An American and Nothing Else: The Great War and the Battle for National Belonging
You’ll Find Old Dixieland in France
Unknown French photographer. Formal half-length portrait of soldier, [ca. 1918].
Two hundred thousand Black American soldiers went to Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces, though only 42,000 served as combat troops. The rest were relegated to labor and supply units— digging ditches, hauling supplies, cleaning latrines, and burying corpses. Once in France, one of the all-Black combat units was largely stripped of its Black officers. The other was placed under French command. Sent to the front lines or front-line reserves, some Black soldiers expressed fears that white French commanders viewed them as shock troops to spare the lives of their own soldiers.
“Uncle Sam Provides for Comfort of his Soldiers.” Colored Troops en Route to France. [ca. 1917]. Keystone View Company, New York, N.Y.
Sergeant William O. Ross and Corporal Duke. L. Slaughter, Battery “B” 351st Field Artillery. With the 351st in France (A Diary). Baltimore: The AfroAmerican Company, 1918.
“You’ll Find Old Dixieland in France: Patriotic War Edition.” George W. Meyer. Words by Grant Clark. New York: Leo Feist Incorporated. [1918]. James Weldon Johnson Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
While many songs—albeit most written by black songwriters—praised and celebrated black soldiers, just as many from the period downplay and mock their service, rehashing long-running jokes about the ineptitude and laziness of African American servicemen. “You’ll Find Old Dixieland in France,” penned by two white comedic Tin Pan Alley writers, strikes an uncanny balance between the two, celebrating black service while mocking it through racist stereotypes. The song was first introduced by renowned black vaudeville performer Bert Williams at a late stage in his career.
Poster: Pro-German Political Cartoon
This pro-German political poster shows how French and British use of colonial troops could be deployed as racial propaganda. Here, the British imperial lion devours various national currencies, while a fierce battle takes place in the foreground. Led by generals from Russia, Italy, and France, the Allied army is backed by a mass of dark-complexioned “mongrel” colonial troops, alongside a host of dangerous animals.
Charles Lennox Wright. A pro-German political cartoon depicting an imaginary battle between the Central Powers and the Allies. Hohenzollern-Schlaberg-Hughes Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Unknown Photographer. Half-length formal portrait of soldier seated facing left. [ca. 1917].
Despite suffering numerous indignities and insults, many Black soldiers found their time abroad to be liberating and uniquely empowering. Soldiers later recounted that their French comrades and officers treated them as Americans—and nothing else—while French civilians greeted them with kindness and respect. Crossing oceans and encountering Black colonial troops fighting for France inspired a sense of freedom, cosmopolitanism, and diasporic identity. Overall these young men felt inspired and forever changed by their encounters so far from home.
Photographic Postcard: Three quarter length formal portrait of soldier in uniform, standing with folded hands
[ca. 1917]. Reynolds, Brunswick, Ga.
Photographic Postcard: Full length formal portrait of three soldiers, felt hats quarter creased
[ca. 1917].
Photographic Postcard: Full length portrait, soldier standing in cavalry uniform, hand on chair.
[ca. 1918].
Photographic Postcard: Soldier with rifle sitting on pile of large caliber artillery shells
Unknown French photographer. [ca. 1918].
Photographic Postcard: Two soldiers standing in front of large pile of large caliber artillery shells
Unknown French photographer. [ca. 1918].
Unknown photographer. Four black servicemen at grave of Quentin Roosevelt. [ca. 1917]. Ehrhard, Chateau-Thierry, France. Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Photograph: Four servicemen at grave
Soldiers pose at the grave of Quentin Roosevelt—“Buried By Germans Where He Fell.” Quentin, the youngest of four Roosevelt sons to serve in France, was killed in combat at age twenty. His famous name made his grave a pilgrimage site for American servicemen.
Photograph: Convalescing sailors in Brooklyn Navy Yard shoot pool
Unknown photographer. “B.44 Best of Care Provided for Uncle Sam’s Sick Sailors.” Convalescing sailors at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital shoot pool. [May 5, 1918]. Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
V. Berne Bellecour, drawing on board: French Forces: “Waiting for the Attack,” Three Vignettes. n.d.
This new perspective emboldened African Americans to frame the war in a new critical light—no longer the struggle of democracy against autocracy, but instead the struggle of white empires against colonized and oppressed people of color worldwide. Fortified by their service abroad, many African American soldiers were also disillusioned and disaffected. With peace on the horizon in Europe, fierce battles loomed back home.
Sheet Music: We're Going to Celebrate the End of the War in Ragtime
“We’re Going to Celebrate the End of the War in Ragtime (Be Sure that Woodrow Wilson Leads the Band).” Goleman Goetz and Jack Stern. New York: Shapiro, Bernstein & Company, 1915. World War I Collection, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.