The Negro Soldier (1944)

Carlton Moss: Minister

Photos 

Quotes 

• Minister : There are those who will tell you that Japan is the savior of the colored races. On December 7, 1941.

  [scenes of the attack on Pearl Harbor] 

• Minister : There were those among the honored at Arlington: Samuel Washington, Walter Waters, William Fox, John Simms, Young, Charles Young, Colonel, United States Army. And to their memory, sermons in stone and bronze, tributes of a grateful nation. To commemorate the heroism and sacrifices of all colored soldiers who served in the various wars engaged in by the United States of America that a lasting record shall be made of their unselfish devotion to duty.

• Minister : [reading from "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler]  The Bible of the Nazis. The Gospel According to Hitler. I'm not going to read all of this. But there are one or two things in this book that will interests you. I quote, "What is denied to us, the German fist will take. If our forefathers had made decisions by the same pacifist nonsense as the present day does, we would possess but a third of our existing territory." Further, he says, "From time to time, the illustrated papers show how a negro has become a lawyer, a teacher, perhaps, even a minister. It never dawns on the degenerate middle class America that this is truly a sin against all reason, that it is criminal madness to train a born half ape until one believes one has made a lawyer of him." This book was written 20 years ago. The plan for which it foreshadowed has become a reality.

• Minister : At Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, gun belonged to Peter Salem, a colored man, who carried it at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill and with it shot Maj. Pitcairn.

• Minister : In France, at Bussy Ferme, the French people erected a memorial to the 371st Infantry. This stone and the ground on which it stands are dedicated to the Negro troops who fought and died here on April 21, 1918. Twenty-three years later, June 15, 1941, an invading German Army - yes, the Nazis destroyed our monuments in France. But, our monuments here stand and will always stand.

• Minister : To the enemy, our country is something to destroy. Our homes, our right to worship God, our little belongings, something to crush, to shackle, to plunder. O God, we thank you for this land, which our fathers have helped to build. Grant that we may with your help be worthy of this heritage. And in our turn, enrich it for our children. So that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.

  Church Choir : [singing]  Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to war, With the flag of freedom, Going on before...

• Minister : At Tuskegee, more pilots are earning their wings. In a short while, these young officers will be full fledged combat fliers, taking their place at the controls of our fighter planes. Today, high above their native land they fly. Tomorrow, what a surprise the Nazis will get when black, brown, yellow and white men, all American, land in the airfields of Berlin and Tokyo.

• Minister : Every man ready to do his share. The engineers, the fighting builders, ready to build bridges, highways, railroads, ports, landing fields. The quartermaster, who moves troops and supplies, who provides the food, fuel and clothing. The men who supply the means of communication - telegraph, telephone and radio. The calvary, ready to patrol, scout and harass.