- Person
- Joel Spingarn
- Lived
- 1875–1939
- Field
- Civil rights & criticism
- From
- American
The story
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Joel Spingarn, then chairman of the NAACP's board, prepared himself for military service, attending training camps at Plattsburgh, New York, and elsewhere. In 1917 he enlisted in the US Army and was one of two infantry officer candidates to graduate as a major.
He wanted Black Americans to have the chance to serve as officers too. Southern politicians had blocked officer training for Black Americans in the National Defense Act of 1916, and the army opposed integrated training. Spingarn therefore pressed for a separate camp. General Leonard Wood agreed to organise one if Spingarn could find enough applicants, and in February 1917 Spingarn wrote to the New York Age, a leading Black newspaper, appealing for support. Students at Howard University, led by student body president George E. Brice, recruited many of the applicants through their fraternities.
The War Department approved the camp in May 1917, and on 17 June about 1,250 trainees arrived at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In October more than 600 of them were commissioned as officers, ranging from second lieutenant to captain, the first class of Black officer candidates in American military history. Besides pressing for the program, the Jewish Virtual Library reports that Spingarn donated uniforms for one hundred Howard University students who enlisted. The segregated camp was criticised by some in the NAACP and the Black community, but historian B. Joyce Ross observed that without such efforts Black Americans would otherwise have been excluded from participating in the war.
Spingarn served in military intelligence in Washington, later went to France with the American Expeditionary Forces and remained in the reserves after the war, rising to lieutenant colonel. In 1919 he was a delegate to the convention that founded the American Legion and became the first commander of its post in Amenia, New York.
The surviving older parts of Fort Des Moines were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974, in recognition of the camp that first trained Black officers and of its later role as the first training centre for women in the US Army.
Why it matters
Spingarn's support helped young Black men serve their country as soldiers and officers at a time when many doors were closed to them.
About Joel Spingarn
Literary scholar who became one of the NAACP’s first Jewish leaders, its chairman, treasurer and second president, and founder of the Spingarn Medal for African American achievement.
More about Joel Spingarn
- Joel Spingarn helped found Harcourt, Brace and CompanyIn 1919 Joel Spingarn helped found the publishing house Harcourt, Brace and Company, served as its literary adviser and edited its 25-volume European Library.
- Joel Spingarn called for a “new criticism” in 1910In a 1910 Columbia lecture called The New Criticism, Joel Spingarn argued that each work of art should be judged afresh, on its own terms.
- Joel Spingarn gave $100 to defend a tortured farmerIn 1910 Joel Spingarn read of a Black tenant farmer in Arkansas tortured to force a confession, gave $100 to his defense fund, and soon joined the NAACP.
- Joel Spingarn led the NAACP and created the Spingarn MedalJoel Spingarn, a Jewish literary scholar, led the NAACP for decades and in 1914 created the Spingarn Medal for Black achievement, still awarded today.
- Joel Spingarn launched the New Abolition campaignIn 1913 Joel Spingarn began a campaign he called the New Abolition, reviving the spirit of the abolitionists and spreading the NAACP to new cities.
- Joel Spingarn lost his job defending a colleagueIn 1910 Joel Spingarn offered a faculty resolution supporting a Columbia professor summarily dismissed by the university's president, and was himself dismissed weeks later.
- Joel Spingarn helped win a suit against a segregated theaterIn 1911 Joel Spingarn accompanied Black men to a New York theater that refused them tickets, then helped the NAACP's Vigilance Committee win a lawsuit against the management.
Sources
- Joel Spingarn Jewish Virtual Library
- Joel Elias Spingarn EBSCO Research Starters
- Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School Wikipedia
- Joel Elias Spingarn Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.