Investigate everything : federal efforts to compel Black loyalty during World War I / Theodore Kornweibel, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kornweibel, Theodore.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--African Americans.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Free speech for African Americans during World War I had to be exercised with great caution. The federal government, spurred by a superpatriotic and often alarmed white public, determined to suppress any dissent against the war and require 100% patriotism from the black population. These pressures were applied by America s modern political intelligence system, which emerged during the war. Its major partners included the Bureau of Investigation (renamed the FBI in 1935); the Military Intelligence Division; and the investigative arms of the Post Office and State departments. Numerous African American individuals and institutions, as well as 'enemy aliens' believed to be undermining black loyalty, became their targets. Fears that the black population was being subverted by Germans multiplied as the United States entered the war in April 1917. In fact, only a handful of alleged enemy subversives were ever identified, and none were found to have done anything more than tell blacks that they had no good reason to fight, or that Germany would win. Nonetheless, they were punished under wartime legislation which criminalized anti-war advocacy. Theodore Kornweibel, Jr. reveals that a much greater proportion of blacks was disenchanted with the war than has been previously acknowledged. A considerable number were privately apathetic, while others publically expressed dissatisfaction or opposition to the war. Kornweibel documents the many forms of suppression used to intimidate African Americans, and contends that these efforts to silence black protest established precedents for further repression of black militancy during the postwar Red Scare. "

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Prologue. "Patriotism and Loyalty Presuppose Protection

and Liberty" 1

1. "It became necessary to investigate everything": The Birth of Modem

Political Intelligence 10

2. "Very full of the anti-war spirit": Fears of Enemy Subversion during

World War I 37

3. "Slackers, Delinquents, and Deserters": African Americans and Draft

Enforcement during World War I 76

4. "The most dangerous of all Negro journals": Federal Efforts to Silence

the Chicago Defender 118

5. "Every word is loaded with sedition": The Crisis and the NAACP

under Suspicion 132

6. "I thank my God for the persecution": The Church of God in Christ

under Attack 149

7. "Rabid and inflammatory": Further Attacks on the Pen

and Pulpit 164

8. "Spreading enemy propaganda": Alien Enemies, Spies,

and Subversives 188

9. "Perhaps you will be shot": Sex, Spies, Science, and the

Moens Case 199

10. "Negro Subversion": Army Intelligence Investigations during

World War I 226

Epilogue. "The Negro is 'seeing red'": From the World War into

the Red Scare 270.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-06300-6

9786612063008

0-253-10923-X

OCLC:

85024933