World war i and the shaping of modern black identity. 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 cell rights. One of the main things we will learn this evening is that while the Civil Rights Movement was dedicated 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 museums equity director 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 face 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. And thank you spencer for the warm welcome and the wonderful introduction for this book. I hope you will purchase it. And when you do. Do read the acknowledgments. If i had time i would mention names like carolyn grayson, christina weeding, rex ellis and others. But i do not have time laura coyle and doug grimley. Carlos vista montaigne, minda 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. He says no single account can fully capture the African American experience in world war 1, or tell us what that war meant for black americans in the decades afterward, whether the echoes were heard in president Harry S Trumans desegregation order. The landmark brown v. Board of education segregation 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 africanamericans, 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. And thus set into motion and incremental Movement Toward freedom. The burdens on the backs of black americans, military or civilian, remain heavy. But our forebears sacrificed 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. The great w. E. B. Dubois who was one of the major intellectuals who frame the issues run one where one. Stated in his article for the crisis magazine, the complexities of world war i. And he wrote, we return. We returned 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 gentlemen you see here tonight talking about this book and the title of an exhibition almost 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 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. Africanamericans who hoped to live out postcivil war expectations of full citizenship upon returning home. This book reveals the many ways world war i shaped the identity of black people and lent fuel to their longstanding efforts to demand full Citizenship Rights and to 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 and 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 on military history and 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 world in places including ghana, egypt, el salvador, bahia. His publications have appeared in the African American studies reader, publications of the modern leg which association of america and moderate Language Association of america and the National Urban league, 212 state of black america and welcome x, a historical reader. In addition to those of you we have with us in the oprah winfry theater tonight, there are others watching you on streaming. There others and we ask that you consider on social media a nations story. Theres one other person i would like to recognize, juliet lasalle who was the cultural attache to the French Embassy and one of our main connections to our colleagues in france. Where and not for them and then centennial that was headed by joseph samet, we would not have the wonderful objects you will see in the activation that opens in december. Mr. Mr. Samet and madame lasalle helped us open the doors. We are grateful to them and to our donors, to all of them. There is one more thing i want to say. This program is made possible through the support of this Arena Foundation and this exhibition which opens in december is generously supported by altria group. Zamet nationwide, and the Robert Mccormick foundation. It is created, the exhibition in partnership with the french hundredth anniversary of the First World War organization. Please join me in welcoming dr. Krewasky salter and dr. Greg carr. [applause] how is everybody doing . The first order of business, is just a 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. And colonel it is a particular honor to sit here with you, realizing that you have been deeply involved with this museum since before it was opened. You have curated and this is the third exhibit. That i curated . In terms of the exhibits that rotated through the halls. This is the third that rotates through the temper exhibit space. 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 is in here. Lets start with that. Thank you, somebody. Good. [laughter] this text, we return fighting. How did you conceive this book . How did you put it together . The book is born out of the exhibition. A decision was made to do the exhibition. Once that decision was made, i started to meeting with kinshasa on a regular basis. We were talking about the story on a regular basis. And she 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. And then i realized that she might play poker but now i know that she is listening. So 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 kinshasha. And from that point on, not only were getting an exhibition, we started developing the construct for a book. Not only were we in a moment well talk about why world war i. But in this book one of the brilliant things about it is youre taking some things we know that we are aware of, but youre reading it 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. Exactly. What we did, we already had scholarly advisors to 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 ex to rotations right that your interpretations right. One thing we had to do with the exhibition was make sure we did not want to drop our readers nor our visitors into the black 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 great way. Then he talks about stalemate in a page and a half. Any talks about stalemate. That is the first chapter that sets the stage. It was my mission in chapter two to do two things. One was to have readers understand, and we do this in the exhibition, that African Americans do not to 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 and 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 is him. 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 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 rhodes 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 im 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 a 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. That really is a linchpin for this later on. And then he talks about the further mob violence that is going on. He talks about east st. Louis. And houston in 1917. And the key to those two rights 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 writer. And she writes the piece on charles and 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. And our Exhibition Research assistant fortrea hogan, she wrote half of that and i read the other half. I want to write about the ask about the exhibit and what is in the book. Before we get there, they exhibit opens next month . The 13th of december. My project manager is here too. Carlos bustamante. Were going to talk for awhile and then we will open it up. One of your heroes i think we talk about more is Charles Young. I think it was according to judge wilkins in his work it was a long hard truth, it was a hundred years ago this december that young if the talk because the veterans have come back and they say they want a new graham memorial. Some war veterans come back, George Washington williams and them, we want a memorial. Maybe it is supposed to be near howard. That wouldve been great. They cannot afford to buy the property now. But then we have this, we are good. Then world war i veterans come back and say we want a new graham 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 letting people heard of all of this stuff stop lynching people. The thing you put together in your essay and the span of this book. It echoes what you did in the first publication for the museum where you talk about this double victory. Then you to get backward in time. Thinking about world war i and how people of african descent enter the war not just from the United States but around the world, this concept of double victory. And 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 experiences of not only our people. 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 then for the United States. And why was world war one so important . The essence of will victories when African Americans fought for this nation, their nations write history, they were not only fighting to help the nation win. There were fighting to achieve democracy and equality for themselves and their families. 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 victory to the other side, African Americans were always fighting for the side that offer the best chances for freedom. African americans had was been there. The reason world war i was so important 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 went to fight, the double victory they were fighting for 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, educational up lift and a host of other things, would come to them. 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 africanamerican soldiers did not put europe just to help americans win, they went to help their citizens when in america. And that did not happen. That is why this term the new negro came about. The phrase came about 25 years earlier. But that was an intellectual and economic new negro. Most of us know the new negro from 1919. He was the one emboldened 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. 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. A Philip Randolph, the most dangerous negro in america, an open socialist. The title you pick and also the exhibit. I want to get the housekeeping out of the way. We return fighting is from dubois. But randolph was distinguishing himself from dubois. As you narrate here, these conservative blacks, alain locke is credited with the new negro. In douglas hall. A professor of military science. How it is like atlanta, Everybody Knows someone who went to howard. Randall is critical not only of dubois, but elaine locke. He writes relative to the war appeared why you picked, we return fighting, and make the delivery choice not to say world war i and the shaping of black participation in the war, but this broader concept. Dubois is balancing something. So the first one, youre exactly right. A Philip Randolph and dubois was in his mid40s and 1917. A Philip Randolph was 28 years old. And dubois was lumped in with what he called the old crowd negro. Those who would close ranks and go fight, which is what dubois said in his close ranks article in 1918. But the sentiment had already been there from 1915, 16 and 17 p he was writing about the war when it started in 1914. You mentioned the imperialism chapter which is very important. The article in atlantic monthly. 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. And he did a research and found out about all the discrimination, and how some African Americans who had lost their lives on the battlefield. And some who lost their lives, not on the battlefield. When he came back in may, he wrote a dr. He said we would be a juxtaposition of close ranks and he said we would be full of cowards if he is going to fight for the nation and come back to the same nation we left. The centennial, world war i is really 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 is, you do not seemilitary. The exhibition is not entitled the africanamerican military spirits and world war i. And the book is not entitled world war i, and the military shaping and black identity. You do not seem military in there for a reason. This exhibition, like double victory, it is not about the service necessarily of African Americans on the battlefield. It is why they served the reason they served is because they were citizens and wanted to make sure they reaped all the benefits. The exhibition is not on this light. It is on time. We always intended it for it to open in19, because this is the centennial of the new negro. We talked backstage about 70 things. But in this book, what we talked backstage about so many things. In this book, what is in the book but not the exhibition . While number one what is in the exhibition but not the book are the live artifacts you can see up close. The book allows us to give more details, tip meat on the bounds of why there was a where one. Why the entire world went to war in six weeks. Why there was a world war i. Also detail between the difference between that 92nd and 93rd division and why the 93rd and 369 and 370 and 371 and three 72nd was so important. You have that in the book. In the x mission, we have a few additional vignettes. In the exhibition. The difference is they both have a shelf life. The exhibitions shelf life will end on 14 june. This book, if you buy it, and as a shelf life that will be on your library forever. So that is a big difference between the book and the exhibition. The exhibition will leave and we will mount another very important exhibition. I will not say what it is because i do not know if it is for public consumption. But the book will be there forever. 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 someone 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 talk about some of these heroic figures. Thinking about 1915. Booker t. Washington died in 1915. Birth of a nation comes out in 1915. You have Woodrow Wilson curated and narrated. Lets take a figure that helps us work around to some of the other conversations. We are in washington, d. C. Talk to me about houston, charlie houston. This dude was one of the highestranking black officers in world war i. 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 . And what is he important for . And everyone who knows him knows him for a lawyer. Few people know that he was one of the individuals who went to fort des moines, arden officer ship, and served as a lieutenant and fought in france in the 92nd division. It was that experience that 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 alert himself. And was a lawyer himself. That is where he got his foundation to be a lawyer. So when you open the book, i collected those peer the reason you have that picture. His typewriter is in the National Museum of africanamerican history and culture. We wanted artifacts that resonated all kinds of things. We wanted something that resonated military and nobody had it. They had the address of his son. Oh yeah. My wife is in the audience, she knows the story. Charles hamilton houstons son. He gave me that picture. I will tell the story. I got in my car and i drove up to baltimore to the address. I had my badge in my hand, i knocked on the door, my smithsonian badge. His wife came to the door and i announce who i was. I am Krewasky Salter, i work for the smithsonian. You talk with them 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. Oh, man. I said you gotta be kidding me. Make a long story short, i go up there and collected. The pistol, they pulled out that image and ive never seen that image before. The reason we know while those individuals are, is that they had it in written on the back. That is his father and he was in the odd fellows. They gave us for objects. And there are stories like that for just about all the objects in the exhibition that people donated to us. And they did not want to give that up because they do not want his father to be seen as a militant with a weapon, that is what they told me. But i said because of this museum, and that is one thing this museum is doing, it is convincing people to give up artifacts they have had for years tucked away somewhere. So im ever getting that. A lot of trust. I drove out of baltimore and it is going to be in the exhibition and it now belongs to the National Museum of africanamerican history and culture. Yes, please upheaval [applause] lets continue. Charles hamilton houstons granddaughter or great granddaughter is a student at howard law school. Yes, no question, we are keeping it tight. Making a connection with the family and talking with them and you still talk with these and visuals. Lets continue in that vein. Houston has clearly got a vision. And you say what he saw and more empowered him to keep going and troubled his spirit. There are differences between black people to participating in this war. My homies from nashville got beat by these guys from philadelphia said we are not going to take the stuff. Yes we put it in there. Zeroing in on the differences between black folks, can you talk about the 3629 and what happened in South Carolina . And the southern white dudes really want a whole racial order, but these are not gross that are used to americans have never been monolithic and they are not the same depend on what region you come 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. They were supposed to be there for five months and only stayed four and a half weeks. They had to get them out because there was going to be a clash. They had some enemies right here. Thats right. And john writes about this in the exhibition. September october of 1917 is only three month after brownsville and east st. Louis. You have to put in context. They did not want another brownsville were the 24th did actually shoot up the town. Unlike the 25th. What happened in brownsville the accusations . Brownsville, there was one eyesore with the 25th, where president roosevelt discharged 167 soldiers for something that was unfounded and has never been proved. However, in houston, when a white Police Officer began to beat a black woman when he was looking for a soldier, those brothers did shoot up the town. After three court marshals, 19 of them were sent to the gallows. We will talk about them in the exhibition. I know we can talk about everything. That is why they left South Carolina. That is why they were one of the first africanamerican units in france. Instead of sending them to train, they sent them to the demarcation point. The rest of the 93rd division, they did not arrive until april. That is one of the main reasons why the 61st was the first unit. It is not just brothers, the ymca gets involved. We have an entire section of women who are weaved throughout. Talk about the women. There was a chapter on gold star mothers that i have never seen anywhere else. One of our scholars is a senior military curator, at the Tennessee State museum of history. She writes about goldstar mothers. They were mothers who lost a son during world war i, white and black. They had these pilgrimages that went to france, in 1931 to 1933. Long story short, they were also segregated. There was a discussion. Our sons and husbands fought in a segregated military, and we are going to visit their gravesites 12 years later in segregated pilgrimages. Bradley cooper writes about ida b wells and mary church charles. She talks about the juxtaposition of those individuals. This goes to the fact that africanamericans have never been monolithic, just like w. E. B. Du bois. Their means were the same, better lives for africanamericans, just like ida b wells and mary church charles. Ida b wells was a firebreather. She would punch you in the nose. Literally. [laughter] and mary was a dignified agitator. She says that in her book. She believed in doing things in a dignified manner. That is throughout. That is why we chose people for who they are. Not only africanamericans. We say africanamericans and their white supporters. You will see africanamericans in this exhibition and others who were friends. We are going to open it up if folks want to move to the microphones. We just scratched the surface. Everyone is in here from baker to armstrong. What we didnt touch on yet is the global scope of how African People around the world came to know each other in this moment. When brothers get off the troop transport, they meet black women from other places. A part of this being a global war, although africanamericans entered the war with white americans in 1917, when the world went to war, because this was the period of imperialism, france had at least 17 colonies that went to war when they went to war. The british had colonies in the caribbean and everywhere else. When they went to war, guess who else went to war . Their colonial soldiers went to war. Those four german colonies went to war. They do meet each other. This was in the exhibit, right . This is one of our artifacts we are getting from france. The caribbean, africa. First thing this we want to thank the gentleman and go into the queue or nay. Thank you gentlemen. And i want to encourage everyone, to step up to the microphone, and i will try to keep on time. So john. He sank you wonderful session. I would be pleased if you can talk about the challenge of creating this exhibition, because so much of this information is not in u. S. Archives. Under Woodrow Wilson, those fighting are fighting under the french flag, and therefore the whole process has been working with the French Military archive. Can you share that story . I guess the challenge was to present to a body of my colleagues that the information was there, because i have been studying it for a long time. I started studying military history in 1991, africanamerican history and that was about in 1993. I had done interviews with individuals. I knew about footage that existed. The challenges was to make sure my passion and what i knew was coming across to the effect that, yes, we can do an exhibition. I see my old boss sitting in the front row. He was my biggest supporter in the beginning, making sure that, okay, if you know this information, make sure we can share it and package it in a fashion where we can share it with the public. A lot of these documents are buried in the french archives. We had people translating some information. Africanamerican history had been i wrote about in the book, a story where africanamericans were challenged to suppress the fact that they served in world war i, because soldiers were being attacked. A lot of this history was buried and not talked about, but it exists. People have it, like Charles Hamilton houstons family in a shoebox in the basement. I hope i answered your question in some way. Can i ask greg carr a question . As a professor who deals every day with younger minds, and as you approach Africana Studies at large, where does these contributors to this book fit in with what you are trying to convey and stir up in these young intellects . I will say this. We talked about this a little bit, i think museums are the future of this work in a lot of ways. The university, k12, in the classroom doing all we can, not just the digital platforms. This allows access to all walks of life. When you deal with narrative, we can linger. Emmett tills casket, knowing his father is buried in a segregated french cemetery, it is better to let students into this building and linger at the exhibits than sit in a classroom and talk about it. This is from somebody who is a fiend for louis armstongi was playing Louis Armstrong this morning. But armstrong, the master of modernism, he emerges in this moment of a new world coming out of world war i. It means something more to go through this exhibit and go to the top floor and see Louis Armstrong trumpet. 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 places i can think of in the world for us to have that kind of conversation in education. We will go to the next questioner. A couple quick questions. A follow up on what john mentioned. Black troops i dont understand here is the man, John J Pershing, he was willing to transfer all of the black combat troops to the french. I would like to know if there is a back story to that. My second question, i understand those units they were transferred to, if im not mistaken, they were also the units the french used to consolidate their colonial troops. My third question, then i will get out of here i sm surprised you did not mention his name. There are so many people. We talk about him in the exhibition. He wrote a book, the American Negro in the world war. In terms of his historical documentation, how is that received . Relative to du boiss documentation . I will take the question about the 369th. There were two black divisions in world war i, the 92nd and 93rd. The 93rd division of four regiments 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. John j pershing did have a history. That is where he got his nickname blackjack. There are all sorts of terms of different stories, that is a slap in the face, so i wont go into that. I read this story, that John J Pershing was pulled in many directions. There was an american policy that africanamerican soldiers would not that american soldiers would not fight under the french. There was a social juxtaposition from a lot of the white officers on his staff serving in his unit that did not want africanamerican soldiers to fight alongside white soldiers. When you say John J Pershing gave this division to the french, he does bear responsibility, because he was in command. He has the ultimate responsibility. But he was being tugged from the top, the side, the bottom. And the french were clamoring that you are going to put men on the battlefield. We are very clear the way we choose our words in the gallery upstairs and in this gallery. We say John J Pershing made the ultimate decision. But there was an entire book about why he made that decision. To get back to johns question, there were a host of africanamerican who wrote about their experience in world war i, but the books never got published. I 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. It exists in libraries and archives collecting dust, because no one was reading it. What catapulted people to start studying africanamerican history in the military was when glory came out. Before glory, there were only a few books. George washington williams written in the 1980s. That was one of the books collecting dust. It has always been there, but if thats not what you are looking for, you werent finding it. Glory was the turning point. That is when they realized they did fight. It is a generalization. I was going to say that is one of the great strengths of the work in his role as a guest curator. He is uncovering things we did not know, like the work you do at howard, professor carr. Some things are hiding in plain sight. I will ask if we take the next two questioners in a row and make sure we have time for additional discussion. We have an additional treat before we leave. We have something that young people call a sizzle reel. I thought we were going to sizzler. [laughter] i am a freshman at howard university. When talking about this idea of meaning making of soldiers during this time, how does that pass down to this modern generation, the modern black identity . What are some examples of these values . How can we see the flash of the spirit in present day, not only in the black community in the United States, but around the world. I would like to take a course from you after i take one from dr. Carr. Meaning making, in one second, at the mic. I am Professor Emeritus from cornell university. On emmett scotts book, i also thought of emmett scott as conservative, but he does not pull punches in his studies of black soldiers in world war i. Two questions. One, i wish he would speak about the military directive that the United States army circulated during world war one, cautioning, especially the french, from fraternizing with africanamerican soldiers, if you could comment about that. Secondly, what do you mean by modern black identity . You spoke about the new negro movement, but could you expand about modern black identity . Just think, we have all of five minutes, which should be a piece of cake. Do you want to do meaning making, or identity . First of all, stay informed and speak out. That is what a Philip Randolph and w. E. B. Du bois was doing. A. Philip randolph was 28 years old when he stepped onto the stage and challenge a sitting president. He also planned the first march on washington in 1940. He did not have to do that march, because he got what he wanted. What i would say to young individuals today take some of those lessons from Philip Randolph and Josephine Baker and do it in your own way and make sure you are informed and get your message out. It goes to the question about emmett scott, the secret document. Briefly, we talk about the secret document in the military gallery upstairs. There was a circulation that informed the french that we dont treat africanamericans in america the way you are treating them here. It was a long letter. That letter was quickly rescinded. It did come out of pershing headquarters. It came from a french colonel who was directed to write it. That is why du bois wrote, we uncovered that during his three month tour. That is why it is printed in crisis magazine. A brief word from one of our local intellectuals. To add to the brilliance of dr. Salter and dr. Carr, you read this wonderful book this gentleman was involved in. Tell us about the intellectual context in the shaping of identity. Very specifically, we can talk about emmett scott. He is out of a job in tuskegee. He ends up with a job at howard. He is the National Historian of alpha phi alpha. [laughter] doesnt scott go to france . Scott goes to france. Those soldiers are like, look, i dont know why they sent you to calm us down. The president told africanamerican soldiers, calm down, dont rock the boat, etc. W. E. B. Du bois comes back and rocks the boat. The only reason i mention this is because the intellectuals of that period, then and now, the best thinkers are the engaged thinkers. Ultimately in world war ii, when he calls off the march, they ended up having a threeday conference at howard. These black wome say we are not coming just to integrate military jobs, we are talking about what our race needs. These thinkers are not just writing, they are in the middle of the fight. We did not even get to james brown johnson. We talk about the same socalled black National Anthem that du bois sang. One is a poet. There is a whole other venue of thinkers who were artists. The 369th is important. Dont think of intellectuals as armchairs writing books, they are engaged. A question about modern identity. What we mean by that, the opening where he said something about the four runners of the Civil Rights Movement. I firmly believe that the world war ii generation who executed the Civil Rights Movement, they were the germination of the scenes of seeds planted by the world war i generation. They said, we fought for this country and we want our equality. Philip randolph was there in 1963. Charles hamilton and mary church dont pass away until 1954. Those individuals play a critical part in world war i. You talk about the Anticolonial Movement in many ways. We also would like you to buy this book and read more about the great writing of our colleague, dr. Salter, and repeating the names he mentioned, john h. Morrow junior, curtis young and others. I have very little time on the stage, so i cannot give a shout out to the dean. If i had time, i would. I see a beautiful young woman in uniform, which reminds me of something i was amended by a dear colleague. Can i ask all activeduty end all members of the military who made a sacrifice for this country to stand . You can stand, too, colonel. [applause] thank you. Thank you. You stood up, so i cant deny you. You gentlemen have done an excellent job. Nice to meet you. What would you say are the key elements for us to galvanize the military . The military has always been a precursor of what happens in society. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The struggles, we are still fighting. Minority officers, male and female [indiscernible] this Civil Rights Era where we were invested in the future. My future is connected to hers, we are moving out of the community. We are engaged engaged in fratricide as opposed to supporting each other. What would you say are the top three factors. So im also Communications Officer so what you tell me im going to print no pressure in other words. Give me your top three in terms of how we help each other and reclaim our legacy of helping each other and building each other up. Yes maam. Have you got your three via brother . [applause] i will address one related to the military, because we dont have a lot of time. I served for 25 years. I know what you are saying. A couple years ago, i ran into an africanamerican general officer. I mentioned to him, who is going to be in the pipeline . I know they are not in the pipeline, because i was studying it. This is what we have to do as a community and this is a tough sell we have got to let our Young Brothers and sisters know that the military is a viable occupation. The reason i have a masters and a ph. D. Is because i was in the military. I was a young lieutenant, i received a letter, and they said because of your background, and your success you are a candidate to teach at the military academy. I fell through with that. I said i want a fiveyear program. In five years i got paid to be a student for two years, and then instructor for three years. I had a professor, who told me about this thing called a beady. I took all of my phd classes, and three years later i finished my phd while i was teaching at west point. There are a host of men and women, white, brown, black who have retired from the military, and have a second profession, because the military created a platform for us. It is not just what you see on the tv, i love boys in the hood, but i was a second lieutenant, and when cuba gooding jr. , said theres no place for a brother, i said oh man. The military is indeed a place for the for a brother. Its a hard sell so that was one question i took. As we thank the gentleman one more time, thank you. Thank you gentlemen