University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2012 Deeds, Not Words: African American Officers oforld W War I in the Battle for Racial Equality Adam Patrick Wilson Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Adam Patrick, "Deeds, Not Words: African American Officers oforld W War I in the Battle for Racial Equality" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 314. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/314 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “DEEDS, NOT WORDS:” AFRICAN AMERICAN OFFICERS OF WORLD WAR I IN THE BATTLE FOR RACIAL EQUALITY A Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in the Department of History The University of Mississippi By ADAM PATRICK WILSON April 2012 Copyright Adam Patrick Wilson ALL RIGHTS RESERVE ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the relatively untold story of the black officers of the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment, the first class of African Americans to receive officer training. In particular, this research examines the creation of the segregated Army officer training camp, these men’s training and wartime experiences during World War I, and their post- war contributions fighting discrimination and injustice. These officers returned to America disillusioned with the nation’s progress towards civil rights. Their leadership roles in the military translated into leadership roles in the post-war civil rights movement. Through their efforts, foundations for the modern Civil Rights movement were created. Through analysis of these men’s lives, the dissertation details how these men returned from war and impacted change in America. They attacked the legality of segregation through both local and national civil rights’ cases, embraced leadership roles in the “New Negro” movement, highlighted the value of educating black youth, and fought to integrate the military. These men served as the vanguard of civil rights fighting first as soldiers for democracy in Europe and returning as leaders determined to defeat segregation and injustice. ii DEDICATION To my family, thank you for all your support and encouragement over the years. Without your love, guidance, patience, and prayers, this dream would have been impossible. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The inspiration to write about the officers of Fort Des Moines came from a fascination I had for the subject while doing a research paper on the role of African Americans in World War I for the University of Tennessee at Martin’s annual Civil Rights Conference. After reading several monographs on the topic, I continually found a sentence or two that referenced the officer training camp at Fort Des Moines as the first facility created to train black officers. Although my paper covered the much broader topic of African Americans in World War I, I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to present that research paper at the conference. Thank you Dr. David Coffey and Dr. Alice Catherine Carls for that opportunity and for your encouragement throughout the years. When I began graduate school, my interest in the officers of Fort Des Moines continued and seemingly the topic sought me out instead of vice versa. In fact, during my first seminar class, I was assigned to read Groundwork, Genna Rae McNeil’s biography of Charles Hamilton Houston, the attorney responsible for the legal strategy employed in the landmark case. Amidst the pages of the book I read about Houston’s experiences during officer training at Fort Des Moines and during World War I. McNeil discovered a quote during her research where Houston claimed that the bigotry and discrimination he faced while serving in the Army caused him to return home following the war and pursue a career in law to fight for his civil rights. I secretly pondered whether or not Houston’s story was an isolated case and began my search for the roles other officers from Des Moines held in fighting for civil rights following World War I. iv This search led me to an article by Dr. Hal S. Chase that explained how the segregated training camp came to be created during World War I. Moreover, while reading through the article, I noticed that Dr. Chase had conducted interviews with several officers. This peaked my interest further and upon the advice of one of my professors I contacted Dr. Chase to learn more about the interviews. From this contact sparked a devotion to seeking out the lives of the men who earned their commissions at the camp. Dr. Chase fanned the spark into flames through his excitement, encouragement, and his generosity. He invited me to visit him and his lovely wife Avril in Des Moines and continue my research there. Thank you Dr. Chase for all your support. Additionally, I would like to thank the staffs of the institutions utilized during my research. These include the helpful individuals and archivists at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Educational Center, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Oberlin College, and Morehouse College. With deep gratitude I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Susan R. Grayzel, Dr. Charles K. Ross, and Dr. Lori A. Wolff. I would especially like to thank Dr. John R. Neff, my dissertation director, for his encouragement, his guidance, and his painstaking efforts and numerous hours spent assisting me in the completion of this dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my family; I dedicate this work to you. To my wife, Jennings, thank you for your encouragement and spending multiple vacations going to archives around the nation instead of somewhere more glamorous. To my brother, Eric, thank you for your support and for the humor we shared that lightened my heart and enabled me to continue working when wearied. Lastly, to my parents and grandparents, thank you for instilling in me a v passion for history at a young age. Thank you for all the trips to museums, battlefields, and historical landmarks. Additionally thank you for motivating me and assisting me in achieving this goal. My deepest gratitude goes to all my family, but I would especially like to thank my father for the hours he spent editing draft after draft of this work. Dad, thank you so much for your willingness to help me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………….. ii DEDICATION ……………………………………………………………………………….. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………….. iv INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………. 1 CHAPTER 1…………………………………………………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER 2…………………………………………………………………………………… 38 CHAPTER 3…………………………………………………………………………………… 59 CHAPTER 4…………………………………………………………………………………… 96 CHAPTER 5……………………………………………………………………………………129 CHAPTER 6……………………………………………………………………………………162 CHAPTER 7……………………………………………………………………………………208 CHAPTER 8……………………………………………………………………………………222 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………238 vii INTRODUCTION When Martin Luther King, Jr. preached his sermon on being a good neighbor, following the example of the Good Samaritan, he stated, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenges and controversy.”1 World War I marked an era in which the measure of African American men was gauged not only by their actions in the international crisis occurring in Europe, the Middle East, and the Balkans, but also through their actions on the home front in fighting segregation, Jim Crow, and inequality. In May of 1917, 1,250 black men—1,000 college graduates, faculty, and men of the black professional class, and 250 noncommissioned officers from the four established black Army units of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry— volunteered for officer training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. These men embarked boldly on the difficult journey of Army training to become the nation’s first class of African American officer candidates to earn their commissions. On October 15, 639 of these men graduated and shortly thereafter many of them joined the Ninety-Second Division boarding ships destined for France.2 1 Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), 35. 2 Emmett J. Scott, Scott’s Official History of The American Negro in the World War (Emmett J. Scott, 1919), 90. 1 Historians have often overlooked the significance of these men earning their commissions when conducting broader studies that examined the military experiences of African Americans in World War I or analyzed black soldiers throughout American history.3 These studies not only neglect the magnitude of the U.S. Government’s break with its practice of refusing black men commissions by its creation of the first black officer training regiment, but they also diminish the importance of this defining moment for the 639 men who, through individual sacrifice and collective effort, graduated and were commissioned into the United States Army—landing a blow against the bigotry and inequality of Jim Crow in the military and throughout America. In honoring the historical achievement of the first African American officer candidate class of 1917, the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center claims, “After completing training, they . went on to lead the 92nd Division against Imperial Germany on the bloody battlefields of France in 1918. Many of those who survived combat returned to America to become leaders in the battle for racial equality.”4 The center fails to comment, however, on the specifics of these contributions. How did they become “leaders in the battle for racial equality”? What specific events in their lives entitle them to this designation? This dissertation seeks to 3 Numerous works mention the establishment of Fort Des Moines as the first officer training facility for African Americans.