Book contributor joins Howard University professors to talk about the essay in the book that inspired the exhibit and how the africanamerican experience served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. First of all, thank you all for coming out on this rainy evening. I know its a challenge, but i think its well wofrt your time to be here this evening for this discussion. Its my pleasure to welcome you to tonights program entitled historically speaking we return fighting published by smithsonian books its a collection of essays that chronicle the experience 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 many things we will learn this evening is that while the Civil Rights Movement was a world war i established important questions of citizenship that pave the way towards future progress. Were fortunate to be joined tonight by the museums Deputy Director and editor of we return fighting which includes an addition to outstanding scholarship and images and the images are really powerful of americans at war and on the homefront. It also gives us different look at the life of africanamerican face when they came back home after the war. So let me end by welcoming you and by assuring you that youre in for a woerndfnderful evening. Thank you for joining us and im sure youll have great evening. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Deputy Director of the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for braving the rain which we know in washington is like snow elsewhere. So thank you for being here. And thank you, spencer, for that warm welcome to everyone and for the wonderful introduction of this book. I hope that you will purchase it. And when you do, do read the acknowledgements. Because i really, if i had time i would mention names like carolyn gleason, kristina wiggington, rex ellis and others. But i dont have time laura coil and Carl Bustamante and many others. So if you look in the back, their names are all there. One of the people id like to quote from is a young man who surely had and has a promising future. Many of you have heard his name. Lonnie g. Bunch iii. We were pleased that our founding director was able to and willing to write the introduction and the epilogue to this book which is the work of many hands. Id like to quote to frame what youre going hear tonight from these amazing gentlemen. Dr. Bunch says, no single account can fully capture the africanamerican experience in world war i or tell us what the war meant for black americans in the decades afterward. When its echos were heard in president harry s. Truman desegregation order, the landmark brown versus 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 in franchisement for africanamericans, it could be said that its shear scale, the slap across the worlds face of the first truly global war, did open for us a new sense of our own potential and possibilities. And, thus, set into motion an incremental Movement Toward freedom. The burdens on the backs of black americans, military or civilian, remain heavy. But our forebearers sacrifices in world war i and all the wars that have followed have not been forgotten. And they remain incontrovertible prove our entitlement to full rights as citizens of our own country. The great w. B. Debois who was waun one of the major intellectuals aptly stated in his 1919 we return fighting article written 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 jahova well save it in the United States of america or know the reason why. The two gentlemen youll hear tonight talking of this book which is a companion to an exhibition almost the same title that will debut in december will help us unpack those complexities and that sentiment. Tonight youll hear from our guest curator for the exhibition, we return fighting and major contributor to this publication and the First Executive director of the first museum. Dr. Greg carr, professor of African Studies and chair of the department of afroamerican studies at Howard University. And a 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 post civil war expectations of full citizenship upon returning home. This book reveals how they let it shape the black people and let fuel the long stabbeding 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 that they are not only holders of phds in respective subjects but they have spoken widely and travelled widely on the subject. Dr. Salter is a retired u. S. Army colonel and he also curated our major exhibition on military 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. And in addition to his work at Howard University, he is also deeply involved in the development of curriculum particularly with the city of philadelphia. But he has also worked around the world in places including salvador, ghana, egypt and the publications have appeared in among other places the africanamerican studies reader, socialism and democracy, African Studies, publications of the modern Language Association of america, and the National Urban leagues 212 state of black america and malcolm x, a historical reader. In addition to those of you that we have with us in the Oprah Winfrey theater tonight, there are others watching on youstream and we ask that all of you consider social media, anationstory. And this is and i have one other person i dont have time to recognize, but if shes here, i would like to recognize her, julie lasalle, she works with the French Embassy and one of our main connection to our colleagues in france. Were it not for them which was headed by joseph zemet we would not have the wonderful objects youll see in the exhibition that opens in december. Mr. Zemet and madam lasalle helped open the door of french museums throughout that country for loans and important objects. And theyre also a series of donors who were able to help us as well. And were grateful to all of them. And one more thing i want to say so that linda will not think that i dont know my job. This program is made possible through the support of the sharina foundation and the exhibition which opens in december is generously supported by altria group and i believe we have some members of altria here tonight, nationwide foundation, and the robert r. Mccormick foundation. And it is created, the exhibition, in partnership with the [ speaking french ] ladies and gentlemen, please, first of all, thank you for being here. Join me in welcoming dr. Salter and dr. Greg carr. Doctor, hows it going . Appreciate you, brother. How is everybody doing . All right. Good. First order of business, i guess, for us to do is to say welcome, of course. We heard from our Deputy Director and all the folks here at the museum, its an honor to be here again. And colonel, its a particular honor to sit here with you realizing that youve been deeply involved with this museum since before it was opened. You curated and this is the third exhibit that i curated . In terms of xiblexhibits tha rotated through the hall . This is the third exhibition that will rotate through the temporary exhibition in space. Excellent. Lets get right to it. First of all, this is an incredibly conceived book. If if you already bought it, great. If you dont, dont leave here without it if at all possible. So much information in such a tightly packed place but not overburdened. The language is clean. Everything in here, lets start with that. The thank you. See, mine doesnt have any brandy on it. Mine has a label. This text, we return fighting, how did you conceive this book . How did you put it together . How did you structure the text . The book is born out of the exhibition, a decision was made to do the exhibition. Then once that decision was made, i started meeting with people on a regular basis. And we were talking about the story. And she plays poker very well. So i was talking to her and she was taking everything in and she would ask me questions. I would leave the office, but i would have meetings with my then boss rex ellis. And then one day he said, she likes what youre saying. I dont know what youre saying when you meet with her. But she likes what youre saying. And then i realized that, okay, she might play poker but now i know shes listening. And so the next time i met with her, she said, not only should wi we do an exhibition, i think we can do a book. So the book was actually born when i had my oneonone meetings sitting down with her. And from that point on, not only were we executing an exhibition, we started developing the con construct for a book. You know, in a moment well talk about why world war i. Why that moment. But before we get there, you know, one of the brilliant the way this book is conceived, one of the brilliant things about it is you take some figures that we know, some events that we kind of are aware of but youre reading very differently. How did you curate the authors . And then, you know, parse out the work and then go through the editorial process to get this kind of way of talking about africanAmerican History and World History . Exactly. We already had scholars. We had scholarly advisors for the exhibition. And so when we decide who had were going to be the individuals to write for the book, it was very easy. We selected all of the scholarly advisors who were working on the exhibition. And what the scholarly advisors are, those are the people that bring the curators down to earth. I mean, you pick big brain people and you send your script to them and they help you make sure you get your interpretations right. So we selected all of the scholars for the exhibition. But one thing we had done with the exhibition was to make sure that we didnt 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. And so the first chapter is written by jay winters, profess profess professor in germany. So it helps us understand why world war i. So he goes in detail in a very few pages on how world war i became a global war in a page and a half. And then he talks about stalemate 1916 on into the war and that is the first chapter that sets the stage. It was my mission in chapter two to do two distinct things and 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. And so my mission was to make sure that we understood that but also to make sure people understood what a dark world and america was for black americans. The so when you read chapter two, you see the turning back of time after the ending of slavery. The rise of jim crowism, extreme segregation, the 1883 civil rights acts which turns back the clock 13 years later plesy 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 that says in 1895 that he estimates by that time 53,000 africanamerican had been killed. We talked about mob violence. So we talk about those while at the same time africanamericans 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 is written by another of our scholars, dr. John morrow, professor of history and chair at the university of georgia. And it was his mission to create a tight shot group. Im a soldier. Some of you know shot group is you want to hit that target. A tight shot group between 1913 and 1919. S so he went a little further detail about the service of the africanamericans. But what he also brought to the table is his imperialist researcher and writer. This was the time during imperialism. So he talks about when the europeans went to war, the rest of the world went to war because they had all these colonies. And so he goes into detail. Thats key. That really is a linchpin for this. And then he also talks about the further mob violence thats going on. He talks about east st. Louis and houston in 1917. And the key to those two riots is we had already entered the war. And we were still having these types of incidences going on. So that is jay morrows piece. And then ten profiles. Three of our other scholars, chad williams, Lisa Boudreau and curtis young, they write profiles and we picked up another scholar, Brittany Cooper, powerful. She writes the piece on terrell and ida b. Wells. When you read the book, we also have a beautiful time line. Bill pretser and one of our researchers, alicia norwood, you pull that out, it goes from 1863 to 1963. And it weaves in the economic and social and military service all in that time line. We have more than 140 captions, some of the artifacts and images and our Exhibition Research assistant wrote half of those and i wrote the other half. That shou the bo. What is in the exhibition that may not be in the book and vice versa. Before we get there, the exhibit opens next month. 13 december. Its interesting. Im looking at my project manager here, too. Make sure were all on task. Its interesting. Thinking about one of your heroes, were going to talk a little while and then open it up so folks begin to think about things i want to ask and comment on. Were going to talk about colonel Charles Young. Absolutely. I think according to Robert Wilkins in his book, it was 100 years ago this december that young gives a talk because the veterans said he wanted a knee cr negro memorial. We want a museum, we want a memorial. Maybe it should be near howard. That would have been great. They cant afford to buy the property now out there. But now we have this so were good. Then the world war i veterans come back and say we want a negro memorial. But Charles Young gives a talk and says, you know, it will be nice to have a building and nice 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. I say that because im thinking about the theme that you really put together and not only in your essay but as the spine of this book. That kind of echo whats what yo. But you con conceptualize it. Thinking about world war i and how people enter that war, not just from the United States but from around the world, this concept of double victory. You know, like you say, as a career military man, risen to the highest ranks as a scholar and, you know, now as a man who is helping us interpret, you know, 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 earlier book and then gestured toward it that maybe more black people fought for the british than fought for the americans. Okay. So double victory, why was world war i important . The essence of double victim i have when africanamericans fought for this nation, their nation throughout history, they were not only fighting to help their nation win, they were fighting to achieve democracy and equality for themselves and their families. And so that is what double victory really means. And so when you go back to the american revolution, and estimate 6,000 africanamericans fight for the u. S. Forces. But an estimated 20,000 fight for the british. And when you take that theme forward up to the beginning of the american civil war, africanamericans were always fighting for that side which offered them the best chance at freedom. When you bring that forward to world war i, the reason why world war i to me was so important and is a bridge is because africanamericans fought when president wilson said we must fight to make the world safe for democracy. They thought that meant them. So when they went 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, educational uplift and a host of other things would come to them but within 24 months after the declaration of war was given on 6 april, 1917, this thing called red summer erupted. And that is kind of what Charles Young is talking about. These soldiers of african dissent did not go to europe just to fight to help america win. They fought to help their citizens win in america. And that didnt happen. And thats why this term called the new negro came about. Yes. You know, the new negro, the phrase came about about 25 years earlier. But it was an intellectual and economic new negro. Most of us know the new negro from 1919. That was an aggressive new negro. He was the one that was embolden after fighting on the battlefield and family members and friends were also embolden to make sure what we went to fight with to make the world safe for democracy was also going to make america safe for democracy. St thats why we have the quote with a. Philip randolph. Georgia was a metaphor for america. I would rather make georgia safe for democracy when pre