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Above: During World War 1,the government used postersto encourage people toparticipate in the war effort.Below: Many more soldierswere killed in World War Ithan in any previous war.

In 1914, war broke out in Europe. Serbian nationalists had been fighting forindependence from Austria-Hungary for several years. On June 28, a Serbiannationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo.Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of planning the assassination and threatenedwar. Russia stepped in to protect Serbia. Diplomats—those trained to handlesensitive situations between countries—were unable to solve the crisis. Warbroke out in August 1914. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman

World War IAs you read look for:• why the United States entered World War I,• the effect of the war on South Carolina,• the rise of racism,• vocabulary terms: diplomat, isolationist, interventionist,

racism, and xenophobia.

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Empire (today’s Turkey) united as the Central Powers. Great Britain, France,and Russia formed the Allied Powers. Before the war was over, twenty othernations joined the Allied Powers, and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.

The United States Enters the WarWhen the war broke out, the United States remained neutral. Americans

wanted no part of a war in Europe. President Woodrow Wilson, a Demo-crat elected in 1912 and a resident of Columbia during the mid 1800s, askedAmericans to “be neutral in fact as well as in name.”

The United States managed to stay out of the war for almost three years.During that time, American ships sailed to all parts of Europe to sell warmaterials and other supplies from the United States. But in March 1917,German submarines, or U-boats, sank four American merchant ships. Presi-dent Wilson and many other Americans felt the United States could remainneutral no longer. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for adeclaration of war. He said, “The world must be made safe for democracy.It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. . . . But theright is more precious than the peace.” The “right” he was talking aboutwas freedom of the seas, which Wilson believed meant the United Statescould trade with both sides during the war.

South Carolina in the WarAs soon as the United States declared war on Germany, Governor Rich-

ard Manning established a selective service administration. Manning alsomoved to improve transportation and communication facilities, secure mili-tary training facilities, and he encouraged residents to purchase LibertyBonds. The bonds were loans of money to the United States government,much like the Savings Bonds of today. During the nineteen months that theUnited States was involved in World War I, South Carolinians invested more

Above: Richard I. Manningserved as governor of SouthCarolina from 1915 to 1919,during World War I.

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Left and below: Thousandsof young Americans trainedfor World War I at such placesas Camp Sevier.

than $120 million in Liberty Bonds and savings stamps. At the same time,industrial and agricultural production in the state rose dramatically.

Support for the war was not universal in South Carolina in 1917. WhileColumbia held rallies supporting the war, Lexington held rallies condemn-ing the war. The large population of German ancestry in that county wasopposed to American’s entering the war. Former Governor Cole Blease con-demned the war and the way Governor Manning handled the situation. Andthe editor of the Abbeville Scimitar was jailed for questioning Wilson’s rea-sons for going to war. During the course of the war many of those peoplewho had condemned the war in the beginning changed their position andsupported the war in the end.

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Above: Posters such asthis one were used duringWorld War I not only torecruit armed forces, butalso to encourage women toseek employment to helpthe war effort.

Nearly 65,000 South Carolinians—both black and white—joined the armed forces. Of these, 2,085 died while in the ser-vice. Several South Carolinians won the Congressional Medalof Honor for their service. One winner was Sergeant Gary EvansFoster of Inman. Army officials credited Sergeant Foster withkilling three Germans and taking twenty-five prisoners.

Three training camps were located in South Carolina:Camp Jackson in Columbia, Camp Sevier in Greenville, andCamp Wadsworth in Spartanburg. Thousands of soldierstrained at these military facilities, and thousands of Marinestrained at bases on Parris Island and in Charleston.

The story of Camp Wadsworth is typical of the time.Spartanburg civic leaders and city officials offered to pro-vide $200,000 if the War Department would establish acamp near the city. On July 6, 1917, the final agreementwas signed, and construction on the camp began immedi-ately. Within six weeks, railway sidings had been built, a9-mile water main had been laid by the city, roads werepaved, and more than 1,000 buildings were standing. Thefirst troops arrived on July 27, and within two months morethan 20,000 soldiers had been trained there.

The people of Spartanburg raised over $27,000 for acamp activities fund, and volunteer groups such as the Red

Cross tried to enliven the camp life. Local theaters offered picture showsfor the troops; local agencies organized parties, dances, concerts, and otherrecreational activities.

The origin of Camp Jackson is similar. But the similarities end there. CampWadsworth closed in March 1919; Camp Jackson remained open after thewar. It was renamed Fort Jackson during the 1930s. Today, it is the primaryArmy training facility on the East Coast.

The Home FrontThe efforts of the whole country went into producing food, arms, and

other supplies needed to win the war. The Allies badly needed food, arms,oil, steel, and other goods. By 1917, trade with the Allies was seven timesmore than it had been before the war. South Carolina’s farmers planted morecrops and profited from the extra demand for cotton and food products.South Carolina families, like people all over the nation, planted “victorygardens” in backyards. People went through “wheatless Mondays” and“meatless Tuesdays.”

Several important changes resulted from the war. One was that womenand blacks got jobs that had been held by white men before the war. An-other was that the federal government took over major industries like therailroads to help the war effort. Congress passed laws that would not per-

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mit unions to strike and that limited the free speech of American citizens.People could not speak out against the war. Most people supported thesechanges because of the war, but they were also glad that at the end of thewar, the laws were repealed.

Peace PlanIn 1917, President Wilson said that he wanted peace without victory. He

wanted the war to end without anyone having to accept the blame for startingit. The president proposed a peace plan called “The Fourteen Points.” Wil-son, however, did not consult the leaders of the other Allied nations, whichled to problems. In the end, it was the other Allied leaders who set the termsof the peace treaty, not Wilson. The Treaty of Versailles officially ended thewar in 1919 and while other nations quickly accepted the terms of the treaty,Americans were sharply divided over the treaty.

The controversy over the treaty divided the people into isolationists andinterventionists. Isolationists wanted to stay out of world affairs, to isolatethe United States from the rest of the world. Interventionists wanted to be apart of the world community. For the most part, South Carolinians wereless concerned with the issues outside of the United States. They wanted tokeep the economic prosperity experienced during the war and maintain thestatus quo socially. Neither the economic prosperity nor the social statusquo would last.

Postwar ProblemsIn 1920, Republican Warren G. Harding campaigned for the presidency

promising to return the country to “normalcy.” He wanted the United Statesto return to limited government and an economy run by big business. Tohim, that was normalcy. However, the decade following the war was any-thing but normal for people in South Carolina.

Race RelationsAfter the war, women and blacks lost the jobs that they held during the

war. Returning white soldiers found jobs waiting for them. Returning blacksoldiers, however, found that racism, the belief that one race is superior toanother, remained rampant in South Carolina. Although blacks had riskedtheir lives fighting for democracy abroad, they were not able to participatein democracy at home. Lynching, which had been condemned by many na-tionwide, resumed. More than sixty black men were lynched in the Southin 1919, ten of them veterans of World War I still in their uniforms. Raceriots broke out in several cities during 1919, including Charleston, Chicago,and Washington, D. C. Instead of backing down, however, the NAACP andother groups urged blacks to fight back. Many blacks joined the NAACPand worked to obtain the civil rights that should have been theirs simplybecause they were Americans.

?President Wilson won theNobel Peace Prize in 1920.

He lived in Columbia duringhis teenage years.

Did You Know?Did You Know?

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Above: The Ku Klux Klan wasnot just a force in the South.This march took place inWashington, D.C., in 1926.

1. What did George Winston believe had happened betweenthe races since Reconstruction?

2. What was the position of the United States at the beginningof World War I?

3. Why were some South Carolinians against entering WorldWar I?

4. Where were the first NAACP chapters in the state organized?5. What is xenophobia?

It’s Your TurnIt’s Your Turn

The first chapters of the NAACP in South Caro-lina formed in Charleston and Columbia in 1917.Soon there were also chapters in Aiken, Anderson,Beaufort, Darlington, Florence, and Orangeburg.These chapters worked for better opportunities forblacks. One of the first things they asked for wasblack teachers for the black schools. In 1920, thecity of Charleston agreed. In Columbia the orga-nization succeeded in getting a branch of theYWCA established and secured a branch of thepublic library for use by black patrons during the1920s. By 1930, branches of the organizationoperated in Greenville, Columbia, and Charlestonand most of the large towns and small cities.

The Ku Klux KlanThe fear and uncertainty of the postwar period

produced unrest, especially among different cultural groups. Fears created bythe communist takeover of Russia in 1917 and the influx of immigrants fromsouthern and eastern Europe frightened many Americans. A fear of immi-grants, called xenophobia, developed. They became more afraid of anyonewho was “different.” The immigrants did not settle in South Carolina veryoften, but those that did met hate and ridicule. Many believed that those“others” would take away their jobs or destroy the southern way of life.

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan revived, but this time its targets includednot only blacks but also immigrants, Jews, and Catholics. Victims of Klanviolence were often kidnapped and severely beaten by hooded Klansmen. Thevictim might be a black man who was accused of being too friendly with awhite woman or a white man who was accused of beating his wife or nottaking care of his family. Lynchings were also associated with the Klan. Klanchapters made their presence known through Klan parades held in towns.

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South Carolina PortraitsSouth Carolina Portraits

During the 1920s and 1930s a number of literaryworks were published by South Carolinians. Some ofthese works were local histories by local people; oth-ers were works on South Carolina published by peopleoutside of South Carolina. In addi-tion, cultural organizations like thePoetry Society of South Carolina en-couraged South Carolinians to readand write poetry and other literaryworks. The society included some ofthe most noted authors from SouthCarolina, including DuBose Heyward,Archibald Rutledge, and Julia MoodPeterkin.

Julia Mood Peterkin was born onOctober 31, 1880. She graduatedfrom Converse College in Spartan-burg and then went on to earn aMaster’s Degree. It was extremelyunusual for a woman to earn such adegree in the early twentieth cen-tury. She taught at Fort Motte andacted in local theater. In 1903 shemarried William George Peterkin.

Julia Peterkin was raised by a black nurse whotaught her the dialect, customs, and attitudes of theGullah community. During the 1920s she began towrite about the black community, one of the first whitewomen writers to create black characters with depthbeyond the stereotypes. Her descriptions of black cul-ture were so vivid and realistic that many people be-lieved Peterkin was black when she published her firstbook of short stories. During the 1920s, someone saidof her that “she saw the black person as a human be-

ing at a time when many people in the South did not.”She was criticized, however, for knowing things aboutthe black culture that no self-respecting white ladywould know. Some public libraries banned her books

as obscene. Her works were widelyacclaimed for breaking new ground,even if they did cause a great deal ofcontroversy.

In 1925, Peterkin’s short story“Maum Lou” won seventh place in theO. Henry Memorial Award Prize Sto-ries of that year. Among Peterkin’smost important works are GreenThursday (1924); her classical tragedy,Black April (1927), which has beencalled “perhaps her most powerfulwork of fiction;” her feminist comedy,Scarlet Sister Mary (1928); her work ofnon-fiction, Roll, Jordan, Roll (1933);and A Plantation Christmas (1934).Peterkin won the Pulitzer Prize forScarlet Sister Mary in 1929. She re-mains the only South Carolinian toearn the Pulitzer Prize.

Peterkin was a pioneer in the interpretation of SouthCarolina during the 1920s and 1930s. Not only did shewin the Pulitzer Prize, but she was also awarded an hon-orary degree from Converse in 1927. She died in 1961,at the beginning of the civil rights movement, a move-ment she would have supported whole-heartedly.Peterkin is honored today by Converse College with theJulia Peterkin Award for writing, created in 1998 tohonor young poets and writers in America. She was in-ducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1994.

Julia Mood PeterkinJulia Mood Peterkin

Julia Mood Peterkin (left)poses with First Lady EleanorRoosevelt at a dinner honor-

ing the writers of the year.

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