Black Americana and Abolition – 25 – Bauman Rare Books - July 2022 Exceptional First-Hand Account Of WWI Black Soldiers 39. MASON, Monroe and FURR, Arthur. The American Negro Soldier with the Red Hand of France. Boston, 1920. Octavo, original red cloth. $3200. First edition of the very scarce contemporary history of African American soldiers fighting in WWI alongside the famed “Red Hand,” with frontispiece and six full-page illustrations including map, in original cloth. The 372d Colored Infantry Regiment of WWI served in France under French command. It was attached to French General Goybet’s 157th Division, famed as the “Red Hand.” This work vividly describes the “conditions under which these Black defenders of Democracy fared… all were made to feel the sting of segregation... The French, knowing of the unblemished record of these troops, could not understand America’s attitude toward her Black troops and earnestly requested that several of these units be assigned to them for combat training. The French government would award the whole regiment the Croix de Guerre with Palm” (Sutherland, 286). Text fine, mild toning, trace of soiling to original cloth. A near-fine copy. Inscribed By Benjamin Franklin Gardner, One Of America’s First Western Black Poets 40. GARDNER, Benjamin Franklin. Black. Caldwell, Idaho, 1933. Small octavo (5-1/2 by 7-3/4 inches), original black cloth, dust jacket. $1200. First edition of Gardner’s critically praised first and only book of poetry, inscribed: “In appreciation of a very Pleasant and Profitable Acquaintance. Best wishes, T— P— From Benj. F. Gardner 10-8-38 (On a train, enroute from Grand Island to Omaha, Nebr.).” Gardner, the son of enslaved parents, traveled widely across America and worked as a Pullman porter while crafting the 60 poems in Black. On publication of Black in 1933, the New York Times praised Gardner for his “sureness of ear… The secret of these rhythmic liberties is… infectious.” A fine inscribed copy.
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