with other parts of society, africanamerican children are mobilized in support of this war. Here, we get a newsboy selling war bonds, and judging by his missing front teeth, he is about six or so years old. A reminder of how young it is. We have posters, poems, recipes, reminders of how black women could stretch a dime into a dollar with respect to their food during the war. All the work that is needed. By the same measure, all of the support from those communities that we ask of other americans. The committee for public information, cpi run by george creel. Even develops a neat row section a negro section for its propaganda and has black fourminute men, black film, black posters, postcards like this one here. But meant to make africanamericans feel as though they are part of an important moment. So my next to last point, france, this utopian space. 89 of africanamericans who went over to france did so as inorers and stevedores particular. When you got to france, whether you were an american or other allied forces, what you saw were all black people manning them. So brest in the north has about 40,000 africanamericans. On the western coast that today, if you go, there is a huge car depot. They adopted the footprint that the americans had. They become these contested terrains where we have early race riots as a result of these encounters on the docks. These are not just African Americans. In the United States, in the case of philadelphia, 50 of longshoremen were actually jamaican. In the case of miami, they control the union and they are bahamian. They are the same men who are coming over under the americans the american army, working those docks. These images are in stark contrast to these kinds of colorful magazines that are targeted at africanamericans, children in particular. Our prideful soldiers, beautifully healthy looking, and manly. This cpi poster produced in 1918, but note here the africanamerican soldier are keeping the germans at bay and actually killing them. Nobody is wearing overalls and lifting a crate. This disjunction between the propaganda and what africanamericans are after actually doing is very complicated and the black press addresses it. When these africanamericans arrive in france, what do they encounter . They encounter a continent that has spent a lot of the war thinking about fighting over race, including this one, this was a postcard and it says that is what they call a savage over here. So this idea that africanamericans came to france that welcomes them and was happy to see them is nonsense. The french had been using their own tropes to encourage black enlistment and denigrate their german enemy. The americans will arrive in the aftermath of the disastrous offensive of 1917. They suffered very high losses , and the idea championed by a general on the right is the idea that frances secret is its black force. Its black power. The ability to call up and and almost inexhaustible number of black people from the colonies who would be thrilled to do their part for the empire. It is the least they could do as a thank you gift for frances civilizing mission. And the gift of language in cash and religion. This is what he actually said. His paternalistic tableau prove unsatisfying, he told africans they had a blood oath to france. It was their turn to step up for a collective blood letting. Probably my favorite character of the entire war said that he would rather see 10 black men dead to one frenchman. By 1917, that is the french response. Not singularly, to have black people killed, but in truth, the french are like, the black body will stop a bullet just as well as anyone else. We are happy to have the americans come, we have been waiting a long time, but they can catch a bullet as well as anybody else as well. We are happy that you are healthy. Get in there. Its not some deep passion for americans. At the civilian level, you hear much more of this. We also have plenty of examples of the exploitation of americans as green. There are reports of overcharging black people for food. The germans had been crafty in proving themselves capable of manipulating the race card in this war. Pointing out that black people were cannibals and thats what they would do. They were barbaric and a warring people. And turning this language of lynching on to americans saying, why are you fighting for this people . They lynch people who look like you and we do not. You should join our side. There are all of these debates about race in europe long before the africanamericans get there. When they do, they fall into some immediately predictable stereotypes. They are the happy music playing people, right . He is sent to play for sometimes , european dignitaries, but oftentimes just for people in the hospital and who are sick. The canadians quickly put a black band together and sent them on a tour as well. So there like, we can do this. We have a lot of these pictures of africanamericans with instruments, rarely with actual weapons of war. It becomes an easy way to make light of their contributions. Not because fewer saw combat, but the works they did overseas, the overwhelming majority who were in labor battalions, did lou koller womens work. Cooking, cleaning, digging and cleaning toilets. That is not the stuff that gets you a vote. That is not the stuff you can lean on after a war to be taken seriously as a citizen. I will end here with the pictures of captain Stewart Alexander and lieutenant frank robinson. They were two of many africanamericans who earned the french decoration for bravery in battle. These medals that you see on what they have on their shoulders, will become, for africanamericans, another powerful measure of a failed possibility in 1917. That the french recognized what the americans were ready to hang on a tree or light a blaze. Be the realny, will shame, the real loss of the war. I promised at the beginning that i would talk about the cost of war for africanamericans. How timely that i am on my last slide. I want to end with the impact of war. C usuallyc disgeni means gene loss, but here there is a broader cultural impact. For one thing, the war halts civil rights campaigns. The money sent to support legal cases and legal challenges. Challenges to jim crow cars, restaurants, unequal pay for black teachers. That gets redirected towards suiting these guys up for work, up for war, making sure they have the socks that they need, the candy they need, the care packages they need, the right kind of rifle, the right kind of thing to keep them warm and happy. It is a strain on already limited and meager resources. Both in terms of income and also food. We are talking about people who barely had food to begin with to ration more because of the war. It is a dramatic loss of that talent. That talented generation, too made it to have made it through school, to have sat graduated fromnd law schools and medical schools. The professionals we need in order to keep up the fight against jim crow. Those with the knowhow are left in europe. It is a tremendous loss of medical professionals that we cannot afford. It will take entirely too long to replace. It leads to a Greater Police surveillance of africanamerican communities especially in the north. That will slow civil rights. And the war era gives us a spike in lynching and race riots and arson attacks. Such that it will become the main thing that consumes africanamericans through 1920. There is a tremendous amount of promise for africanamericans in 1917, and that is what they carry when they cross the atlantic. You will have to come back next year to see what happens. [applause] we have just a short amount of time for a question. You had a couple of references to pershing but given his history of leading black troops all the way back to the spanishamerican war, what can you say about it and did he acquiesce . What were his views . Ieu oh, pershing what a mess. [laughter] his experience with africanamerican soldiers predates the spanishamerican war. He was involved with the Buffalo Soldiers in the indian war. Even before the philippines and cuba. He has a mixed experience. On one hand, he is called blackjack pershing. But i have read this mans biographies. I have read more than i ever , and he never expresses any particular affinity for black soldiers. Neither is he concerned or disdainful of them. But when it comes to world war i, he is obsessed with having a perfect army no matter the cost. So black dots are not a part of it. I think that his willingness to send black combatant troops to really solves, and it is an easy solution to the problem. Fail, as he expects, it is all the way over here and no one will talk about it. So it is over. The experiment is finished and we can go back and say to the africanamericans that you cant have an integrated army. You guys suck. If they succeed, which they do, it is all the way over in france and with censorship some of the news never quite made it over. It is a convenient solution. He gives the french what they want, which is american soldiers they can train and control, but he has no particular regard for them by world war i. I know that there are more questions in this auditorium. The pleasure of being in the room where it happens is thank you for the one laugh. You will have the opportunity during our break to ask those questions. I would encourage you, most of your nametags have two tickets on them to use those, or offer one of those in a conversation ask dr. Mathieu as you those questions. You think i sell for cheap. This is why you dont want to be watching it on tv or online. You want to be here in person. Please join me in thanking dr. Mathieu. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] you are watching American History tv. Follow us on twitter csp anhistory to keep up with the latest history news. Cspan. Where history unfolds daily. A 1979, cspan was related as Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. It is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, and programs on the presidency, the civil war, and more. Here is a look from a recent program. Make all have to kind of tough decision. Ongoing to look at both of you im going to look at both of you and see which of you qualifies more than the other for the program. Have a good weekend. I need to see you for a moment, please. Did you want to see me about my application . Yes. And some other things. Debbie, how are you doing . Fine. Been thinking about you the last couple weeks, and about whatse, think i have been asking you to do for the last couple months. Larry, not that again. Please. I would like to spend some time with you. Why not . Axed i have given you thousand reasons why not. Cant we drop it back out cant we drop it . Let me put it this way, debbie. , iyou select me this weekend will select you for the course. Its up to you. You can watch this and other American History programs on our website, where all our video is archived area that is history. Each week, american artifacts takes you to museums and historic laces to learn about American History. Located in the heart of washington dc, the Willard Hotel has been a witness to history for 200 years. Included abraham lincoln, mark twain, world war ii soldiers, and i represent the partnership