Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Graduating cadets. More from the Iowa-Almanac in a moment. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Now is the time to make a plan. Whether you plan to vote absentee by mail in person at your county auditor's office before Election Day or at your polling place on November 5th, it's important you take steps now to make your plan at voterready.iowa.gov. Remember Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Find more information at voterready.iowa.gov. This message presented by the Iowa Secretary of State. The United States entered World War I in 1917, and thousands of Americans enlisted to fight Germany in the Great War. That included thousands of black Americans from all parts of the country. Keep in mind, this is only 50 years after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Despite the eagerness of some blacks to join the fight, enlistments were limited by the federal government. While some groups such as the NAACP pushed for officer training for blacks, government officials were afraid the race issue would hurt the war effort. So a compromise was reached whereby one officer candidate school in the country would be open to blacks. It was located at Fort Des Moines. Fort Des Moines had been built on 400 acres of land in 1901 and had previously hosted all black units for training. The first black officer candidates arrived at Fort Des Moines in May of 1917, consisting of 1,000 black college graduates and faculty members. At the time, Des Moines's black population only numbered 5,000. The troops were highly educated and well received by the community. That was in contrast to an all-black Alabama enlisted regiment based at Camp Dodge across town, which often faced discrimination. After 90 days of rigorous training, 638 captains and lieutenants received their commissions and were dispatched for basic training across the country. They would reunite in New Jersey in June of the next year to fight as a unit in France. Graduation day for the country's only class of black officers trained at Fort Des Moines happened on this state in 1917. And that's Iowa Almanac for October 15th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.