Henry Clarke was inducted into the army after he completed his Ph.D. in musicology at Harvard University. In this letter he writes of having heard a talk about Black veterans of World War I (1914-1918). African Americans were allowed to serve only in segregated units of the United States military during the First World War. The Black lecturer recounted his first-hand knowledge of the staunch patriotism of African American soldiers. He told the story of standing beside a young soldier in St. Nazaire, France, and watching an American ship headed for home. The lecturer remembers that the man “wept and declared if he ever got back to the U.S.A. he would never leave it again.” The speaker later learned that soldier’s father had been lynched years ago.
Clarke, Henry Leland. WWII letter on African-Americans. February 9, 1944. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l06-058/. Accessed on November 10, 2024.
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