Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 431

Unsold
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
A WONDERFUL SEND-OFF CELEBRATION (MILITARY--WORLD WAR I.) Colored Draft Men Off to Camp Dodge, Iowa. 42 x 28 inches, printed in green; linen backed with a few short closed tears and chips repaired. [Evansville, Indiana:] Speed Press, [1918]
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This wonderful poster continues: "Public demonstration and Benefit Coliseum, Tues. Night August 20. The Occasion of Their Departure, called by the District Boards of this City and County, to leave for Camp Dodge, Iowa. We Hope to Make Memorable for These Boys. . .Hon. Mayor Benjamin Bosse. . Oration "The Negro Soldier" Miss Francis (sic) Dickerson. Music by the Memphis Jazz Orchestra. . .Everyone Invited." Benjamin Bosse was mayor of Evansville, Indiana from 1914 to 1922. Many of the draftees who were sent to Fort Dodge became members of the 92nd and 93rd divisions, the two black combat divisions, made up of approximately 40,000 troops, who saw battle in France. "Unsure how to use black national guardsmen, the American army "loaned" the 93rd Division to the French army. It was the only American division to serve exclusively under French command. Despite having to acclimate to French methods of combat, the division's four regiments performed exceptionally well and received numerous commendations." ("African Age," project of the Schomburg Mellon Humanities Institute.)