Military before and after the founding of the university. Our namesake was a civil war general. Eight other founders of the university were civil war generals, so they instilled a support for the military just in their presence on the campus. Howard students have been a part of the military Service Since the beginning of the university. Host what role do they actively take part was they decided to join the military . Africanamericans were infantrymen, but the students really wanted africanamericans to be able to move higher in the military. So they stopped for the establishment of the first africanamerican Officers Training camp in des moines, iowa, in 1917, and they continued their support of the military in the years that followed. Talk to me about their willingness to participate within the government how it was received. Lopez the government was tentative, because they still had this idea that African Americans were not good for the military, that African Americans were somehow cowardly, and they they still questioned whether africanamericans deserved. They were hesitant. But the students were very supportive. There is a letter in the book that they wrote to president wilson at the start of world war i where they said, we, officers, teachers and students of howard university, because of our unfailing devotion to our country, we hereby offer our mind, body and state for whatever you me to make of us in maintaining her integrity and her high position among the nations of the world. They wrote this because they wanted to show their support for country and support of the military, and to show that there were good citizens and that they also deserve equal rights. Host tell me about some of the other things that happened on campus in terms of the military preparation . One of the more interesting things that happened on campus was that turned entire campus over to the War Department in nature they do for training have ever been to the howard campus, there are gates there were they actually locked the gate and built backs, trenches, did military training and service on the campus. Host talk to me about the other historically black colleges and universities. Were they also preparing their students for military service . Lopez howard had the first rotc Training Programs of any black schools. After that, other black schools started to create rotc Training Programs. Over the years, rotc has been a way that black schools have supported the military. Host did they face any obstacles . Youve mentioned that they trained so they could have higher ranking positions in the military. Did that work . Lopez there were obstacles, racism from fellow soldiers, doubts about the aptitude of black soldiers. Those persisted in the years of theng the creation officer training corps. Racism was the biggest thing they had to face in fighting. Host how about the connection . The connection between the tuskegee of world war ii and howard university. So one thing that people dont really know is a lot of the Tuskegee Airmen actually started their training in howard. They had a Student Army Training unit on howards campus. They trained in howard and then the left howard and went and trained in tuskegee. In the book, i have a list of howard alumni who participated in world war ii on the back, and you will see where it says, Tuskegee Army airfield. A lot of people dont really know of that connection, but it is there. We have pictures of them, looking great with their hats on, so there is a big connection with an howard and the Tuskegee Airmen. Host i know that you are at the digital lproduction library in howard. Tell me about the collection of letters housed in the university. Can you share any stories . Lopez dorothy porter, who is the founder of the research center, she had the foresight to collect letters written by howard alum while they were overseas. She would travel and say, have your students written you from overseas . Give me your letters so i can keep them. And she amassed a collection of hundreds of letters from howard alum while they were overseas. She preserved them and they are some of the ones i see in the books. And they tell a great story about military service. Like there is a woman, who says how happy she was to be there to help black soldiers, how seeing their eyes light up, seeing her come with donuts and coffee made her day. Host what year was it . Lopez 1942. You have the howard soldiers writing back and talking about how proud they were to serve and to represent howard well. Some talked about the racism they experienced, some talked about the lack of racism they experienced, how shocked they were that they were not experiencing racism. One of them could not go overseas, he was taken in california. He got to go to a lot of hollywood parties. He wrote back talking about how happy he was to go to parties sit at the table with bob hope and lena horne. And how he loved the military. The interesting dynamic of military service. Host lopez matthews, thank you for talking with us. Lopez thank you. Thank you so much. You are watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming on American History every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. Next on American History tv, we hear five views of president James K Polks politics and times, from his relationship with predecessor Martin Van Buren to his role as a wartime chief executive. This panel was part of a Conference Marking the completion of the 60 year project to edit polks papers at the university of tennessee. The east Tennessee Historical society