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 m