Viewing page 36 of 83

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

27

because Haiti is a Negro Republic, and they did not object to their assignment. It is significant also that officers of the other Latin American Nations did not object to having Haitians in their party, and probably would have protested had they been given any special treatment, since many Latin Americans, particularly in Brazil, are of mixed blood.

Most significant is the fact that Maxwell Field authorities arranged interracial entertainment for foreign officers at a time when they were so disturbed over the possibility of a Negro officer sleeping in the VOQ that the president of the Tuskegee Officers' Club was given false information, by letter, that the Maxwell Field VOQ was "always full."

Many American Negro officers were lighter in appearance than the Haitians, some spoke excellent French and all spoke better English. They were no "more" Negro than the Haitians. But they were Americans, officers of the American Army in good standing, and it was for this reason they were so severely penalized. The Commanding Officer at Tuskegee was once instructed never to order a Negro officer to Maxwell Field overnight, and many officers who were driven back and forth day after day on extended official business avoided eating any lunch lest they incur official disfavor. The mistake they made apparently was not in having been born of Negro ancestors, but in having been born Americans. The authorities were obviously more concerned over the friendship of little Haiti than over the loyalty of thirteen million Americans. This would seem to indicate that the international aspects of the problem are very important, but it is doubtful that either Haitians or the Americans are folled by such foolishness.