We return fighting is a chronicle of men and women who served the country on the battlefield as well as on the home front and their struggles for civil rights. One of the main things we will learn this evening is that while the Civil Rights Movement was decades away, world war i established important questions of citizenship that paved the way toward future progress. We are fortunate to be joined tonight by shasha conwell, the s Deputy Director and editor of we return fighting. The images are really very powerful, of americans at war and on the home front. It also gives us a different look at the life African Americans faced when they came home after the war. Let me end by welcoming you and assuring you that you are in for a wonderful evening. Thank you for joining us and im sure you will have a great evening. [applause] ladies and gentlemen please , welcome the Deputy Director of the African Museum of history and culture, kinshasha holman. Good evening. Good evening. Braving the for rain, which in washington is like snow elsewhere. Thank you for being here. Thank you, spencer for the warm , welcome and the wonderful introduction of this book. I hope you will purchase it. When you do, do read the acknowledgments. If i had time i would mention names like carolyn, christina, rex ellis. To mindanot have time logan and many others. If you look in the back, the names are all there. One of the people i would like to quote from is a young man who surely had and has a promising future. Many of you have heard his name. Lonnie bunch the third. We were pleased that our founding director was able to and willing to write the introduction and epilogue to this book which is the work of , many hands. And i would like to quote from his epilogue to frame a little bit about what you are going to hear tonight from these amazing gentlemen, Krewasky Salter and greg carr. Says, no single volume can fully capture the African American experience in world war i or tell us what the war meant for black americans in the decades afterward when the echoes were heard in president Harry S Trumans desegregation order. The landmark brown v. Board of education desegregation decision of 1954 and the long battles of the 1960s to gain for black citizens the democracy for which all those young men had died so long ago. Although the war did not swing open the doors of enfranchisement for African Americans, it could be said that its sheer scale, the slap across the world face of the first truly global war did open for us, a new sense of our own potential and possibility. An thus, set into motion incremental Movement Toward freedom. The burdens on the backs of black americans, military or civilian, remain heavy. Sacrificesrbearers in world war i and all the wars that have followed have not been forgotten. And they remain incontrovertible proof of our entitlement to full rights as citizens of our own country. W. E. B. Dubois one of , the major intellectuals who issues of world war i , stated stated in his article for the crisis magazine, the complexities of world war i. And he wrote, we return. We return from fighting. We return fighting. Make way for democracy. We saved it in france and by the great jehovah, we will save it in the United States of america. Or know the reason why the two or know the reason why. The two gentlemen you will hear tonight talking about this book, which is a companion of an exhibition of almost the same title that will debut in december will help us unpack those complexities and that sentiment. Tonight, you will hear from dr. Krewasky salter, our guest associate curator for the exhibition and a major contributor to this publication. He is also the executive director of the First Division museum. Dr. Greg carr, associate professor of African Studies and the chair of the department of afroamerican studies at howard university. An adjunct faculty at the Howard School of law. As they discuss the vital role of africanamericans in world war i. American africanamericans who hoped to live out postcivil war expectations of full citizenship pulled upon returning home. Upon returning home this book anyway reveals the many ways people world war i shaped the identity of black people and lent fuel to their longstanding efforts to demand full right Citizenship Rights and to claim their place in this country claim their place in this countrys cultural and political landscape. Had we many more hours, i could give you the amazing credentials of these brilliant men. But let me suffice to say, they are not only holders of phds in their respective subjects, but they have spoken widely and traveled widely on the subject. Dr. Salter is a retired u. S. Army colonel. He also curated our exhibition military on military history and three history in our inaugural exhibitions here in the museum. Double victory, the africanamerican military experience. His publications also include, the story of black military officers, 18611948. Dr. Carr has numerous credentials to his name. In addition to his work at howard university, he is also deeply involved in the development of curriculum, particularly with the city of philadelphia. He has also worked around the here world in places including ghana, egypt, el salvador, bahia. His publications have appeared in the African American studies reader, publications of the modern Language Association of , and malcolm x, a historical reader. In addition to those of you we we have with us in the oprah tonight, there others watching on streaming. There is one other person i would like to recognize. Julie lasalle who was the cultural attache to the French Embassy and one of our main connections to our colleagues in france. The it not for them and centennial that was headed by joseph samet, we would not have the wonderful objects you will see in be exhibition that opens in december. Mr. Samet and madame lasalle helped open the door for loans and important objects. There are a series of donors who were able to help us as well. We are grateful to all of them. Say soe thing i want to that linda will not think i do this programob is made possible through the theort of this of shareen foundation. The exhibition is generously supported by altria group. I believe we have some members tonight. Nationwide foundation and the Robert Mccormick foundation. Exhibition,d, the thank you for being here. Join me in welcoming dr. Krewasky salter and dr. Greg carr. [applause] how is it going . Appreciate you, brother. How is everybody doing . Of business is to say welcome. We heard from our Deputy Director and our director and all the folks here at the museum. It is an honor to be here again. Colonel, it is a particular honor to sit here with you, realizing you have been deeply involved with this museum since before it was opened. You have curated and this is the third exhibit. Dr. Carr that i curated . Dr. Salter in terms of the exhibit that rotated through the halls. Dr. Carr this is the third that rotates through the exhibit space. Dr. Salter first of all this is an incredibly conceived book. If you have already bought it, great. If not, do not leave here without it. So much information in such a tightly packed place, but not overburdened. The language is clean. Everything in here. Lets start with that. Thank you. Good. [laughter] this text, we return fighting. How did you conceive this book . How did you put it together . Dr. Carr the book is born out of the exhibition. A decision was made to do the exhibition. Once that decision was made, i kinshasa oning with a regular basis. We were talking about the story. Kinshasha plays poker very well. I was talking with her, and she would ask me questions. I would leave the office. And i would have meetings with my then boss, rex ellis. And he says, she likes what youre saying. I do not know what youre saying when you meet with her. But she likes what you are saying. And then, i realized she might play poker, but now i know she is listening. The next time i met with her, she said, not only should we do an exhibition i think we can do , a book. And so the book was actually born when i had my oneonone meetings, sitting down with kin shasha. From that point on, not only exhibition,ing an we started developing the construct for a book. Dr. Salter in a moment well talk about why world war i. One of the brilliant things about this book is you are taking some events we are kind of aware of, but you are reading them differently. How did you curate the authors and then parse out the work and then go through the editorial process to get this kind of distinct way of, not only talking about africanamericans but talking about World History through the lens of world war i. Dr. Carr exactly. What we did, we already had scholarly advisors for the exposition for the exhibition. It was very easy, we selected all of the scholarly advisors who were working on the exhibition. What the scholarly advisors are is, those are the people that bring the curators down to earth. You pick big brain people and you send your script to them. And they help to make sure you get your interpretations right. We slighted all of those dollars for the exhibition. One thing we did was to make sure we did not want to drop our readers nor our visitors into the like experience in world war i without them understanding what world war i really was. So, we have a part called the global war. The first chapter is written by j winters, a Professor Emeritus of yale university, who now lives in france. His chapter is the first chapter. It helps us understand why world , war i . He goes in detail in a few pages on how world war i became a global war in a page and a half. Stalemate, and to the lawyer. That is the first chapter that sets the stage. It was my mission in chapter two to do two distinct things. That was to have readers understand and we do this in the exhibition that africanamericans did not just step on the battlefield in world war i. They had been there from the beginning of the nation. My mission was to be sure we understood that. And also to be sure people understood what a dark world was what a dark world america was for black americans. So when you read chapter two, you see the turning back of time, after the ending of slavery. The rise of jim crow extreme , segregation. The 1883 Civil Rights Act which , turns back the clock. 13 years later plessy versus , ferguson. All along, you have people who are being lynched and killed. We have a quote in there from robert smalls, a world war ii veteran who says in 1895, that he estimates by that time, over 53,000 africanamericans had been killed. We talk about mob violence. We talk about those, while at the same time, African Americans are serving in the military. So that was my mission. In chapter two. And also to talk about the service of africanamericans in world war i. Chapter three was written by another one of our scholars, dr. John morrow, who is the john hope frankel and professor of history and chair at the university of georgia. It was his mission to create a tight shot group. I am a soldier, so a shot group is, you want to hit that target. A tight shot group between 1913 and 1919. So he went a little further in detail in the service of africanamericans. What he also brought to the table was he was an imperialist researcher and writer. This was the time during imperialism. He talks about when the europeans went to war, the rest of the world went to war because they had all these colonies. He goes into detail. Dr. Salter that really is a linchpin for this later on. Dr. Carr and then he talks about the further mob violence that is going on. He talks about east st. Louis. And houston in 1917. The key to those two riots is that we had already entered the war, and we were still having these types of incidents going on. So that was jay morrows piece. Then we had 10 profiles. Three of our other scholars, chad williams, Lisa Boudreau and curtis young, they write profiles. Then we picked up another scholar, brittany cooper. Powerful. She writes a piece on charles ida b wells. That is the construct. When you read the book, we also have a beautiful timeline. Bill pretzer and one of our research assistants, alicia norwood, you pour that out and it goes from 1863 to 1963 and it weaves in the social, cultural and economic and military service, all in the timeline. We have more than 140 captions of some of the artifacts and images. Our Exhibition Research assistant wrote half of those. I wrote the other half. That is how the book is laid out. Dr. Salter i want to ask about the exhibit and what is in the book. Before we get there, the exhibit opened next month. Opens next month. Dr. Carr the 13th of december. My project manager is here. Dr. Salter were going to talk for a little while, and then we will open it up. Think about what you want to ask and comment on. On of your heroes is Charles Young. Wilkins, it robert was 100 years ago this december that young gives a talk. Back andans have come said, they want a negro memorial. Maybe it is supposed to be near howard. That would have been great. They cannot afford to buy the property now. Then, the world war i veterans come back and say, we want a memorial. Maybe it should be bigger than that. Charles young gives a talk where he says, you know it would be nice to have a building and to have brass and monuments. But perhaps the real monument would be to give these soldiers the thing they went abroad to fight for. The rights. Stop lynching people. The theme you put together as the spine of your book echoes what you did in the first publication where you talk about this above victory. Ego. Onceptualize thinking about world war i and how people of African American dissent enter the war from around the world, this concept of double victory. As a career military man who has risen to the highest ranks as a scholar, and now as a man who is helping us interpret the experiences of not only our people but americans generally, how delicate in this world war i narrative is this balance between what black people are trying to do . You point out in your essay in the earlier book and then gestured toward in this one that probably more black people fought for the british. Dr. Carr and why was world war one so important . The essence of double victory is when africanamericans fought for this nation, they were not only fighting to help their nation when, their nation win , they were fighting to achieve democracy and equality for themselves and their family. So that is what double victory really means. When you go back to the american revolution, an estimated 6000 africanamericans fight for the u. S. Forces. An estimated 20,000 fight for the british. When you take that theme forward to the beginning of the american civil war, africanamericans were always fighting for the side that offer the best chances for freedom. When you bring that forward to world war i, setting the stage that africanamericans had always been there. The reason world war i is always so important to me and as a bridge is because africanamericans thought when president wilson said, we must fight to make the world safe for democracy, they thought that meant them. [laughter] so when they want to fight, the double victory they were fighting for was not just to help america win the war when they went overseas. They were fighting that, hopefully when they got back, that the equalities of being a citizen, democracy, mob violence, economic stability, host ofnal uplift and a other things would come to them should but within 24 months after the declaration of war was given on the sixth of april, 1917, this thing called the red summer erupted. That is what Charles Young was talking about. These soldiers of african descent did not go to europe to fight to help america win, they fought to help their citizens win in america. That is why this term the new negro came about. The phrase came about 25 years earlier. New negro knew the from he was the one emboldened 1919. After fighting on the battlefield and his family members and friends were also emboldened to make sure that what we went to fight for, to make the world safe for democracy, was also going to make america safer democracy. That is why we have the quote with a Philip Randolph. Georgia was a metaphor for america. I would rather make georgia safe for democracy. When the president said, make the world safe for democracy, a Philip Randolph said i would , rather make georgia safe for the negro. Said a Philip Randolph was the most dangerous negro in america. I will leave this in terms of the title you picked and also what is in the exhibit. I want to come right back. You, thisto ask. His is a quote from Dubois Randolph was distinguishing himself from dubois. There are a lot of howard students tonight. Elaine locke is credited with the new negro. Is like atlanta. Everyone knows somebody who went to howard our work at howard and everybody has somebody in atlanta. Randolph was critical of two dubois. Why do you pick, we returned fighting and make the livery choice not to say world war i and the shaping of black participation in the war but this broader concept . Dubois is balancing something. Dr. Salter so the first one, youre exactly right. A Philip Randolph and web dubois. Dubois was in his mid40s in 1917. A Philip Randolph was 28 years old. Dubois was lumped in with what he called, the old crowd negro. Labelingngsters were individuals as the old crowd negroes. Already been had 1915, 1916, 1917. He was writing about the war started in dr. Carr you 1914. Mentioned the imperialism chapter, which is a very important which is very important. The article in atlantic monthly. Dr. Salter dubois did a trip to france in december, 1918 for threemonth after the war. He was disturbed with what he found. Because he was the intellectual that mainly convinced africanamericans to close ranks and go to war. He did research and found out about all the discrimination and some africanamericans who had lost their lives on the battlefield and some who lost their lives not on the battlefield. He came back in may of 1919. That is when he wrote a juxtaposition of closed ranks. We would be fools and cowards if we go and fight for our nation and come back to the same nation we left. Term this the centennial is over. This year is the centennial of the new negro. That is why the exhibition is entitled we return fighting. , one of the questions you may have been asking is one word you do not see in the exhibition title or the book, he did not see you do not see military. The exhibition is not entitled the africanamerican military experience in world war i. For a not see military reason. This exhibition, just like double victory, is not about the service as a sara lee of africanamericans on the battlefield. It is why they served. The reason they served is because they were citizens. They wanted to make sure they reaped all of the benefits. Dr. Carr in this book when you start reading this book, what is in here that is not in the exhibit and vice versa . what is not in the book are the live artifacts you can see up close. The book allows us to give more put meat on the bones of why there was a world war i. Why the entire world went to war in a matter of six weeks. The differences between the 92nd and 93rd division and why the 93rd division and the 369 and the 370 and the 371st finger 72nd was so important. Book. Ve that in the we have a few additional vignettes. The big difference between the exhibition in the book is they both have a shelf life. The exhibition shelf life will end on 14 june. It, itok, if you buy will have a shelf life that will be on your library forever. The exhibition will leave, and we will mount another very important exhibition. I do not know if it is for public consumption. But the book will be there forever. Dr. Carr yes. Now we are going to shift and talk about, and believe me, every page in this book, every paragraph could open up into a whole conversation. For me, as somebody who is an inveterate reader, i am reading this like, wow. So, there are any number of places we can go. Certainly we want to talk about , the role of the women. We can start with some of these heroic figures. Thinking about booker t. 1915, washington died in 1915. Birth of a nation comes out in 1915. You have Woodrow Wilson curated and narrated. Lets take a figure that maybe helps us work around to some of the other conversations. We are in d. C. Lets talk about charlie houston. Higheste was one of the ranking black officers in world war i. Dr. Salter he was a lieutenant. For an africanamerican at the time, he was a lieutenant. I asked people all the time, do you know who Charles Hamilton houston is . What is he important for . Everyone who knows him knows him as a lawyer. Few people know he was one of those individuals who went to fort des moines, earned an and served as a lieutenant overseas and fought ofthat 368 infantry regiment the 92nd division. It was that experience he had in the military when he saw the way he was treated and other africanamericans were treated that he decided that what his father always wanted him to be, his father wanted him to be a lawyer and was a lawyer himself. Dr. Carr you have a picture. Open ther when you book, the reason we have that picture, it was a story we knew where his typewriter was. Museum ofhe national africanAmerican History and culture. We wanted artifacts. We wanted something that resonated military. They had the address of his son. Dr. Carr oh yeah. Dr. Salter my wife is in the audience, she knows the story. Dr. Carr Charles Hamilton houstons son. Dr. Salter he gave me that picture. I will tell the story. I got in my car, and i drove up to baltimore to the address. Smithsonian badge in my hand. I knocked on the door. I was going like this. His wife came to the door. I announced who i was. I work for the smithsonian. Charleshamilton houstons Charles Hamilton houstons son . I visited twice. You talk to people and make a connection. They had nothing to give, we do not know. The second visit after they called me, they said you know what . Charles has been keeping his fathers revolver from world war i. Dr. Carr come on, man. Dr. Salter i said you gotta be kidding me. Make a long story short, i go up there and collected the pistol. We know who those individuals are as they had it written on the back. They gave us four objects. There are stories like that for just about all the objects that are in the exhibition that people donated to us. They did not want to give that up because they did not want his father to be seen as a militant with a weapon is what they told me. They said because of this museum and this is one thing this museum is doing it is convincing people to give up artifacts they have had for years tucked away somewhere. So i remember getting that. Dr. Carr a lot of trust. Dr. Salter i drove out of baltimore, and it is going to be in the exhibition. And now belongs to the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture. Dr. Carr yes, please. [applause] dr. Carr lets continue. Dr. Salter Charles Hamilton houstons granddaughter or great granddaughter is a student at howard law school. Dr. Carr yes, no question, we are keeping it tight. Dr. Salter making a connection with the family and talking with them and you still talk with these individuals. Dr. Carr lets continue in that vein. Auston, who clearly has got vision. What he saw at war and powered him to keep going. There are differences between black people participating in this war. My homies from nashville got beat by these guys from philadelphia and said we are not , going to take this stuff. In salter yes, we put it there. Dr. Carr zeroing in on the folks,nces between like can you talk about the 369th and what happened in South Carolina . And the southern white dudes really want to hold racial order, dr. Salter African Americans have never been monolithic and they are not the same depending on what region of the country you are from. The 369 are new york city boys but not all of them, they are recruited from all of the north and there were a few from the south. Where were they sent to train . In South Carolina. So there was a clash. The white, southern status quo in South Carolina and then you have these northern africanamericans coming down to train. A today were supposed to be and they were supposed to be there for five months and only stayed for an half weeks. They had to get them out because there was going to be a clash. Dr. dr. Dr. Carr they had some enemies right here. Dr. Salter thats right. And john writes about this in the exhibition. September october of 1917 is only three month after brownsville and east st. Louis. One of the things we always do you have to put in context. They did not want another brownsville where the 24th did actually shoot up the town. Unlike the 25th. Dr. Carr what happened in brownsville with the accusations . In salter in brownsville there 1906 with the 25th i get them mixed up sometimes where the accusations were not true. Dischargedoosevelt 167 soldiers for something that was unfounded, and there has never been proved. However, in houston, when a polite when a white Police Officer again to be a black woman when he was searching for a soldier, those brothers did go out and shoot up the town. After three court marshals, 19 of them were sent to the gallows. We will talk about them in the exhibition. Dr. Carr just so folks know this. Dr. Salter that is why they left South Carolina. That is why they were the first africanamerican unit in france. Totead of sending them retrain, they sent them to the debarkation point and they arrived in france on new yours new years day. The rest of the division did not arrive until april. T is why the three 69th 369th was the first unit. Dr. Carr it is not just brothers, of course, the ymca is involved. Dr. Salter we have an entire section of women throughout. Witharr maybe we will end the global scope. Talk about the women. There was a chapter you did in here on gold star mothers. Dr. Salter one of our scholars, she is the senior military curator at Tennessee State museum of history. She writes about the gold star mothers. Those mothers were africanamericans. They were mothers who lost a son during world war i. They had these pilgrimages that went to france, three of them in 1930, 1931 and 1930 theor 1932. They were also segregated. Oure were discussions that sons and husbands fought and a segregated military and we are going to visit their gravesites 12 years later in segregated pilgrimage. Lisa writes that. Brittney cooper writes about mary church trial. Charle. She talks about the juxtaposition of those. W. E. B. Dubois, we are wrapping it up. There means were the same, better lives for africanamericans. They had different ways of doing it. A firebreather. She would punch you in the nose. That is why i said that. Mary was a dignified agitator. She says that in her book. She just believed in doing things in a dignified manner. That is why we chose people for who they are, and not only africanamericans, we talk about we always say africanamericans and their white supporters. You will see stories about white americans and their exhibition. You see the stories about the friends and their forward progress with africanamericans. Dr. Carr we will open it up if folks want to move towards the microphone. The surface. Ched everyone is in here from Louis Armstrong or josephine bayne. It is a remarkable moment. Let me ask this final question. What we did not touch on yet is the global scope of how African People around the world came to know each other in this moment. Off these brothers get troop transport and women do support, they need black women from other places. Part of this global war is africanamericans, warough they entered the with white americans in 1917 and made it to france in 1918, when the world went to war, because this was a period of imperialism, france had at least 17 colonies that went to war when they went to war. The british had colonies in the caribbeans,the and all over the world. When they went to war, guess who else went to war . Ir colonial sword those their colonial soldiers went to war. People ofy you have african descent fighting in world war i beginning in 1914. They do meet each other. Dr. Carr we get to see this in real life . Dr. Salter this is one of our artifacts we are getting from france. Dr. Carr all the artifacts are from different places in the world. Fade just likea me. [laughter] dr. Carr you cannot go back to columbus, georgia the same way. How are you doing, brother . Totally rogue i want to do one thing. We will think these gentlemen and go took q a. Please think these gentlemen. [applause] everyone tocourage step up to the microphone. People will let us know how to keep on time. John. Greg, wonderful session. I would be pleased if you could the challenge of creating this exhibition because so much of this exhibition is not in u. S. Archives because, under your Woodrow Wilson, those fighting are fighting under the french flag. Therefore, the whole process has been working with the French Military archives. Can you share some of that story with us . Dr. Salter i guess a challenge was to present to a body of my informationhat the was there because i had been studying it for a long time. So, i started studying military history in 1991, africanAmerican History in 1993. I had interviews with individuals, i had heard stories from individuals, and i knew about footage that existed. I think one of the challenges was just to make sure that my , and what i knew was coming across to the effect that, yes, we can do an exhibition. I see my old boss sitting here in the front row. He was my biggest supporter at the beginning. You know allhat if this information, you know, make sure we can package it in a fashion that we can share it with the public. Aret of these documents also buried in the french archives. One of the trips we went into the french archives and we had people translating some information. The challenge is making sure the information comes out. I think i write it in this book when i heard the story, africanamericans were challenged to suppress the fact that they served in world war i because soldiers were being attacked. A lot of the history was buried and not talked about. But it exists. Hadle have it, like charles with his family and a shoebox in a basement. I hope i answered your question. A can i ask greg carr question too . As a professor who deals every day with younger minds, and as you approach africana studies, where does scholarship like that and the contributions to this book fit in with what you are trying to convey and stir up in these young intellects . R. Carr i will say this we talked about this a little bit and a minute ago. I think museums are really the future of this work. , k12, we ares in the classroom doing all we can. The digital platform. But this work allows access to people of all walks of life. Artifact,eal with an it can linger. Emmette tillst casket downstairs and tying his father through that exhibit is almost more powerful than bringing people into this building to sit and linger through these exhibits than to a classroom and learned. There is more we can do and 30 minutes. I was playing Louis Armstrong this morning. Armstrong, the master of modernism, emerges in this moment of a new world coming out of world war i. There is something more to go through this exhibit and to go to the top floor and the Louis Armstrongs trumpet and say, lets sit and have this conversation. I think museums are the future of how we narrate and think through critically who we are in the world. This is one of the most important places i can think of in the world. We will go to the next questionnaire questioner. Just a followup on what john persian and black troops. Here is a man who served black troops at the spanishamerican war, but yet, he was willing to transfer all the black combat troops to france, to the french. I would like to know if there is a back story to that. Question is, those units that they were transferred to, if i am not mistaken, they also were the units that the french used to consolidate their colonial troops. I just want to verify that. My third question, and i will get out of here, i understand i amette j scott surprised you did not mention his name. There are so many people. He wrote a book about the in the worldo war, in terms of historical documentation, how is that perceived . I know he was a very conservative guy. Duboise to the boys documentation . Dr. Salter i will talk about the 369 and the rest of the division. Divisione two black general blair want. The 92nd and the 93rd. The 93rd division is the division that went to the french. There was a complete regiment that stayed with the u. S. Not all of the black combat troops went to the french. Did have arsian history. There were all kinds of stories involved. Terms of interment. We wont go into that. I read a book about this dichotomy that John J Pershing was pulled from many different directions. There was a policy that american soldiers would not fight under the french, so why did we give an entire africanamerican division to the french . There was a political just affect juxtaposition and a social juxtaposition from a lot of white officers on the staff that were serving in his unit that did not want African American soldiers. Rshingn you say john j. Pe gave this division to the was in command. That is the way military officers are trained. He has the ultimate responsibility. Gged froms being tu the top, side and bottom and the french were clamoring. It is not a clean answer on john assigning the 93rd division. We are very clear the way we choose our words in the gallery upstairs. In this gallery we say that john made the ultimate decision. But there is an entire book that talks about why he made that decision. To the back to johns question, ms scott kelly, there were a host of africanamericans who wrote about their experience in world war i, but the books never got published. I have read most of those over the years being an africanamerican military historian. I began to combine those in 1996. That is where the information exists. Libraries, in the library of in archives collecting dust because no one was reading it. What really catapulted people to start studying africanamerican people in history was glory. Before glory there were only a few books of them. Williams,hington which was written back in 1880s. It was one of the books collecting dust. It has always been there, but people were not just if that is not what you were looking for, you would not find it. Glory is the turning point. Thats when people realized, hmm, they did fight. That is a generalized word. Thatalter that is is one of the great strengths of krewasky has brought to us. Kind of like the work you do at howard professor carr. I will ask if we can take the next to questioner two questioners in a row. I want to make sure we have time for additional discussion. We have an additional treat before we leave. We have something the young people call me tell me is called a civil reel. I did not know what that meant. I am a freshman at howard university. When talking about this idea of , or values that the soldiers learned during this how would you say it has been passed down to this current generation or the modern black identity . What do you think are some examples of some of these values, or how could we see the flash of the spirit in present day not only the black community in the United States, but around the world. Only in the black community and the United States, but around the world. I take one from dr. Carr. Second,making, in one gentlemen at the mic. I am a professor from cornell university. E scotts book, i also thought he was being conservative but he does not employ any punches in his study of black soldiers in world war i. Two questions. Number one, i wish the speaker looked at the military directive that the United States army ,irculated during world war i cautioning, especially the nch, from fraternizing with africanamerican soldiers. Secondly, what do you mean by modern black identity . You did speak a little bit about gro movement, but could you expand on modern black identity . We have five minutes, which should be a piece of cake for these two gentlemen. You want to do meaning making or identity . Dr. Salter first of all, stay informed and speak out. I will say this. Philipand off randolph was 20 years old when he stepped on stage and challenged the president. He did not have to do that march because he got what he wanted. If you look at the picture of 1963, april 28, who is sitting there . A. Philip randolph. I would say to young people, take some of those lessons from Josephine Baker and do it in your own way. Make sure you are informed and get your message out there. To go into this question about emmett scott. Secretabout the documents. We talk about the secret document in the military gallery upstairs. The french that we dont socialize and treat africanamericans that way you are treating them here. It was a long letter. That letter was quickly rescinded. It did come out of pershing headquarters. It was written by a colonel who was directed to write it. That is probably why duboise book. His he recover that document during his threemonth tour and that is why its printed in the magazine in 1919. A little word from one of our local intellectuals. A little more to add to the brilliance of dr. Salter. A little bit about that intellectual. You have read this wonderful book. Tell us about that intellectual contact in that shaping of identity. Dr. Carr very specifically we can talk about emmett scott. He is out of a job at tuskegee. He ends up at howard. The world war i books. When he raises that, scott goes to france. These are intellectuals. Scott goes to france and those soldiers are like, i dont know i they sent you over here too, down. The soldiers arent here to calm us down. The soldiers he told them to calm down, dont rock the boat, etc. , etc. , etc. Rocks the boat. Intellectuals of then and now, the best thinkers are the ones who are engaged thinkers. He is on the sideline. In world war ii when he does call off that marge, they are like, hold on, that is not the only reason we were coming to d. C. They had a threeday conference at howard and these black women said we are not coming to integrate the military jobs, we are coming to talk about what our race needs. Not justnkers are writing, they are in the middle of the fight. We do not even get to james johnson. When they come back to 1919, its part of that. Socalledout the black national anthem. There is a whole another venue of thinkers who are also artists. The 369th band. Dont think of intellectuals as armchair people writing books. They are thinkers who are engaged. The question about modern identity. Can i address that . , and whatan by that was read in his opening where he the something about forerunners of the Civil Rights Movement. The worldelieve that war ii generation who executed the Civil Rights Movement, they were the germination of the seeds that were planted. The pot andro stir planted those seeds. They said, we fought for this country and want our equality. I believe wasr, the only woman who spoke in 1963. InPhilip Randolph was there 1963. Do not pass away until 1953, 1954. Those individuals played a critical part in world war i and planted the seeds for modern identity, which set the stage for the modernday Civil Rights Movement. That is what we mean. Dr. Carr the anticolonial movement, in many ways, what you saw in the essay. Dr. Salter we talk about pan africanism. Its in the exhibition. To, aslso would like you they say, buy this book and read more about the great writing of our colleague dr. Salter and repeating the names he mentioned. Brittany cooper, krewasky himself and curtis young. As i said, i have very little time on the stage. If i had time i would give a shout out. Lets do one more important thing. I see a beautiful young woman in uniform. T reminds me of something can i ask all active duty and all members of the military who have made the sacrifice for this country to stand. You can stand too colonel. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You for your service, but we really mean it. Thank you for your service. Well, you stood up so i cannot deny you. I cannot deny you, maam. Thank you. You gentlemen have done an excellent job. Nice to meet you. Are thewould you say key elements for the upanddown demise of the military . The military has been a precursor of what happened to society. As my grandmother would say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The struggle, we are still fighting. The minority officers, both male and female. Erang the civil rights ande we were invested marched. Isneighborhood right now getting richer, we are Getting Better and moving out of communities. We are forgetting where we came from. We are engaged as opposed to supporting each other. We are tearing each other down. Top would you say are the three three . [laughter] also, the Vice President of communications for africanamerican officers. What you tell me i will print and put it on. No pressure, in other words. Three in terms of how reclaimeach other and our legacy of helping each other and building each other up. Yes maam. You got your three, brother . Dr. Salter i would say one related to the military. I served for 25 year so i know exactly what you are saying. Ago i ran intors an africanamerican officer and mentioned to him, who is in the pipeline . He said it will be fine, they are in the pipeline. I know they are not in the pipeline. What we have to do as a community, and this is a tough sell. This is a tough sell. Let our Young Brothers and sisters know that the military is a viable occupation. When i was at was point for three years i was a recruiter. I recruited africanamericans to come to west point to go into the military. Its a tough sell. Got to let our Young Brothers and sisters know that when we go into the military you are not just going to fight for your country and be used and abused. The reason i have a masters and a phd is because i was in the military. Received ated, are letter that said because of your background and military success, youre a candidate to teach at the United States military academy. I followed through with that. A fiveyear program. For five years i got paid to be a student for two years and an instructor for three years. I had a professor who told me about this thing called avd. I took all of my phd classes. Three years later i finished my phd while teaching at west point. Of men and host women, white, brown, black, and have retired from the military and have a second profession because the military created a platform for it. Its not just what you see on tv. I tell people, i love boys in the hood but i was a Second Lieutenant when laurence jr. ,urne told cuba gooding the army is no place for a brother. Ae military is a place for brother and sister. It is a hard sell, but we have got to. What is not a hard sell is this great book. [laughter] we will be selling this out of the heritage hall. As we thank you gentlemen one more time. [applause] thank you, gentlemen. God bless you. This is American History tv on cspan. We feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. The house will be in order. For 40 years cspan has provided america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, Supreme Court and publicpolicy events from washington dc and around the country, so you can make up your own mind. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, gear unfiltered view of government. You are unfiltered view of government. Unfiltered view of government. Next, republican trent lott of mississippi talks about his time as a new member of the house during the impeachment inquiry of Richard Nixon in 1973 and 1974. The interview is from the Richard Nixon president ial Library Oral History collection and was conducted by Timothy Naftali in 2008. I was looking at the demographics, but when i ran, the district i was running in 8 , of the people identified as republican. But if you study the internals, the majority of them were republican