Black thousands assemble—­soldiers of liberty—­severing home ties—­man’s
work must be done—­first negroes in France—­meeting with French
colonials—­early history of 15th new York—­they sail away—­become French
fighting men—­hold 20% of American lines—­terror to Germans—­only
barrier between Boche and Paris—­imperishable record of new
Yorkers—­turning point of war.

     “Doan you see the black clouds ris’n ober yondah Like as tho we’s
     gwan ter hab a storm?

     No, you’s mistaken, dem’s “Loyal black folks Sailing off ter fight
     fer Uncle Sam.”

From the plantations of the South, from the mines, the workshops and factories; from the levees of the Mississippi, the cities, villages, farms of the North, the East, the South, the West; from the store, the counting house, the office and the institution of learning they came—­the black thousands to strike for their altars and their homes; to fight for Uncle Sam.  How splendid was the spectacle of their response!  “Their’s not to ask the why; their’s but to do and die.”

Bearing the burden placed upon them by white men as they have for centuries, nevertheless, in this supreme moment of their country’s life; “a day that shall live in story”; many of them did not know what it all was about; where Germany was located, nor the significance attaching to the word Hun.  In a vague way they understood that across the sea an armed and powerful nation was threatening the happiness of mankind; the freedom of the world.

In the presence of this contemplated crime, they were wide-eyed, open-souled, awake!  Their sires had known bondage, and they, their children, had felt and knew the effects of it.  America which for centuries had oppressed their forefathers had finally through the arbitrament of war, freed them.  White men and black men; in the dark days of ’61-’65, numbering many thousands, had lain down their lives to save the Union, and in doing so had brought them freedom.

They had been told that America was threatened; that was enough.  It was to them a summons; sharp, quick, incisive to duty.  It was, although one hundred and forty years after, the voice of Washington at Valley Forge; the call of Perry to their fathers, needing soldiers at the battle of Lake Erie; of Jackson at New Orleans.  It was to their listening ears the echo of Bull Run, of Santiago, of Manila, and later of Carrizal; Uncle Sam needed them!  That was enough; what more was to be said?

Denied the opportunity to enlist, the Negro’s patriotic, patient soul asserted itself; if he must go as a drafted soldier, it would be in the same fine spirit that would have inspired him as a loyal enlisted man.