True sons of freedom

The experience of African-American soldiers in World War I shaped the struggle for racial justice

The 15th Regiment of the New York National Guard became the 369th Infantry Regiment attached to the French Army – and returned home as one of the most decorated U.S. units of World War I. (National Archives)

The 15th Regiment of the New York National Guard became the 369th Infantry Regiment attached to the French Army – and returned home as one of the most decorated U.S. units of World War I. (National Archives)

(The American Legion) When Delaware artist Edward Loper Sr. was a young man, “there were certain kinds of black men who I admired and they were the kind of black guys who…came out of the first world war. They had self-respect ….”

Often forgotten today, these veterans were pivotal figures in the modern civil-rights movement who fought valiantly to break down racial barriers within the military and at home. Returning home with their heads held high, they inspired the next generation of black servicemen to continue the struggle against racial discrimination.

At first glance, the challenges that African-American men faced in the World War I-era Army seemed almost insurmountable.

Upon the U.S. declaration of war in April 1917, all existing eight black National Guard infantry regiments quickly filled to capacity with volunteers. As a result, over 96 percent of the 367,710 African-Americans who served during the war were conscripted by local draft boards staffed by white men. Blacks eventually formed 13 percent of the wartime Army, even though they represented only 10 percent of the civilian population. (more)

‘We Can Be a Better Country If We Know These Stories.’ The Complicated History of African Americans in the Military

African-American U.S. Army nurses arrive in Europe in 1944. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

African-American U.S. Army nurses arrive in Europe in 1944. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

(Time) There are as many different kinds of war stories as there are people who have been called to fight. There are inspirational war stories, gruesome war stories, sad war stories. But in all of them, necessitated by the very nature of war, there’s some kind of sacrifice. Understanding those sacrifices and why they were made can change the way we see the whole history of war – and of ourselves.

At least, that’s how NYU professor and journalist Yvonne Latty sees it. Her father was a veteran, but it was not until after his death, as she worked on the 2004 book We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, from World War II to the War in Iraq that she was able to reframe the stories he had told her during her childhood. She came to understand more deeply how the sacrifices made by African Americans who had served in the U.S. military affected the opportunities that she herself would have in civilian life. She also saw how that deeper understanding could change the way she, and other people of color, saw the world. (more)

Black photographers and the civil rights struggle

Photo by LittlejohnTwo photographers captured a different side of the African-American experience during the Civil Rights struggle

(Aljazeera) RC Hickman and Calvin Littlejohn were two African-American photojournalists working during America’s civil rights era who managed to capture a different side to Black life than usually depicted in mainstream media presentations of that time, both then and now.

Both worked locally, Hickman covering Dallas while Littlejohn worked in Fort Worth, during lifelong careers serving and documenting the Texan African-American communities in the decades following the Second World War.

That meant spending most of their time photographing the likes of weddings, parties, civic involvement, church life, high school homecomings, thriving businesses and family gatherings.

As a result, their body of work is different compared to most of the white photographers who flew in for the civil rights marches and protests at the time and then returned to the American media hubs in San Francisco or New York.

Through their work, Hickman and Littlejohn present a wide-ranging but rarely seen visual social history of African-American life during the civil rights era.

“Their photographs bring the people and the world they lived in out of the shadows of the past and memory,” says Don Carleton, executive director of the Dolph Briscoe Center of American History at the University of Texas at Austin, which houses the Hickman and Littlejohn photograph archives. (more)

Belton’s black newspaper disappeared quickly

The Freedom’s Journal mural can be found outside the offices of the Dallas Weekly, a newspaper that reports on events in the African-American community. (Library of Congress)

The Freedom’s Journal mural can be found outside the offices of the Dallas Weekly, a newspaper that reports on events in the African-American community. (Library of Congress)

(Temple Daily Telegram) The Belton Elevator is gone with no trace of it remaining in the county.

The Elevator was one of hundreds of small, independent newspapers owned and published by African-Americans from the late 19th century and on through the mid-20th century.

A cryptic single paragraph in several white-owned newspapers announced the Elevator’s arrival in October 1897: “The latest candidate for public favor in Belton in a newspaper way is the Belton Elevator (with) A.M. Mason and W.H. Anderson, editors. This is a colored people’s paper, and the editors who are negroes say it is being published for the elevation of the negro race.” (more)

TIPHC Bookshelf

White Metropolis book coverPublished scholarship on black history in Texas is growing and we’d like to share with you some suggested readings, both current and past, from some of the preeminent history scholars in Texas and beyond. We invite you to take a look at our bookshelfpage – including a featured selection – and check back as the list grows. A different selection will be featured each week. We welcome suggestions and reviews. This week, we offer, “White Metropolis – Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001,” by Michael Phillips.

From the nineteenth century until today, the power brokers of Dallas have always portrayed their city as a progressive, pro-business, racially harmonious community that has avoided the racial, ethnic, and class strife that roiled other Southern cities. But does this image of Dallas match the historical reality? In this book, Michael Phillips delves deeply into Dallas’s racial and religious past and uncovers a complicated history of resistance, collaboration, and assimilation between the city’s African American, Mexican American, and Jewish communities and its white power elite.

Exploring more than 150 years of Dallas history, Phillips reveals how white business leaders created both a white racial identity and a Southwestern regional identity that excluded African Americans from power and required Mexican Americans and Jews to adopt Anglo-Saxon norms to achieve what limited positions of power they held. He also demonstrates how the concept of whiteness kept these groups from allying with each other, and with working- and middle-class whites, to build a greater power base and end elite control of the city. Comparing the Dallas racial experience with that of Houston and Atlanta, Phillips identifies how Dallas fits into regional patterns of race relations and illuminates the unique forces that have kept its racial history hidden until the publication of this book.

This Week in Texas Black History

Feb5

On this day in 1840, the Congress of the Republic of Texas passed the Law of February 5. Though there were relatively few free blacks in the republic, legislators concerned over the status of slavery attempted to restrict further the number of free blacks. The law declared that all free blacks who had entered Texas after the Texas Declaration of Independence must leave the republic within two years or be declared slaves for the rest of their lives. Those free blacks who were already in the republic before Texas independence would continue to have all the rights of their white neighbors. Provisions were made for free blacks who entered later to petition the Congress for exception.

Alfred Masters

Alfred Masters

Feb5

Alfred Masters, the first African American sworn into the U. S. Marine Corps, was born on this day 1916 in Palestine, Texas. Masters was sworn into the marines June 1, 1942. After his swearing in, he trained at Montford Point, North Carolina where other African Americans were later trained (now known as the Montford Point Marines). Masters eventually rose to the rank of technical sergeant.

Melvin Tolson

Melvin Tolson

Feb6

Melvin Tolson, writer, educator, and poet, was born on this day in 1898 in Moberly, Missouri. A graduate of Lincoln (Mo.) University, Tolson began teaching speech and English at Wiley College in 1924. His award-winning debate team, which in 1935 beat the reigning national champion from the University of Southern California, had a 10-year winning steak between 1929 and 1939. Tolson also mentored students such as James L. Farmer, Jr. and Heman Sweatt. In 2007, his story and his team were portrayed in the film, “The Great Debaters.”

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Feb7

On this date in 1926, historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the son of illiterate slaves, initiated the first National Negro Week. In 1972, it was renamed Black History Week and in 1976, it became Black History Month. Said Woodson: “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”

Juanita Craft

Juanita Craft

Feb9

On this date in 1902, civil rights activist Juanita Craft was born in Round Rock. She worked as a maid in Dallas at the Adolphus Hotel from 1925-1934 before joining the Dallas branch of the NAACP in 1935 and beginning several decades of service. She helped organize 182 branches of the NAACP in Texas and in 1944 was the first black woman in Dallas County to vote. In 1946 she was the first black woman deputized in the state to collect the poll tax. Craft also served two terms on the Dallas City Council (1975-1979).

Dr. Lawrence Nixon

Dr. Lawrence Nixon

Feb9

Dr. Lawrence Nixon was born on this day in 1883 in Marshall. Nixon had a successful practice in El Paso where he was a charter member of the city’s branch of the NAACP. In 1923, Nixon challenged a state law that barred African Americans from participating in the Texas Democratic Party’s white’s only electoral primaries. Nixon won two U.S. Supreme Court rulings making the primaries unconstitutional. However, it would be another 20 years before the white primary would finally be abolished.

Blog: Ron Goodwin, Ph.D., author, PVAMU history professor

Ron Goodwin’s bi-weekly blog appears exclusively for TIPHC. Goodwin is a San Antonio native and Air Force veteran. Generally, his column addresses contemporary issues in the black community and how they relate to black history. He and the TIPHC staff welcome your comments.

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Submissions Wanted

Historians, scholars, students, lend us your…writings. Help us produce the most comprehensive documentation ever undertaken for the African American experience in Texas. We encourage you to contribute items about people, places, events, issues, politics/legislation, sports, entertainment, religion, etc., as general entries or essays. Our documentation is wide-ranging and diverse, and you may research and write about the subject of your interest or, to start, please consult our list of suggested biographical entries and see submission guidelines. However, all topics must be approved by TIPHC editors before beginning your research/writing.

We welcome your questions or comments. Please contact Mr. Michael Hurd, Director of TIPHC, at mdhurd@pvamu.edu.