Good evening. First of all, thank you, all, for coming out on this rainy evening. I know its a little bit of a channel. I think its going to be well worth 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 world war i and the shaping of the modern black identity. Published by smithsonian books, we return fighting is a collection of essays that chronicle the experiences of men and women who serve 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 decades away, world war i established important questions of citizenship that paied the way toward future progress. We are fortunate to be joined tonight by uty director and editor of we return fighting which includes outstanding scholarship and images and the images are really very powerful of american