Good evening, good evening. First of all thank you for coming out on this rainy evening, i know its a challenge but i think it will be well worth your time to be here this evening for this discussion. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our program entitled historically speaking, we return fading, world war one and the shaping of the modern black identity. Published by story in books, this is a collection of essays that chronicles the experiences 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 learned this evening is that while the Civil Rights Movement is decades away, world war i established important questions about citizenship that paved the way towards future progress. We are fortunate to be joined tonight by kinshasha holman, the images are very powerful. They are of americans on the home front. It also gives us a different look at African Americans when they return from the