To Bertha from C.C. Ballou – April 1918 (Approx.)
Headquarters 19th Division
(U.S. ARMY)
Camp Dodge, Iowa
[Note: Camp Dodge was the scene of a notable event in U.S. racial history around this time. Three African-American conscripts were hanged for the rape of a white woman. According to one historian: “the event was a tragic culmination of an experiment in race relations that had begun with high hopes. The vast majority of African-American leaders, most notably W. E. B. Du Bois, had made a calculated decision to support World War I as a quid pro quo for possible racial advancement. If African-American troops trained and fought alongside white troops, they reasoned, there would be cause to hope that African Americans could be integrated into American society after the war.” About C.C. Ballou, the author writes that “At Camp Funston he ordered Negro troops not to seek to integrate establishments off base. After a soldier attempted to integrate a movie theater in the nearby town of Fort Riley, General Ballou condemned the effort as a distraction from the central purpose of winning the war.”]
Letter from Ida B. Wells to President Wilson attacking Ballou’s decision:
My dear Bertha,
_______ _______ told me that Sherman White is dead in France, by suicide. He also thought Faris was killed, but I think that is probably not true. Pivet was killed. Glen Davis he is also thought killed. I hope it is not true. Please remember one Lucy Whithall and the _____. Tell them all that I honestly meant to call, but I guess old age prevented it.
How are the Newcomers getting along? I am sorely sorry Henry has to go away. You will miss him. When I get a house that can be comfortably _____, and seem to have some prospect permanency, I want to get the family together again, in so far as schools will permit, but I fear that will not be soon. At any rate, I shall hope for a month’s leave in the spring if you all stay in Washington.
Nothing doing in buying bonds here, but I hear they are selling in _____ at 92, rather hard on those who have to sell. The future is not bright. The whole world is in a ferment.
Your loving old dad.