struggle, they would be executed in 1927).
1924 The Society for Human Rights in Chicago, America's earliest known gay rights organization, is founded.
1920s Dorothy Parker out-talks and out-thinks the boys at the Algonquin Roundtable.
18
THE BONUS ARMY DEMANDS JUSTICE
In 1924, American soldiers who fought on the battlefields of World War I were voted “Adjusted
Compensation” by Congress: $1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in
the States. To the “doughboys,” the money was seen as a bonus… but it came with a catch. Their
bonus was not payable until 1945.
In the spring and summer of 1932, disgruntled veterans — left broke and unemployed by the
Depression — got the idea to demand payment on the future worth of the aforementioned
certificates. Anywhere from 17,000 to 25,000 former doughboys formed a Bonus Expeditionary
Force (BEF), otherwise known as the “Bonus Army,” and — bonus certificates in hand — they
marched on Washington to picket Congress and President Herbert Hoover.
While they may have fought in Europe as a segregated army, the men of the BEF did not invite
Jim Crow to this battle. Arriving from all over the country, alone or with wives and children,
they huddled together, mostly across the Potomac River from the Capitol, in what were called
“Hoovervilles,” in honor of the president who adamantly refused to hear their pleas.
Compensation” by Congress: $1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in
the States. To the “doughboys,” the money was seen as a bonus… but it came with a catch. Their
bonus was not payable until 1945.
In the spring and summer of 1932, disgruntled veterans — left broke and unemployed by the
Depression — got the idea to demand payment on the future worth of the aforementioned
certificates. Anywhere from 17,000 to 25,000 former doughboys formed a Bonus Expeditionary
Force (BEF), otherwise known as the “Bonus Army,” and — bonus certificates in hand — they
marched on Washington to picket Congress and President Herbert Hoover.
While they may have fought in Europe as a segregated army, the men of the BEF did not invite
Jim Crow to this battle. Arriving from all over the country, alone or with wives and children,
they huddled together, mostly across the Potomac River from the Capitol, in what were called
“Hoovervilles,” in honor of the president who adamantly refused to hear their pleas.
57
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW