St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1953-11-06
Jim Crow Is
Ending In Our
U. S. Army
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expedition and the capture Of
Santiago. The Cavalry received
applause for it's timely interview
ticn In the hot conflict AT San
Juan Hin, some newspapers cx-
panding the facts TO claim they
rescued Teddy Roosevelt's Rough
Riders. The allegation never be-
came a major controversy, unlike
a number that ragged after that
war, since the Negro cavaIrymen
themselves modestiy denied II.
General Orders No. /. issued
July rs 1898. by our Army in
Cuba paid this tribute TO the Me-
gro soldiers In this campaign.
Where all did 30 well II is inn
possible by special mention to do
justice TO those who have borne a
special part. But OF certain un-
usual features mention cannot be
omitted, namely a regiment Of
coiored troops. who. having shared
equally In the hcroism as well as
the sacrifices. have voluntarily en-
gagged in nursing yellow fever pa
TENTS and burying the dead"
The First World War gave this
country It's initial experience with
real mobilization since the Civil
War. The government. forced TO
take a hard look At its manpower
cupboard, saw that the Negro eIa-
ment OF our population represent
ed a huge manpower reservoir
that could not be neglected. To
ignore tenth OF the nations po-
tential soldiers was patiently i'm
possible.
Selcctivc Service
Seiective Service replaced the
"conscription' OF 1868, Many
thousand OF Negroes were drafted
for the vastly expanded U. s.
Army. while voluntary recruit.
inb met the Nays and Marine
Corps relatively small manpowcr
requirements. Thus the Army was
the only service confronted with
a ftill-sixed racial problem" It's
coiorcd recruits were segregated.
as they had been by "jim crow
laws In civil life, mostly into SER
vice units differed. largely. but
not entirely by white men. The
few colored combat outfits formed
had a much higher proportion OF
Negro officers.
Struggling with the sudden
huge scale expansion. the Army
was unprepared for the additional
burden Of assimilating thousands
OF Negro "selectees'' into It's
ranks. Segregated units were. as
rule. organized for rear-area tasks
of the strong back" variety.
Though only few Negro combat
ant units were organized, search
of official records proves that
they performed well, fatty con-
tradicting an unfavorabic con-
temporary press, United states
newspaper disparagement OF our
Negro soldiers was strange be-
havior for n nation which had her
aided the exploits OF the French
senegalese. Yet native sons OF
the Negro race had to await their
justification by objective histor.
ians. less biased than the press OF
the day.
The only all Negro division. the
e2nd. was officially commende~
by General Pcrshing (2s January
1919 at lie Mans, Francel as Sec
ond to none In it's record" The
first all Negro artillery brigade.
the i6Tth was warmly praised by
It's white regular Army command
err. General shcrburne. Four Me-
gro infantry regiments joined
French divisions with whom they
saw intensive action, Two. the
367th commanded BY Colonel
James A. Morse, a white officer
with a distinguished record, and
the 36eth formerly the 18th N.
~ won the Croix De Guerre as
units The latter won ia individ-
uai decorations and suffered i.i0o
battle casualties Another. the
3T2nd, received the honor OF hav-
ing the French government erect
monument 10 its valor.
However, the Army failed 10 de-
velop anywhere near the FUN
combat potential OF It's Negro
troops in the First World War.
White officers who had served
with Negro units were regarded
as "unfortunates": their expert.
ence As an ordeal One such. COM
mander OF Negro field artillery
hattaiiont which never went over
seas), said his greatest trouble
was preventing his enlisted men.
fresh from the deep South. where
they had never been permitted
any responsibility, from selling all
movable property 10 nearby (us-
uaily whitel civilians for liquor
and ready cash.
Soldier Jokes
A bumper crop of Jokes about
colored soldiers was harvested
Typical was the one about the
n~s~1r