FROM HEROES TO HANGED MEN: African-American Soldiers in WWI (Part Two of Two)

This article was first published November 21, 2018 

For the African American Community, the violence of January 6, 2021, the vitrolic hatred by white nationalists, is not a new phenomena.  At every mark of progress we've made, the violent, homicidal rantings of those who want to "keep us in our place" have tried to push us down.  The Red Summer of 1919 is just one horrific moment in history where this occured. And still we rise.

On 11 November 1918, the armistice went into effect. The war was officially over.  Like white American soldiers, African American troops celebrated their contribution to the victory. Over 5,000 African American soldiers had died on the battlefields of Europe.  France paid them all the highest of honors with the Croix de Guerre. Expecting to be welcomed home as heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon their return.

White Americans were afraid African Americans would return demanding equality in employment and housing.  They were heroes only to France.  Many white Americans launched a frenzied campaign of violence to “keep the Negro” in his place. 

Lynching, which had gone on since slavery was suddenly on the rise. During the summer and fall of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America.  Fifty-eight lynchings of African Americans were reported in 1918, with another seventy-seven reported in 1919.  The summer of 1919, witnessed so much violence again African Americans it was called “the Red Summer.”

Omaha Courthouse September 28, 1919 lynching and burning of 40-year-old African American Will Brown 

Most of the victims of this racial violence were veterans.  Veterans were singled out. Some men were lynched while still wearing their uniforms. Sadly, they were not just victims of lynching.  Some were shot or beaten. Others were even burned alive.  

African American veterans were explicitly targeted because they were men trained to kill,  representing the greatest threat to white supremacy.   The African American veteran’s success in the war and experience with equality in France were unacceptable to white America.  To them, this represented far too much freedom for the African American race.  

White society, particularly in the South, felt it was necessary to emasculate African Americans to keep them in their place.  Men who fought on the battlefields of Europe and returned home as heroes realized they might have helped change part of the world, but not America.  It was still the segregated, oppressive racist place it was before they volunteered, risking their lives for a country that did not want them. A century has passed, and the freedoms these men fought and died for, still elude African Americans today.

Learn More about the role African Americans played in World War I and their lives in France.

Ma Belle Vie à Paris - My Beautiful Life in Paris

Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, but I left mine in Paris.  While we all sit in quarantine to keep ourselves and others safe, I am in San Francisco looking at videos and photos of Paris on lockdown.  The streets are void of people but filled with my memories. 

Paris has always been a “visible feast” for me.  People always asked me: “Why do you love Paris so much?”

A  closed Cafe de Flore on Paris' Saint-Germain-des-Pres
Photo: PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Beyond the incredible friends, I am so blessed to have made there, the City of Light is a piece of my soul.  I tell them, “When I’m in Paris I dream in color.  I walk an inch off the ground.  My spirit lights up with creative energy I seem to only have when I’m there.

Now, I look at the photos of empty streets, and I remember sitting in that café, shopping in that store, taking that walk.  Memories are flooding washing over my heart and sometimes leaking from my eyes.

I have a beautiful life in Paris that I look forward to touching again.  But for now, I am feasting on beautiful memories as I quarantine in the "City by the Bay" - San Francisco.

My First Apartment – 10 Rue de Nesle, 75006

Entry into my Courtyard

A friend had arranged a rental for me.  It would be for three months and if I was lucky, even longer.  I had extensively researched the neighborhood before arriving and I was excited to check out some of the places I had found.  

When I arrived in Paris, it was October 2001, the customs agent looked at my passport and said, “I am sorry for America’s loss.” 

It surprised and warmed me to hear him offer condolences for September 11^th.  I grabbed a taxi and handed the driver a paper with the address typed on it.  My French was très mauvais (“very bad”).

My garden studio apartment!

Rue de Nesle is a very narrow street and supposedly cars were not allowed, even though I saw many going up and down the narrow little passage, so the driver dropped me and my many bags at the corner and I needed to walk in.  Mind you three months in Paris meant a LOT of bags and I could not figure out how to get them all to the apartment without making two trips, risking the bags I left behind being snatched.  

But this nice guy jumped up from the café, grabbed the extra bag, and gestured for me to lead the way.  The first of many Paris experiences, an unhelpful taxi driver, and a helpful gentleman.

Patricia LaPlante Collins

My friend, Patricia LaPlante Collins, who sadly passed away in 2019, was waiting in the apartment to give me the keys and show me how everything worked.  I was not listening because I was too busy taking it all in and trying not to sob with joy.  

It was everything I needed.  It was perfectly situated a short walk across Pont Neuf to the Louvre in one direction and the famous St. Germain des Pres in the other.  The home of Richard Wright, the café’s frequented by James Baldwin, Chester Himes, and Langston Hughes; just steps from my door and part of my neighborhood.

My first morning awakening in the apartment I went to the kitchen to make coffee and I burst into tears.  I just kept saying “Thank you, God, thank you God, thank you, God!”  I got “happy” and started to dance as I chanted.  From the age of six, living in Paris has been my dream, and there I was my dream beginning.

Until I can get back home to Paris, I shall embrace my memories, call my friends, and count my blessings.  I have a beautiful life in Paris that keeps me hopeful, keeps me happy, and keeps me dreaming.

This is the beginning of my journey, but to learn more about the 

history of African Americans in the City of Light, 

be sure to watch the one-hour documentary by Blue Lion Films.

Learn More about the role African Americans 

played in World War I and their lives in France.

Le Prince Noir de Paris - The Black Prince of Paris

Living the Dream

When you meet Joseph Langley, the first thing that captures you is his smile. He is a man filled with so much joy it fuels his many talents. When he was just a kid, he fell in love with the language, the art, and the culture of France.  Since making his life here he has become as iconic a fixture of Paris as Josephine Baker!  Just a slight exaggeration!

Joe's journey to Paris began when he spent a year in Dordogne as an exchange student, then participated in a Study Abroad program in Montpellier. Following his studies, Joe found his way to Paris where he has lived for the past 30 years.

Joe's talent and determination are what allowed him to live his dream of living in Paris. He has been a teacher, waiter, and sales representative, among other professions, before getting back to his passions as a painter, poet, and jazz singer.

Photo by Stéphane Renard "Soundcheck"

With the world confined to their homes due to COVID 19, Joe has been expressing his emotions through his art. One series in his "Confinement - Solidarity Series", are 8 Pastels on Paper.  

With a minimalist style, and the use of basic and primary colors, Joe's work is meant to celebrate solidarity; a moment of cooperation between two people.  

Even more special than the art itself is his reason for this particular group of creations.  He wanted to gift the pieces to his doctors and their staff who have supported him over the years.  

"It is my way of saying 'Thank You' to them all!" He exclaims with his bright smile.  

Joe is indeed savoring the good life of Paris, and he is grateful and joy-filled with life.  When we all make it through confinement, you can bet Joe will be running toward his next projects.  One of which is voiceover work for the next installment of "Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Lights" a documentary series on the history of African Americans in Paris by David and Joanne Burke of Blue Lion Films.  But we'll visit him again when we talk more about that project.  

To watch the free streaming of "Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Lights", go to https://www.africanamericansinparis.com/.  You can enjoy a free "Learn on Lockdown" streaming of the documentary through April 30, 2020.

To see more of Joe's art and music at 

https://www.facebook.com/Joseph-Langley-201116656592404/ (Artwork)

https://www.facebook.com/Joseph-Langley-Music-130482067027924/ (Music)

March 1, 1940 - Birth of a Classic - Native Son by Richard Wright

On March 1, 1940, Richard Wright's (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) Native Son was released to critical acclaim. Now, 80 years later it is still one of the most significant and emotional tomes about the plight and pain of African American life in The United States.

Native Son has always drawn controversy.  For some African Americans, it hit too close to home; exposing the raw emotions felt from centuries of oppression, racism, and discrimination they do not want to remember. For others, he voiced with precision the pain and frustration that filled them with anger. 

As a 'native daughter' of Chicago, Native Son was required-reading in high school.  Born in 1955, I grew up in Bigger's Chicago, so his experiences and emotions hit close to the bone for me.

A historic marker in Natchez, Mississippi, commemorating
Richard Wright, who was born near the City

I entered high school in 1968, just months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  I entered high school a militant, eventually sporting my Angela Davis natural, and shouting "Black Power".  I was excited when our reading lists included books such as "Black Voices" and "Native Son".  

 Wright was born at Rucker's Plantation, in Mississippi. His father was a sharecropper and his mother was a schoolteacher.   His parents were born free however both sets of his grandparents had been born into slavery.  Wright said this upbringing in Mississippi and his time in Tennessee shaped his view knowledge of racism in America.  Wright moved to Chicago at the age of 19, later living in various US cities before finding his way to Paris in 1946.

Plaque commemorating Wright's residence
in Paris, at 14, rue Monsieur le Prince.

In Paris, his circle of friends included French writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. as well as fellow expatriate writers Chester Himes and James Baldwin.  His relationship with Baldwin however, ended after Baldwin published his essay "Everybody's Protest Novel" criticizing Wright's portrayal of Bigger Thomas.

Wright became a French citizen in 1947, Wright and lived the rest of his life in France.  He died in Paris on November 28, 1960, the age of 52 and was interred in Le Père Lachaise 

While many books fade to obscurity, Native Son continues to shed light on the lives of Black folk and the oppression, racism, and discrimination we continue to endure. With the improvements in race relations that have taken place, however, Native Son still exposes the sorry treatment today of not just African Americans but all people of color.

Powerful - still.  Relevant - still. Painful - still.

The World Today is a Mess

Little Donna Hightower - Citizen of the World

Donna Hightower in Paris
circa the 1950's- photo by Eddy Wiggins

Donna Lubertha Hightower also known as “Little Donna Hightower”, was born December 28, 1926, in Caruthersville, Missouri. Growing up, she enjoyed listening to Ella Fitzgerald and other legendary jazz artists, but it was never her dream to become a singer.  By the age of 23, she had been married and divorced with two children.

She had been working in a diner in Chicago, when Bob Tillman, a reporter with the Chicago Defender newspaper, heard her singing.  This lead to bookings as a singer at the Strand Hotel and eventually a recording contract with Decca Records where she recorded her first single, "I Ain't In The Mood", in 1951.

During the 1950s she recorded, often accompanied by the Maxwell Davis Orchestra and she toured the US, with the stars like B. B. King, Johnny Mathis, Della Reese, and many others. By 1958, the invitations to perform and tour dried up, so she took a job with a music publishing company in New York where she would record demonstration records of new songs.  This led to a recording contract with Capitol Records and established her international career.

1964 in Europe

In 1959, she moved to Europe, living first in France, then Belgium finally settling in Madrid. In 1971 she won the Costa del Sol International Song Festival, then in 1972, She recorded “The World is a Mess Today” which sold over one million copies worldwide and was a major hit in France where she would perform to sold-out audiences.

In 1990, she returned to the United States to live in Austin, Texas where she was active in the Austin Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. In 2006 she performed at a jazz festival in Spain.  It was her last performance before her death on August 19, 2013, in Austin in 2013 at the age of 86. 

# # #

Host A Screening of African Americans in Paris

Paris Noir -African Americans in the City of Light, a one-hour documentary by Blue Lion Films, tells that outstanding story of pioneering men and women who found liberté, egalité and fraternité (freedom, equality, and brotherhood) abroad, that they did not find at home in America.

Paris Noir has options for hosting, from educational viewing to screening as a fundraiser.

Choose a screening option that meets your needs:

High definition DVD to host and promote a single community film screening, INCLUDING Skype talk with one of the filmmakers, can introduce the film, the answer questions during a post-viewing Q&A. Includes 10 copies of the companion book African Americans in the City of Light for sale to your attendees.  $250.00.

High definition DVD to host and promote a single community film screening, PLUS one of the filmmakers attend your screening, introduce the film, then answer questions and facilitate a community building exercise after the film. $500.00- + Lodging

Option for multiple screenings is available.  Contact us for more information and pricing.  

Increase your fundraising potential!  Additional books available to sell at your event, or separately to raise funds for your organization. 

Books must be ordered by the organizer in advance. Shipping cost is additional.

The organizer keeps 100% of the revenue from the sale of books. Discounts apply as follows:

10 -19 books = 10% off

20 – 29 books = 20% off

30 or more items = 25% off

For more information or to schedule a screening Email:

info@africanamericansinparis.com
AfricanAmericansinParis.com

Eddy Wiggins - The Lost Historian

Recently a friend introduced me to an incredible book.  Printed in French, and unknown to many, "Eddy Wiggins: Le Noir et Le Blanc", is a loving tribute to a man who captured African Americans in Paris, Gilles LeRoy, published a beautiful book of photographs that would have been lost forever.  Lost, like the history of this man who documented so many incredible moments of African American's in Paris.

Eddy Wiggins in Paris

Eddy Wiggins was born in the Jim Crow South in1904 in Mississippi.  It was a time of racial violence against blacks by white supremacists, but also important gains for African Americans.  In 1904 Mary McLeod Bethune that today is known as Bethune-Cookman University, while Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, the first Black psychiatrist, was heralded as a pioneer in Alzheimer’s disease research. There were many other significant first, but there was far more violence. 

At the age of eighteen, Wiggins took off for Chicago hoping to escape the violence in the South and sought to work odd jobs.  But by 1933 fed up with the lack of opportunities, and racism that also existed in the North, he left for Paris, never to return. 

In Paris he worked as a journalist for various American magazines, serving as a jazz correspondent.  This gave him access to all the legendary artists from America and France.  He was able to engage with them backstage in concert halls such as the Olympia, or during more casual moments at dinner, bars or the home of friends.  He captured, the spirit of freedom experienced by African Americans in Paris far from shores of segregation in America.

Louis Armstrong at Haynes Restaurant
(LeRoy Haynes in white tee-shirt)

But while he was able to capture and document the history of African American freedom in Paris, his own history seems to have faded into the past.  In his later years Eddy, almost blind, lived in solitude and poverty.

"Eddy Wiggins: Le Noire Et Le Blanc"
Text by Gilles Leroy; Published by Naive

Denis Trinez, a Trinitarian priest and Member of the Association of the Little Brothers of the Poor, cared for him until his death. Denis maintained possession of Eddy’s pictures and prints a collection which represents the essence of his work.   The collection was given to the Atelier des Épinettes, which Denis Trinez had founded to help AIDS patients. Now part of BASILIADE Eddy’s collection was published in a book published by Naïve, "Eddy Wiggins: Black and White", with a preface by Gilles Leroy.  Sale of the book helps to raise funding to support BASILIADE.  Ironically the photographic work in the BASILIADE collection is all the remains to tell the story of this African American genius who captured the spirit of freedom in Paris far from discrimination in the United States.  Now his work helps others who are often alone and in poverty as they fight against AIDS and the stigmatization it often brings upon them.  We may not have much of his history before his death, but he lives on in the aid his photos provide for others.

# # #

Host A Screening of African Americans in Paris

Paris Noir -African Americans in the City of Light, a one-hour documentary by Blue Lion Films, tells that outstanding story of pioneering men and women who found liberté, egalité and fraternité (freedom, equality, and brotherhood) abroad, that they did not find at home in America.

Paris Noir has options for hosting, from educational viewing to screening as a fundraiser.

Choose a screening option that meets your needs:

High definition DVD to host and promote a single community film screening, INCLUDING Skype talk with one of the filmmakers, can introduce the film, the answer questions during a post-viewing Q&A. Includes 10 copies of the companion book African Americans in the City of Light for sale to your attendees.  $250.00.

High definition DVD to host and promote a single community film screening, PLUS one of the filmmakers attend your screening, introduce the film, then answer questions and facilitate a community building exercise after the film. $500.00- + Lodging

Option for multiple screenings is available.  Contact us for more information and pricing.  

Increase your fundraising potential!  Additional books available to sell at your event, or separately to raise funds for your organization. 

Books must be ordered by the organizer in advance. Shipping cost is additional.

The organizer keeps 100% of the revenue from the sale of books. Discounts apply as follows:

10 -19 books = 10% off

20 – 29 books = 20% off

30 or more items = 25% off

For more information or to schedule a screening Email:

info@africanamericansinparis.com

Lieutenant from the Talented Tenth

The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth...

- W.E.B. Dubois, September 1903

Lt. Thomas J. Bullock, of Wilmington, circa 1917. 
Property State Archives of North Carolina.

Approximately 350,000 African Americans served in World War I.  Due to the racial hatred, and discriminatory attitudes, their tour of duty was a very different experience than that of white soldiers.  The military leaders felt African American were inferior and intellectually incapable. Thus, African Americans were relegated to labor intense inferior positions. 

About 22,000 of these soldiers came from North Carolina including Thomas J. Bullock.  Thomas J. Bullock, of Henderson NC, was one of the first African American Soldiers to receive a commission.

After a military career that included service in the war with Spain, and the 25^th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines, Bullock enrolled at Lincoln University and graduated in 1911. He worked as an educator for five years but returned to service during rising tensions with Mexico.  He joined Company M of the 15^th Regiment New York National Guard in October 1916. When the war broke out in 1917, Bullock’s military experience and advanced education made him a prime candidate for the first and only World War I cycle of officer candidate school for African American soldiers. Sergeant Bullock was one of 1,250 African Americans who began the class and came out in the top ten percent of the 650 who ultimately graduated and received commissions.

Bullock, now a 2^nd Lieutenant decided not to return to the famed 369^th Infantry, aka, “Harlem Hellfighters.”  Instead, he reported to the 367^th Infantry of the 92^nd Division.  The Division received advanced training in Bourbonne-Les-Bains, France, and later relieved American and French troops in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges towards the end of August. When they arrived, the 92^nd and thirteen companies took up a position in the front-line trenches to hold the line against the Germans angry at the recent loss of Frapelle. 

The officers of the 367th Infantry on September 4, 1918, minus Lieutenant Bullock,
who was killed in action two days before this photo was taken. Property National Archives.

On September 1, the Germans advanced upon the portion of the line held by the 367^th.  Bombarding the 92^nd Division with mustard gas and shells.  The Germans were beaten again by the American troops but the following morning, 34 African American soldiers were wounded, and 4 were dead including Lieutenant Bullock. He was the division’s first officer killed in combat. He was forty years old.  Lieutenant Bullock was buried in La Chappelle, but in 1921, his family had his remains moved to his home to Wilmington where he’s buried beside his wife, Cleopatra. and his father in law George Cleapor in the Pine Forest Cemetery.

# # #

Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light is the most comprehensive and compelling documentary existing on the remarkable migration of pioneering African Americans to France and the impact both cultures had on each other.

Available to rent or buy via streaming on Vimeo.  

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parisnoirdocumentary

Buy the Book! 

An 83-page museum-quality Film Companion Book with scores of high-quality photos, engaging text, plus augmented reality content that delivers additional film and footage. Includes a list of recommended reading and media plus sources of archival material. This book excels as a valuable stand-alone resource or a comprehensive extension of the documentary.

https://www.africanamericansinparis.com/flipbook