Essay #3

Impact of The Great War on European Attitudes Toward Africans

During the first decade of the 20th Century the rising tide of civilizing forces throughout Europe would bring about phenomenal changes in all areas of life, from science and education, to politics and the formation of distinct national cultures. Each of these so called progressive spheres of burgeoning modernity would soon converge in a tremendous continental collision that would come to be known as The Great War by the nations ravaged and decimated by the pointedly unenlightened and brutish character of its participants. It was in the last straggling months of this horrendous irrational conflict, and most remarkably throughout the decade following this time of international heartache, that the multitude of European attitudes toward Africans would undergo extraordinary changes. Although these changes would differ dramatically from region to region and culture to culture, the one constant drive behind them would be the same; Africans were becoming much more prevalent within European society as a direct result of their involvement in The Great War.

The blossoming nationalistic tendencies developed during the period of widespread European involvement in colonizing ventures led to the establishment of marked differences in the views formed toward Africans in each country. British involvement in colonialist missions in areas all around the African continent would be responsible for the formation of a cultural need within England to see any African person as naturally inferior to the white race as a means of dismissing the otherwise immoral practices of exploiting an entire society for economic and political gains. When stories of rebellious groups of Africans fighting back against British dominance, most notably the Zulu peoples, made their way back to England, these political and cultural devices of promoted inferiority became strengthened with real feelings of hatred and resentment toward all Africans as a natural reaction to the challenged and embarrassed sense of British national pride.¹ These attitudes of superiority so prevalent throughout English society were also furthered by scientists, racial anthropologists, and elitists looking to stir up fanaticism against African peoples as an entire race, aiming to further their own social standing and popular acclaim by playing upon the rising feelings of frustration and bigotry caused by stalled attempts at English dominance in the African colonies.²

It was this atmosphere of fermenting hostility into which a great number of black men were quite unknowingly thrust during The Great War, and continuing on for many years after the resolution of the war. Many of these African men had come to Europe as soldiers in the American armed forces to join in the battle against the Germans; and through limited experience and second-hand reports they had developed an image of England as a welcoming country much more invited to black citizens than the racially charged and intensely discriminatory environment that had just left behind in America. This mistaken assumption highlights one of the most prevailing societal characteristics sweeping through Europe in this time of great change and upheaval; namely the propensity for an emerging chasm between the budding attitude of the general populace and the ideals which remained dominant within the upper echelons of society. A widespread sense of guilt among those who had profited so tremendously from the slave trade swept through intellectual circles and prompted a desire to seek some sense of cultural retribution and greater acceptance.³ However, these views did not filter down to the greater mass of the population, and would only serve to create hostility and resentment between English workers and black immigrants. Popular African figures like Paul Robeson would make haughty claims that England was an “infinitely better” place for blacks than the United States; but as Bush sheds light on this notion it becomes apparent that this was only applicable to black men found to be exceeding “intelligence and ability”.⁴

The reaction to this influx of non-white immigrants after the war was most severe among working-class laborers. Blacks choosing to stay in England and seek residence as opposed to returning to their home countries had to have jobs to support themselves, and this created massive problems with the already struggling populace. Work was scarce and intensely competitive in the large urban areas where most former soldiers looked to make their living, and this cutthroat necessity combined with previously held beliefs of racial superiority and deep-rooted resentment toward Africans in general to create an explosive atmosphere of discrimination, street skirmishes, and municipal riots. Violence quickly led to mutual hatred supported and fostered by innate racial differences. These terrible and painful responses to conflicting cultures failing to merge together would lead to very beneficial and groundbreaking consequences as the decade of the 1920s came to a close. Students from the African continent mixed socially with educated blacks from America in this highly charged post-war era and a greater sense of shared identity based on African heritage began to be formed, which led to a phenomenal increase in political awareness among non-whites living in British society.⁵ This escalation in political activity would lead to the formation of the League of Colored Peoples in 1931, and the landmark international conferences organized by Africans to unite under common purposes which would take place in the 1930s and 1940s.

The impact of the increased number of Africans living in Europe after the war would take a much different course in France. Similar to England, the French administration had several strong colonial ties to the African continent in the early years of the 20th Century before the outbreak of the war. However, with a greater concentration of their attention being focused on Northern African regions, any conflicts which came about took on a more anti-Islamic tint than a distinctly anti-African attitude; therefore the general populace viewed racial differences based much more upon personal experiences and less as a result of forced social ideals permeating through the culture. France had a historical characteristic of being a place where slaves could come and be free, through national laws rejecting slavery and on more individual cases through private court cases. Although the legislature had been trying repeatedly to enact laws to keep more blacks from entering France on a permanent basis and to deport many who already lived there, the feelings of the general public were much more accepting and offered a more welcoming atmosphere to non-whites from any place of origin.

The emergence of this inviting atmosphere came as a result of the carnage and psychological humiliation suffered by all Europeans during The Great War. As Adas so succinctly highlights, any sense of moral superiority or European machismo was wiped out through horrendous experiences on the battlefield.⁶ As a direct result, there developed a tremendous desire for change and a new injection of exotic and lively forces into French society. This willful breaking with past bonds of traditional stagnation can be seen quite prominently in the popular reaction to Serge Voronoff's experimentation with rejuvenation in the 1920s. In previous decades, making such outlandish claims as splicing monkey parts into white human anatomy would have created a terrific uproar among a more repressed citizenry. However, as Berliner points out, the public reaction to these wild scientific declarations was one of satirical playfulness and humor.⁷

This environment of cultural freedom and prevailing encouragement of experimentation, combined with the fact that racial segregation was made illegal in France after The Great War, made French society a burgeoning center for interracial relations. It was these first experiences, lived and shared by American soldiers in Europe, which filtered though to the other branches of society back home and created a longing among all people of African descent to be a part of this incredible new diverse culture. This merging of two cultures to create a greater overall social consciousness can be seen in the national reaction in France to the arrival of Josephine Baker. A passion for African dance, music, and entertainment swept through every facet of French society; as is illustrated in the amazing art of Paul Colin, showing celebrities and well-known members of French popular culture being carried away by this riveting new craze.⁸ This attitude of acceptance was not simply a popular culture phenomenon by any means. Owen White places a wonderful focus on the deep and lasting romantic relationships that were formed between Africans and French citizens during this time, which is perhaps the greatest example of all that the war had shifted so dramatically the very nature of interracial associations.⁹

To say that The Great War brought unprecedented disruption, mayhem, and despair to the nations of Europe would be an understatement of historical proportions. Each country involved suffered culturally and socially debilitating damages, whether they claimed the winning side or the losing side. The influx of black soldiers into the European continent would put Europeans into greater contact with intelligent and independent minded Africans than they had ever been before. The consequences of this mingling of cultures ranged from racially charged urban riots to the complete transformation of popular culture. In defeated Germany, the close stationing of African troops to the German borders can even be seen as a catalyst to the development of racist fervor which would ultimately lead to a second great war. The one constant in each instance was the backlash of young energetic members of European society against established traditional forces which had brought the devastating war upon them all, and the prevalence of young black soldiers in European urban centers added greatly to the momentum of this extraordinary transformation in cultural attitudes.

Bibliography

Adas, Michael. “Contested Hegemony: The Great War and the Afro-Asian Assault on the

Civilizing Mission Ideology.” Journal of World History 15, no. 1 (2004): 31-63.

Adi, Hakim. “Pan-Africanism and West African Nationalism in Britain.” African Studies

Review 43, no. 1 (2000): 69-82.

Berliner, Brett A. “Mephistopheles and Monkeys: Rejuvenation, Race, and Sexuality in

Popular Culture in Interwar France.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 13, no. 3

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Bush, Barbara. Imperialism, Race, and Resistance: Britain, 1919-1945. Florence, KY:

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Dalton, Karen C. C. and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “Josephine Baker and Paul Colin: African

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McKenzie, J.M. Partition of Africa, 1880-1900: And European Imperialism in the

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1 J.M. McKenzie, Partition of Africa, 1880-1900: And European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century (Florence, KY: Routledge, 1983), 24.

2 Douglas Lorimer, “Theoretical Racism in Late-Victorian Anthropology, 1870-1900,” Victorian Studies 31, no. 3 (Spring 1988): 408-409.

3 Halett, Changing European Attitudes to Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 490.

4 Barbara Bush, Imperialism, Race, and Resistance: Africa and Britain, 1919-1945 (Florence, KY: Routledge, 1999), 214.

5 Hakim Adi, “Pan-Africanism and West African Nationalism in Britain,” African Studies Review 43, no. 1 (2000): 70-71.

6 Michael Adas, "Contested Hegemony: The Great War and the Afro-Asian Assault in the Civilizing Mission Ideology," Journal of World History 15, no. 1 (2004), 45-46.

7 Brett A. Berliner, "Mephistopheles and Monkeys: Rejuvenation, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture in Interwar France," Journal of the History of Sexuality 13, no. 3 (2004), 9-10.

8 Karen C. C. Dalton and Henry Louis Gates Jr., “Josephine Baker and Paul Colin: African American Dance Seen through Parisian Eyes,” Critical Inquiry 24, no. 4 (1998), 928-930.

9 Owen White, “Miscegenation and the Popular Imagination,” in Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of Empire in France, ed. Tony Chafer and Amanda Sackur (Gordonsville, VA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), 138.