The “Negroes and the War” newspaper was given to me by my friend, Joan Brady Queior, preserved somewhat in a plastic sheath.

The stories read as though it must have been published while World War II was still being waged. It also appears that the entire publication was formatted and written by Chandler Owen. His bio reads in part; “A well-known Negro publicist, he is a resident of Chicago. He graduated from Virginia Union University and did his post-graduate work on fellowships both at Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work, majoring in political and social sciences.”

I was lucky enough, many years ago, to attend a conference in Albany as part of Black History Month and meet Nebraska Brace, one of the presenters and an Albany City Councilman. He died last May and has now been honored when Third Street in Albany was renamed Nebraska Brace Way. Cool guy, cool name. This column is our contribution to Black History Month.

As many of us watch the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea it is interesting that there is a section of this newspaper dedicated to the Olympic Summer Games held in Berlin in 1936. A black U.S, athlete by the name of Jesse Owens dominated the track and field events along with other black medalists that we hardly ever hear about.

Owens won four Gold Medals – 100 meter, long jump, 200 meter and the 400-meter relay and broke two Olympic records. His black teammates also won Gold Medals …

John Woodruff won the 800 meter, Cornelius Johnson won the high jump and Archie Williams won the 400 meter. Williams later retired as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

This publication reveals that “Hitler greeted ‘Aryan’ winners in his private apartment in the Berlin Stadium so he would not have to shake hands with our Negro victors.”

The Olympic Winter Games were also held in Germany in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Boys from the North Country won medals in 1936.

Gold Medals in the two-man bobsled competition were won by Ivan Brown and Alan Washbond. The Bronze Medal in that competition went to Gilbert Colgate and Richard Lawrence.

It was a surprise to me that the U.S. Hockey team won a Bronze Medal in 1936 while Great Britain won the Gold and Canada the Silver.

The 4-man bobsled races were dominated by Switzerland with the U.S. just out of the medal times. The number one team was Hubert Stevens, Crawford Merkel, Robert Martin and John Shene and the number two team was Francis Tyler, James Bickford, Richard Lawrence and Max Bly.

—

Statement by Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis

“Highest Ranking Negro Officer”

“Our troops are now stationed all across the world, in the Orient, in England, in North Africa, in all the far places where men in the American uniform carry the battle to the enemy.

“A Negro, Robert H. Brooks was the first casualty of the United States Armored Forces. Private Brooks of Sadieville, Kentucky, son of a sharecropper family, was killed near Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines on Dec. 8, 1941. Since that time the parade ground at Fort Knox, Kentucky, has been named Brooks Field in his honor.

“Selective service calls us from civilian life in exact proportion to our percentage of the national population which is approximately one-tenth. There are now two Negro divisions. Many regiments are Negro-officered. There are Negro doctors, Negro nurses and Negro chaplains serving their country and there are hundreds of Negros in the various officers training schools … and fliers are being trained at the Basic and advanced Flying School at Tuskegee, Alabama.”