was war time image colour blind
TRANSCRIPT
‘Black French troops and African American’s both
experienced a colour blind war’ discuss
Tom Hammond (MA History) Course: HIST6108
Tutor leader: Dr Joan Tumblety
The outgoing US president Obama commented that America is “a nation, a people, who remember
our heroes”1. The white house played host to a ceremony to illustrate such sentiments. The
President presented the congressional medal of honor for the individual in question. This ceremony
was unlike many witnessed before, the recipient hero had been deceased for just under a century. If
one was to head to the Washington park in Albany, you would find a Bronze bust atop of a granite
column settled amongst the gentle oaks of the green. The bust is of an African American soldier
adorned in an American First World War tunic on who’s chest is pinned the French Croix de Guerre,
France’s highest order of bravery (first American to do so). However, the chest is decorated
incorrectly and has been for decades until a ceremony on June 1st 2015. Sergeant Henry Johnson was
awarded America’s highest merit for bravery by Obama, for his heroic efforts in repelling “a surprise
attack by a dozen German raiders. With only a knife, he single-handedly held off the enemy,
preventing the capture of a wounded fellow soldier”2.
Henry Johnson was chauffeured during New York’s victory parade in 1919, receiving the jubilation of
a crowd mesmerized by his feats during war time. Only a decade later, he died alone in his early
thirties during the great depression from Myocarditis in slum like hospital in Washington DC. He had
only received a military pension far below the equivalent of today’s poverty line. He was
systematically forgotten and unjustly not recognized by the US military and government until the 21 st
century, owing to structural racism and prejudice in American military and government. Henry
Johnson had been a member of the Harlem hell-fighters, a German awarded name for the all black
369th Infantry from New York. During the war, they had been attached to the French 161st division on
the western front. These young black Americans donned the French Adrian helmet; fought along
side both white and colonial troops; received French citations and medals; as well as being buried
along side their French comrades. The extent of the French progressive treatment of black troops is
limited. Both government’s, societies and militaries’ treatment of black and colonial troops was
dubious throughout every stage of a soldier’s narrative of the ‘war to end all wars’. But to what
extent can we draw an absolute parallel between the two? The hope of the coming essay is to argue
that, even with some unforgiving aspects of policy and opinion, the French treated her black warrior
servants with more respect and decency than their American allies’ government, army and society.
In the first section, the intention is to discuss and evaluate whether the war time images of black
soldiers were ‘colour blind’ in the sense of their activities in war and peace generated their persona
or was it the racial preoccupations of Allied soldiers and citizens that manufactured it? It is easy to
1 Shear, Michael D., 'Two world war I soldiers Posthumously receive medal of honor', U.S., 3 June 20152 Ibid.
conclude that Colonial troop’s involvement in the war fighting ‘le boche’ helped generate a more
positive perception of West Africans by 1918. Initially, the image was typical of the time’s racial
prejudices against colonial subjects, mostly African ones, across Europe- not just France. The war, to
an extent, aided black American and Colonial troops from a French perspective, earning them a
column of respect from their imperial and white overlords. The war changed little for the American
theory on racial image, as returning troops faced the same legislature and social discrimination
preceding 1917.
There was preliminary excitement and intrigue for the West African troops coming to Metropolitan
France following the outbreak of war on the continent. Henri Barbusse, for instance, in his novel Le
Feu, described Moroccan soldiers as follows: “They are imposing and even frighten a bit. Of course
they are heading for the front line. This is their place, and their arrival means we are about to attack.
They are made for attacking.”3
This initial enthusiasm and fascination for colonial troops gave way to common racial prejudices
causing genuine fear and anxiety towards newly arrived troops in France, especially in Southern
French towns such as Midi where majority of new coming Africans were stationed. Africans were
“often portrayed as war like and ferocious in combat, said to have scant regard for their own lives
and to to be merciless towards defeat enemies”4. These preconceptions could be justified due to the
early combat exploits of colonial soldiers in the opening years of the war. For example, at the battle
of Flanders, French colonial troops served with ferocious
3 Barbusse, Henri: Le Feu. Journal d'une escouade, Paris 1916, pp. 48-49. 4 Lunn, Joe H., 'Changing french perceptions of west African soldiers during the First world war', French Colonial History, i, 1 (2002) 2
distinction during the clash, notorious for their ability to assault German trenches and close combat
capability.
Both the images above illustrate the common perception of the horror of African troops during the
early stages of the war. The one on the left comments about the black Adrian wearing Senegalese
soldier “With reason, the Boche found them worse than anything living”, cementing the image of
racial fear for both German troops and for the public that was exposed to these images in France.
From the German perspective, it was a common view to hold about African troops. In German
propaganda, colonial troops were labelled with all sorts of racist expressions that negated their
quality as regular military forces. Even the liberal sociologist Max Weber complained that “an army
of niggers, Ghurkhas and all the barbarians of the world were at Germany’s borders”5. The nature of
use by French commanders of Black colonial troops changed their image by war’s end. Throughout
the war, African soldiers were used as ‘shock troops’, with the perceived ability to win close quarter
hand to hand combat within the first line of enemy trenches. Even though being deployed in this
way earned the respect of many French military witnesses, these tactics were based on ethnic
discriminations and must not be ignored. “A senior officer responsible for West Africans’ training the
camp of Fréjus wrote in a letter in January 1918 that African soldiers were “cannon fodder, who
should, in order to save whites’ lives, be made use of much more intensively.”6 Though war time
explicit pictures along ethnic lines negatively portrayed Africans as savage, accounts of the time
show that this ‘savagery’ and ‘warrior instinct’ of colonial West Africans made them widely
respected in France. “When West African troops arrived in France, the public enthusiastically
welcomed the tirailleurs senegalais as exactly the kind of fighters France needed. ‘Cut off their
heads!’, shouted one from the crowd to an arriving contingent”7. The widespread colour blindness of
the French people was echoed by the military officials with Mangin praising the “fighting spirit of the
2,000 Somalian soldiers whom he called true Ghurkhas”8. These sentiments continued throughout
the war as French politicians sustained to sing the praises of colonial troop’s merits.
5 Weber, Max: Russlands Übergang zur Scheindemokratie, in: Hilfe 23 (1917), p. 279.6 Koller, Christian, Colonial military participation in Europe (Africa) (The International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, 2016),7 Keene, Jennifer, French and American racial stereotypes during the first world war (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001) 267 8 van Galen Last, Dick, Black shame: African soldiers in Europe, 1914-1922, ed. by Ralf Futselaar (London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) 75
When the fortunes of African troops were based on their skin colour during the war, many leading
French generals felt repercussions and were often dismissed because of this. A prime example is one
of the ‘butcher’ Mangin. The cost of life by the German counter attack at Champagne, with up to half
of all deployed African soldiers killed, led to Mangin’s removal from his post. This is a stark contrast
from the common historiographical analysis of the subject helps us evaluate that French command
valued the lives of black soldiers as that of white. This is due to the fact that “By the summer and fall
of 1918, troops of color had nonetheless secured a reputation of being excellent soldiers. The proof
of the French high command’s respect can be seen in a proposal to create an Armée Noire after
war.A rapid reduction of European French troops was anticipated and West-African troops could fill
this gap. It was also argued that the use of black troops was economical
Besides practical economic considerations, French military authorities also
wanted to use West-African Tirailleurs because they believed these men were
shock troops par excellence”9. In his leading work Race and war in France, Richard Fogarty argues
that the legacy of France’s war and her colonial fighting subjects removed the colour lines of French
universalism and what was to be ‘French’. He states that “fighting and dying in the struggle against a
common enemy associated troupes indigenes intimately with the French nation- for many in France
there could be no greater sign of devotion to the nation than participating in its defence in those
years of critical need”10. The reality of this claim is true if one compares the situation to America. The
image below shows members of the 1st Senegalese Tirailleurs regiment receiving the Croix de
Guerre with four palms, the very essence of honour and respect in the French military. This was
awarded in a ceremony in 1919 at the court of honor, the heart of French recognition to the
devotion of its citizen and subjects. In stark contrast, this was a time of widespread lynching and race
riots in the United States. France not only ignored color as defining a man’s merits but awarded
honours to all troops that served her as French universalism would award equal rights to every
citizen.
9 Ibid. 7910 Fogarty, Richard S, Race and war in France: Colonial subjects in the french army, 1914-1918 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) 2
11
America:
One is easily drawn to the conclusion that white Americans attempted to retard the racial image of
both African American troops and Colonial ones, strengthening further that the French were colour
blind throughout the war. Parallel to the initial welcome by French citizens to African troops, black
American troop’s held a positive image with their hosts. A local townswoman observed the coming
of black American troops to her town, commenting that “the inhabitants are not only convinced that
there is nothing of the savage about these men but on the contrary no soldier could be found who
was more correct”12. In comparison, white American officers and soldier’s racial prejudices
attempted to blur both the civilian and military reflections on black troops. Lt colonel Paul Clark, an
American liaison officer to the French army, stated to a French colleague that “the black man is more
animal than we white men and is less likely to observe some of the conventions of war”13. Further to
11 Memento - Colorized photos (2016), <https://www.facebook.com/mementocolores/> [accessed 7 December 2016] 12 Keene, Jennifer, French and American racial stereotypes during the first world war (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001) 26913 Paul clark to Gen. Pershing, Paul H. Clark papers, library of congress. (June 5 1919) 329
their own perceptions of African American troops, members of the white American military and
political elite produced the ‘secret information concerning black troops’ phamphlet, warning French
officers (that had ignored the racial colour lines and absorbed black American troops in their army)
that is it important for officers who have been called upon to exercise command over black
American troops, or to live in close contact with them, to have an exact idea of the position occupied
by Negros in the United States”14, further commenting that “the French public has become
accustomed to treating the Negro with familiarity and indulgence. This familiarity and indulgence are
matters of grievous concern to the Americans”15 Woodrow Wilson sent the public servant Robert
Moton to inspect black American troops and to find whether these racial prejudices were justified. In
complete contrast of the ‘dangers’ warned by some in the American military to their French host,
Moton’s report “found that the rape charges [against black soldiers] were seriously exaggerated, as
well as the accusations of cowardice among black units.16. Secret information rattled on to say that
the French should not “commend too highly the Black American troops, particularly in the presence
of White Americans”17 as well as “in moderate terms sticking to the truth”18 Racial images that were
contested by Moton’s report also didn’t wash with the majority of the French high command. DuBois
in the Crisis, stated that once “the French ministry heard of the distribution (of Secret information)
of this document among the prefects and sous-prefects of France , they ordered such copies to be
collected and burned”19 Ignoring the advice of many of white American officers, The French
commander “Henri Gouraud continued to praise black units who served effectively and to award
them the Croix de Guerre.” By the end of the war, 171 black American soldiers were awarded the
French Legion of Honor”20. The decade following 1918 would generate another utter insult to the
image of heroics of individuals such as Henry Johnson and the exploits of the famous Harlem hell
fighters. The US military command’s obsession with the prejudiced image of black American troops
continued to dominate decisions after 1918. For example, “Six years after the war ended, the entire
Army War College student body and faculty produced a study at the request of the Army Chief of
Staff. Titled “The Use of Negro Manpower in War,” this report was signed by the College
Commandant, a Major General. The study asserted that blacks lacked initiative and resourcefulness
14 The crisis, de buoise 15 the crisis, de buoise 16 Onion, Rebecca, A WWI–Era Memo Asking French Officers to Practice Jim Crow With Black American Troops, <http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2016/04/27/_secret_information_concerning_black_troops_a_warning_memo_sent_to_the_french.html> [accessed 13 December 2016]17 the crisis deboiuse 18 the crisis, de boise 191919 IBID. 20 Richard Slotkin, Lost battalions: The great war and the crisis of American nationality (New York, NY: Henry Holt & Company, 2005). 199
and concluded that although black soldiers made “fair” laborers, they were “inferior” as technicians
and fighters”21
Through the comparative study of war time image, one can be easily drawn to the conclusion that
the war had taught only the French to ignore colour when judging the merits of a man. Yes, early
years of the conflict if anything had accelerated the prejudice levels due to the increased contact
with locals, but as the war progressed, respect replaced prejudice. The war did nothing for African
American image. The black fighting units of the US forces were highly decorated. But their fighting
qualities were ignored and discarded following the war due to racial perceptions of the time. In
testimony to the French, they were decades in front of their allies in terms of colour blind imagery.
Figure 1: Febuary 17th, 1919
This image shows a white Army officer (bottom right) saluting the passing parading troops, one can
easily argue that this wasn’t an illustration of respect to the black individuals but to the victorious
nation’s flag. Though the man himself may not have been an active member of the institutional
racism that occupied the racial policy of the US military, it is a mere indication of a hollow victory for
the African-American community returning home from the Western front. Even in their decorated
manner, this jubilation of victory would fog racial prejudices for a short while. Upon returning to
21 Gropman, Alan L., 'Book review: The American foreign legion: Black soldiers of the 93d in world war I', Armed Forces & Society, iv, 32 (2006), 671–673
Harlem, the sectary of state for New York John Lyons commented that “no American soldiers saw
harder or more constant fighting and none gave a better account of themselves (in France)”22 .Not all
returning soldiers received this sense of lasting gratitude. On the surface at least, returning to the
North was a stark improvement to the fate of many in the South.
What though the hero warrior was black?
His heart was white and loyal to the core;
And when to his loved Dixie he came back,
Maimed, in the duty done on foreign shore,
Where from the hell of war he never flinched,
Because he cried, “democracy,” was lynched.
Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)23
“The black draftee from Georgia” is the literacy illustration of a nation that majority of America’s
black soldiers returned to in the Southern states. Wilbur little, a black American serviceman,
returned home to Blakely to find a group of white men at the station warning him not to wear his
service uniform. Due to his public defiance, the group lynched him several days later. Clifford’s poem
written in 1922 was to commemorate not just Little’s memory but of all coloured American
servicemen that experience ‘white backlash’ succeeding 1918. The Black American community’s
valiant soldiers were a population still under political and physical attack from their White
compatriots and socially constrained by Jim crow laws. The war had changed nothing. Little’s
lynching was one of many assaults by an ungrateful white populace (mostly southern) on a black
population that was sold a lie by government that service in the European theatre of war could aid in
their struggle of freedom in the United States. The historian Vincent P. Mikkelsen eloquently codifies
the situation in 1919 America for African American troops: “After almost three years of deadly
combat in Europe, the United States formally entered World War I, and among those who fought
were over 380,000 African American soldiers who, despite their lack of democratic rights at home,
were willing to make the greatest sacrifice for their country. Serving in the military provided the
perfect opportunity to define one’s own worth and epitomized racial pride, citizenship, and
manhood. Unfortunately, even after serving on the Western Front, equal rights were still withheld.
22 Fifth avenue cheers Negro veterans, New York Times, 18 February 1919, pp. 1–5
23 Davis, David A. “Not Only War Is Hell: World War I and African American Lynching Narratives.” African American Review, vol. 42, no. 3/4, 2008, pp. 477–491. www.jstor.org/stable/40301248.
Following the armistice, uncertainty loomed as to how racist whites, especially in the South, would
treat the returning black soldiers. The question was: Would a man who had just faced death in
Europe continue to accept Jim Crow”24. The political and social landscape would have been different
had the rhetoric of John Lyons been echoed across the states. American politicians, such as
statesmen James Vardam, demonstrated the condemnation by Washington of the fate of African
American’s status following the war, stating that “African American soldiers trained to kill whites to
be a greater threat to the US than the Germans”25. The very base of this new found respect to some
African Americans had come under attack from the very establishment that granted the opportunity.
Even though Black Americans had distinguished themselves during the war, their future military
worth had been racially decided. “Six years after the war ended, the entire Army War College
student body and faculty produced a study at the request of the Army Chief of Staff. Titled “The Use
of Negro Manpower in War,” this report was signed by the College Commandant, a Major General.
The study asserted that blacks lacked initiative and resourcefulness and concluded that although
black soldiers made “fair” labourers, they were “inferior” as technicians and fighters. Black officers
were evaluated as lacking courage and the mental capacity to command. Worse, the black “soldier
[the study stated] utterly lacked confidence in his coloured officer.” Most damning of all, the study
concluded that “in physical courage it must be admitted that the American Negro falls well back of
the white man and behind all other races.”26. Through the decades following the First World War,
black colonial soldiers in the colonial army continued to serve with distinction and held a prominent
position in the military. A common sight of the bastille parades of the early twentieth century were
colonial units from Africa, marching alongside their white counterparts of the common uniform.
Unlike their American allies, there was Legislature attempts by the French government to raise the
status of black combatants from the status of subject to that of French citizen. Therefore, there is a
distinct difference in experiences between returning black soldiers to their home countries, be it the
United States or metropolitan France. The tune had changed for many prominent French statesman,
with prominent politicians echoing similar sentences POLITICIANS and colonial rights.
Due to lack of white support, the energised black America following the first world war took it upon
themselves to generate legal change towards their rights. These notions lead to cultural and political
movements such as the New Negro and Harlem Renaissance – to become a “an image of a defiant
24 Vincent P. Mikkelsen. “The Journal of African American History.” The Journal of African American History, vol. 97, no. 3, 2012, pp. 330–332. www.jstor.org/stable/10.5323/jafriamerhist.97.3.0330. 25 not only war is hell JSTOR article. 490. 26 Gropman, Alan L., 'Book review: The American foreign legion: Black soldiers of the 93d in world war I', Armed Forces & Society, iv, 32 (2006), 671–673
racial identity”27 in an white America wholly ungrateful for the sacrifices of many of her second class
citizens. The energy of this new renaissance black America found a home nestled amongst the more
open and cosmopolitan Paris of the inter war period. The Montmartre suburb of the city become the
beating heart of Paris’s introduction to the new Jazz era as many leading musicians such as Arthur
Biggs spread their energy for the music in the sanctuaries of clubs such as Bricktops. Unlike Afro
Americans returning home to their roots in the Southern United States, many of the colonial west
African troops returned to their respective colonies to find a radical change in social status. The
article, World War I Conscription and Social Change in Guinea, by Anne summer provides sufficient
evidence to the notion that the great war contributed to social mobility throughout one of France’s
West Africa Colonies. Summer argues that All things considered, it had been anticipated that in
Guinea, returning troop’s loyalty to the French empire was to be strengthened through their shared
struggle. The French governor made observations during his tour of a province in Guinea that “They
come back demanding a job as an agent or a guard. They are always hanging about the Poste, always
wearing their military uniforms. They are parasites and get angry when one cannot give them all
jobs, claiming that they were promised jobs like this before they left France.... Their indiscipline is
notorious and we have to intervene continually to restore order, but we must not be too severe with
them. Why not group them in their own villages with their own chief, or perhaps just place them
under the direct authority of the commandant de cercle? There are going to be an awful lot more of
them coming home soon and their dispersion all round the interior could have explosive
consequences-not only because of their new mentality but because they are privileged-they pay tax
but they are exempt from prestations”28. The elevated expectation of French colonial subjects, now
turned citizen, was due to the ‘colour blind’ nature of French legislature during and succeeding the
war. It is easy to conclude from government sources that the upper echelon of French society – the
legislature – was motioning towards equalling the social and political rights of her colonial black
servicemen. In complete contrast to the United States, prominent members of the house of deputies
stated from the early stages of the war that “it is an obligation for France to seek to compensate the
indigenes who fight for her, or who, simply but loyally, have fulfilled their military duty. The highest,
noblest recognition that France can perceive is to offer what she considers most precious, that is to
say, French nationality”29
A more harrowing perspective of this conflict was the ultimate price payed by those holding the
status of servant to their white masters. A study by “Joe Harris Lunn, analyzing annual casualty rates
27 Not only war is hell – 477 (printed it off) 28 Ibid. 2829 Proposition number 280 - “the accession of the former military colonial subjects to the status of French citizen” by Albin Rozet, Chamber of deputies (1/4/1915)
of West Africans, concludes that the probability of a West African soldier being killed during his time
at the front was two and a half times higher than that of a French infantryman”30. This alone truly
represents what it meant for a black soldier to be a member of this conflict, being torn from their
homes to fight an enemy they knew nothing of and exposure to. The transition stage from colonial
subject to European citizen was spurred by blood, death and fear, paid for by the bravery of France’s
savior soldiers. Credit to the French If contrasted to the Americans, at least there was a degree of
appreciation to her black soldiers. That a man’s color was not the defining fact of his merits and
color lines should be disregarded for the greater good of France. Without being too critical and
insulting to the American efforts of the First World War, the help that nation gave Britain and France
was tarred with this image of acute Racism. Some of America’s most decorated units of the war
were solely Black, and their efforts were insulted by a toxic ideology of a white population too racist
to appreciate the efforts of black Americans fighting for a false promise. Thus, one must conclude
that being Black and fighting in a French uniform would have been a degree better along the lines of
colour blindness if one was to compare that to the Afro-American experience.
Word count: 4000
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