Relationships With the French
THE relationship between the colored soldiers, the colored welfare workers, and the French people was most cordial and friendly and grew in sympathy and understanding, as their association brought about a closer acquaintance. It was rather an unusual as well as a most welcome experience to be able to go into places of public accommodation without having any hesitations or misgivings; to be at liberty to take a seat in a common carrier, without fear of inviting some humiliating experience; to go into a home and receive a greeting that carried with it a hospitality and kindliness of spirit that could not be questioned.
These things were at once noticeable upon the arrival of a stranger within the gates of this sister democracy, and the first ten days in France, though filled with duties and harassed with visits from German bombing planes, were nevertheless a delight, in that they furnished to some of us the first full breath of freedom that had ever come into our limited experience.
The first post of duty assigned to us was Brest. Upon arriving there we received our first experience with American prejudices, which had not only been carried across the seas, but had become a part of such an intricate propaganda, that the relationship between the colored soldier and the French people is more or less a story colored by a continued and subtle effort to inject this same prejudice into the heart of the hitherto unprejudiced Frenchman.
We had gone to this city under protest, because we felt that since there were only three colored women in France among approximately 150,000 colored soldiers, that our first duty should be to the men at the front, who were without doubt suffering the greatest hardships. But we were told that in this city there was a great need, and that we had better serve out a probation here, before being sent to the more arduous tasks at the front.
Imagine our surprise, then, at being told immediately upon our arrival, that there was no need for colored women in that section; that the colored men were too rough; that they were almost afraid to locate a man among them, to say nothing of a woman. We were permitted to tarry, however, a few days, during which time we discovered a colored Chaplain, the Rev. L. C. Jenkins, of South Carolina, who immediately made us welcome, and arranged for us to talk to his men. They were much grieved when they were frankly told of the reputation that had been given them, and assured us of every consideration and courtesy if we were permitted to remain among them. Every effort was put forth to get the office to change its decision concerning us, but to no avail. In due time, we made our return trip to Paris.
In talking with the soldiers, however, and ultimately with the French people, we were told that the story of the roughness of the colored men was being told to the civilians in order that all possible association between them might be avoided. They had been systematically informed that their dark-skinned allies were not only unworthy of any courtesies from their homes, but that they were so brutal and vicious as to be absolutely dangerous. They were even told that they belonged to a semi-human species who only a few years ago had been caught in the American forests, and only been tamed enough to work under the white American’s direction.
Another ten days in Paris was filled with more duties, and more opportunity for contact with the French people. We met again the first colored woman to arrive in France, and at her suggestion and guidance, went to a small hotel in the rue d’Antin, where very few Americans were located. Here the proprietor and all his assistants were smiling and courteous, ever ready to make one comfortable, and to give all necessary information and many helpful suggestions.
At this time we were assigned to the 92nd Division, in the Haute Marne region, but the great July Offensive started, making it impossible for us to get through the lines, so we were told, and we were finally assigned to St. Nazaire. Here we were very happy to have the opportunity to go where we could have the association of our co-worker, who had gone there as the pioneer colored woman for that section.
Here, as elsewhere, the French people had been informed as to the shortcomings of the colored Americans, and among other things had been told that they were incapable of becoming officers, and leading their own people. In October, 1918, thirty-three colored Lieutenants of Artillery landed at this port. Upon meeting them on the street, the writer informed them of this false impression, and requested them to show themselves in the business and residence sections of the city. In one shop the proprietor immediately turned to a white officer, and remarked that these men wore the identical insignia that he had seen on many other officers, and that he would thank some one for an explanation. When these same men entered the French Artillery School, near Vannes, they were forbidden to attend entertainments where it was thought they would in all probability meet the French people.
Literature was gotten out through the French Military Mission and sent to French villages explaining how Americans desired the colored officers to be treated; that they desired them to receive no more attention than was required in the performance of their military duties; that to show them social courtesies not only would be dangerous, but that it would be an insult to the American people. The literature was finally collected and ordered destroyed by the French Ministry.[4]
In one city, the soldiers informed us, colored Americans were confined to certain streets in order that their contact with the French people might have all possible limitations.
Following is a copy of an order gotten out, and a duplicate preserved:
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BATTALION,
804th Pioneer Infantry,
A. E. F., France.
Warcq, France, March 20, 1919.
Enlisted men of this organization will not talk to or be in company with any white women, regardless of whether the women solicit their company or not.
By Order of Captain Byrne.
A True Copy,
S/L/D/
This propaganda was spread from the streets of the large cities to the topmost peaks of the Alps Mountains, away up among the little shepherd girls, who knew nothing except what others came up to tell them. “Soldat noir-vilain,” they remarked to the writer one day, while she sat down to gather strength to finish her trip to the little chapel whose ruins stood on the highest pinnacle; even their minds had been poisoned with the thought that “black soldiers were villains.”
These little shepherd girls dwelt in a portion of France that was used for a Leave Area. In the beginning both white and colored soldiers found rest and pleasure in visiting the historic and picturesque region about Challes-les-Eaux and Chambery, but later it was set aside by the Y. M. C. A. for colored soldiers only. Naturally the inhabitants were much amazed to find that they were not being molested in any way, and toward the close of the work the different impressions that were being gathered by the French people became almost a constant topic of conversation. The teachers and proprietors of the hotels came often to converse, and some of them helped gratuitously in the performance of our duties. Many of the children came to play upon the lawn of the Y. M. C. A. at Challes-les-Eaux, where the writer had charge of the woman’s work for a period, and the mayor came as the official representative of the town, to assure us of all good wishes and sympathetic greetings; while the mayor at Chambery gave out a public invitation for the colored people to return to France and become a part of their civilization.
Often the staff of secretaries at Challes-les-Eaux would be invited to dinner, especially at the hotel Chateaubriand, where the hostess and her daughter, dressed and smiling, amidst a bower of flowers, opened their hearts again and again concerning their entire satisfaction with the conduct of our soldiers, and how different they were from their original representation. They had received instructions before their coming as to just the manner in which they should be treated, but they not only found no cause for such instructions, but found many characteristics in the colored men which were a pleasure and a delight.
During the victory parade in Paris, no colored Americans were permitted to participate, notwithstanding the fact that numerous individuals as well as organizations had been cited or decorated for bravery. This the French people were not able to understand, but in due time they learned that it was all due to the American policy of discrimination. They gradually discovered that the colored American was not the wild, vicious character that he had been represented to be, but that he was kind-hearted, genteel and polite. One could frequently hear the expression, “soldat noir, tres gentil, tres poli” (black soldier very genteel, very polite); this characteristic appealed greatly to these people who have always been noted for their innate politeness.
The French women were especially kind and hospitable to their dark-skinned allies. The writers had the pleasure of living in one French home for nearly nine months. Here they were treated with all courtesy, respect, and almost reverence. One of them became ill, and was sick unto death for nearly five weeks, during which time the hostess called in her own family physician, administered the medicine, and nursed her as if she had been her own child.
Friendly Intercourse with the French
1. Group of Colored Officers visiting French family. 2. Mayor, hotel proprietors and teachers at Challes les Eaux fraternizing with Colored Soldiers and Y. M. C. A. Secretaries. 3. Group of French Students taken with Colored Soldiers resting while on a hike.
When the French women learned that the Americans were trying to control the social intercourse of their homes, they deeply resented it. At one time the 92nd Division had issued the following orders:
HEADQUARTERS, 92nd DIVISION,
A. E. F.
Le Mans Area, Mienne, France.
December 26, 1918.
The special duties with which military police are charged are:—
(A) To insure order and proper behavior by enlisted men at all times....
(E) To prevent enlisted men from addressing or holding conversation with the women inhabitants of the town.
(F) To prevent enlisted men from entering any building other than their respective billets with the exception of stores, places of amusement and cafés.
By Command of Brigadier General Erwin.
G. K. Wilson,
Chief of Staff.
Official:
(Signed) Edw. J. Turgeon,
Major, Infantry, U. S. A.
Adjutant.
When this matter came to the attention of the women of the city, the leaders among them formed a committee and waited on the French Mission with the statement that they were mistresses of their own homes and morals, and knew with whom they wished to associate, and did not desire American officers to interfere with their social affairs.
Following is an extract from a letter written by a French girl to a young man who was located in the camp where the writer gave her longest period of service:
LE GUERANDAIS
Allee des Bouleaux, La Baule.
October 21, 1918.
Dear Mister:—
Your kind letter was welcome. I understand them very easily without my dictionary, and I thank you very much for the kind feelings you express me. Be not anxious about my health, I have recovered now.
I was very touched by all the sympathy you have showed me on this occasion, and I was surprised of it, very agreeably. Thank you for your friendship, I am happy to give mine in exchange, because I know now what is your hard condition. I have spoken to white men, and always I have seen the same flash (lightning) in their angry eyes, when I have spoken them of colored men. But I do not fear them for myself; I am afraid of them for you, because they have said me the horrible punishment of colored men in America. As I am a French girl I have answered, “It is not Christian.” I am full of pity for your unhappy condition, more still when I think you are very intelligent, and you have quality of the heart more than many white men....
When a colored man goes in the house of a white girl, the policeman wait for him and kill him when he goes away! I have thought this way to do is savage, and it is why I was pitiful for the colored man. But I see you are not unhappy as I believed, and I am glad of it for you....
I should like to express you how much I am revolted of that I have learned of your condition, and how amused I am to have heard many injurious opinions of white men upon ourselves, French women! I write you in English and I cannot express my feelings as well as in French.
Naturally these “injurious opinions” about the French women were resented, not only by the women themselves, but the Frenchmen as well.
The result of this, and other difficulties, was that two or three months before the American soldiers were out of France, it became generally known that the French people were tired of them and wanted them out of their country. The spirit of dislike became so great that sometimes French people were overheard saying that if the American soldiers had on German uniforms, they could not be told from the Huns! And that if they were to judge from their actions it would seem that they had a desire to treat them in the same manner as they treated the colored Americans.
After the signing of the Armistice there were frequent riotings between the American white soldiers and the French people. On the first Sunday in April, 1919, the city of St. Nazaire was changed from a quiet port city into a tumult of discord, during which a number of people were killed and wounded. It grew out of the fact that a white French woman and a colored Frenchman entered a restaurant frequented by American officers, in order that they might enjoy their lunch together. An insinuating remark concerning the woman was overheard by her brother, who understood English, and immediately resented it. The restaurant was demolished in a free-for-all fight, which grew in proportions until the French people mounted a machine gun in the middle of the public square, to restore order.
In the city of Nantes a colored French soldier was shot by an American Military Policeman, under the guise that he thought that the Frenchman was a colored American deserter disguised in French uniform.
During the writer’s period of service at Brest there were ever-recurring conflicts, and Camp Pontanezen was frequently closed and the soldiers not permitted to enter the city. Some of these were said to have occurred because of insults offered to colored Frenchmen. Rumor had it that these riots always resulted in a number of killed and wounded.
In order to substantiate our statement concerning these conflicts, we wish to quote from Sergeant Alexander Woolcott’s article in the October, 1919, issue of the North American Review:*
“Whatever turn is taken by international politics during the next two years, whatever the official post bellum relation between Washington and the government in France, the degree of understanding and the nature of the sentiment existing between our people and the French is going to be of incalculable importance in shaping the twentieth century. It is going to give the true validity to whatever doctrine our ministers may from time to time endorse.
“That is why it is worth while to look back over the A. E. F., and by so doing, to measure and search for the causes of mutual rancor which developed between the French people and our troops—the rancor which broke out here and there in riots, as at Brest; which made the irritated army of occupation lean over backwards in their affability towards the Rhinelanders; which moved Le Rire to some caustic cartoons at the expense of the A. E. F.; and which poured into our astonished ports a stream of returning doughboys all muttering under their breaths a disparagement of the ‘French Frogs.’[5]
“Perhaps it would be well first to consider two rather fixed delusions on the subject. For one thing, stay-at-home Americans have, quite pardonably, come to the easy conclusion that all the rancor could be explained by overcharging.... As a matter of fact, the amount of overcharging was slight, astonishingly slight, when one considers that there were more than two million spendthrift Americans in France, far from home, overpaid, irresponsible, and loose in an impoverished country. It is against the nature of the French peasant or shopkeeper to go in all at once for resourceful profiteering, just as it is against his nature to part lightly with a sou on which he has once laid his thrifty hands. Furthermore, both the French government and the American Army were vigilant in the matter, so that the doughboy was not despoiled with half the unscrupulousness that would have been practised among his own people—certainly no more than is the average lot of the expeditionary soldier, anywhere under the sun....
“Then, too, there was the delusion from which the French government suffered—the notion that the whole source of bad feeling was the friction between the French and American staffs. There was such friction, and during the first few weeks of the Armistice the staff officers of the Third Army were on edge with irritation at the neighboring French command....
“I think that if the dislike developed on one side before the other, the first appearance can be traced to a certain disdain for the French which the outspoken Americans were only too wont to display. To the resulting friction a hundred and one things contributed, of which high prices constituted the least—little things, like the French truck driver’s enraging habit of driving dreamily in the middle of the road; big things, like the French street walker’s unprejudiced habits of accepting the Negro’s attentions as affably as a white man’s.”
——
* By permission of North American Review.
It is interesting to note the comment of an English paper upon the mutual rancor which so unfortunately developed, and which must have some bearing upon the future relationship between the French and the American people. The following significant excerpt is from the London Saturday Review of June 28, 1919:*
“No one at this or any other time should write, or even say things likely to create international ill-feeling, but facts will not be ignored. There are indeed certain truths, which, like mushrooms, grow best in the dark. It is not only absurd, it is also in the long run contrary to international good will, to ignore the fact that Americans are not as popular in Paris to-day as they were twelve months ago. There can be surely no harm in discussing publicly what everyone privately knows....
“At the present moment the Americans are regarded by the ordinary Parisian as a barbarian nation, and the prospects of beholding them rejoice on July 4th, possibly on a large scale, already fills him with apprehension and disgust. The nation which a year ago was the most popular nation in Europe, has become in Paris a burden almost too grievous to be borne. The other evening we heard a lady whose profession brings her into rather close contact with the American soldiers and minor diplomatists in Paris, proclaim amid general assent, that the Americans are at the best children and that at the worst they are brutes. We are not subscribing to this opinion, we are merely recording that it was passed. The Americans could not avoid being unpopular in Paris. The mere fact that they came late into the war, and that the importance of their share in the peace negotiations is out of all proportion to their sacrifices, is in any event a difficult matter to discount or obscure....
“Socially the Americans in Paris are in the position of a man staying in the house of a friend, and forced to behave much as though the house were his own. It is even worse than that. We have to consider that the man who thus stays in the house of his friend, and behaves just as though it were his own, has in effect, a mortgage on the house. We are most of us the debtors of America, and France not least of all. The American army in Paris may almost be described as the man in possession, and there is no possibility of avoiding him. It was an unlucky decision to make Paris an American military headquarters. The wild west sprawls in the restaurants, and patrols the grand boulevards. The American army could no more be popular in Paris than the Canadians could be popular in Epsom. When on top of the military invasion of Paris there came an American delegation 1,400 strong, filling the air with principles and viewpoints, and amusing itself loudly and continuously, not the most civilized president in the world could quite cover with his professional mantle the nakedness of his countrymen.
“All of this would be of merely passing interest were it not for the peculiar position which America will occupy for the next thirty years. What is happening in Paris will happen on a large scale in Europe as soon as peace is signed. During the war America has become the creditor of the civilized world. Her chief problem will be how to spend the money she has made. She is so rich that she has begun to be alarmed for her foreign trade, for it is impossible for Dives to trade with Lazarus unless Lazarus can be induced to borrow the necessary capital to set himself up in business. Whatever ultimate arrangements are made it is fairly clear that America will have more money than she knows what to do with, and that Europe will be, to an extent unknown before, an American playground and Europe will hate it to-morrow as Paris hates it to-day.”
——
* By permission of The World’s Work.
For a period of time many of the colored fighting troops were brigaded with the French troops, which brought them into very close contact with the French life. As has been noted in another chapter, four regiments, those that were to have composed the 93rd Division, became a part of French Divisions of Infantry. It is interesting to note that by far the greatest majority of colored soldiers or organizations that were cited or decorated for bravery were these troops, and that the decorations were with few exceptions French and not American. It is also interesting to note that the regiment from Illinois, under command of colored officers, was awarded 30 Croix de Guerre decorations for officers, and 38 for non-commissioned officers and privates, while only 3 officers received the American Distinguished Service Cross, and 19 non-commissioned officers and privates. These colored officers have many happy recollections of the overflowing appreciation of the French people.
Certificates of good behavior secured by these troops show that the towns and villages through which they passed or in which they were billeted found no cause for complaint; that they came in an orderly manner and left in the same way. The same can be said of the thousands of labor troops and engineers who built the roads, unloaded the ships, laid telephone wires, built warehouses, and handled supplies.
1. French Sergeants fraternizing with Colored American Sergeants. 2. and 3. Colored Soldiers and the French children. 4. Two colored Sergeants visiting in French home.
Finally, we can happily say that it was a pleasure to note that the relationship between the colored American and the Frenchman grew in cordiality and friendliness until a strong, and we hope, lasting bond was established between them. They were made welcome guests in the homes of the wealthy and cultured, as well as in the most humble. The understanding ear of the colored man seemed attuned to the French language, and he learned more quickly than others, it seemed, how to converse with this romantic people. The French people are affectionate and demonstrative, which corresponds to the deep emotional spirit which seems the heritage of the colored American. The colored soldiers were naturally musical, and many of them sang with a wonderful penetrating pathos, or with notes that brought forth joy that was unconfined; others were talented and accomplished pianists. These things appealed deeply to the artistic soul of our French comrades.
The variety of color among them interested the Frenchman much as the light and shade in a picture, or the coloring in the drapery in his store windows, or in the birds that flitted about in his mountain fastnesses. He admired the way they fought, and the way they performed without murmuring their tasks at the dock, on the railroads, or in the warehouses. He loved them because they did all these things with a song of joy, though perhaps with a crucifixion of spirit; and with all earnestness and genuine desire he invited them to come again, that the relationship thus begun might grow in strength and beauty and mutual helpfulness.
Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go: keep
her; for she is thy life.—Proverbs 4:13.