"Negro Draftees March Off To Serve Uncle Sam" (1940)
Title
"Negro Draftees March Off To Serve Uncle Sam" (1940)
Description
Newspaper clipping, Birmingham, Alabama, 1940. "'From Bunker Hill to Chateau Thierry, Negroes have been good soldiers.... None have been traitors.... You must continue unblemished the exemplary record of Negro soldiers....'
"With these heroic words ringing in their ears, and a fine fried chicken dinner under their belts, Jefferson County's first contingent of Negro draftees, 24 in number, marched up Fifth-av yesterday afternoon to th tune of 'Tuxedo Junction' and the 'Stars and Stripes Forever.'
"At Terminal Station they boarded a train which took them to Fort McClellan for a year's service in Uncle Sam's enlarging citizen army.
"The march up Fifth-av, led by the Industrial High School Band, is show in the picture above. The words of Negro heroism and patriotism came from white and Negro civic leaders who spoke at a luncheon honoring the draftees. The luncheon was held at the Negro Masonic Temple. W. B. Johnson, a World War veteran and principal of Industrial High School, was principal speaker."
Article appearing in the (white-owned) Birmingham Post (December 12, 1940) and the (Black-owned) Weekly Review (December 13, 1940).
"With these heroic words ringing in their ears, and a fine fried chicken dinner under their belts, Jefferson County's first contingent of Negro draftees, 24 in number, marched up Fifth-av yesterday afternoon to th tune of 'Tuxedo Junction' and the 'Stars and Stripes Forever.'
"At Terminal Station they boarded a train which took them to Fort McClellan for a year's service in Uncle Sam's enlarging citizen army.
"The march up Fifth-av, led by the Industrial High School Band, is show in the picture above. The words of Negro heroism and patriotism came from white and Negro civic leaders who spoke at a luncheon honoring the draftees. The luncheon was held at the Negro Masonic Temple. W. B. Johnson, a World War veteran and principal of Industrial High School, was principal speaker."
Article appearing in the (white-owned) Birmingham Post (December 12, 1940) and the (Black-owned) Weekly Review (December 13, 1940).
Collection
Citation
“"Negro Draftees March Off To Serve Uncle Sam" (1940),” Southern Music Research Center, accessed October 16, 2024, https://southernmusicresearch.org/items/show/2198.