Showing Patriotism Despite Hate and Discrimination
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I am presenting at the Midwestern History conference at Grand Valley State University this week. I am always excited when I get the chance to highlight the contributions of African American women in Grand Rapids. This week I am talking about the war work of local African American women during the first world war. World War I (WWI) started in 1914 with a conflict between France and Germany.
The United States officially entered the war in April 1917, and after a call by the National Defense for women to help with war efforts on the home front, women stepped up in a big way.
Consequently, African American women got involved at a rate much higher than their population rate. They jumped at the opportunity to serve even amid Jim Crow. These women were eager to prove their patriotism for this country despite enduring overt racism and discrimination at that time.
Here in Grand Rapids, more than 60 African-American (AA) women out of less than a thousand AA residents registered to work and volunteer with Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense in late April and May of 1918.
They volunteered to care for soldiers, do laundry, do housekeeping, and industrial work, teach others to conserve and preserve food, dress bandages, and more. They desperately wanted to prove their value and patriotism. Yet, no matter what they did, they would still be treated as less by some.
Now fast wind to last Saturday at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist killed ten people. This number includes six women. While I am proud and eager to share the work and patriotism of our ancestors during World War I, I am saddened. After all these years, some still don't see us as American.
We will never fit into their version of America because of our skin color. In fact, some believe that our very existence is a threat to theirs. Replacement Theory– What! You killed ten Black people because you think we are trying to replace you. We are only 13 percent of the US population. Wow!
In 1917 when America got into World War I, African Americans were only nine percent of the population, yet more than 700,000 African Americans registered for war service, according to government documents. They signed up to serve despite the trauma and brutality of widespread lynchings, the humiliation of discrimination, and the inhumanity and inequity of segregation and Jim Crow.
They registered for service because they wanted to serve.
They thought that they would prove their commitment and patriotism to this country for once and for all. They wanted to show that they loved and would fight to protect this country, so African-Americans signed up for duty despite learning that they would be barred from most roles and only be able to serve "their own kind" and or do menial jobs.
In Grand Rapids, like all over the country, the African- American women's club led efforts to get women involved with home front war efforts.
They held canning demonstrations, raised funds, bought and sold bonds, knitted outwear, and opened their homes to wounded service members. The Black population during this time was small, but they were very active. Grand Rapids was home to at least five women's clubs, and many of them had stalled regular club activities to do war work. Two leaders in these local efforts were Mrs. J. S. Ford (Emma Ford) and Mrs. Theodore Burgess (Ethel Burgess). In one article from 1918, the pair led efforts to establish a "food conservation club." Both Emma and Ethel were amazing women, and they did a lot to serve this country and this community.
You might know Emma and Ethel from previous articles. Emma was the wife of "Senator" Joe Ford, the Pullman porter who held the position as the cloakroom attendant for the Lansing Senate for 50 years, from the 1880s to 1930s.
Additionally, Ethel Burgess is the younger sister of Hattie Beverly, who was the first African American teacher at Grand Rapids Public Schools.
This week, as I highlight the work, accomplishments, and true patriotism of those who came before us, I also note the lives we lost in Buffalo this week in the most unpatriotic way.
The ten people killed during the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York on Saturday, May 14, 2022 include:
Roberta A. Drury, 32, of Buffalo
Margus D. Morrison, 52, of Buffalo
Andre Mackniel, 53, of Auburn, New York
Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, New York
Geraldine Talley, 62, of Buffalo
Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo
Heyward Patterson, 67, of Buffalo
Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo
Pearl Young, 77, of Buffalo
Ruth Whitfield, 86, of Buffalo
Sophia Brewer (M.L.I.S.) is Collection Development and Serials Librarian, Grand Rapids Community College; Co-President of the Greater Grand Rapids History Council; member of the Grand Rapids Study Club and serves on the Grand Rapids Public Library, Board of Library Commissioners (Elected 2016-2021). She is a former Head of Programs, Grand Rapids Public Library and former Branch Manager, Madison Square Branch, Grand Rapids Public Library Congresswoman
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