Existing comment:
The Legacy of he War: Home and Abroad:
[The war] "brought Americans closer together then ever before and they mingled on a freer footing."
-- Charleston News and Courier, December 29, 1918
The influx of many new people into South Carolina for military training and related duties helped break the isolation that the state had experienced since 1865. Inevitable relationships developed which led to marriage in some cases. Men from New York to California who spent time in one of the posts during the war met local girls and married them after the war.
The flu epidemic forced the state to re-examine its inadequate health care system. After the war, the legislature was convinced to appropriate funds to build institutions for the mentally impaired and an industrial school for young women. Funds also became available to make the State Health Board larger so that more doctors and medical assistants could work at the local level to improve health and help in emergencies.
The social legacy of the war had some highs and lows. For women, the end of the war saw the culmination of decades of work to earn the right to vote. By August, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, allowing women across the country to vote for the first time in the November general election.
African Americans after the Armistice:
In spite of the patriotic services of African Americans across the nation, both in combat overseas and at home, whites refused to extend social and political rights to minorities when peace returned. The loosening of segregation laws that the war had precipitated soon tightened up again. Black veterans returning home expecting new social and political rights were quickly disillusioned as their second-class status was re-emphasized across the South. In South Carolina, this was tragically demonstrated by the Charleston race riots of May 1919. During two days of violence, extensive property damage to King and Meeting Street businesses occurred. Several blacks and a few whites were injured and killed. Evidence showed that little had changed despite the war. This fact encouraged thousands of black South Carolinians to leave the state for better opportunities in northeastern and midwestern cities, including New York, Boston and Cleveland. |