From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 14
In Pursuit of Democracy
Answering the Call to Fight
 The Selective Service Act
 U.S. entered World War I in April 1917
 Selective Service Act passed in May 1917 with
no racial restrictions
 African Americans disproportionately represented
in draft
 Fewer blacks received exemptions based on marriage,
children
 Racism in armed forces undeniable
 Black men rejected for officer’s commissions
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Answering the Call to Fight
 The NAACP
 Responded to “whites-only” policy in the Army’s
officer training camps
 Became part of organization’s civil rights agenda
 Pushed for establishment of black officers’
training camp
 Some critical of push for Jim Crow training camps
 Blacks eventually commissioned starting in
Des Moines, Iowa, in October 1917
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Answering the Call to Fight
 Emmett J. Scott
 Appointed special assistant to Secretary of War;
charged with giving advice on matters relating to
African Americans in the war
 Urged equal and impartial application of the Selective
Service Act
 Formulated plans to raise black soldiers’ morale
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Jim Crow Military Camps
 Locating Training Camps
 Training of black soldiers in domestic camps
problematic because white communities did not
want a large number of black men in their midst
 Rampant Discrimination
 Black troops faced discrimination from the Army
and the civil agencies that served it
 Also faced hostility from white civilians
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Jim Crow Military Camps
 African Americans Fight Back
 Response to riot in Houston in August 1917
enraged African Americans and shook their faith
in their government
 Black Fifteenth New York Infantry mistreated
while in training in Spartanburg, South Carolina
 Prevented from retaliating; eventually sent to Europe,
becoming the first contingent of African American
troops to reach the Western Front
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Service Overseas
 The 369th
 African American troops among first combat
forces to go overseas
 From July1918 on, the 369th saw almost
continuous action against the enemy
 The 369th first and longest serving regiment
assigned to support a foreign army
 Other African American Combat Units
 370th, 371st, 372nd United States infantries all
fought valiantly
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Black American “Buffalo” soldiers of the
367th infantry, 77th Division, in France
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Decoration of African American Soldiers
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Service Overseas
 German Propaganda
 Leafleted black troops of the Ninety-Second
Division urging them to desert U.S. Army,
promising liberty, democracy, equality
 Slander Campaigns
 Black troops severely criticized if suffered defeat
 Became brunt of slander campaigns
 Cultural Experiences
 Most combat units had their own band
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Lt. James Reese Europe
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Women’s war work
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Service Overseas
 YMCA and YWCA in France provided services
for black soldiers’ comfort
 Had better opportunities to move about and
socialize in France than in the U.S.
 Coming Home
 Some whites worried that habits developed in
France would be detrimental to interracial
stability when black troops returned home
 All troops enthusiastically received upon return
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Service Overseas
 Wilson’s Contradictory Positions
 No African colony, including Germany’s
colonies, received independence after war
 Wilson criticized by Du Bois
 “Has the world forgotten Congo?”
 In light of continued colonialism, peace rhetoric
angered many African American leaders
 Encounter of African Americans, Caribbeans,
and Africans during war fostered dialogue of
common oppression and racial destiny
 Pan African Congress held in February 1919
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On the Home Front
 African Americans Support the War
 Blacks joined domestic war effort
 War bonds; production and conservation of food
 Curtailing Civil Liberties
 Patriotic fervor led to curtailment of civil
liberties and stifling of dissent
 Silencing Dissent
 Racism conflated with nationalistic zeal and
wartime intolerance
 Black protest believed to be work of outside saboteurs
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On the Home Front
 Many hesitated to articulate nonconformist ideas
 Those who opposed war came under attack
 At same time, black press came into its own
 Encouraged blacks to move to industrial centers to
find work; protested racist incidents; led fight for
integration
 Black Exodus
 Thousands of African Americans moved from
South into northern cities
 Both economic reasons and social considerations
played role in exodus
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On the Home Front
 New Opportunities
 Migration gave blacks new opportunities in
industrial employment
 The National Urban League
 Helped newly arrived blacks adjust to life in
northern industrial cities
 Employment in Industry
 African Americans organized several unions
 In 1917, AFL encouraged workers of all colors to
present a common front to industry
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New Jobs for
Women
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On the Home Front
 Riots and Lynchings
 Outbreaks of racial injustice damaged morale
that was briefly buoyed by stories of black
wartime valor
 Fifty-eight African Americans lost their lives to
lynchings in 1918
 Racial clashes in both North and South continued
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