Jazz in the madness of the Great War

In 1865 , at the end of the Civil War that had pitted the Southern and Northern states against each other, slavery was abolished in the United States . About four million African American slaves formally lost their shackles , but did not become full American citizens. Centuries of slavery had rooted widespread racism in American society and in many Southern states slavery was replaced with racial segregation , that is, with laws that aimed to create a clear separation within the American community. On the one hand there had to be the "whites", who enjoyed full rights, the best possibilities for study and work. On the other, the ex-slaves, who had to resign themselves to discrimination . Or they had to fight, in the truest sense of the word, to try to be considered second-class American citizens .

One of these events of struggle for one's rights and dignity is narrated to us in the graphic novel "Jazz Lieutenant" (21 letters, 2023, pp. 80) written by Malo Durand and illustrated by Erwan Le Bot for the drawings and by Julien Weber-Acquaviva, alias Jiwa, in the colours.

The volume, in fact, recalls real events in the period in which Europe was devastated by the First World War.

For three years the United States had remained out of the conflict, but in 1917 the American government had decided to send troops to fight alongside the French and British. James Reese Europe, pianist, violinist, composer and conductor born in one of the states where racism was most widespread, Alabama, chose to enlist to fight on the European front as many white soldiers did. It was not an easy choice because in the military African Americans were barely tolerated by the high command. Furthermore, the United States was facing a season of upsurge in racism. The racist organization Ku Klux Klan - born in the Southern States in 1865-66 to protest against the abolition of slavery and defend the "true American identity", suppressed between 1869 and 1871 - had just been reconstituted in 1915 , and already had hundreds of thousands of followers, destined to become about 2.5 million in 1925.

Despite these premises Europe wore the uniform . He was assigned the rank of lieutenant and the task of directing and organizing the band of the 369th Infantry, a department entirely made up of black soldiers. The commanders' goal was, in fact, to prevent black soldiers from actually fighting. They just wanted to parade and play, thus showing the world a racial equality that in fact did not exist. Indeed, the James Reese Europe orchestra conquered Europeans with its ultra-modern rhythms, harbingers of jazz. But those musicians in uniform did much more. They understood that music, however new, free and liberating it was, could not be enough to shake consciences in a continent at war. They had to abandon their tools and take up their weapons. Living in the trenches and facing enemy fire. It was their way of testifying to the world that they deserved those rights that were denied them, because they were doing their duty to the end.