Problems of Demobilization and Rehabilitation of the Negro Soldier After World Wars I and II

Abstract

In any major modern war the casualty list which records the names of those wounded, missing or dead as a result of military operations scarcely begins to account for the great number of people who are permanently injured or permanently lost as a direct consequence of the war. In this day of mechanized blitzkrieg, of unrestricted submarine sinkings and of saturation bombing, the list of civilian dead and injured may at times approach, and occasionally exceed, the list of casualties in the armed forces. This is a condition which we have come to recognize and to accept as one of the added horrors of modern warfare. Few of us, however, stop to realize the total devastating effect which present-day warfare has upon the lives of the men and women who survive the rigors and dangers of battle, and who are returned to normal civilian life when the military-movement aspect of the war has come to an end. The soldier who returns to his native land after participation in a world conflict is likely to find himself continually out of step with the villagers who have remained at home. If he is an ex-soldier and black, his troubles are increased many times. It is our profound conviction that this does not have to be true; that there is the possibility through careful planning ahead of setting up programs which may minister to the needs of the soldierexand black; and that only as we are willing and able to do this may we justify the colossal loss of life and the abysmal degradation of the human spirit which total war demands. With this in mind, we are bold enough to present this brief review of the problems which the returning Negro soldiers faced in 1918 and 1919, and to forecast the situation which will occur in 1940-odd or 1950, if we are not courageous enough now to face these problems clearly and to plan so that the things which happened following the first World War may not recur.