Citizens But Not: African Americans & Women in North Georgia World War I

Red Cross poster created during the Great War to encourage women to knit socks or whatever was needed by the people who served in the war effort.

African American women worked in factories during the Great War despite the fact they did not have full rights as citizens because of their race and gender. In this picture women are counting and weighing wire coils to help calculate their pay.

African American men training at Camp Gordon in DeKalb County, GA. Although not able to enjoy full rights as citizens due to laws passed in various states, African Americans volunteered by the thousands in order to prove their loyalty to the nation.

CITIZENS BUT NOT: AFRICAN AMERICANS &

WOMEN IN NORTH GEORGIA WORLD WAR I

Context of the Times

                In the early 20^th-century, the social structure of the State of Georgia was much the same as it had been since the end of Reconstruction. Inequality (especially social and economic) existed between the white elite and lower-class whites, African Americans, and, in many cases, most women. “It was by reference to the ‘negro’ (and to a lesser extent, to poor white men and white women) that white men of power defined what they were, and what they were not…”¹ Although, technically, African Americans had the right to vote, an overwhelming majority could not or did not. On the other hand, women in Georgia who were fighting for the right to vote, faced the Georgia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, a group fighting to make Georgia the first state to ‘defeat the amendment.’² 

African Americans

                African Americans owned a fraction of the land in the state and, beginning in 1915, the start of the Great Migration, the percentage of Black owned land dropped as, by 1917, Seven-percent of the African American population in Georgia had moved north selling their land primarily to whites.³ Black Georgians who remained and did not own land were principally sharecroppers or in a similar position. After the Selective Service Act became law, white Georgians worked to prevent African Americans from registering for the draft or, if drafted, reporting for duty so they could continue to work the land. In some cases, Black men were arrested and placed in stockades for not registering or reporting as they had never received draft notices as the landowners’ blocked delivery of the draft notices.⁴ During the draft process for World War I, if a man was African American, part of his draft card would be removed presumably so the Draft Board could easily identify the race of the registered man.⁵ 

Women

                Women who owned property usually inherited it from previous generations or from a husband who had passed away. Despite their socio-economic position, landowning women did not have respect or power. One noteworthy example occurred in Wilkes County (GA), Mrs. F.H. Anderson and her daughter, who inherited property from the elder’s husband, had petitioned to exempt their “four Negroes” from the draft so they could continue to work the Anderson’s land. Historian Gerald Schenk, determined the two white women, despite their whiteness and economic class, lacked “maleness” to prevent their “four Negroes” from ultimately being drafted.⁶ 

African American Women

                Despite not having complete rights as American citizens, both Black Georgians and women from both races “served’ during the war, mainly through voluntarism. Presumably Georgians who assisted at the home front mirrored the actions of others around the nation as “knit, knit, and then knit,” sums up the sentiments of Mrs. C. Douglas Smith of Pocatello, ID who inspired an “army of American knitters” who produced over “22 million items for hospitals, 1.5 million refuge garments, 15 million military garments, and 253 million surgical dressings.”⁷ Also, encouraged by international relief coordinator Hebert Hoover, millions of women pledged to do their best to save and produce their own food so that farm produce could be sent to Europe for the war effort.⁸ Black American men volunteered for the war, instead of waiting for the draft, to prove they were proud to serve and fight for freedom even though they did not enjoy complete freedom themselves. Black women took part in similar activities as white women and also fought along with their white “sisters” for the right to vote. Both the Negro Women Voter League and the National American Women’s Suffrage Association demonstrated the patriotic work they accomplished during the war merited full suffrage rights.⁹ 

Epilogue

                An epilogue to the struggles for full citizenship, after the Great War was over, women gained the right to vote through the ratification of the 19^th Amendment. African Americans would need to wait until the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s to enjoy full citizenship.