The exception was for the four regular Black regular regiments of the 93rd Division(368th, 369th, 370th, and the 371st). The Army wanted Stevedores: road builders, wood choppers, railroad hands, etc., etc. Yet still, American Blacks were among the first to volunteer. Of the 200,000 Black Americans in the American Expeditionary Force, approximately 150,000 were Stevedores and laborers. These Black Americans were doing the hardest work. In some cases, the Stevedores and laborers were under the most trying conditions faced by any soldiers during the war. It is the verdict of men who know--that the most efficient and remarkable service has been rendered by these men. These Black soldiers were patient, loyal, intelligent, and not grouchy. They knew all that they were up against among their countrymen and the enemy. These American Black men won the war as perhaps no other set of Services of Supply (S.O.S.) men of any other race or army--won it.
Where were these men stationed? At almost every seaport in France, in some English ports, and at many of the interior depots and bases. Stevedores were at the various assembling places where automobiles, airplanes, cars, and locomotives were prepared for use.
Stevedores were in the forests, on the mountains, and in the valleys--cuting wood. Some Stevedores were building roads from ports of entry. Some of the roads were built right up to the view and touch of Germans in the front lines. These Black soldiers were buring the dead, plus, salvaging millions of shells
and other dangerous war material. They did this at great risk to their own lives. Black Stevedores were actually piling up and detonating the most deadly devices in order that French battlefields with Expeditionary forces might be safe for those who walk the way of peace.
These Black American men represented in culture several men. They ranged from absolute illiterates from poor taught Southern States to well educated men from southern private schools and colleges. Some of these men were even from many northern universities and colleges.
Who commanded these thousands of Black men that were assembled from all parts of the United States? By a queer twist of American reasoning on the Negro, it was assumed that the Negro was best known and best "handled" by White people from the South. Who, more than any other White people, refused and condemned an association which would surely acquaint the White man with the very best that is in the Negro. Therefor, when officers were to be chosen for the Negro S.O.S. unit, it seemed that there was a preference expressed or felt for southern White
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