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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that honors the dead by sharing their stories with

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Speaker 1: the living. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're paying tribute

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Speaker 1: to a group of black women who were forced to

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Speaker 1: make an impossible choice while dealing with one of the

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Speaker 1: worst personal tragedies imaginable. Their response challenged the injustices of segregation,

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Speaker 1: foreshadowed the civil rights movement to come, and honored the

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Speaker 1: sacrifice of black soldiers past, present, and future. The day

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Speaker 1: was May twenty ninth, nineteen thirty. The US War Department

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Speaker 1: insisted that black mothers and widows must travel on segregated

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Speaker 1: boats in order to visit their loved one's graves in Europe.

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Speaker 1: The federal government had invited the fan families of veterans

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Speaker 1: killed during World War II to make a pilgrimage to France,

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Speaker 1: where the fallen soldiers had been buried. The Department of

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Speaker 1: War would organize the trips and cover all expenses, including food, travel,

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Speaker 1: and lodging. The program was open to all Gold Star

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Speaker 1: widows and spouses, regardless of race, but there was one condition.

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Speaker 1: All black participants had to agree to travel on separate

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Speaker 1: boats and stay in different hotels than the white women.

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Speaker 1: Even though they would be abroad, America's segregation loss would

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Speaker 1: still be observed, and even though their sons and husbands

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Speaker 1: had given their lives, they would still be treated as

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Speaker 1: second class citizens by their own government. A group of

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Speaker 1: fifty five black mothers and widows petitioned President Hoover to

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Speaker 1: allow all of the grieving women to travel together, but

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Speaker 1: the administration was adamant, and on May twenty ninth, the

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Speaker 1: request was officially denied. During the First World War, many

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Speaker 1: families displayed blue star flags, arm bands, and pins as

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Speaker 1: a way to show support for a family member serving

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Speaker 1: in the armed forces. In the event that a family

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Speaker 1: member died in military service, the blue star would then

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Speaker 1: be replaced with gold one. In an effort to process

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Speaker 1: their grief, gold star mothers and widows formed community groups

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Speaker 1: where they could share their experiences and find constructive ways

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Speaker 1: to honor their fallen loved ones. Once the war was over,

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Speaker 1: many of the women longed to visit the graves of

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Speaker 1: their sons and husbands overseas, but doubted they'd ever have

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Speaker 1: the means to do so. Throughout the nineteen twenties, these

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Speaker 1: women fervently appeal to Congress to fund a series of

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Speaker 1: gold Star pilgrimages to Europe. It took years of advocacy

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Speaker 1: from numerous veterans and gold Star organizations, but finally, in

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Speaker 1: March of nineteen twenty nine, the women got their wish.

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Speaker 1: As one of his final acts in office, President Calvin

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Speaker 1: Coolidge authorized five point eight million dollars for a program

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Speaker 1: to send gold Star Women to France. The approval came

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Speaker 1: just in time, as later that year a stock market

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Speaker 1: crash would plunge the US into the Great Depression. Economic

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Speaker 1: conditions had severely worsened by the time of the first

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Speaker 1: pilgrimages in spring of nineteen thirty, but since the funding

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Speaker 1: had already been allocated, the trips continued as scheduled during

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Speaker 1: each spring and summer from nineteen thirty to nineteen thirty three.

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Speaker 1: In total, roughly six thousand, seven hundred women of all

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Speaker 1: races took part in the voyages. The press touted the

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Speaker 1: democratic spirit of the program, pointing out that the US

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Speaker 1: government had opened it to all women, regardless of religion, income,

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Speaker 1: or social status, in recognition of their civic contributions. The

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Speaker 1: gold Star Women would be treated equally and treated well. However,

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Speaker 1: in early nineteen thirty, the the Hoover administration dropped a bombshell.

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Speaker 1: It announced that quote, in the interests of the pilgrims themselves,

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Speaker 1: the women would be divided by race during the trip.

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Speaker 1: Despite this already discriminatory treatment, the government maintained that quote

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Speaker 1: no discrimination whatever will be made. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly,

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Speaker 1: Hoover's staff was caught off guard by the resulting backlash.

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Speaker 1: The black community mobilized right away, with black journalists and

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Speaker 1: activists firing off hundreds of passionate articles and letters in

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Speaker 1: hopes of pressuring the government to reverse its decision. One

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Speaker 1: letter reminded policymakers that quote colored boys fought side by

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Speaker 1: side with the white and they deserved the due respect. Now,

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Speaker 1: they argued, their wives and mothers deserved the same. The

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Speaker 1: Chicago Defender called the program the Crowning Insult in a

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Speaker 1: long list of abuses by Hoover's administration, and one outrag

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Speaker 1: aged Philadelphia widow cut straight to the point, asking, quote,

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Speaker 1: must these noble women be jim crowed and humiliated on

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Speaker 1: such a sacred occasion? Signed petitions from around the country

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Speaker 1: were sent to the Secretary of War and to the

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Speaker 1: President himself. One in particular was sent from a group

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Speaker 1: of black gold Star women who hailed from twenty one

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Speaker 1: different states. The women express their disappointment and their indignation,

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Speaker 1: writing quote, When the call to arms came from our

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Speaker 1: government in nineteen seventeen, mothers, sisters, and wives, regardless of race, color,

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Speaker 1: or creed, were asked to give their loved ones that

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Speaker 1: the world might be saved for democracy. This call we

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Speaker 1: answered freely and willingly. But twelve years after the armistice,

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Speaker 1: the high principles of nineteen eighteen seem to have been forgotten.

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Speaker 1: We who gave and who are colored, are insulted by

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Speaker 1: the implication that we are not fit persons to travel

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Speaker 1: with other bereaved ones. Instead of making up parties of

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Speaker 1: gold Star mothers on the basis of geographical location, we

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Speaker 1: are set aside in a separate group. Jim crowd separated

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Speaker 1: and insulted. President Hoover referred the petition to his War Department,

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Speaker 1: which ultimately declined the request on May twenty ninth, nineteen thirty.

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Speaker 1: In a tone deaf response, the administration insisted the segregated

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Speaker 1: trips were in everyone's best interest. Saying quote, mothers and

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Speaker 1: widows would prefer to seek solace in their grief from

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Speaker 1: companions of their own race. When the War Department refused

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Speaker 1: to back down, civil rights groups such as the NAACP

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Speaker 1: began urging Black women to boycott the program unless the

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Speaker 1: rule was abolished. This left the women with a heartrending

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Speaker 1: choice take a stand against segregation or visit the final

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Speaker 1: resting place of their son or husband. Black male activists

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Speaker 1: said it would dishonor the fallen sacrifice to travel under

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Speaker 1: the conditions the government proposed, and white male Democratic politicians

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Speaker 1: applied pressure as well, spreading false rumors that the women

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Speaker 1: would be sent to France on cattle boats. It was

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Speaker 1: a cruel and unfair position to be put in, to

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Speaker 1: be forced to choose between a cause and closure, between

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Speaker 1: communal allegiance and a personal one. They had already lost

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Speaker 1: so much and were now being asked to give up

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Speaker 1: what might have been their only chance to say goodbye.

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Speaker 1: In the end, about two dozen women canceled their reservations

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Speaker 1: and never made the pilgrimage to Europe. The rest, some

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Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy nine mothers and widows joined. One

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Speaker 1: of six, all black groups and went to visit their

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Speaker 1: loved one's graves. Those who did never regretted it, and

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Speaker 1: upon their return to the US, many of them praised

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Speaker 1: the treatment they received, and a few even encouraged other

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Speaker 1: women to accept the government's invitation before it was too late.

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Speaker 1: It was heartened to hear that black gold Star women

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Speaker 1: had been warmly welcomed in Paris, with crowds of cheering

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Speaker 1: Parisians and American expats coming out to meet them at

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Speaker 1: the train station. They were also treated with respect by

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Speaker 1: the army officers and nurses who oversaw the trips and

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Speaker 1: made all the arrangements. And although the black mothers and

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Speaker 1: widows had different itineraries than the white women, they were

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Speaker 1: treated to many of the same lavish meals and receptions,

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Speaker 1: as well as to sightseeing tours of the Louver Versailles

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Speaker 1: and Napoleon's tomb. Their trips to the battlefields and military

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Speaker 1: cemeteries were conducted separately as well, but wreathlaying ceremonies, and

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Speaker 1: memorial services were afforded to each group. That said, the

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Speaker 1: Black gold Star mothers and widows did receive lower quality

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Speaker 1: accommodations during their pilgrimages. White women made the journey aboard

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Speaker 1: luxury ocean liners, while African American women had to settle

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Speaker 1: for passage aboard modified freight ships. Once they arrived in France,

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Speaker 1: the black and white groups were taken to Paris aboard

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Speaker 1: separate trains and checked into different hotels. The white women

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Speaker 1: stayed closer to the center of the city, while the

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Speaker 1: black women were housed farther out near the edge of town.

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Speaker 1: Many of the black women who went to France, as

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Speaker 1: well as those who stayed behind, were deeply conflicted about

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Speaker 1: their choices. For others, however, taking what was likely a

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Speaker 1: once in a lifetime trip was the easiest decision they

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Speaker 1: ever made. According to one mother, quote, ever since I

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Speaker 1: lost my son in nineteen eighteen, I have been wanting

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Speaker 1: to come. I would have come over on a cattle boat.

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Speaker 1: I would have swam if possible. I loved my race

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Speaker 1: as strongly as any other. But when I heard that

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Speaker 1: the United States was going to send us over, I

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Speaker 1: could not refuse. If you ask me, the only ones

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Speaker 1: who should have been second guessing themselves were the US

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Speaker 1: government and the racists it had feared to offend. Because

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Speaker 1: as gold Star mother and poet Ruby Berkeley Goodwin once wrote,

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Speaker 1: if in other years mothers still know the agony of

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Speaker 1: seeing strong young sons marched off to war, yet come

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Speaker 1: back still enslaved to old concepts and stifling bigotries, the

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Speaker 1: cause is lost. Many of the details shared in today's

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Speaker 1: show come from the research of Francis Clark and Rebecca

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Speaker 1: Joe Plant, the authors of a Journal of American History

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Speaker 1: article called the Crowning Insult, Federal Segregation and the gold

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Speaker 1: Star Mother and Widow Pilgrimages of the early nineteen thirties.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more about this topic, their

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Speaker 1: paper would be a perfect place to start. I'm Gabe

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Speaker 1: Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you have a

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Speaker 1: second and you're so inclined, consider keeping up with us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show If

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Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to

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Speaker 1: pass them along by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for

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Speaker 1: producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again soon for another day in

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Speaker 1: History Class