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Black Social Workers at the French Front

A first-hand account of the racism faced by Black soldiers and support staff during World War I.

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Black Social Workers at the French Front

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Summary
The largest Y.M.C.A. hut in France was one built at Camp Lusitania, St. Nazaire, for the use of colored soldiers. It was the first hut built for our boys, and . . . [i]t did serve for 9,000 men, and had, in addition to the dry canteen, a library of 1,500 volumes, a money-order department which sometimes sent out as much as $2,000 a day to home folks; a school room where 1,100 illiterates were taught to read and write; a large lobby for writing letters and playing games; and towards the close of the work, a wet canteen, which served hot chocolate, lemonade and cakes to the soldiers. The largest YMCA hut in France served 9,000 Black soldiers. It was the first hut build for Black soldiers. The hut featured a money order service that helped soldiers send money to their families, a food shop, a large library, a classroom, a common area with tables for writing letters and playing games, and a bar that served drinks and desserts to the soldiers at the end of the workday.
To this hut one of us was assigned, and served there for nearly nine months. The work was pleasant and profitable to all concerned, and no woman could have received better treatment anywhere than was received at the hands of these 9,000 who helped to fight the battle of St. Nazaire by unloading the great ships that came into the harbor. Among the duties found there were to assist in religious work; to equip a library with books, chairs, tables, decorations, etc., and establish a system of lending books; to write letters for the soldiers; to report allotments that had not been paid; to establish a money order system; to search for lost relatives at home; to do shopping for the boys whose time was too limited to do it themselves; to teach illiterates to read and write; to spend a social hour with those who wanted to tell her their stories of joy or sorrow. One of us worked at this hut for nine months. The work was pleasant and rewarding for everyone. No woman was ever treated better than she was by the men who came to the hut, who were responsible for unloading the ships for the army at St. Nazaire. Her duties were to support religious services, organize the library, help the soldiers write letters home, report when a soldier did not get paid, shop for soldiers who did not have time to do it themselves, establish a money order system, teach reading and writing, and spend time talking with any soldier who needed company.
All of this kept one woman so busy that she found no time to think of anything else, not even to take the ten days’ vacation which was allowed her every four months. In a hut of a similar size among white soldiers, there would have been at least six women, and perhaps eight men. Here the only woman had from two to five male associates. Colored workers everywhere were so limited that one person found it necessary to do the work of three or four.

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 All this work kept one woman so busy she did not have time for anything else, not even to take the ten-day vacation she was granted every four months. In a smaller hut for white soldiers, there would have been at least six women and maybe eight men to do this work. At St. Nazaire she had only two to five male coworkers. Black workers were so scarce that every person had to do the work of three or four people.
The last, and perhaps the most difficult piece of constructive work done by the colored workers, was at Camp Pontanezen, Brest. It has been told in another chapter how one of the writers received Brest as her first appointment, and how she was immediately informed upon her arrival that because of the roughness of the colored men, she would not be allowed to serve them. That woman went away with the determination to return to Brest, and serve the colored men there . . . so after finishing her work in the Leave Area, she and her coworker . . . were finally permitted to go there.

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 The most difficult work done by Black workers was at Camp Pontanezen, Brest. My co-author was assigned there, but when she arrived the military said Black soldiers were too rough for a woman to work there. She left, determined to return. Eventually, she and a coworker were allowed to go.
There were several other large huts at Camp Pontanezen, that were used for long periods exclusively by colored soldiers; but in the absence of colored women, white women, sometimes as many as five in a hut, gave a service that was necessarily perfunctory, because their prejudices would not permit them to spend a social hour with a homesick colored boy, or even to sew on a service stripe, were they asked to do so. There were several other large huts at Camp Pontanzen that were used by Black soldiers. No Black social workers were stationed there, so white social workers provided services. However, they were prejudiced and did not perform all their duties.
But the very fact that they were there showed a change in the policy from a year previous, when a colored woman even was not permitted to serve them.

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 Even so, the fact that white women social workers were sent to Pontanezen at all was a sign of progress. Just one year earlier, no social workers, not even Black women, were allowed to serve Black soldiers
All told, the Y.M.C.A., with a tremendous army of workers, many of whom were untrained, did a colossal piece of welfare work overseas. The last hut for the colored Americans in France was closed at Camp Pontanezen, Brest, on August 3, 1919, by one of the writers; the two of them having given the longest period of active service of any of the colored women who went overseas. All told, the YMCA and its enormous army of workers did tremendous work in France. The last hut for colored workers was closed on August 3, 1919. My co-writer was there to shut down the camp. We served overseas longer than any other Black woman.

Excerpt from Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces by Addie W. Hunton and Kathryn M. Johnson (Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Eagle Press, ca. 1920).

Background

When the United States mobilized for World War I, Black men and women answered the call. Many Black Americans hoped that contributing to the war effort would change white Americans’ opinions about Black people and bring an end to the racist policies of the Jim Crow Era. 

But the US continued its segregationist policies overseas. The 400,000 Black soldiers that joined the armed forces were overwhelmingly assigned to support positions for white people. Similarly, the majority of Black women workers who signed up to support the military were sidelined. While white women could work overseas as social workers, nurses, clerks, cooks, and drivers, the YMCA recruited Black women to serve only as secretaries for Black soldiers. Secretaries were social workers who supported the daily life of soldiers. Only one percent of all YMCA secretaries were Black. Only nineteen of the eighty-five Black secretaries that served in France were women. Of those nineteen, only three arrived before the armistice. Those three women provided critical practical and emotional support to the thousands of Black soldiers in France. They also witnessed firsthand the injustices of the segregated Army and became champions in the fight for racial equality at the front and back home.

About the Resources

These are excerpts from a book written by Addie Hunton and Kathryn Johnson. Addie and Kathryn were two of the Black secretaries who served in France before the armistice. These excerpts describe the work that they did and how it differed from the work of white secretaries. They also reveal how racism interfered with almost every aspect of daily life for Black soldiers and war workers in France.

Vocabulary

  • armistice: An agreement made by opposing sides of a conflict to temporarily suspend hostilities.
  • hut: A simple shelter or building where soldiers could receive certain services and relax during downtime.
  • Jim Crow: The name for the many laws, rules, and customs that maintained segregation after the Civil War, often through violence and intimidation. The original Jim Crow was a minstrel character performed by a white actor in blackface to ridicule Black Americans.
  • mobilize: Get ready to fight a war.
  • secretaries: People employed to help with correspondence, record-keeping, schedules, and other such tasks.
  • social worker: A person who provides a range of social services, including basic medical care, mental health support, education and training, and more; during WWI, social workers employed by the YMCA were called secretaries.

Discussion Questions

  • What was the role of the YMCA secretaries in France? What kind of services did they provide?
  • What were the differences between the services provided for Black soldiers versus white soldiers?
  • How do the authors describe the experience of Black soldiers at the front? What work did Black soldiers do and how were they treated? How might this have affected Black soldiers’ feelings toward the war and their home country?

Suggested Activities

Themes

ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; POWER AND POLITICS; AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP

New-York Historical Society Curriculum Library Connections

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