Comparing the Experiences of Women and African American Soldiers During WWI
The Hello Girls and African American soldiers both experienced opportunity and faced adversity during the WWI era.
African American men had opportunities to serve in the military throughout American history, but they did not receive equal treatment whether in the service or on the homefront. There are many examples of this in the readings from Module 3, especially in The Crisis by W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois includes a document titled “Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops,” which essentially listed rules for how French soldiers should interact (or not interact) with African American troops. The document encourages the French to “prevent the rise of any pronounced degree of intimacy between French officers and black officers… We cannot deal with them on the same plane as with the white American officers… We must not eat with them, must not shake hands or seek to talk or meet with them outside of the requirements of military service…” The document also tells French troops that “...we French are not in our province if we undertake to discuss what some call ‘prejudice.’” In general, French troops were encouraged by this document to perpetuate discrimination against African Americans, though the French were much more accepting than Americans of all races within their country. It was later discovered that this document was created by Americans and was later destroyed by the French, but was likely circulated widely before it was destroyed.
Upon returning home after the war, African Americans did not receive a warm welcome. The United States was still unprepared to treat African Americans equally, regardless of their service in the war. Du Bois outlines this in The Crisis when he writes, “This country of ours, despite all its better souls have done and dreamed, is yet a shameful land. It lynches… It disenfranchises its own citizens… It encourages ignorance... It steals from us… It insults us… We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting.” Many African Americans returned to the states having fought for the freedom of others, and ready to fight for their own.
For women, new opportunities were emerging during WWI. Elizabeth Cobbs writes about the Hello Girls, women who had experience serving in the military, in her book, The Hello Girls. Women were recruited to operate telephone switchboards because of their experience in doing so on the home front. It was more efficient to recruit women who knew the job and could do it quickly, rather than teach soldiers how to perform the same tasks. It was out of this necessity that new opportunities for women were created.
Though women performed essential tasks on the front lines, they were not quickly recognized for their contributions. In our webinar, Elizabeth Cobbs addressed the lack of recognition that women serving in WWI endured. For example, the British did not allow women to salute or be saluted, which is a way of recognizing rank. American women also did not receive military benefits, military burials, or pensions upon returning home after the war. Essentially, women performed dangerous jobs in the middle of a war zone and received no credit for it until many years had passed. Even tough recognition was not likely the reason women joined the war effort, these women deserved to be given the respect that other soldiers were given during and after the war. This was also the opinion of women such as Merle Eagan and Lindy Boggs, who fought for military benefits, military burials, and pensions for female members of the military. Eventually, just this year in 2018, the Hello Girls’ Congressional Gold Medal Act was passed, officially recognizing the efforts of the women who risked their lives to keep communications open during the war.
Overall, both women and African American men put their hearts and souls into the honor of serving their country, but both were not given credit for their efforts in a timely manner. Over time we have begun to realize the contributions of the two groups, but this was not the same America that women and African Americans re-entered after WWI. African Americans still faced lynching, discrimination, and segregation, and women still faced inequalities and had to continue to fight for their right to have a voice in American government, regardless of their sacrifices. Though there was great adversity, both groups continued to fight for equality and their efforts have led to great, yet gradual, changes.
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