The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-05-07

Today the Daily Worker prints the last
of series of three articles, compiled by the
editorial board of the LiberstOr, exposing the
facts of the shameful discrimination practiced
against Negro soldiers during the last impe-
rialist war-a discrimination that ranged from
Jin-Crow rest-roon1s and mess-halls to brazen
and brutal Iynchings and massacres Of the Me-
gre workers and toilers in uniform.
The Daily worker asks ex-serviceInen, both
Nesro and white and all workers, to send us
additional facts which we shall print
Article III (ConcIusiOn)
IN Yesterdays article we saw how Negroes were,
] as q rule. kept from command Of troops and
prevented from becoming officers. Today we will
consider how Jin-Crow practices we're applied
IN the U. s. Army during the war, with the
backing OF the War Department.
Draft Boards Give First Dose of Discrimination
-Four hundred thousand Negroes served in the
World War The selectiye draft law operated in
such a way as to make for straight-out dis
elimination, The Negroes furnished considerably
more than their share TO the army. While they
constituted only lot per cent of the population,
they we're forced to furnish 1873 per cent OF the
inductions into the army. Negro married men
with large families were forced into the service,
while white men who were single and without
dependents were exempted (These white men
were, Of course, not workers, but as rule rich
mems sons with a pullp
Negro Soldiers Did Dirtiest Work
The Negro troops were assigned to the dirtiest
Jobs in the army, and this was done in the
systematic army manner. Only 20 per cent of
the Negro troops drafted were trained for COM
bat service The enormous majority were placed
in such regiments as stevedores, labor battahons
etc. At Camp Lee, Virginia, hundreds Of Negro
draftees, many OF them college graduates were
assigned-each and every one OF them-to steve
dore regiments and labor battalons The men
in these labor battalons were forced to take the
place Of dock workers at $50 month and were
in addition made to pay graft to the white Of
ficers in the form of company allotment funds,
etc. Thousands Of Negroes who were trained il
the United States for combat service, were .se-
duced in France and placed in labor battaions.
Jim-Crow Practices in the Army
Jim Grow was the rule in the arrny-Jim-Crow
in quarters, mess-halls, equipment, social life.
in most cases this Jtn-Crow was open and
frank, and was originated or backed up by orders
from commanding officers.
The Negro soldiers were tin-crowed from the
beginning Of their army life 1t is an unwritten
army custom to assign soldiers to the camps
nearest their homes This, however, would have
meant the concentration of Negro soldiers in
Southern camps Violent protests came from
u. S. senators and governors from the South,
and from local Chambers of Commerce. There
fore many colored troops were sent North, with
inadequate equipment, TO suffer a severe winter
pneumonia took terrible toll among the Negro
troops in the North. In one camp it was a custom
TO drag Negro soldiers, frozen to death, out of
their beds for hasty burial Whenever there
was a shortage Of food and clothing in the
camps, the Negroes were the ones to suffer.
Every effort was made to prevent Negro and
white officers from mingng. In Camp Hum
phrey, Virginia, Though which $4,000 Negro
soldiers passed, they were not allowed to use the
barracks and mess halls until after the arrnis-
tce, when the white soldiers had been discharged.
Meanwhile, they had to use leaky tents. Special
provisions were made SO that the Negro and
white officers would not eat together. At Brest,
a memorandum issued by the commanding Of
fcer Of Zone proclaimed mess hours for COL
ored officers TO be one hour earlier for break
fast, one hour later for noon meal and one hour
alter for supper The Negroes got tents where
the white got barracks. The Military Police
were especially brutal TO the Negro soldiers The
Negroes were generally refused passes even for
the most serious emergencies. There was a gen.
eral system Of Jim-Crow in the Y M G. AS
Red Cross huts rest rooms and mess halls In
France, orders we're issued in many places to
prevent Negroes from entering French homes
General Erwin of the END Division, issued order
No. 90, that Negroes should not speak to French
women; under cover Of this order, the M. P's
made countless arrests.