Vanguards of the New Negro: African American Veterans and Post-World War I Racial Militancy

Abstract

On 28 July 1919 African American war veteran Harry Haywood, only three months removed from service in United States Army, found himself in midst of a maelstrom of violence and destruction on par with what he had experienced on battlefields of France. The previous day, simmering tensions between black and white residents of Chicago reached a boiling point following stoning and subsequent drowning of young Eugene Williams who had dared to challenge color-line at Lake Michigan's 29th Street beach. As he returned to city following his latest run as a waiter on Michigan Central Railroad, Haywood, formerly a soldier in highly decorated 8th Illinois National Guard (370th Infantry Regiment), learned of riot and feared worst. A white coworker validated his anxiety, cautioning him against entering southside of city because, There's a big race riot going on out there, and already this morning, a couple of colored soldiers were killed coming in unsuspectingly. While most likely rumor, warning punctuated Haywood's disillusionment with facade of American democracy stemming from his battles with systemic racism of U.S. Army and deepened his resolve to actively resist brewing assault on Chicago's black community. After briefly reuniting with his family, Haywood immediately went to 8th Illinois Armory and met with fellow veterans of regiment to prepare a military style defense of their neighborhood from Irish rioters. Stocked with a cache of 1903 Springfield rifles and a browning sub-machine gun procured from armory, Haywood and his comrades established positions in an apartment overlooking 51st Street, and stood ready to utilize their military training in anticipation of an impending evening attack. Haywood recalled similar actions taken throughout South's Black Belt by other groups of African American veterans. (1) Although no ambush occurred, Chicago race riot indelibly transformed Haywood's racial and political consciousness. As he wrote in his autobiography, the war and riots of 'Red Summer' of 1919 left me bitter and frustrated. I felt that I could never again adjust to situation of Black inequality. The warlike nature of American race relations in aftermath of World War I prompted many black veterans to question meaning of their service and seek new strategies for achieving racial justice. After a period of intellectual self-discovery, Haywood joined radical African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), a secret paramilitary organization founded by Cyril Briggs, editor of The Crusader, and committed to defense of black people, liberation of Africa, and destruction of global capitalism. Upon its dissolution, he became a member of Communist Party and emerged as one of its most influential black leaders. Racially enlightened and deeply politicized as a result of their experiences, African American veterans like Haywood represented and embodied New Negro of post-World War I era. (2) This essay examines how activism and racial militancy of black veterans fundamentally shaped historical development and ideological diversity of New Negro movement. The New Negro movement, rooted in political consciousness and collective racial identity of black people in communities throughout United States and African Diaspora more broadly, was a product of domestic and global upheavals of World War I and its aftermath. While etymology of term dates to post-Reconstruction era, when a new generation of African Americans sought to distance themselves from slavery and its legacy, vast social, political, and demographic transformations brought about by global conflict made New Negro of war and postwar periods substantively distinct from previous historical epochs. Scholars have examined various factors that gave rise to New Negro, which included black migration, international revolutionary movements, most notably in Russia and Ireland, growth of a radical black press, emergence of a host of new racially militant political organizations, and most significantly a spirit of defiance stemming from disillusioning experience of black support for and military participation in war. …