Robert V. Morris

Iowa View contributor

"With less than 30 days' notice, the superb youth — the very best brain, vigor and manhood of the race — gave up comfort, position, future promise and outlook in their various civil locations. And from the North, South, East and West, they started on their voluntary march to Fort Des Moines in answer to the call. God grant that their efforts and sacrifices may open a brighter and better day for all the downtrodden people of the earth, and especially the oppressed colored people of these United States."

— George H. Woodson, lawyer and co-founder of the Niagra Movement (1905), which became NAACP and the National Bar Association

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Perhaps Iowa's greatest contribution to the racial history of America peaked one century ago, on Oct. 15, 1917, with the graduation of 639 college graduates and Buffalo Soldiers as the first military black officer class.

On that day, Iowa broke the racist code of leadership preventing black Americans from serving as commissioned officers in the U.S. Army and the other services with graduation of the 17th Provisional Training Regiment at Fort Des Moines.

Although West Point had previously graduated three black officers, the 17th was the first class consisting of 1,000 graduates and faculty of America's greatest universities and colleges and 250 noncommissioned officers from the 10th Cavalry and 24th Infantry known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

The class would lead the 3rd Battalion, 92nd Division against Imperial Germany on the bloody battlefields of the First World War in France in 1918.

The 17th was based at Fort Des Moines, an abandoned cavalry post where the college students would mix with seasoned veterans in a compromise backed by segregationist president Woodrow Wilson to avoid racial unrest in the broader military. The cadets hailed from Ivy League and historically black schools across America while the Buffalo Soldiers had served since the Civil War in a variety of capacities across the United States. The 92nd would see action in a number of major battles, ending with the Battle of Metz, which was the first major battle led by a black regiment under the command of black officers all from the 17th.

The training was hard for the 17th, as many of the Buffalo Soldier NCOs were technically brilliant but illiterate and had trouble communicating with the college men. Many of Des Moines' citizens were afraid of the large gathering of black men, so the camp commander, Col. Charles Ballou, devised a plan to ease tensions. On July 22, the cadets marched and sang for the 10,000 members of the white community at Drake University's stadium in a performance called the White Sparrow Ceremony. The community loved it and relations with the cadets improved.

The cadet class also included leaders of the "Big Three" national black fraternities and founders of national legal and journalism organizations of black professionals. Lt. Elder Watson Diggs, an Indiana graduate, had co-founded Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity in 1911 while Lt. Edgar Love, a bishop and chaplain, and Lt. Frank Coleman, professor and Howard graduate, had co-founded Omega Psi Phi Fraternity that same year. Lt. James Mitchell led the largest delegation of cadets who were members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity founded in 1906.

A number of great Iowans served in the 17th, including lawyers Charles Howard and James B. Morris (my grandfather) and pharmacist James Mitchell. So impressed was the Army with the 17th's performance that it hosted a Civilian Military Training camp for the sons of its members at Fort Riley, Kan., in 1936. One member of that class, James Morris, Jr., would go on to break the color line in World War II as the first black officer to serve in a white combat unit in 1943.

Young Morris graduated from the University of Iowa and its ROTC training in 1941, enlisting in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Rising quickly to NCO, he was transferred to Intelligence HQ in Washington, D.C., after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and to South Pacific HQ in Sydney, Australia, in 1942. He graduated as ranking man from his 700-member Intelligence Class at Camp Columbia, Brisbane, Australia, in 1943 before being assigned to 6th Army, First Corps that same year, breaking the race restriction. With the 6th Army in New Guinea, Lt. Morris commanded white troops in combat and received the Bronze Star medal, in tribute to his bravery and his WWI army officer father.

Howard, a Drake Law graduate, would co-found the National Bar Association, the first national organization of black lawyers and judges, with Morris in 1925 and the National Negro Newspaper Association in 1940, later serving as a national correspondent for the United Nations. Morris practiced law in Des Moines and published the Iowa Bystander newspaper, the oldest black publication west of the Mississippi River for half a century 1922-72. Mitchell owned Community Drug on Center Street in Des Moines and all three were community leaders.

After the Fort Des Moines Training ended, the captains and lieutenants entered basic training at a number of locations across the nation, including the 366th Infantry at Camp Dodge, Ia. They deployed to France in May of 1918 shortly before the Spanish flu outbreak that killed hundreds of soldiers and the ugly hanging of three black enlisted men accused of abusing a white woman on the post.

The First World War changed the complexion of the U.S. Army with leadership from black officers and again proved their determination and bravery on the battlefield. Although the military did not integrate until 1949, the cracks were laid by the 17th Provisional Training Regiment of Fort Des Moines in 1917.

Robert V. Morris is a military and black historian and 4-time published author. In addition to years with his grandfather's Iowa Bystander newspaper, he also served as a guest editorialist for the Des Moines Register from 1990-2000. See: WARRIORCLASS1.org for more information.

If you'd like to contribute to an effort to raise funds and awareness for the 100-year anniversary: gofundme.com/warrior-class-1.



