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THE NEGRO, DEMOCRACY 
 AND THE WAR 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1919 BY 
 WALTER W. DELSARTE 
 
 APR "I 1919 
 
THE NEGRO, 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND 
 
 THE WAR 
 
 BY 
 WALTER W. DELSARTE, LL. B. 
 
 DETROIT 
 WOLVERINE PRINTING CO. 
 
 1919 
 
^t"^^" 
 
 "Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that he lay down his life for his friend." 
 
 •CI.A5i5o90 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Foreword ' "^ 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The Negro in The War 4-10 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 The Negro's Loyalty, 1 M 7 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Germany and Her African Colonies 18-26 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Colored Soldiers at the Front 27-46 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Things For Which We Fought 47-53 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Negro Republics in The War 54-58 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 The War is Won 39-65 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? ... 66-102 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Democracy as Applied to The Negro 103-1 18 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Some Remedies For The Race Problem 1 19-135 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 More than 2,000 years ago the people of 
 Athens consulted the oracle at Delphi as to the 
 best means of making great men of their boys; 
 the answer, though somewhat ambiguous, was 
 this: If the people of Athens wish to make great 
 men of their boys, let them put whatever is most 
 beautiful into the ears of youth. The Athenians, 
 though they were wise indeed, failed to grasp the 
 meaning of the oracle and secured golden ear- 
 rings and placed them into the ears of their 
 youths. 
 
 This answer is just as full of meaning today as 
 it was in the days of ancient Athens, and yet it is 
 just as capable of being misunderstood as it was 
 then. 
 
 If the Negro race would make great men of its 
 boys, let it place whatever is most beautiful into 
 the ears of youth; not golden earrings, but golden 
 truths. 
 
 At no time in all the history of the colored 
 people in America have they rejoiced with more 
 enthusiasm than over their recent achievements 
 and the prospects of a better day. The past year 
 
2 The Negro, Democracy and the War 
 
 has been replete with universal chaos and tragedy, 
 and yet the American people are rejoicing that 
 civilization and democracy have been redeemed, 
 it is to be hoped, for all time to come, and are jus- 
 tifying themselves to the utmost parts of the 
 earth. 
 
 Never before has the Negro race had the op- 
 portunity to cooperate with the proudest blood of 
 civilization, and play so important a part in shap- 
 ing the destinies of the world. 
 
 These are the beautiful truths that shall ring in 
 the ears of the youth of the race and inspire them 
 with new hopes, pure ideals and a determination 
 to attain greater heights. Historians of past wars 
 seem to have overlooked the Negro, and have 
 failed to connect him with the greatest military 
 events in which our nation has been involved. 
 The outside world has been kept in darkness as to 
 the Negro's bravery as a soldier, loyalty as a citi- 
 zen and economic and industrial value in the in- 
 tricate machinery of America's national affairs. 
 
 It was left for the Negro, in the great world 
 war, to testify through the instrumentality of the 
 machine gun, hand grenade and other implements 
 of warfare, to his unswerving loyalty to the stars 
 and stripes, and devotion to the cause of human 
 freedom throughout the world. 
 
Foreword 3 
 
 It is to be hoped that this volume will awaken 
 in the American Negro a sounder appreciation of 
 what this bewildering, baffling, awful struggle has 
 meant, and for w^hich our best efforts have been 
 spent. Amid this terrible wreck, our §ouls must 
 still be filled with courage and an unshaken con- 
 fidence in the onward progress of the race, and 
 with a faith in the everlasting principles of right, 
 of justice, and of truth which must prevail. 
 
 March 1st, 1919. 
 
 WALTER W. DELSARTE. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 The Negro in the War 
 
 The Negro brought to America no hopes, am- 
 bitions or aspirations ; he sought neither gold nor 
 land, nor came he in quest of religious or political 
 freedom. He came as a slave. Through long 
 weary years of unprecedented submission to the 
 most cruel form of oppression, the black man 
 tilled the rich soil of America. 
 
 The most striking characteristic of the Negro is 
 the comparative eaise with which he adapts him- 
 self to new conditions. Hardly had he become 
 acquainted with his new status as a slave when he 
 began gradually to imbibe the civilization that 
 surrounded him on all sides. In this brief work 
 it will be impossible to elaborate upon the various 
 steps which have marked the race's progress to- 
 ward the highest standards of modern civilization. 
 
 Less than sixty years ago the Negro obtained 
 his freedom from the bonds of slavery, and today 
 he stands forth as not the least among the defend- 
 ers of the honor of the nation that so long held 
 
 4 
 
The Negro in The War 5 
 
 him in bondage. Trying to forget the injustice 
 we have met on all sides, we shouldered arms in 
 our country's cause, firm in our belief that a 
 better day would dawn for us after the great 
 struggle for democracy. With every ounce of its 
 energy, every cent of its money and every life, if 
 need be, the Negro race flung itself into the con-- 
 flict, realizing that no single act of any individual 
 could be so unimportant as not to have a bearing 
 upon the outcome of the great enterprise we had 
 undertaken. 
 
 Since the spark which was struck in Servia in 
 August, 1914, developing a world-wide confla- 
 gration, which finally leaped across the Atlantic, 
 hundreds of Negroes* lives have been sacrificed 
 upon the battlefields of France fighting in the 
 armies of England, France and the United States 
 for the establishment and perpetuation of world 
 democracy; and although conscious of the hor- 
 rors and dangers of warfare, we in America are 
 not lacking in appreciation of the glorious privi- 
 lege of fighting for the honor and security of our 
 nation, and the civilization and democracy of the 
 woj-ld. 
 
 After America entered this war we began to 
 place a revaluation on our humble daily lives. 
 More and more each of us feels too small to grasp 
 
6 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 the world issues of today, yet at the same time 
 finds inactivity unbearable. We turn to the near- 
 est task in desperate desire to make it somehow 
 count for relief and restoration to a war-ridden 
 world. 
 
 Over there in the seared and harried land of 
 France, are those boys whose voices have so often 
 called to us; whose little feet came pattering to 
 our call. They fought to free the world of a 
 blighting curse. In the night they kept the long 
 tense vigil, in the grey dawn they moved across 
 the tortured soil. 
 
 Throughout all this land every household that 
 has possessed a boy has treated him with a new 
 sympathy, a real, if often awkward, tenderness. 
 With the threat of loss always over our heads we 
 are learning how much we love. 
 
 As we read the records of the hearts of our 
 brothers and sons **over there** we know that no 
 holocaust can unself the soul, and that the death- 
 less privileges of friendship and of kinship and of 
 the beauty of nature can be interrupted, but never 
 destroyed. How beneficient a privilege the mere 
 fact of an unbroken family circle appears, now 
 that yonder by the hearth a shrouded form of 
 mystery sits listening to our careless chat! We, 
 the obscure, sorrowing fathers and mothers, sis- 
 
The Negro in The War 7 
 
 ters and brothers of young Negro soldiers killed, 
 we, the mourners all over the land, want to feel 
 that our lives are moving in tune with theirs. 
 Many of these colored boys that were sent to the 
 front to fight for humanity and build up a world 
 peace that will last to eternity are scarcely out of 
 childhood. Mothers are bewildered that the lads 
 whom they have just been teaching the ways of 
 right and wrong and reprimanding for boyish 
 pranks and bad manners are appointed to settle 
 the biggest problem of the ages — to face the most 
 vital situations and dangers and horrors with a 
 courage that must not fail and a determination 
 that must not falter. 
 
 Boys who still display the curves of childhood 
 have done a man's job— a big man's job— and 
 have done it well. The colored boys went into 
 battle with the grim determination of manhood, 
 and if they came out, came wth a laugh and an 
 unquenchable fund of animal spirits that was the 
 envy of the older comrades. One officer — a 
 major — remarked, with a choke in his voice, that 
 when he met the colored lads in the trenches, 
 smeared with mud and blood and grime of battle, 
 worn out by loss of sleep and lack of all comforts, 
 and they saluted him with a smile, as they in- 
 variably did, he could not help thinking of the 
 great debt of gratitude which America owes to 
 
8 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 these colored boys who so bravely fought to 
 maintain the honor of their country. 
 
 It seems strange that there should be such men 
 as these in a democracy. But they are here in 
 numbers of appalling magnitude. These are the 
 men whom Theodore Parker had in mind when 
 he spoke of the sad patience of the multitudes. 
 These are the men of whom William James was 
 thinking when he wrote his great treatise on the 
 laws of habit. These are the men who hold to- 
 gether the fabrics of society in times of peace, 
 and sustain unshaken the prolonged and awful 
 agonies of war. Like Tennyson's Brigade at 
 Balaklava — 
 
 "Theirs not to make reply, 
 Theirs not to reason why, 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 It is the irony, the tragedy of this monstrous 
 thing that it takes the young, the untried, the 
 best, the purest; like the minotaur, it must have 
 sacrifice, and this sacrifice must be oflfered by 
 those who should rightly be the last. Boys right 
 from the schoolroom, who have never known 
 care or responsibility — who have never been far 
 from home — who have depended on father or 
 mother to decide all problems for them, have 
 marched away from the home shelter and care to 
 
The Negro in The War 9 
 
 a suddenly acquired manhood and independence. 
 They fought fearlessly and grimly; they played 
 with the carelessness of children. Brave, reso- 
 lute, inexorable, thoughtless, irrepressible, they 
 marched on to the bitter end regardless of cost or 
 sacrifice, inspired by their faith that in this holy 
 struggle they may be moved by righteous motives 
 and wage a victorious warfare, until the founda- 
 tions of peace and justice shall be established that 
 v/ill glorify the name of America and abide to 
 bless all coming generations. 
 
 I cannot help but think of the Negro mother 
 who, surrounded by adversity and prejudice, has 
 worked and struggled hard to raise her only son. 
 Perhaps today he sleeps beneath the soil of 
 France. She knows not where. Perhaps she 
 never will know. But, often in the silent hours, 
 her memory returns to the day he came to her. 
 How gloriously happy she was. What brave 
 plans she made. How she hoped and prayed for 
 the little fellow's future. She saw him grow into 
 childhood. She watched through the weary hours 
 of illness. She helped him over the hard places. 
 He was her idol, her life. She remembers his 
 merry laugh at toy soldier battles around the 
 Christmas tree. He grew to manhood. He ob- 
 tained employment, learned a trade or entered 
 
1 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 business, and everything seemed bright. Then 
 the war clouds gathered. True to the urge of his 
 conscience, he longed to go. She told him through 
 tears, there was but one thing to do. Her boy 
 became a soldier. Proudly she wore a service pin 
 with star of blue. In October, 1917, she said 
 good-bye — the last good-bye, but she did not 
 know it. 
 
 One evening the Germans attacked our lines, 
 first with gas, then with high explosives. The 
 boy's mask was carried away; an instant later a 
 shell tore off an arm. This unfortunate mother's 
 star was turned to gold. He is but one son, she 
 but one mother — ^but he was all she had. One 
 son does not count for much, perhaps — ^but there 
 are thousands of mothers w^ho have given all 
 they had. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The Negro's Loyalty 
 
 This war has done more for the Negro than has 
 been accomplished in several decades of peace. 
 Not only has he demonstrated, as he has done in 
 past wars, that he can fight, but that his willing- 
 ness and capacity for work are unlimited ; that he 
 can easily adapt himself to strange surroundings, 
 and that he understands the purpose of Liberty 
 Bonds which he invariably bought until it actually 
 and positively **hurt.** 
 
 One of the most glorious things which hap- 
 pened to the Negro, however, was the revelation 
 of his absolute, unshakable loyalty to the stars 
 and stripes. Evidence adduced before the Senate 
 Committee investigating German propaganda 
 shows that German propagandists failed miser- 
 ably in their efforts among the colored people. 
 That they operated principally among the planta- 
 tion Negroes of the South, and there made no 
 headway whatever, is significant. It is a splendid 
 
 tribute to the Americanism of the Negro. It 
 
 n 
 
12 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 might be supposed that among men and women 
 who are not regular readers of the newspapers, 
 who trust to the * 'grapevine,** which makes a 
 wireless station of every cabin, for most of their 
 information, the fairy tales of the paid German 
 agents would find fertile ground. But the Negro 
 stood pat. **You have no country," was an in- 
 sidious remark that was dinned into his ears night 
 and day. * 'You'll never get your Liberty Bond 
 money back** was another. "You'll get forty 
 acres of land if the Germans win,** they were told. 
 And they were assured that victory for the "hu- 
 mane** Germans meant an end of all lynching 
 and instant leveling of all social lines in the 
 United States. 
 
 Many white intellectuals in the North suc- 
 cumbed to sophistries and lies, but those black 
 millions did not. Their hearts proved pure gold 
 and they stood by Uncle Sam. The Secret Ser- 
 vice needed no special trains for Negro excur- 
 sions to internment camps. 
 
 It is the same inborn spirit of loyalty to the 
 government that has prevented the I. W. W. from 
 gaining converts among the colored people of the 
 South, no matter how poor they are, or how un- 
 just their position economically. The southern 
 Negro who remained at home to till the fields was 
 
The Negro's Loyalty 13 
 
 proud of his part in the war, because he knew 
 that his was the hand that sustained the boys at 
 the front. 
 
 But the Negro is not unduly proud of the 
 proofs of his loyalty. He knew he was 1 00 per 
 cent American all the time. He knows, incident- 
 ally, a great many things that other people do not 
 think he knows. An intelligent southerner will 
 tell you that one of the greatest mistakes of north- 
 ern theorists in considering the Negro is that he 
 thinks he is simple and easily fooled. 
 
 A recent issue of the Memphis Commercial- 
 Appeal, a leading southern newspaper, contains 
 the following editorial: 
 
 **Before the war began there was German 
 propaganda throughout the South. One of the 
 Prussian schemes was to have an uprising of Ger- 
 mans combined with the uprising of Negroes. 
 They drew this vision from the history of the 
 revolt in Hayti 125 years ago. To the eternal 
 glory of the Negroes let it be said that the pro- 
 German propaganda made less headway among 
 them than it did among the white people. When 
 the war broke out there was no place for the 
 Negroes to volunteer. The regular army regi- 
 ments were filled. At first the Negroes did not 
 understand the selective draft, but they finally 
 
1 4 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 began to see that the great draft machine knew 
 no color. It gathered in -whites as well as blacks. 
 The Negroes in the army found out that great 
 things were expected from them and they re- 
 sponded. 
 
 **The southern Negroes responded generously 
 to all calls — for the Red Cross, the Thrift Stamps, 
 Liberty Loans and united war work. At the close 
 of the war some of them were in quiet sectors on 
 the front and four regiments had been in the 
 heaviest fighting. Many Negro pioneer regi- 
 ments worked under fire. When the history of 
 the war is written southern men should study it 
 carefully and draw from it certain lessons they 
 must apply to the Negro problem. The Negro in 
 the South will be with us all the time, if we let 
 him be. He will do splendid work in building up 
 the South if we sympathetically show him the 
 way. 
 
 **It must be made so that whatsoever he earns 
 in the sweat of his brow shall be his, and it must 
 be further made so that any man will not stoop to 
 take advantage of the Negro in commerce or in 
 labor and deprive him of what is his right and 
 what should come to him under law. In the 
 recent war the Negroes have served their country 
 well.** 
 
The Negro's Loyalty 15 
 
 This is perhaps the fairest editorial I have ever 
 read in a southern newspaper concerning the 
 Negro. It seems that the Commercial Appeal 
 represents that class of journals that would have 
 the South rise to the dignity of a square deal. 
 
 As the pride in our Negro soldier grew in this 
 country a very violent dislike for him spread all 
 along the German front. In more than one place 
 the color line and the front line of battle merged 
 into one — to the rage and dismay of the Hun. 
 The Teuton prejudice against color would have 
 been even more intense if Germany could have 
 known what the American boys were doing in 
 every department of war work. Our enemies 
 have felt the force of Negro valor as exemplified 
 by Henry Johnson wth his bolo knife, and Need- 
 ham Roberts with his stack of bombs; but there 
 is more behind. 
 
 Of the stevedores, George Freeman, the Amer- 
 ican labor contractor (who took 1 500 of them to 
 France) says: *'They are the finest workers you 
 ever saw. One Negro can do four times as much 
 work as any other man, and have fun doing it. 
 The French stevedores stand by and look on with 
 amazement at my hustling gangs. The way they 
 handle a 1 00-pound crate makes the Frenchmen's 
 eyes bulge." 
 
1 6 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 In the shipbuilding yards the whirlwind 
 methods of the Negroes have caused a sensation 
 both in this country and England. Charles 
 Knight, a Negro, won the prize for riveting — 25 
 pounds in money — from Lord Northcliffe and a 
 letter from that Englishman which says: **Your 
 world's record feat in rivet driving on May 1 6th 
 has set for American shipbuilders the fast pace 
 that is necessary for carrying on the war success- 
 fully. Such an achievement as yours carries 
 across the seas an inspiring message of American 
 determination and ability.** 
 
 Seven hundred volunteer Negro women went 
 to France to work in the huts and canteens of the 
 Y. M. C. A. and there are many Negro secretaries 
 in this same service abroad! The Red Cross 
 placed Negro nurses in base hospitals in this 
 country, and hundreds of graduate Negro nurses 
 have been engaged in oversea service. 
 
 All over the country 1 2,000,000 Negro Ameri- 
 cans are loyally backing the government with 
 their hard-earned money. Out of their wages 
 and savings they paid $20,000,000 for the four 
 issues of the Liberty Loan Bonds. They gave 
 $1,300,000 to the first Red Cross drive and 
 $2,300,000 to the second, besides investing $10,- 
 000,000 in Thrift Stamps. All this taken in con- 
 
The Negro's Loyalty \7 
 
 nection with the fact that 300,000 of our boys 
 actually saw service in France, we feel safe in 
 saying that the American Negro has kept the 
 faith with Uncle Sam. 
 
 Vast is the treasure we have sacrificed, bitter is 
 the suffering we have endured, in this most hor- 
 rible of all wars; but we have made the sacrifice 
 with enthusiasm, and borne the burden of sorrow 
 with courage, assured that in so doing we have 
 helped to make the world a better and safer place 
 in v/hich to live. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Germany and Her African Colonies 
 
 The history of Germany's treatment of the 
 colored people in her African colonies disgraces 
 the records of all colonizing nations in a rougher, 
 more brutal age. It is true that the natives of 
 Africa cannot be left to govern themselves v/hen 
 they have pushing white neighbors all around 
 them. The American Indians are proof enough 
 of that. Nevertheless, I believe that one of the 
 results of this war will be a general awakening 
 among the people of Africa, and their interests 
 are going to be consulted ; there must be no more 
 of that ruthless enslaving of native populations, 
 their robbery by swindling treaties and their 
 murder by wholesale. Mankind has advanced, 
 even among the Negroes of Africa, and coloniza- 
 tion for the benefit of the native, as well as the 
 colonist, will be the rule hereafter. 
 
 It is not, however, the rule for Germany, which 
 
 enslaves, tortures, and murders in the true spirit 
 
 of the conquerors of Peru four hundred years 
 
 18 
 
Germany and Her African Colonies 19 
 
 ago. And Germany must leave Africa, since she 
 has nothing to do with Africans except to enslave 
 and kill them. There may be some who take a 
 utilitarian view of it, who say that these coun- 
 tries must be developed at whatever cost. Well, 
 by that rough test, too, Germany fails. She can- 
 not colonize ; she does not know how. Her only 
 idea of making a colony is to put up a replica of 
 Germany on African soil without the slightest 
 regard to whether it fits that soil or not. 
 
 No colonist could do business wthout consult- 
 ing Berlin; and since colonization, to be success- 
 ful, requires initiative and does not thrive under 
 delays, German colonization was strangled in its 
 cradle. The German imposed such a heavy tax 
 on diamonds that the amount smuggled is be- 
 lieved to be more than the amount regularly ex- 
 ported. The heavy hand of the government has 
 made the copper mines almost unproductive. 
 Meanwhile the colonists have been loaded down 
 with heavy taxation. What they got to show for 
 it was splendid public buildings, statues in the 
 best style of German art, immense schools with 
 few pupils in them, and so on. 
 
 The cruelties and atrocities in Belgium and 
 France that have horrified the civilized world have 
 been practiced constantly on these defenseless 
 Negroes. The Germans in these colonies were 
 
20 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 openly immoral, and they treated the native 
 women abominably. A German planter would 
 have a regular harem of native women and live 
 the most degraded life imaginable without having 
 the least shame about it or making the least at- 
 tempt at concealment. But this form of immoral- 
 ity was not the only thing that was dreadful 
 among the Germans of these colonies. The Ger- 
 mans did not want to be bothered with native 
 children, and when a settler found that one of 
 these native women whom he kept was about to 
 become a mother, he either cast her off and sent 
 her back to the bush, or just quietly poisoned her, 
 and not only did they treat the native women 
 shamefully, they insulted and degraded their own 
 wives. I once heard of an English woman who 
 married a German planter from one of the Afri- 
 can colonies, and went out to help him, as she 
 thought, to settle the land. When she got there 
 she found he had half a dozen native * 'wives** on 
 the plantation. She remonstrated, but he tried to 
 force her to receive these women in her house 
 and join in their drinking. When she refused he 
 told her she could go to the bush. She ran away 
 from him and succeeded in getting to friends in 
 an English colony. 
 
 These German planters used to go back to 
 Europe with a little money, tell the women they 
 
Germany and Her African Colonies 21 
 
 met at home that they were kings out in Africa, 
 and make the women who married them think 
 that they were going out to the colonies to be 
 queens. It is true the men were kings, but the 
 women were not queens, even in their own house- 
 holds. The whole performance in the German 
 colonies in Africa from 1890 to the outbreak of 
 the war is similar to the conduct of Germans in 
 Belgium and northern France during the war. 
 
 The natives were treated as the conquistadors 
 treated the ancient Peruvians, except that the 
 conquistadors did seem to know how to make 
 their slaves work. Germany's African history 
 has been a long procession of **wars*'; that is, 
 massacres, torturings, and deportations. In south- 
 west Africa they reduced the native population 
 from 200,000 to 82,000 in three years. They 
 drove women and children into the desert to die 
 of thirst, and this not as the ordinary brutality 
 of ignorant settlers, but as a military operation. 
 General von Trotha*s proclamation to the Herero 
 nation, dated October 2, 1904, contains this: 
 
 **The Herero nation must now leave the coun- 
 try. If the people do it not, I will compel them 
 with the big gun. Within the German frontier, 
 every Herero, with or without a rifle, with or 
 without cattle, will be shot. I will not take over 
 
22 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 any more women and children, but I will either 
 drive them back to their people or have them 
 fired on. These are my words to the nation of 
 the Hereros.** 
 
 In the recently issued report of the South- 
 African administrator of the captured German 
 colonies the following appears: 
 
 **The natives were reduced almost to a state of 
 slavery, families even being separated to suit the 
 convenience of employers. Their women were 
 habitually maltreated by the Germans, who took 
 them into forced concubinage. They were in the 
 end deliberately goaded into rebellions which 
 were suppressed with deliberate and ruthless 
 cruelty, and which resulted in the practical ex- 
 termination of the tribes involved.'* 
 
 The London Daily Telegraph gives in its com- 
 ment on this report a few sidelights on the sup- 
 pression of the Herero rebellion: 
 
 *Tor more than a year, with the full connivance 
 of the Kaiser and the German government at 
 Berlin, this little band of German cutthroats 
 slaughtered the Hereros — men, w^omen and chil- 
 dren alike — wherever they found them, in cir- 
 cumstances of the most sickening cruelty, which 
 are set forth in the pages of this Blue Book. We 
 will quote one single incident only. Von Tirotha 
 
Germany and Her African Colonies 23 
 
 and his staff halted one day near a hut where an 
 old woman was digging for wild onions. A 
 zealous German soldier, named Konig, jumped 
 off his horse and shot her through the forehead 
 at point-blank range. Thinking that she would 
 beg for mercy, he said before he fired, *I am going 
 to kill you.* She simply looked up and replied, 
 *I thank you.' Death was the only friend of this 
 martyred race. The Germans drove the Hereros 
 into the bush, and then poisoned the water holes 
 on the desert borders. When at length they 
 deemed that the time had come to make peace 
 with the pitiful remnant of the race, they sent a 
 few thousands down to Luderitzbucht, where, as 
 one of the Hereros chiefs describes it, 'they died 
 like flies that had been poisoned* from the wet 
 sea-fogs. The survivors, their spirit crushed and 
 broken, were mere chattels and slaves of the 
 German settlers, victims at pleasure of their 
 brutality and their lust, and so they remained 
 until the forces of the South- African Union re- 
 stored to them once more the hope of freedom 
 which ten years of unspeakable suffering had 
 well-nigh crushed out.** 
 
 The foregoing recital of facts can give us but 
 a vague idea of the gross cruelties perpetrated 
 by Germany upon the Negro race. But the day 
 of retribution is at hand. 
 
24 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
 least of these my brethren, ye have done it also 
 unto me." 
 
 And thus the Negro soldiers plunged into this 
 mighty conflict, praying to God as they fought, 
 that if democracy shall be one of the fruits of this 
 war, their unfortunate brother in Africa may 
 share in its blessings. 
 
 Instance after instance of base hypocracy and 
 wanton cruelty of the German nation could be 
 recited, and yet w^e might be in relative darkness 
 concerning many of the cruel methods employed 
 by Germany to further her selfish and un- 
 righteous purposes. 
 
 To return the German colonies to German 
 sovereignty is unthinkable in view of the use 
 which the Imperial German Government has 
 made of its power over these territories in the 
 past. ; on the other hand, to permit them to be- 
 come mere derelicts in the world is equally im- 
 possible. A practical course seems therefore 
 their control by the organs of the proposed 
 League of Nations and their administration in 
 the sole interest of their inhabitants with a view 
 to improving theii' physical, mental, moral, eco- 
 nomic and political conditions, so that sooner or 
 later they will become self-governing peoples. 
 
Germany and Her African Colonies 25 
 
 Before passing from this phase of the subject 
 I want to make further reference to the incon- 
 sistency and hypocracy of the German Govern- 
 ment: 
 
 In the peace note of the German Chancellor 
 to President Wilson, the request for an armistice 
 is stated to be made **with a view to avoiding 
 further bloodshed!'* 
 
 For the information of those who may still en- 
 tertain a lingering belief in the sincerity of this 
 declaration, may I recall a comparatively recent 
 diplomatic incident of deep significance at the 
 present time? 
 
 At the second International Peace Conference 
 held at The Hague from June to October, 1907, 
 various conventions were entered into by the 
 powers for the purpose of mitigating the evils 
 and horrors of w^ar. These conventions, to which 
 Germany was one of the most willing signatories, 
 respectively provided for the safety of noncom- 
 batabts at sea and on land. They prohibited, ex- 
 cept in cases of extreme military necessity, the 
 bombardment of unfortified towns without due 
 notice being given. They expressly prohibited the 
 destruction of sacred edifices, buildings used for 
 artistic, scientific, or charitable objects, historic 
 monuments, and hospitals; and they specifically 
 
26 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 forbade the employment of poison weapons or 
 materials calculated to treacherously kill individ- 
 uals belonging to the hostile nation or army, or to 
 cause them unnecessary suffering. In the pre- 
 amble to each of these conventions, the purpose 
 was declared as being **to serve the interests of 
 humanity and to diminish the severity and dis- 
 asters of war,** or, alternatively, **to serve the in- 
 terests of humanity and the ever-increasing needs 
 of civilization.** 
 
 When we look back at the sinking of the Lusi- 
 tania, the murder of Edith Cavell, of Captain 
 Fryatt, and thousands of other innocent men, 
 women and children; the instances, not isolated, 
 of Louvain and Rheims ; the deliberate bombard- 
 ment of Allied hospitals, and the introduction as 
 weapons of war of poison gas and liquid fire, no 
 further evidence is necessary to determine the 
 value of German professions to **avoid blood- 
 shed** or **to serve the cause of humanity.** 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Colored Soldiers at the Front 
 
 A striking illustration of the attitude of the 
 Negro soldier in this war is a letter written from 
 the front by Lieut. Osceola E. McKaine, a Negro 
 serving with the 367th Infantry, the "Buffaloes,'* 
 as adjutant to Colonel James A .Moss, command- 
 ing the regiment, to Orlando Rouland, the artist, 
 in which he tells something of the regiment's re- 
 ception in France. Lieut. McKaine, who is 
 twenty-six years old, rose from the ranks of a 
 colored regiment, the 24th Infantry. He was 
 born in South Carolina, and when little more than 
 a boy left his birthplace in response to what he 
 calls the nomadic spirit of his migratory ances- 
 tors, and wandered about the country. He 
 studied in Boston and Washington and developed 
 a talent for writing. He prepared many articles 
 for newspapers, and later became the editor of a 
 colored newspaper which advocated the policies 
 and principles of Booker T. Washington. After 
 holding this place for nearly two years he enlisted 
 
 in the Army. **I was persuaded," he said, **by a 
 
 27 
 
28 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 trooper who would have been a marvel as a re- 
 cruiting sergeant.** When he served in the 
 Philippines the Negro regiment to which he be- 
 longed received a gold loving cup at a dinner 
 given by the Mayor of Manila and the Governor 
 General for the best regiment that had ever been 
 on the islands. The 24th Infantry was then 
 ordered to a military camp in New Mexico, where 
 it was stationed until the spring of 1916, when it 
 was ordered to **get Villa.** When his regiment 
 marched out of Mexico back to the United States, 
 after acting as a personal guard of General Persh- 
 ing, it was the only regiment that did not have a 
 man missing or unaccounted for. Lieut. McKaine, 
 while stationed at Columbus, N. M., as a non- 
 commissioned officer, was selected for the Na- 
 tional Army Training Camp for officers. Just 
 before the * 'Buffaloes,** 367th Infantry, was or- 
 ganized to be a part of the American Expedition- 
 ary Force, Lieut. McKaine received the commis- 
 sion of First Lieutenant. Here is his letter: 
 "My dear friend: 
 
 *'Just a line or two to let you know that I have 
 not forgotten you even during these strenuous 
 days. The delicate and pleasing charm of your 
 home and the cordiality of your reception still 
 remain vivid amid my many reminiscences. I 
 thank you. The deportment of our regiment has 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 29 
 
 been excellent, and we have had few, very few, 
 offenders. Our morale is still at the peak, and we 
 have every confidence that we will hold our own 
 against the boche when we meet him. We have 
 received a most wonderful reception everywhere 
 we have gone, and I am most proud to relate that 
 very, very few of the men have violated our con- 
 fidence in their attitude toward the inhabitants. 
 The Buffaloes have been *tres polit,' and have 
 made friends. Of course, this new freedom re- 
 quired strict control and delicate adjustment to 
 prevent its misinterpretation, but all of our appre- 
 hensions are over, for it has become quite natural 
 for the Buffaloes to go everywhere, anytime, with 
 anyone without misconstruing the character of 
 the person or place. As for myself, I have never 
 before experienced what it meant to be really 
 free to taste real liberty, in a phrase, *to be a 
 man.* We have entered into their most intimate 
 affections, and we won't violate their trust. 
 
 "We've got the boche on the run and we are 
 going to lick him good and plenty before we give 
 him time to catch his breath. Everywhere the 
 offensive spirit is alive, pulsating, waiting for the 
 hour to strike, and strike hard, that the spirit of 
 real and true democracy will not perish. It would 
 be a crime against God Himself, against future 
 generations, against all that life holds good and 
 
30 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 pure to permit the Germanic doctrinaire to sup- 
 plant the peaceful policy of this nation. I would 
 be happy to have millions of colored soldiers over 
 here, fighting to preserve the dearest and highest 
 valued thing on earth, to the nations of the world 
 and to future generations — liberty. I would be 
 more than happy to have them die, if need be, as 
 a tangible expression of their determination that 
 *the government of the people, by the people, 
 shall not perish from the earth.' I am eager for 
 the fray. Death does not matter, for it will mean 
 life for thousands of my countrymen, and for my 
 race, for right must triumph. I am not appre- 
 hensive of the future of my people in the states, 
 for the free allied nations of the world will not 
 condone America's past treatment of her colored 
 citizens in the future; for shall we not have 
 fought beside the best blood, the best white blood 
 in all the world in the holiest war of all ages? 
 Shall we not have shown that we are willing, nay, 
 eager to pay, and pay dearly, in our blood for the 
 right of the peoples of the earth to share equally 
 in its blessings, to enjoy the same rights, to re- 
 ceive equal justice, to have a voice in their gov- 
 ernment by our blood contribution ? So I go for- 
 ward certain and sure that my people will share 
 equally with Armenian and Serb in the fruits of 
 triumph, of right over might, and democracy over 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 31 
 
 autocracy. Death is nothing, for I love my race 
 more than Hfe itself. 
 
 **With felicitations and best wishes for your 
 continued health, I am, sincerely yours, 
 
 **LIEUT. O. E. McKAINE." 
 It was that type of soldier represented by 
 McKaine, whom Edgar A. Guest had in mind 
 when he recently wrote the following poem : 
 
 * 'Against the dangers that we dread, 
 Against the word that he lies dead. 
 If it should come, we have the pride 
 Of knowing that he put aside 
 All selfish pleasures and was glad 
 To give the Flag the best he had. 
 Against the absence long and grim 
 We keep the manly soul of him : 
 Balanced against the hurt and ache 
 That longing for our boy must make. 
 This consolation we may know 
 That he was unafraid to go. 
 Great though our grief shall be if he 
 Shall never more come home from sea, 
 More keenly we'd have felt the pain 
 If he had chosen to remain. 
 This golden thought shall soothe our woe : 
 In such a need he wished to go. 
 
 If it must be that he shall fall 
 
32 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 His spoken words we can recall. 
 When time has dried our bitter tears, 
 His voice shall speak throughout the years, 
 And we shall hear him whispering low : 
 'Far worse than death were not to go.* ** 
 
 Thus, the urge of war was in the Negro's 
 blood, pulsating wth the obscure memories of 
 generations of ancestors who had known the bit- 
 terness and exultation of desperate conflict. 
 
 Leon J. Cadore, formerly a pitcher with the 
 Brooklyn Nationals and now a lieutenant with 
 the American Army of Occupation, in a letter to 
 **Red** Smith, former St. Louis Nationals out- 
 fielder, says that the fighting of the Negro troops 
 is wonderful. 
 
 Cadore is with the 365th Regiment, formerly 
 the 1 5th New York (Negro) Regiment, which 
 was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French 
 commanding general for its operations as a com- 
 bat unit in the offensive in the Champagne sector 
 last September and October. 
 
 Despite exciting experiences, Cadore is willing 
 to call it enough and return to the United States. 
 
 **Red, it will be a happy day for me,** he writes, 
 **when I hear that we are going home. You know 
 that I am anxious to make the spring training trip 
 with the Brooklyn Club, and again feel as though 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 33 
 
 I am in the land of the living. I think base ball 
 will have a big year. Should I be lucky enough 
 to get home this spring I know I will be set for a 
 big year on the slab.'* 
 
 The letter states that Cadore*s was the first 
 American regiment to reach the Rhine. Describ- 
 ing the fighting qualities of the Negro troops 
 under his command, Cadore says : 
 
 **On occasions too numerous to count we were 
 in the thick of the fighting and the noble work 
 done by these Negro troops was wonderful. 
 Every man in my regiment fought with the cour- 
 age of a lion.** 
 
 It would be possible to quote from hundreds of 
 letters of white soldiers written to their friends in 
 the United States, iti which they commend their 
 black countrymen for their bravery in battle. It 
 need not be said that the sentiment created by 
 such correspondence is, indeed, beneficial to both 
 races. 
 
 These white men will never forget the colored 
 soldiers with whom they fought, side by side, to 
 save their common country from a common 
 enemy. Whatever may be their activities in the 
 years to come, whatever may be their future re- 
 lations with the Negro, their reminiscences of the 
 
34 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 battle line in France will be replete with thoughts 
 of their brave colored comrades. 
 
 Those who have suffered hardship, side by side, 
 day by day, month in and month out, cannot help 
 being overcome by a feeling that after all, life 
 means the same to each and every one. 
 
 Some men need such experiences to remove 
 the veil of prejudice that obscures their vision of 
 the real worth of the American Negro and to 
 bring them into closer communion with the true 
 spirit of democracy. 
 
 Colonel James A. Moss, recently speaking of 
 the Negro soldier, said : 
 
 "Understanding the Negro as I do, and know- 
 ing his responsibilities as a soldier, I consider my- 
 self fortunate in having been assigned to the com- 
 mand of a colored regiment. Of my twenty-three 
 years* experience as an officer, I have spent eigh- 
 teen with colored troops, having commanded 
 colored troops in the Cuban campaign, and in the 
 Philippine campaign, so that what I say about the 
 colored soldier — my faith, my confidence in him 
 — is based on long experience with him in garri- 
 son and in the field ; in peace and in war. I do not 
 hesitate to make the assertion that if properly 
 trained and instructed, the Negro will make as 
 good a soldier as the world has ever seen. The 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 35 
 
 proper training and instruction of the Negro sol- 
 dier is a simple problem — it merely consists in 
 treating him like a man, in a fair and square way, 
 and in developing the valuable military assets he 
 naturally possesses in the form of a happy dis- 
 position, pride in the uniform, tractability, and 
 faithfulness. Anyone who says the Negro will 
 not fight, does not, of course, know w^hat he is 
 talking about. 
 
 "The first fight I ever was in, the battle of El 
 Caney, Cuba, July 1 , 1 898, I had Negroes killed 
 and wounded all around me, 20 per cent of my 
 company having been killed and wounded in 
 about ten minutes' time, and the behaviour of 
 the men was splendid. At no time during that 
 and subsequent fights, did my men hesitate at the 
 command to advance or falter at the order to 
 charge. I expect my colored regiment to be fully 
 as well drilled, as well instructed, as well behaved, 
 and as good fighters, as any other regiment in the 
 National Army. Lest some might think that 
 what I have to say about the Negro soldier is only 
 the fulsome words of a 'Yankee' Negro-phile, let 
 me say that I am a native Louisianian who did 
 not leave the confines of the state until I went to 
 West Point at the age of eighteen," 
 
 No more reliable authority is needed for the 
 
36 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 bravery of colored soldiers in this world war than 
 the French War Department, which cited a com- 
 plete Negro regiment for the Croix de Guerre, 
 which is an honor conferred by the French War 
 Department only in exceptional cases. The regi- 
 ment honored is the 365th Infantry of the 93rd 
 Division, the old 1 5th Infantry of the National 
 Guard of New York. The War Department 
 praises the regiment in the following words : 
 
 ** Under command of Colonel Hay ward, who, 
 though wounded, insisted on leading his regiment 
 in battle ; of Lieutenant-Colonel Pickering, admir- 
 ably cool and brave; of Major Cobb (killed), of 
 Major Spencer (severely wounded), of Major 
 Little, a true leader of men, the 365th Reserve In- 
 fantry, U. S. A., engaging in an offensive for the 
 first time in the drive of September, 1918, 
 stormed powerful enemy positions, energetically 
 defended, too, after heavy fighting, the town of 
 
 S , captured prisoners, and brought back 
 
 six cannons and a great number of machine 
 guns.** 
 
 The Negroes were, perhaps, the most proficient 
 bayonet-fighters in the American Army. They 
 simply doted on the cold steel, and their natural 
 agility, improved by intensive training, made 
 them troops to be feared at close quarters. It was 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 37 
 
 not long before the fame of the Negro bayonet- 
 wielders spread among the Huns, and it was sel- 
 dom the German troops would hold out, when the 
 yelling, sweating Negroes jumped into their 
 trenches. 
 
 Not even liquid fire could break the morale of 
 the Negro troops. There is a story told of one 
 wounded soldier who leapt up and, dragging a 
 useless foot after him, rushed into the trenches 
 when he saw an airplane spray the wounded 
 Yankees with burning oil. He was killed in his 
 mad attempt to take revenge, but he got at least 
 one Hun with a good old southern shaving imple- 
 men pressed into service for the occasion. 
 
 The terrors of shrapnel, gas, high explosives, 
 the grim life in the trench, were made bearable by 
 the unfailing good nature of the Negroes, When 
 permissible they organized their quartets and sang 
 plantation songs. Frank Washington, a wounded 
 Negro from South Carolina, told the story of how 
 a quartet harmonized on **Massa's in De Cold, 
 Cold Ground,** and when the singing was over 
 said in unison, **and we alFs gwine be with him 
 tonight.** They were awaiting orders to go over 
 the top at the time. 
 
 That peculiar regard by the foe for the rules 
 of civilized warfare which included the use of 
 
38 The Negro, Democracy and the War 
 
 explosive bullets, among other atrocities, was 
 experienced by the Negro soldiers. To the cer- 
 tain knowledge of some of the Negroes at De- 
 barkation Hospital No. 3, dozens of these men 
 were torn to bits by explosive bullets. Their 
 wounded were sprayed with liquid fire by the 
 Huns during the fighting on the Champagne 
 front. 
 
 James P. McKinney, of Greeneville, S. C, at- 
 tached to the Headquarters Company of the 37 I st 
 Infantry, was wounded in the right arm by shrap- 
 nel in the *'Big Stunt.*' Gas infection set in and 
 he was invalided out of service. 
 
 **If there is anything in this war that the Negro 
 troops missed,'* said McKinney, telling of his ex- 
 periences, **I certainly never heard of it. Explo- 
 sive bullets, liquid fire, high explosives, gas, and 
 all the horrors of war were certainly turned loose 
 on us. But just the same, the Negro troops went 
 through it, and when it came to the final test we 
 proved ourselves better men than the Germans. 
 This was especially true when it came to fighting 
 at close quarters. Jerry would not fight with the 
 bayonet against the Negro troops, and that was 
 all there was to it. The Hun would stand out there 
 and pump a machine gun at us — 750 shots to the 
 minute, but when we came up close to him he 
 would yell *Kamerad!' and hold up his hands. 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 39 
 
 Our officers made us let up on them, too, but the 
 Huns did what they pleased to our wounded. 
 
 "The day we went over the top we took our 
 positions early in the morning, and waited until 
 our barrage had smashed the German defenses 
 pretty well. About the time our barrage lifted, 
 the Huns sent over a counter-barrage, but we 
 w^ent right through it, and up over the slopes com- 
 manded by their machine guns. They turned 
 loose everything they had to offer, and the storm 
 of lead and steel got a lot of our men. Still we 
 followed our officers into the devils* trenches. A 
 few of the Germans tried to fight with their bay- 
 onets, but we could all box pretty well, and box- 
 ing works with the bayonet. A few feints, and 
 then the death-stroke was the rule. Most of the 
 Huns quit as soon as we got at them. Even the 
 ones that had been on the machine guns yelled 
 for us to spare them. I guess in the excitement 
 some of them fared poorly.** 
 
 The narrator*s idea of German military honor 
 is the same as that which American soldiers have 
 generally brought back. **You can never tell 
 w^hich Germans to trust,** declared McKinney. 
 **Ordinarily where men surrender, they are 
 through, and you can trust them. But the Ger- 
 mans who surrendered to us would have auto- 
 
40 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 matic pistols up their sleeves, and would suddenly 
 drop their arms and open fire. I know of one 
 squad that was wiped out because a Jerry killed 
 one of our doughboys.*' 
 
 Continuing his story of the attack, McKinney 
 gives some of the dramatic incidents of the fight- 
 ing: 
 
 ** While we were advancing we w^orked along 
 low and took all available cover against the ma- 
 chine-gun fire directed against us. As soon as we 
 came within range we opened fire with hand- 
 grenades and accounted for the machine-gun 
 nests. I saw some of the gunners chained to their 
 post. Their barbed wire gave us trouble. Our 
 artillery cut it up pretty badly, but still it was a 
 pretty strong barrier against the advancing In- 
 fantry. When we got tangled up in the wire Jerry 
 would play with his rifles. I've seen fellows get 
 into a German trench with their uniforms flying 
 in shreds. I was wounded in the arm at the big 
 stunt. We were attacking along the whole front, 
 and the Huns were kept on the hop. While going 
 up I was hit and had to fall behind. My arm was 
 badly mussed up, but I threw a few grenades here 
 and there and I guess I got a few of them. 
 
 **The German artillery fire was accurate. They 
 had our ranges down to a science, and while they 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 41 
 
 had good ammunition were hummers. They 
 were good marksmen. Why, IVe seen them cut 
 a regular ditch along a row of shell-holes to pre- 
 vent our troops from using the holes for shelter. 
 There was positively nothing they didn't do that 
 was horrible. IVe seen them cut loose at a com- 
 pany runner with a three-inch artillery. It was a 
 funny sight for us, but not for the runner. The 
 Huns would drop shells all around him while he 
 fled on wings of terror. I never saw them get a 
 runner with their artillery fire, but I've seen some 
 pretty close shooting. 
 
 **Perhaps the most unusual experience I ever 
 had was one day when we were advancing 
 toward the German positions. They cut loose 
 with their artillery and we were ordered to take 
 open order and hunt cover. For two hours we 
 were violently shelled, but, thanks to Providence, 
 none of us was killed. A few were slightly 
 wounded. They mixed high explosives with gas 
 and shrapnel. 
 
 "About the hardest luck of the war though," 
 concluded McKinney, "fell to the lot of a pal of 
 mine. He got a piece of steak somewhere and 
 was cooking it — his first bit of steak in months. 
 While the meat was broiling the Germans began 
 a bombardment. The men put on their masks. 
 
42 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 but the meat was ruined. That's what I call hard 
 luck.** 
 
 Frank Washington, a typical plantation Negro 
 from Edgefield, S. C, is another who proved his 
 valor under conditions worthy of testing the 
 bravery of the bravest. He was attached to Com- 
 pany C, 37 1 St Infantry, and received an explosive 
 bullet through the arm at Champagne. His story 
 is as follows : 
 
 **It was all bad, but the worst was when the 
 German airplanes flew low and sprayed the 
 wounded with liquid fire. There is no way of 
 putting out that liquid flame, and no one can help 
 you, because the fire spreads so quickly. It is bad 
 enough to be helpless out there, without water or 
 friends, but to have a hell fiend fly over and just 
 squirt torture over you — ^well, the Indians or sav- 
 ages of Africa were not much worse. They were 
 not so bad, in fact, for they were savages — the 
 Germans are supposed to be civilized. 
 
 **A Hun plane flew^ over when I was wounded, 
 but, believe me, when I see that fire coming, I 
 sure did some lively hopping around. There 
 wasn't going to be any broiled Washingtons if I 
 could help it. But some of the mortally wounded 
 were burned to death. Those Huns should be 
 made to pay for that sort of thing. It ain*t fight- 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 43 
 
 ing, it*s concentrated hell. But we had to tend to 
 their wounded, and one of our officers saw that 
 we did it. 
 
 **I was over the top in the fighting on Septem- 
 ber 29 and 30. We advanced after the usual bar- 
 rage had been laid down for us. We went up to 
 the Germans, and my platoon found itself under 
 the fire of three machine guns. One of these 
 guns was in front and jes* runnin* like a mill race. 
 The other two kept a-piling into us from the 
 flanks, and the losses were mounting. We got 
 the front one. Its crew surrendered and we 
 stopped. The other guns kept right on going, 
 but we got them, too. 
 
 **It was while we were attacking the guns on 
 our flanks that I was wounded. Ordinary bullets 
 are bad enough, but the one that hit me was an 
 explosive bullet. That's me, sir, every time. 
 When things is coming, I sure get my share of 
 them every time. Yes, sir, I certainly get my 
 share. 
 
 ** While I was knocked down, it was safer to 
 stay down. Those machine guns just kept right 
 on pumping — not the ones we captured, but 
 others. The wind they stirred up around your 
 face just kept you cool all the time. I finally 
 started back, but found myself in a German bar- 
 
44 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 rage. It was shrapnel in front of me and machine 
 guns in back of me. I lay right down and had a 
 heart to heart chat with St. Peter. I sure never 
 did expect to get home again. 
 
 **They say Edgeville ain't much to look at, but 
 I would have given two months* pay, including 
 allotments, to get back on my farm about then. 
 But now that IVe been there and come back I 
 kind of feel that I am square with this country. I 
 did my share, and I'm glad I did it.*' 
 
 **Yes, sir," interposed McKinney, **we all did 
 our share, and we are all glad we did it. This was 
 democracy's war. The Negro troops assumed the 
 burden of democracy along with the white and 
 red troops. We did our share to keep America 
 unchained, and we are all proud we did it. We 
 are sure, too, that America will not forget.** 
 
 And now the lips of many of our colored boys 
 are stilled in death. And yet they call, call on us 
 the living that we dedicate ourselves to the high 
 resolve that they shall not have died in vain. 
 
 Surely there is no race under the canopy of 
 Heaven which has a greater interest in the win- 
 ning of this war for democracy than the Negro. 
 America has taken such a broad and determined 
 stand for world-wide human freedom, and the 
 Negro is making such a huge contribution to that 
 
Colored Soldiers at the Front 45 
 
 gigantic task, that we have every reason to feel 
 assured that the nation's attitude toward the 
 Negro must undergo a favorable change, and that 
 we shall daily come nearer and nearer to the equal 
 enjoyment of all the rights, privileges and im- 
 munities of citizenship. 
 
 In a telegram sent to the Chicago Colored 
 Branch of the National Security League, Secre- 
 tary of War Baker said: 
 
 "After all, what is this thing we call 'democ- 
 racy* and about which we hear so much nowa- 
 days? Surely it is no catch phrase or abstrac- 
 tion. It is demonstrating too much vitality for 
 that. It is no social distinction or privilege of the 
 few, for were it that, it could not win the hearts 
 of peoples and make them willing to die for its 
 establishment. But it is, it seems to me, a hope 
 as wide as the human race, involving men every- 
 where — a hope which permits each of us to look 
 forward to a time when not only we, but others, 
 will have respective rights, founded in the gener- 
 osity of nature, and protected by a system of jus- 
 tice which will adjust its apparent conflicts. Un- 
 der such a hope nations will do justice to nations, 
 and men to men.** 
 
 But the American Negro, despised, hated, 
 exploited and lynched, still lives on with a 
 
46 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 loyalty to the American flag, with a racial tenac- 
 ity which is unparalleled and a devotion to Je- 
 hovah and his laws which constitutes one of the 
 sublimest episodes in history. 
 
 No people has dreamed such dreams of the new 
 and better day of brotherhood; no people has 
 kept so close to the springs of mystic experience, 
 and drunk so deep of their living waters of the 
 spirit. Especially has no people so suffered and 
 striven and sacrificed for freedom. Tried in the 
 fire as silver is tried, they have come forth a 
 people cleansed in hope, redeemed for the patient 
 toil that must still be done ; and 
 
 *'To those who died for liberty 
 And did not die in vain! 
 They counted light their loss 
 That gave the world eternal gain!'* 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Things For Which We Fought 
 
 After four years of warfare carried on with all 
 the ingenuity of deviltry and methods of warfare 
 which would bring blushes to the cheeks of sav- 
 ages, the whole world is now fully aware of what 
 the gospel of **force versus right** means, and 
 America, whose eyes now are fully opened to 
 the truth, is as equally determined as the Allies 
 that this spirit of brute force must forever be 
 trampled in the dust, never to assert itself again. 
 
 If I thought that the final and total result of this 
 vast struggle between Germany and the Allies 
 and America, with the millions of dead and 
 wounded, the incalculable destruction of property 
 and treasure, the indescribable misery of un- 
 offending peoples the world around, was to be 
 nothing better and higher than the restoration of 
 civilization as it existed just before the war broke 
 out, I think I would be tempted to question if the 
 cause was worth the life of a single soldier in the 
 
 ranks. Universal discontent with our political 
 
 47 
 
48 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 and industrial achievements was the characteris- 
 tic feature of our life before the war, and this dis- 
 content was based upon the undisputed fact that 
 our civilization, whatever its material triumphs, 
 v/as a moral and spiritual failure. It is true that 
 knowledge had never been so wide-spread, me- 
 chanical efficiency so marvelous, natural re- 
 sources so abundant and accessible. It is true 
 that political democracy had been born, the laws 
 of sanitation discovered, and the science of com- 
 munication developed to the point of miracle. In 
 a w^ay modern civilization was the most marvel- 
 ous the world had ever known. But if you ask 
 me if that civilization is worth dying for, I tell 
 you **No !** and yet it has been died for by millions 
 of noble men in every great country of the mod- 
 ern world. 
 
 Not in what civilization was, but in what 
 good men desired and had faith that it might 
 be made — not in the reality that festered like 
 some poisonous growth upon the earth, but m the 
 dream that blossomed like a fragrant flower 
 within the heart — not in the disorder, struggle 
 and bloodshed of the society that bred this war, 
 but in the order, co-operation and brotherly ac- 
 cord of the new society that shall after this war 
 bring in the thousand years of peace — here is to 
 be found that thing that is worth dying for. And 
 
Things For Which We Fought 49 
 
 here, if I mistake not, is the thing for which the 
 vast majority of colored men who went into this 
 war were willing, nay glad, to lay down their 
 lives. They were not fighting to preserve or re- 
 store the old order. If the old balances of power, 
 the old suspicions, hatreds and prejudices are to 
 be revived, then is the sacrifice of the best blood 
 of the Negro race a futile and tragic thing. 
 
 But, if out of the chaos of this world conflict a 
 new and purer civilization and democracy shall 
 emerge, and extend its influence throughout our 
 own land, and safeguard the rights and liberties 
 of all mankind, regardless of race or color, then 
 indeed may we declare that the colored soldiers 
 whose lives have been sacrificed upon the bloody 
 battlefields of France "shall not have died in 
 vain." 
 
 Here in America, we have more upon our 
 hands this day than the confession of our sins, 
 and the rectification of our inward personal lives. 
 We have as well an important part to play in the 
 building of a new world, the construction of a 
 new society, the bringing in of a new and better 
 day. 
 
 The Kingdom of God, of which Jesus talked so 
 many years ago, is laid upon our souls as it has 
 been laid upon no other generation of Christians 
 
50 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 since the dreadful day of Calvary. Here are 
 those myriads of youthful lives poured out in 
 bounteous sacrifice! Here are these millions of 
 dead bones sowing the sweet earth as for a divine 
 harvest ! Here are the blood and tears and agony, 
 not of a nation's, nor of a race's, but of a world's 
 despair ! What is it all for? How is it to be made 
 worth while ? By the sacrifice of all we have and 
 all we are to the Kingdom of God, the new de- 
 mocracy of man, the world as Christ dreamed it, 
 and as God has had it in His heart through all the 
 sad, dark years! 
 
 A little while ago, and every proposal for re- 
 form, every crusade for a better world, every 
 struggle for social emancipation, w^as met by the 
 opposition of * 'interests" — personal interests, 
 business interests, political interests, class inter- 
 ets, national interests. Many of these opposi- 
 tions seemed defensible at that time, but they are 
 now defensible no more. Henceforth they stand 
 as the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Thousands of Americans, white and black, 
 have died, trusting in us who live to see that the 
 world is made safe for democracy. We are 
 pledged to their dead bones, and the pledge must 
 be redeemed. God grant that America shall take 
 the lead; let the influence of our civilization and 
 democracy enlighten the whole world. 
 
Things For Which We Fought 51 
 
 But, the world cannot be made wholly safe for 
 democracy while the strong are the oppressors of 
 the weak. Universal democracy cannot be mod- 
 eled after the American style unless the principle 
 of government of the people, by the people, for 
 the people is indeed a reality within our own 
 borders; unless race discrimination, hatred and 
 persecution are forever banished from the land. 
 Because true democracy can never exist in a land 
 where race and color are a bar to men's political, 
 industrial and economical advancement. 
 
 President WoodroW Wilson said in one of his 
 speeches since America entered the war : 
 
 **The world must be made safe for democracy. 
 Its peace must be planted upon the trusted foun- 
 dations of political liberty.** 
 
 And in another address: 
 
 *'It seems to me that this is a time of privilege. 
 All our principles, all our hearts, all our purposes, 
 are being searched, searched not only by our own 
 consciences, but searched by the world; and it is 
 time for the people of the states of this country to 
 show the world in what political sense they have 
 learned the lessons of democracy — that they are 
 fighting for democracy because they believe it, 
 and that there is no application of democracy 
 which they do not believe in.** 
 
52 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 In the principles set forth in the foregoing quo- 
 tations of our President, I heartily concur ; and all 
 fair-minded Americans will agree that the world 
 will never be wholly safe for democracy until 
 America is safe for the Negro. 
 
 On every battlefield where America has drawn 
 the sword Negro soldiers have fought, bled and 
 died for the perpetuation of the very principles 
 enunciated by our President. Millions of us still 
 live with an unswerving loyalty to the American 
 flag and devotion to the noble cause for which it 
 stands, and in this sad epoch in our nation's his- 
 tory we believe that America will awaken to a 
 realization of its duty toward this ever loyal race, 
 and in keeping with our recent teachings of de- 
 mocracy to the world, will measure out even- 
 handed justice to the Negro. 
 
 The blood that has poured from the Negro's 
 veins upon the sunny soil of war-ridden France 
 does not represent his initial sacrifice for the 
 honor of America. In our great enthusiasm over 
 the wonderful achievements of the Negro in this 
 war, let us not forget that the first blood of the 
 Revolutionary war was drawn from a Negro's 
 veins; and upon Boston Commons there stands 
 today a monument bearing testimony to the noble 
 sacrifice which Crispus Attucks made for a new- 
 
Things For Which We Fought 53 
 
 born nation that was destined to figure so con- 
 spicuously in shaping the destinies of the world. 
 Having done his bit in 1 776 to save the col- 
 onies from Great Britain, the Negro was called 
 upon in the Civil war of 1 86 1 to save the nation 
 from itself. The awful events of that horrible 
 catastrophe are still fresh in the minds of many 
 Americans. The prowess and valor of the Negro 
 soldiers in that war are unsurpassed in all the 
 annals of warfare. 
 
 Again, we need but mention the 9th and 1 0th 
 Cavalry, and the 24th and 25th Infantry, and 
 every true heart in America must acknowledge 
 the fact that in the Spanish-American War the 
 characteristic loyalty of the colored soldiers was 
 demonstrated beyond peradventure. 
 
 If, after more than 250 years of unselfish devo- 
 tion to every movement to advance the cause of 
 Americanism (except for the restraint placed 
 upon him by slavery) the Negro has not paid the 
 price of justice and fair play, equal protection 
 under our constitution and laws, freedom from 
 unjust discrimination and persecution, then, may 
 I ask, what, in the name of everything that is 
 righteous, shall the price be? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Negro Republics in the War 
 
 Not very far from our Atlantic Coast lies the 
 little island of Haiti, a republic governed by 
 Negroes, and one of our allies in the war against 
 the Central Powers. In all the history of war- 
 fare, no braver fighters can be found than these 
 Haitian Negroes. 
 
 It was in 1 630 that Europeans began to bring 
 their peculiar civilization to that portion of the 
 island of Santo Domingo which is now Haiti. 
 Pirates and privateers, driven from St. Christo- 
 pher by the Spanish, settled in the Island of Tor- 
 tuga, off the northwest coast of Haiti, and set up 
 a general pirates* headquarters. They would sail 
 forth into the Spanish Main, win death or plun- 
 der, and return to the mainland of Haiti to drink 
 and carouse until their money was all spent. For 
 years the war between the pirates and the Spanish 
 continued intermittently, but in 1 664 the French 
 West India Co. took possession of the settlement. 
 
 Port de Paix was founded soon afterward, but 
 
 54 
 
Negro Republics in the War 55 
 
 there was constant warfare between the French 
 of Haiti and the Spanish of Santo Domingo. 
 About this time many slaves from Africa were 
 imported, and the first slave uprising took place 
 in 1 678, but it was easily put down. 
 
 In 1695 English and Spanish attacked the 
 French, Port de Paix was destroyed, and the Eng- 
 lish made prisoners of all the men, while the 
 Spanish made captives of all the women and 
 children. 
 
 Warfare of this kind continued until 1697, 
 when peace was established and the French col- 
 ony prospered amazingly, growing tobacco, 
 cocoa, coffee, indigo and sugar, but slavery was 
 growing too fast for enduring prosperity. In 
 1754, 14,000 white men owned 172,000 Negro 
 slaves. 
 
 It was the French Revolution that started the 
 Negro uprising that finally ended with the Ne- 
 groes victorious under Toussaint L'Overture, 
 former slave, and one of the greatest soldiers the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 The French National Assembly granted free- 
 dom to the slaves in 1791, but this decree was 
 resisted by the white settlers. Oge, a mulatto, 
 started a revolution, which was quickly sup- 
 pressed, but Jean Francois, another mulatto, 
 
56 The Negro, Democracy and the War 
 
 raised an insurrection in the north, marching on 
 Cape Francais, burning and murdering. Accord- 
 ing to Otto Schoenrich, in his book **Santo Do- 
 mingo, a Country With a Future,** the whites de- 
 feated his force and began, in their turn, an indis- 
 criminate slaughter of Negroes. 
 
 The Negroes thereupon rose in every direc- 
 tion, and the paradise of the West Indies became 
 a hell. 
 
 In 1 793 France went to war with England and 
 Spain. The Spanish authorities at Santo Do- 
 mingo made overtures to Negro leaders, of whom 
 a number entered the Spanish service as officers 
 of high rank, among them was Toussaint L'Over- 
 ture, who later showed remarkable military abil- 
 ity and administrative qualities. The French gov- 
 ernment sent commissioners to the colony, whose 
 tactless handling of a difficult situation fanned the 
 flames of civil war. 
 
 But the French persuaded Toussaint to aban- 
 don the Spanish and help defeat the English. He 
 was made general-in-chief of the French forces 
 and drove the English from the island in 1 798, 
 after the English had spent $100,000,000, and 
 lost 45,000 lives. Although Toussaint became 
 embittered against the whites, he was able to keep 
 order among the Negroes until his death. They 
 
Negro Republics in the War 57 
 
 were hostile to the United States until it abolished 
 slavery. Haiti is the strongest Negro republic in 
 the world. The men are fearless, and with tradi- 
 tions of military valor. It was submarine out- 
 rages that caused Haiti to declare war against 
 Germany. 
 
 Passing notice should also be given to the 
 Negro Republic of Liberia, which declared war 
 on Germany soon after the United States entered 
 the conflict. Liberia is situated in Africa, on the 
 southwestern coast of Upper Guinea (the Grain 
 Coast) between Sierra Leone and the French set- 
 tlements of the Ivory Coast. It has between 500 
 and 600 miles of coast line, an average extent 
 inland of 200 miles. The inhabitants are de- 
 scendants of Afro-American settlers from the 
 United States. The Republic of Liberia was 
 founded in 1821 by the American Colonization 
 Society, in treaty w^ith native African princes, as 
 a colony for emancipated Negroes. In 1847 it 
 was recognized as an independent state. 
 
 Thus we see that the activity of the Negro in 
 this war has not been confined to us here in 
 America, but everywhere Negroes have done 
 their bit to save the world from the throes of 
 militarism. These black republics have demon- 
 strated to the world their capacity for self-gov- 
 
58 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 ernment. While Haiti has frequently suffered 
 the misfortune of insurrections, yet, these in- 
 stances almost without exception have been due 
 to the interference of outside influences. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The War Is Won 
 
 And now, as we look into the eastern horizon, 
 beneath the vanishing clouds of war, we see, em- 
 blazoned in letters of gold the word Victory ! The 
 deed is done; the most glorious victory in the 
 history of the w^orld has been won. The world 
 has found brotherhood ; the w^orld has found God. 
 No one nation, race or creed stands foremost in 
 the winning of this war. White, black, yellow 
 and red — ^Jew and Gentile — Catholic and Protest- 
 ant, have given their all for humanity and democ- 
 racy, and through a co-operation of races un- 
 dreamed of in all the world's history, comes 
 victory. 
 
 The spirit of brotherhood on the blood-soaked 
 fields of France, over here in factory and home, 
 has done more than anything else toward attun- 
 ing the world to a single heart-throb for a victory 
 that shall redound to the lasting benefit and glory 
 of all humanity. 
 
 The colored people of the United States realize 
 
 59 
 
60 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 what all this means to them and, as they bore 
 their part of the burden of war, so will they per- 
 form their part of the great task of building up to 
 the level of our new found ideals and blood- 
 bought visions of brotherhood. 
 
 The contest between democracy and autocracy 
 is as old as the wars between the Greek cities and 
 the Persian kings, Darius and Xerxes, and has 
 come down through all the history of England 
 and France. But free nations have shown that, 
 given a little time, they could so organize and so 
 arm themselves as to beat back the forces of the 
 long prepared and perfectly organized military 
 autocracies, and today we rejoice that the great 
 task which was before the world in its fight 
 against Teuton military autocracy has been suc- 
 cessfully accomplished. 
 
 The sacrifices of war are over, but the sacrifices 
 of peace are only now to begin. These are sacri- 
 fices that will put behind us selfishness, greed and 
 a willingness to exploit the souls and the bodies 
 of other men. These are sacrifices that will turn 
 our minds away from bigness, from numbers, 
 from races and from accumulations, to character, 
 to quality and to spiritual power. We should no 
 longer think of the size of a nation, or the color of 
 a race, but of free nations and races, joyfully 
 
The War is Won 61 
 
 competing together in service to mankind and in 
 revelation of new and unsuspected powers of 
 helpfulness and progress. 
 
 America, through its sacrificial devotion, has 
 received a new view^ of fair play and devotion. 
 As brothers we fought in the w^ar; as brothers 
 we died in battle, and now, let us live as brothers 
 in peace, and in our relations with each other in 
 this country, let us bow to no ideal that lacks the 
 fullness of justice. 
 
 Our boys will soon be back from **over there." 
 To thousands of Negro families that knowledge 
 brings supreme joy. Soon the victorious hosts of 
 democracy will march along the streets of our big 
 cities to receive the homage of grateful multi- 
 tudes. Our brothers and sons who have planted 
 democracy among millions of people who have 
 been ground under the ruthless heel of militarism, 
 are coming home. Out of the mud of trenches, 
 away from the noise of cannon, away from the 
 barbed wire entanglements of Argonne Forest. 
 Having shared the glories of Cantigny and Seich- 
 prey; of Chateau-Thierry and the Vesle; of St. 
 Mihiel and Cambrai, our boys are coming home. 
 
 They went abroad, many of them in their most 
 impressionable years. They went to lands of 
 rich, deep national culture, and wrhen they come 
 
62 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 home they are going to view their country, not as 
 they viewed it before, but w^ith eyes wide open, 
 unembarrassed and unafraid. They will have 
 found the human race to be one, whatever the 
 shade of the skin or the inflection of the tongue. 
 Indeed, there will be a great revival when the 
 thousands of Negro soldiers return and are again 
 diffused through the wide structure of nearly 
 twelve million Negroes whom they left behind. 
 
 *Trom out the west; from o'er the seas, 
 
 The sons of liberty arrive. 
 And now unfurled, full in the breeze, 
 
 The glorious flag of freedom flies. 
 On *No Man's Land' the Hunnish hordes 
 
 In frantic haste turn homeward all ; 
 With cause accursed, while o'er Berlin 
 
 The darkening shadows fall." 
 
 Little do we in America know of the hardships 
 endured by these men, in trenches soaked with 
 rain and being bombarded with shells. We know 
 nothing of the pangs of hunger and the agony 
 that our wounded soldiers have suffered. We 
 have not seen the wreckage of the battlefield. 
 We have had our meatless and wheatless days; 
 we have given money in abundance, but, after all, 
 how small are the sacrifices we have made when 
 
The War is Won 63 
 
 we compare them with all that these men have 
 given for civilization. 
 
 And now that the war is over, let us not feel 
 that there is no longer any need for sacrifice on 
 our part. The empty sleeve and the crutch which 
 we now begin to see in public places tell their 
 own sad story. 
 
 We must not disappoint these men. They 
 must be aided economically and industrially, and 
 they and their children after them must have tne 
 chance which they have so dearly bought. It is 
 to be hoped that there is not a Negro in America 
 who will not willingly bear his part of the burden 
 brought home to us by these unfortunate veterans 
 of war. They have justified for our race the con- 
 fidence and respect of the civilized world. The 
 qualities they have demonstrated, the character 
 they have shown, the concentration of purpose 
 and the capacity for achievement which they have 
 been able to demonstrate in that time of critical 
 stress, tend to refute the arguments of those who 
 hold that it is unwise to accord the Negro the 
 highest privileges of American citizenship. 
 
 The things for which the Negro has stood and 
 is standing and the principles he has battled for 
 in season and out of season, have formed no in- 
 considerable part of the making of the virility of 
 
64 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 the American people. But let us not stop here. 
 In the name of all that is pure and noble; in the 
 name of 12,000,000 souls pleading for justice; 
 in the name of humanity and destiny, I appeal to 
 this liberty-loving, fearless race of ours to go on- 
 ward and forward and upward to the achievement 
 of grand and glorious things. 
 
 American history will hereafter tell how in 
 1917 the American people with remarkable 
 unanimity went into a ferocious war of European 
 origin in the hope and expectation of putting 
 down divine right government, secret diplomacy 
 and militarism; of making justice and kindness 
 the governing principles in international relations, 
 and of promoting among the masses of mankind 
 the kind of liberty under law w^hich they had 
 themselves long enjoyed. In contributing to the 
 vigorous and successful prosecution of this war 
 they spent their money like water, upset their in^ 
 dustries and their habits of life, laid on their pos- 
 terity an immense burden of debt, and put at risk 
 the lives of millions of their sons and daughters. 
 At the same time they gave huge sums of money 
 to relieve the miseries and woes which war now 
 entails on combatants and non-combatants alike. 
 Glorious tributes will be paid to brave American 
 soldiers who have won medals of distinction from 
 
The War is Won 65 
 
 England and France and rapid promotion in our 
 army. 
 
 But what will history tell of those brave col- 
 ored soldiers who faced death all along the line of 
 the western front? Let us hope that in this re- 
 spect previous histories of American wars will not 
 be regarded as precedents to guide writers of the 
 history of this great war. It wll be a source of 
 considerable inspiration to our race to know that 
 the facts concerning the part the Negro played in 
 this war will not be suppressed, and that he will 
 be fairly treated by historians of this world- 
 conflict. 
 
 This war, more than anything else, has taught 
 us that we are inseparably linked together here in 
 America. Color lines and class distinctions are 
 easily eflFaced in times of war. Then why so 
 prominent in times of peace? The Negro fought 
 the same battles, shed the same blood, died the 
 same death as the white man. Why not receive 
 the same honors ? The test of the worthiness of a 
 favored race is its willingness to reach down and 
 lift up a less favored people. Give the Negro an 
 equal chance ; give him the same chance to live in 
 peace that he has been given to fight in war, and 
 just as he has honored his country in times of 
 war, so w^ill he be true to our highest national 
 ideals in the years of peace to come. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 
 
 Shall America be safe for democracy ? This is 
 the burning question that touches the hearts of 
 12,000,000 Negroes. Can our democracy be 
 more than a travesty when it excludes millions of 
 our citizens? Alabama needs 75,000 ballots to 
 elect ten Congressmen. Minnesota needs 300,- 
 000. Is this democracy? 350,000 voters in the 
 South have as much political power as 1 ,500,000 
 voters in New York State. Is this democracy? 
 Georgia and New Jersey have the same vote for 
 President; 80,000 ballots are cast in Georgia, 
 while New Jersey cast 430,000. Is this democ- 
 racy? No! "Taxation without representation is 
 tyranny,*' not democracy. 
 
 Three thousand Negroes fought for American 
 independence under George Washington; 1 2,000 
 of us fought with Jackson at New Orleans ; 200,- 
 000 Negro soldiers fought to save the Union in 
 the Civil War; 10,000 of us fought in the Span- 
 ish-American War; Negro soldiers were among 
 
 66 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 67 
 
 the first to land in France with General Pershing, 
 300,000 of them having crossed the ocean before 
 the signing of the armistice. 
 
 We have in the United States 1 ,000,000 Negro 
 farmers, 30,000 carpenters, 30,000 clergymen, 
 12,000 brick and stone masons, 30,000 teachers, 
 3,000 physicians; we own 250,000 farms with 
 20,000,000 acres of land worth $500,000,000; 
 we have church property worth $76,000,000; we 
 have 60,000 iron and steel workers and 20,000 
 slaughter and packing-house operators. 
 
 And after all this, shall the Negro have no 
 partnership in the great joy of a liberated world? 
 Shall millions of "the least of these my brethren*' 
 be excluded from participation in that democracy 
 for which the world is said to have been made 
 safe? 
 
 We ask no redress for the wrongs that have 
 been perpetrated upon us, but a cessation of 
 those wrongs. Ever since the Negro has dared 
 to raise his voice in his own behalf, and in some 
 cases in the face of threats of death or imprison- 
 ment, he has pleaded that those principles of 
 justice be applied to him which are so essential 
 to a pure democracy, and which all other races in 
 America enjoy without limitation. And what has 
 been the result? Disfranchisement, Jim-Crow- 
 
68 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 ism, discrimination ever3rwhere. In the past 31 
 years 2,867 Negroes have been lynched in the 
 United States. But let us get down to more con- 
 crete facts upon the subject of lynching: 
 
 In the year 1918, 58 Negroes were lynched, 
 five of them being women. The offenses charged 
 were : alleged complicity in murder, 1 4 ; murder, 
 7; charged with threats to kill, 6; charged with 
 rape, 1 ; charged with attempted rape, 6 ; alleged 
 participation in fight about alleged hog stealing, 
 3; killing officer of the law, 2; being intimate 
 with a woman, 1 ; assisting man charged with 
 murder to escape, 1 ; robbing house and frighten- 
 ing women, 1 ; killing man in dispute about auto- 
 mobile repairs, 1 ; making unwise remarks, 1 ; 
 making unruly remarks, 1 ; killing a landlord in 
 dispute over a farm contract, 1 ; assault with in- 
 tent to murder, 1 ; wounding another, 1 ; robbery 
 and resisting arrest, 1 . 
 
 The states in w^hich lynching occurred and the 
 number of Negroes lynched in each state are as 
 follows : 
 
 Alabama, 3; Arkansas, 2; California, 1 ; Flor- 
 ida, 2 ; Georgia, 1 6 ; Illinois, 1 ; Kentucky, 1 ; 
 Louisiana, 8; Mississippi, 5; North Carolina, 2; 
 Oklahoma, 1 ; South Carolina, 1 ; Tennessee, 4; 
 Texas, 9 ; Virginia, 1 ; Wyoming, 1 ; 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 69 
 
 To make this record of lynchings in the United 
 States more complete, it should be stated that 4 
 white men were also victims. 
 
 Oh, Cain, where is Abel, thy brother? 
 
 For the period of the war the Negro put aside 
 his grievances, and determined to make a su- 
 preme sacrifice for the honor of his country and 
 the peace of the world. But he could not help 
 carrying with him across the mighty deep a con- 
 sciousness of the awful wrongs he had suffered, 
 and which his brother at home must suffer while 
 he was in France occupying positions where his 
 life would be imperiled by his duties, and where 
 the grim shadow of death might forever obscure 
 the beautiful sunshine of life; this, I say, for the 
 honor of a country in which lynching, jim-crow- 
 ism and race discrimination are a part of the un- 
 written law. 
 
 The glorious reception which the Negro soldiers 
 found awaiting them as they entered France was 
 indeed a soothing balm for their souls. Many 
 had come directly from the South, and the lessons 
 of their lives had taught them that freedom was 
 for the white man, and the part which they should 
 always play in the great drama of life was that of 
 service. But when they were received with open 
 arms by the generous people of France, whose 
 
70 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 democratic institutions are supported by an obe- 
 dient spirit of the people, these Negroes were 
 doubly assured that if this were democracy, surely 
 they had made no mistake in deciding that it was 
 worth fighting for. They found that in France 
 democracy was more than statutes, or constitu- 
 tions — it was a national idealism that guided the 
 people in their daily intercourse. They had made 
 a dangerous journey from a land where they were 
 hated by many and admired by few^, but never- 
 theless a land which they dearly loved. Loved 
 it because it was their home, because they had 
 helped make it what it is, and because they were 
 inspired by their faith in the superiority of God*s 
 law over that of man, and that in process of time 
 the brotherhood of man would be a guiding force 
 in America. 
 
 At first it was difficult for some of these colored 
 soldiers to reconcile themselves to this new situ- 
 ation, a real democracy. They could not under- 
 stand how they could be respected for their man- 
 hood on one side of the Atlantic, and hated on 
 the other side because they were black, but as 
 I have said in the beginning, the ability of the 
 Negro to adapt himself to new conditions is one 
 of his chief characteristics. They soon learned 
 that in France the measure of a man's worth is 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 71 
 
 not color, but character; and the comparison 
 -which they made was not at all flattering to 
 America. Elijah could not have been filled with 
 more enthusiasm w^hen he entered the gates of 
 Heaven than w^ere these Negro soldiers when they 
 w^ere embraced by the people of France. 
 
 The thing that has irritated the colored soldier 
 most is his consciousness that after having helped 
 to win the war for the freedom of the world, he 
 must return home to resume the fight for his own 
 freedom. But he is coming home, and he will 
 bring with him new hopes, fresh determination 
 and a broader vision of his rights and obligations 
 as an American citizen. He will tell us of his 
 brilliant defense in the battle of Chateau Thierry, 
 under the leadership of black officers ; he will tell 
 us of the terrific fighting he saw in the struggle 
 of Argonne; he will tell us that in the last hour 
 before the signing of the armistice the 365th, a 
 Negro Infantry, were the nearest American sol- 
 diers to the Rhine; he will tell us that of all the 
 Allied troops the 367th, a Negro Infantry, upon 
 the cessation of hostilities, were the nearest troops 
 to Metz. 
 
 What shall the answer be when these brave 
 boys give such a glowing account of their stew- 
 ardship? Shall it be a lynching in Georgia, or 
 
11 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 Ohio? Shall it be a tightening of the color line, 
 or the extension of jim-crowism in the North? 
 Shall it be the increase of segregation of Negroes 
 in the filthiest districts of the large cities of the 
 United States? 
 
 Or shall it be a sincere welcome home to 
 America's faithful black sons, with a conscien- 
 tious assurance that they shall receive a just share 
 in America's democracy, in recognition of their 
 inalienable and constitutional rights, and in ap- 
 preciation of the part they played in saving the 
 sacred institution of democracy to all the world? 
 
 It is now more than half a century since the 
 great Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion. To God and the several human agencies 
 he employed in accomplishing this result, the 
 colored man is profoundly grateful and indebted. 
 What man of color who knows of the struggles 
 that the good people of the North had to en- 
 counter in their efforts to save the Union, to rid 
 the nation of that fierce monster, human slavery, 
 to secure to the freedmen the same measure of 
 freedom vouchsafed other people of the United 
 States, to transform social and political pariahs 
 into citizens of a nation that was destined to be- 
 come the greatest republic that the world has ever 
 known, to secure these blessings by appropriate 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 73 
 
 amendments to the Constitution, and to insure 
 by further legislation the full enjoyment of those 
 rights, what colored man can afford to be un- 
 thankful, what colored man dare refuse his sup- 
 port to every movement for the advancement of 
 the cause of America ? The Negro has promised 
 to be faithful to America's institutions, and he 
 will be true to his word. 
 
 The Negro believes that if castigation is to be 
 resorted to, it must be visited upon disobedient 
 or reckless members of the household. Instead 
 of destroying the house by fire because vermin 
 have entered and are flourishing therein, the 
 rivers of public discontent and civic righteous- 
 ness must be let into it and the pests swept there- 
 from. But, by all means, the house must be 
 preserved ! 
 
 It is true, though, that we are often forced to 
 use the language of that immortal bard of the 
 race, Mr. Paul Lawrence Dunbar, who exclaimed : 
 
 "With citizenship discredited and scorned, with 
 violated homes and long unheeded prayers, with 
 bleeding hands, still sore and smarting from long 
 beating at the door of opportunity, we raise our 
 voices and sing, *My Country, *tis of Thee.* We 
 shout and sing, while from the four points of the 
 compass comes our brothers* unavailing cry.*' 
 
74 The Negro, Demck:racy and The War 
 
 And yet we celebrate with great enthusiasm the 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 We cannot forget the living words of Patrick 
 Henry, that fired the hearts of the American 
 patriots, when he said, **Give me liberty or give 
 me death.** And we are not unmindful of the 
 fact that it was taxation without representation 
 that brought on the war in America between the 
 colonists and the mother country. Any mons- 
 trous piece of inconsistency and injustice of this 
 kind will of necessity cause restlessness and re- 
 volt in any intelligent people, and the evil will 
 be intensified exactly in proportion to the under- 
 standing of the wronged and outraged citizens. 
 
 It is gratifying to note, however, the wonderful 
 forbearance of the colored people in all these 
 wrongs and outrages; it is not only proverbial 
 with them to forbear, but this characteristic of 
 the race is one of the chief contributing causes of 
 its remarkable growth and wonderful develop- 
 ments in education, industry, refinement, politi- 
 cal and moral power. 
 
 Our forbearance does not indicate ignorance of 
 the value of political and civil liberty, for we 
 know the importance of both. Every citizen of a 
 republic like ours knows that the possession of 
 political liberty is unquestionably a right of a 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 75 
 
 community, and citizens may, with perfect rea- 
 son, exact it even of governments which actually 
 govern well. It is the duty of a government, if 
 it would discharge its duties as it should, **to ac- 
 cumulate, to the utmost, securities for beneficial 
 measures hereafter.*' Every average American 
 citizen, white or black, knows that to enjoy per- 
 fect political liberty, he must possess the ballot, 
 and to make the right use of it, that his liberty 
 might be secured. The colored people know that 
 **political liberty is not a matter that admits of 
 certain conclusions from theoretical reasoning; it 
 is a question of facts; a question to be decided, 
 like questions of philosophy, by reasoning found- 
 ed upon experience.'* 
 
 As a race we have been wronged and outraged 
 in that our political liberty has been and is now 
 interfered with, hence our civil liberty is not what 
 the constitution guarantees, and, therefore, our 
 complaint, though unheeded is well founded, and 
 the American people know that we know it. But, 
 again, we know that our peculiar political situa- 
 tion has created in us a strong desire to exercise 
 our full political power. We know also that a 
 reasonable desire constitutes a claim that is not 
 only worthy of a favorable consideration, but an 
 
76 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 honest and impartial investigation; and if the 
 thing desired is superior to the thing causing the 
 complaint, then it is the pledged duty of the gov- 
 ernment to remove the cause of the disturbance, 
 and give satisfaction to the dissatisfied. A dis- 
 satisfied community of people is an uncertain 
 quantity, and as a race we are dissatisfied, *'and 
 in whatever degree a people are not satisfied, in 
 the same degree civil government," all things 
 being equal, "does not effect its proper ends. To 
 deny satisfaction to a reasonable people without 
 showing a good reason, is to withhold from them 
 the due portion of civil liberty.'* 
 
 Furthermore no solution of difficulties grow- 
 ing out of the relations of two races is going to 
 be permanent and satisfactory unless both have 
 made contributions to it. For no arbitrary solu- 
 tion, imposed from without, is likely to be right, 
 or tolerated. 
 
 It was probably this thought that prompted our 
 President, Woodrow Wilson, on the 1 6th day of 
 August, 1918, to issue this direct appeal to the 
 American people in behalf of law and order : 
 
 **There have been many lynchings, and every 
 one of them has been a blow at the heart of or- 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 11 
 
 dered law and humane justice. No man who 
 loves America, no man who really cares for her 
 fame and honor and character, or who is truly 
 loyal to her institutions, can justify mob action 
 while the courts of justice are open and the gov- 
 ernments of the states and the nation are ready 
 and able to do their duty. How shall we com- 
 mend democracy to the acceptance of other 
 peoples if we disgrace our own by proving that 
 it is after all no protection to the weak. Every 
 mob contributes to German lies about the United 
 States what her most gifted liars cannot improve 
 upon by way of calumny." 
 
 He called upon the governors of all the states, 
 upon the law officers of every community in the 
 United States, and above all upon the men and 
 women of every community who revere Amer- 
 ica, to make an end of this disgraceful evil. 
 
 In conclusion, he said: 
 
 **I can never accept any man as a champion of 
 liberty, either for ourselves or for the world, who 
 does not reverence and obey the laws of our own 
 beloved land, whose laws we ourselves have 
 made. He has adopted the standards of the 
 enemies of his country, whom he affects to 
 despise." 
 
78 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 White and black blood have mingled upon the 
 battlefields where the freedom and honor of our 
 country was at stake; together we have built up 
 a great civilization, and present to the world a 
 spectacle that represents itself as a vast democ- 
 racy living in freedom, with no other ruler but 
 ourselves; the populace of the old monarchies 
 and despotisms have heard of our liberty, and 
 millions of them have crossed the ocean to enjoy 
 it. America was the hope of mankind, and yet, 
 what do we see? Millions of Negroes who have 
 never shared the blessings of that democracy 
 which has made America foremost among all the 
 nations of the world. It is a horrible sight to see, 
 and an ominous failure to confess ; for if America 
 fails in her attempt at democracy, where is there 
 any national hope that the cause of civil and po- 
 litical freedom can ever succeed ? 
 
 Nowhere can the experiment be tried under 
 conditions so favorable. But, if, after all, the 
 dreams of American democracy shall not be fully 
 realized, surely it shall be a sign that God had no 
 part in our attempt. * 'Except the Lord build the 
 city, they labor in vain who build it. It had all 
 been a vast mistake and delusion from the begin- 
 ning. Let us call back our kings and czars, and 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 79 
 
 surrender our liberty and equality. Man is not 
 able to govern himself. Let Moses lead the 
 Israelites back to Pharoah, and cast the tablets of 
 the Divine Law into the depths of the Red Sea. 
 The Pillar of Cloud by day, of Fire by night, was 
 but a mirage and a mockery; and a few selfish 
 tyrants shall have dominion oyer many helpless 
 slaves.** 
 
 In stating the case of the American Negro it 
 would, indeed, be ungrateful not to acknowledge 
 the race's appreciation of thousands of the white 
 race who have ever been w^illing to support every 
 movement for the Negro's advancement. Negro 
 schools, churches, hospitals, Young Men*s Chris- 
 tian Associations and other institutions owe their 
 very existence, in many cases, to benefits be- 
 stowed upon them by white people throughout 
 the nation. That many institutions are obliged 
 to depend upon public contributions for their 
 support and maintenance is due to the very na- 
 ture of the institutions. This is true of institu- 
 tions among all peoples. 
 
 But the undemocratic spirit of the people, 
 especially in the South, has made necessary the 
 establishment of many institutions among Ne- 
 groes. If the states of the South would provide 
 
80 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 for the education of their boys and girls, regard- 
 less of color or race ; if the state legislatures would 
 make the same provision for the education of 
 Negro citizens as is made for white aliens, scores 
 of schools established by Negroes, and depending 
 upon gratuities for their support, would be un- 
 necessary. 
 
 Give the Negro a man's chance; give him an 
 equal opportunity, and he will demonstrate his 
 worthiness of all the privileges that a free people 
 ever enjoyed in a democracy. This course is dic- 
 tated no less by equity than by the truest interests 
 of the whole American people. 
 
 The Philadelphia Public Ledger, recently 
 speaking of the condition of the Negro, said : 
 
 **The nation, and every citizen of it, assumed 
 a direct responsibility for the Negro when he was 
 emancipated. Out of indefensible riots some 
 good will come if earnest, capable leaders are 
 made to feel the burden of helpfulness which 
 rests on them. The Negro should not be driven 
 back ; he should be aided in fitting himself to the 
 new conditions he meets in the North. We 
 should regard it as a national misfortune if preju- 
 dice at this crucial time should stifle the Negro's 
 ambition and tear the heart out of a race which 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 81 
 
 has just begun to realize its possibilities and its 
 future.** 
 
 The class of Negroes that were recruited for in- 
 dustrial work in the North during the war is, un- 
 fortunately, not the best. They are not versed 
 in the vernacular of labor. They are not class 
 conscious, and they exasperate men who are. 
 Race riots in the North are in origin, often indus- 
 trial riots. But these people are driven north- 
 ward by the intolerable conditions that exist in 
 the South. The Negro is not a roaming people. 
 If the Negroes of the South enjoyed conditions of 
 living, facilities for education, and fair treatment, 
 as the whites enjoy, no attraction in the North 
 could induce them to leave the homes to which 
 they are attached. 
 
 Ever since the days of slavery the whites of the 
 South have feared the educated Negro; and yet, 
 events have proved that it is the uneducated, and 
 not the educated, Negro who is more to be feared. 
 Perhaps the Governor of Georgia was conscious 
 of this fact when, during his recent inauguration, 
 he intimated that the situation was serious, and 
 that he proposed to meet it, **not by reducing 
 school facilities for Negroes, but by increasing 
 those school facilities,** thereby capitalizing ein 
 enormous dormant asset. 
 
82 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 But on all sides the Negro finds organized 
 efforts to keep him down ; and yet he is so deter- 
 mined to rise that he will not stay where he is 
 placed, but persists in going where and doing 
 what he knows he has a natural and constitu- 
 tional right to do, East St. Louis and Chester 
 massacres to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 A striking illustration of what the labor unions 
 mean to the industrial efforts of the Negro will be 
 found in the E^st St. Louis massacre and the 
 causes that brought it about. 
 
 On the 2nd of July, 1917, East St. Louis, 111., 
 added a foul page to the world's history of mas- 
 sacres. A mob of white men, women and chil- 
 dren burned and destroyed $400,000 worth of 
 property belonging to both whites and blacks; 
 drove 6,000 Negroes from their homes, and de- 
 liberately murdered by shooting, burning and 
 hanging, between one and two hundred Negro 
 men, women and children. An impartial investi- 
 gation discloses the fact that the cause of this riot 
 was the hostility of the white labor unions toward 
 Negro laborers who had recently come from the 
 South. 
 
 The following is a copy of a letter sent to the 
 members of the ''Central Trades and Labor 
 Union,** which speaks for itself: 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 83 
 
 "East St. Louis, III., 
 May 23, 1917. 
 **To the Delegates to the Central Trades and 
 
 Labor Union : 
 * 'Greeting: 
 
 **The immigration of the Southern Negro into 
 our city for the past eight months has reached the 
 point where drastic action must be taken if we 
 intend to work and live peaceably in this com- 
 munity. 
 
 **Since this influx of undesirable Negroes has 
 started no less than ten thousand have come into 
 this locality. 
 
 "These men are being used to the detriment of 
 our white citizens by some of the capitalists and 
 a few of the real estate owners. 
 
 **On next Monday evening the entire body of 
 delegates to the Central Trades and Labor Unions 
 will call upon the Mayor and City Council and 
 demand that they take some action to retard this 
 growing menace and also devise a way to get rid 
 of a certain portion of those w^ho are already here, 
 
 "This is not a protest against the Negro who 
 has been a long resident of East St. Louis and is a 
 law-abiding citizen. 
 
 "We earnestly request that you be in attend- 
 
84 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 ance on next Monday evening at 8:00 o'clock, at 
 137 Collinsville Avenue, where we will meet and 
 then go to the City Hall. 
 
 *This is more important than any local meet- 
 ing, so be sure you are there. 
 
 **Fraternally, 
 
 * 'Central Trades & Labor Union, 
 *'Edw. F. Mason, SecV-*' 
 
 It is not necessary to recite here the awful de- 
 tails of the horrible slaughter of Negroes in East 
 St. Louis that followed the writing of the fore- 
 going letter. The facts are still fresh in the minds 
 of Negroes all over the land, and we know that 
 they did take ''drastic action,** and that they did 
 "get rid of a certain portion of those** who were 
 already there. 
 
 But brief reference will be made to a statement 
 of an eye-witness, Carlos F. Hurd, published 
 July 3, 1918, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, of 
 which he was a staff-reporter : 
 
 "A Negro, his head laid open by a great stone- 
 cut, had been dragged to the mouth of the alley 
 on Fourth Street and a small rope was being put 
 about his neck. There was joking comment on 
 the weakness of the rope, and everyone was pre- 
 pared for what happened when it was pulled over 
 a projecting cable box, a short distance up the 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 85 
 
 pole. It broke, letting the Negro tumble back on 
 his knees, and causing one of the men who was 
 pulling on it to sprawl on the pavement. 
 
 **An old man, with a cap like those worn by 
 street car conductors, but showing no badge of 
 car service, came out of his house to protest. 
 *Don't you hang that man on this street,' he 
 shouted, *I dare you to.' He was pushed angrily 
 away and a rope, obviously strong enough for its 
 purpose, w^as brought. 
 
 * 'Right here I saw the most sickening incident 
 of the evening. To put the rope around the 
 Negro's neck, one of the lynchers stuck his fin- 
 gers inside the gaping scalp and lifted the Negro's 
 head by it, literally bathing his hand in the man's 
 blood. 
 
 ***Get hold, and pull for East St, Louis,* called 
 a man with a black coat and a new straw hat, as 
 he seized the other end of the rope. The rope 
 was long, but not too long for the number of 
 hands that grasped it, and this time the Negro 
 was lifted to a height of about seven feet from the 
 ground. The body was left hanging there." 
 
 If the cruelties which the German soldiers in- 
 flicted upon the Belgians, or the massacre of the 
 Armenians by the Turks, surpass this East St. 
 Louis horror, then may I ask, in what respect ? 
 
86 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 How can the leaders of our civilization look 
 back upon nearly 3,000 black men and women 
 lynched during the past 3 1 years, and then invite 
 other nations of the civilized world to emulate 
 the virtues of American democracy? 
 
 Not long after the East St. Louis race war 
 15,000 Negroes marched through the streets of 
 New York City in silent protest against recent 
 race riots. The parade formed in Fifth Avenue 
 and marched from Fifty-seventh Street to Madi- 
 son Square. 
 
 Placards carried by Boy Scouts, aged men and 
 by women and children, explained the purpose of 
 the demonstration. 
 
 During the progress of the march circulars 
 were distributed among the crowds telling of the 
 purpose which brought the Negroes together. 
 Under the caption, *'Why do we march?** the cir- 
 cular read, in part, as follows : 
 
 **We march because by the grace of God and 
 the force of truth the dangerous, hampering walls 
 of prejudice and inhuman injustices must fall. 
 
 **We march because we want to make impos- 
 sible a repetition of Waco, Memphis, and East St. 
 Louis by arousing the conscience of the country, 
 and to bring the murderers of our brothers, sisters 
 and innocent children to justice. 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 87 
 
 **We march because we deem it a crime to be 
 silent in the face of such barbaric acts. 
 
 **We march because we are thoroughly op- 
 posed to Jim Crow cars, etc., segregation, dis- 
 crimination, disfranchisement, lynching, and the 
 host of evils that are forced on us. It is time that 
 the spirit of Christ should be manifested in the 
 making and execution of the laws. 
 
 **We march because we want our children to 
 live in a better land and enjoy fairer conditions 
 than have fallen to our lot. 
 
 *'We march in memory of our butchered dead, 
 the massacre of honest toilers who were remov- 
 ing the reproach of laziness and thriftlessness 
 hurled at the entire race. They died to prove our 
 worthiness to live. We live in spite of death 
 shadowing us and ours. We prosper in the face 
 of the most unwarranted and illegal oppression. 
 
 **We march because the growing conscious- 
 ness and solidarity of race, coupled with sorrow 
 and discrimination, have made us one; a union 
 that may never be dissolved in spite of the shal- 
 low-brained agitators, scheming pundits and po- 
 litical tricksters who secure a fleeting popularity 
 and uncertain financial support by promoting the 
 disunion of a people who ought to consider them- 
 selves one.** 
 
88 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 It is inconceivable that in a democracy such as 
 ours there should ever be an occasion for such a 
 united demonstration against lawlessness as that 
 above referred to. Lynching after lynching has 
 occurred with scarcely any protest being made by 
 the colored people of the United States, and cer- 
 tainly little or no effort made by those responsible 
 for law and order to apprehend and punish the 
 culprits. 
 
 But with the number of lynchings steadily in- 
 creasing, and the crimes of the mob spreading 
 like a cancer all over the land, the Negro had 
 reason to be alarmed, lest his silence might be 
 construed as acquiescence. 
 
 If the time is to come when the American 
 people shall reassert their faith in that clause of 
 the Declaration of Independence which says, 
 **We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all 
 men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
 their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and 
 that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit 
 of happiness," surely it ought not to be in the 
 distant future. 
 
 But meanwhile the southern mob is northward 
 bound, without conscience or soul, but with im- 
 punity, it carries on its work of destruction of 
 human life. 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 89 
 
 As I protest against the persecution of the 
 Negro race I am not unconscious of the fact that 
 we have among us in all parts of the United 
 States a lawless element whose sins we do not 
 condone. But is this not true of all peoples? 
 Who can say to what extent lawlessness among 
 Negroes would decrease if the southern states 
 guarded the interests of the black boys and girls 
 as they do those of the white race? Is not intel- 
 lectual and moral uplift as essential in the process 
 of crime elimination among Negroes as it is 
 among w^hites? If the South would open the 
 doors of opportunity to the Negro, and assure 
 him that hereafter character and intelligence shall 
 be the basis upon which men shall be judged, and 
 that in the dispensation of justice race or color 
 shall not prevent any man from receiving his full 
 measure, the colored people would receive an in- 
 centive and would aspire to standards which 
 many have hitherto considered unattainable. 
 
 The attitude of the South toward the Negro 
 manifests itself in the chain-gang, convict labor 
 cruelty, Jim Crow cars, special legislation de- 
 signed to reach and restrict the freedom and liber- 
 ties of the black man. It is the same South which, 
 when the Confederacy was facing death, author- 
 ized through its Congress, the enlistment of 300,- 
 
90 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 000 slaves as soldiers, **with the same rations, 
 clothing and pay as other troops,** but with the 
 proviso that * 'nothing in this act shall be con- 
 strued to authorize a change in the relation of said 
 slaves.** As slaves they were to fight for slavery, 
 and then to be remanded to their masters. 
 
 Though the ground was quaking, and hope 
 itself was fleeing, the Confederacy piteously 
 pleaded for the help of its slaves, but would not 
 consent to diminish by the smallest fraction, the 
 number of its chained and bound. No wonder 
 that after such a spectacle, the Confederacy went 
 down amid the acclaim of all the nations of the 
 earth, and that **its last days lacked dignity and 
 wholly failed to inspire pity." 
 
 The present day plea of the South for Anglo- 
 Saxon dominance, for a studied nullification of, 
 or for a repeal of certain amendments to the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, is no more than the 
 echo of strident voices heard many years ago, de- 
 manding state sovereignty. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Dean Richard Babbitt, speaking sev- 
 eral years ago of the South in relation to the 
 Negro, said: 
 
 **It was feudal in its ideas and impulses before 
 the Civil War; it is feudal today in all its ideas. 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 91 
 
 impulses, legislation and methods pertaining to 
 the Negro. It is trying to shut the door of oppor- 
 tunity in the face of the black man on grounds of 
 race and color. It is rapidly robbing the Negroes 
 by a deliberate system, of not only political rights, 
 but inalienable natural rights, the rights of life, 
 liberty and happiness.** 
 
 There is real slavery of the Negro in parts of 
 the South today, only the poor black man or 
 woman is not sold from the auction block, but 
 from the bench of the judge in collusion with 
 slave buyers. What is meant by the slave stock- 
 ades, the tracking blood-hounds, and the lash 
 among the pine woods of Georgia?, They mean 
 that slavery is in existence today. 
 
 The Civil War, we are given to understand, 
 forever abolished slavery and demonstrated 
 clearly that the United States was a nation and 
 not a confederacy; yet we have the most open 
 violations of the 1 3th, 1 4th and 1 5th amend- 
 ments to the Constitution. The 1 4th amendment 
 settled the Negro's citizenship, and the 1 5th 
 settled his right to vote, and with this staring the 
 South in the face, they disfranchised the Negro 
 in several states. It has become so serious that 
 we are now face to face with the problem forced 
 
92 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 upon the country by the men who fired upon the 
 flag at Sumter. 
 
 How shall the nation act in this matter? Their 
 unconstitutional nullification should be met by a 
 constitutional nullification. Congress should re- 
 fuse all representatives elected by those districts 
 which nullified these three amendments seats in 
 its chamber or a place in the electoral college. 
 This Congress can do constitutionally. 
 
 But let us not form a too hasty opinion of what 
 the future will bring to the American Negro. 
 America's greatest opportunity has come. Forces 
 that have struggled for ages have been liberated ; 
 institutions, so repugnant to the welfare of hu- 
 manity, have been swept away ; but greater even 
 than the overthrow of autocracy and militeury 
 tyranny, is the change in ideals. A cloud has 
 been lifted from the minds of men, and they be- 
 hold each other in a new light. The people 
 throughout the whole world have a more intelli- 
 gent understanding of the real basis of liberty; 
 mankind have been quickened, the people are 
 astir, and the words liberty and opportunity have 
 a new meaning ; among all races there is a grow- 
 ing consciousness of individual power, and a 
 growing desire to do something larger which we 
 were all made and meant to do. It is our hope 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 93 
 
 and belief that the dominant race in America 
 will see the need and justice of opening the doors 
 of opportunity to the Negro ; that the doctrine of 
 the brotherhood of man will be proclaimed from 
 the hill-tops, and made a guiding force in Amer- 
 ica, and passed on as a heritage to all posterity. 
 
 The Negro has the inspiration, he sees the goal 
 — ^but where is the way? This soul awakening, 
 this conviction on the part of the Negro that he 
 can be free is the fruit of decades of experience 
 and struggle. The year of great opportunity has 
 come; but it comes w^ith a special meaning to 
 those who know the way. It is their privilege, 
 nay, their duty, to lead those who only see the 
 goal. 
 
 Blacks tone, in his commentaries, states that 
 ''political or civil liberty is no other than natural 
 liberty so far restrained as is necessary and ex- 
 pedient for the general advantage of the public." 
 
 If it is necessary and expedient for the general 
 advantage of the public that the liberty of the 
 Negro should be restrained to a greater degree 
 than that of other citizens of our country, then 
 there is something radically wrong with the whole 
 structure of our institutions, and the spirit of the 
 public is opposed to our peculiar form of govern- 
 ment. Furthermore, the Negro is a part of the 
 
94 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 public, and it is illogical to say that anything is 
 for the general advantage of the public, unless it 
 includes the public in its entirety. And to restrain 
 the liberty of one people for the general advan- 
 tage of another people is undemocratic, and con- 
 trary to the spirit of free governments. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that Blackstone's 
 theory was that each member of a state or com- 
 munity must surrender a portion of his natural 
 liberty in order to make it possible for all other 
 members of the state or community to enjoy cor- 
 responding liberty. 
 
 Many of the leaders in America would feel that 
 a great deal of good had been accomplished, if 
 something could be done to allay the restlessness 
 of the Negro, but his desire for those things which 
 God in His wisdom intended for all mankind, and 
 for intercourse with the rest of the world, is re- 
 sponsible for the Negro's progress since the days 
 of slavery. 
 
 It will be a dreadful day for the race when we 
 shall be satisfied, when the desire to share in all 
 the blessings of civilization and humanity shall 
 cease to beat at the doors of our souls. It is in- 
 conceivable that any people could be satisfied, in 
 the midst of the most meuT'elous civilization the 
 world has ever known, when they are surrounded 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 95 
 
 by individual and organized eflForts that are cal- 
 culated to deprive them of those things which are 
 essential to their happiness and prosperity. In- 
 deed, I would rather share the fate of the heathen 
 in the jungles of Africa, and live upon the basis 
 of equality with my fellowman, than to dwell in 
 the midst of America's grand civilization, and be 
 denied the rights, privileges and immunities of 
 citizenship. 
 
 The Negro is a living man; he is growing; he 
 has become imbibed with the highest ideals of 
 modern times. What is it, then, that inspires 
 men with the desire to oppress him? Is it the 
 anxiety for their own w^elfare? Surely this can- 
 not be the cause. The Negro has learned to love 
 America, he has honored the stars and stripes at 
 home and abroad, he is at home in the fields as 
 well as in the center of learning, and no people 
 has fitted better into our civilization. In every 
 phase of human effort, in every walk of life, we 
 find the Negro not only playing an important 
 part, but measuring up to the highest standards. 
 
 But in this day of universal restlessness the 
 world w^ill advance most rapidly if those who 
 are trying to make things better will discontinue 
 generalities and condescend to specific state- 
 
96 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 ments of their desires. The process of changing 
 men's hearts is sometimes very gradual. 
 
 But the Negro, like all other citizens, has 
 certain rights ; these rights are clearly defined by 
 the organic laws of our land, and to deny any 
 citizen the full enjoyment of these rights is con- 
 trary to the true spirit of democracy, and repug- 
 nant to the free political institutions of America. 
 
 Would that I could speak for the entire Negro 
 race, who bow their heads in sorrow as they 
 contemplate the wrongs which they suffer in 
 America, and I would tell you that twelve mil- 
 lion souls arise as one man and protest against 
 the injustice of their position; but alas! I speak 
 only for myself; and, speaking for myself, I 
 venture to say that the day is coming when the 
 patience and forbearance of the Negroes through- 
 out the world will be justly rewarded. The hidden 
 hand of Him who guides the destinies of all men 
 will lead the faithful sons of Ham through the 
 dark shadows of prejudice into the sunshine of 
 human justice. But the undertone of every sup- 
 plication should be, "Thy will be done.** 
 
 I believe the day will come, it may not be in 
 our time, it may be hidden behind the veil of a 
 century yet to pass, but the day will come when 
 there shall be an adjustment of the social, indus- 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 97 
 
 trial and political differences between all nations 
 and races of men ; when the color of a mans skin 
 will not be a bar to his advancement, and when 
 the Negro race will be numbered among the most 
 favored peoples that ever came forth from the 
 womb of time. And 
 
 "His shall be larger manhood, saved 
 for those. 
 That walk unblanching through the 
 trial-fires.** 
 
 Those who have been opposed to admitting the 
 Negro to equal rights are the more inexcusable in 
 view of his achievements in all spheres of life. So 
 successful indeed has he been wherever oppor- 
 tunity has offered that longer opposition to his 
 complete emancipation is harmful not only to the 
 Negro but to the nation itself. In proportion as 
 the industrial, economic and moral standard of 
 the humblest citizen is raised, in proportion as his 
 enjoyment of the rights, privileges and immuni- 
 ties of citizenship are in conformity with the con- 
 stitution and laws of our land; in the same pro- 
 portion will America represent those ideals and 
 principles of democracy for which the proudest 
 blood of Europe and America has been shed. 
 
 A significant declaration of principles was 
 adopted at the Jewish Congress recently as- 
 
98 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 sembled in Philadelphia. It appeals to the Peace 
 Conference to refuse recognition to any new 
 state that does not grant to all its citizens equality 
 of political, religious and social rights. This is 
 the most effective form of persuasion. It does 
 not encroach upon the domestic affairs of any 
 nationality. Yet it does require a minimum 
 standard of public morality before admitting a 
 new state to the full fellowship of nations. 
 
 The protection of minority races in a country, 
 I admit, is not always an easy matter. Here in 
 America we have a constitution that is fair to all 
 peoples within our domain, regardless of race or 
 religion. Our organic law is liberal and just ; but 
 the thing that distresses the Negro is the lack of 
 a proper spirit of the people, and a willingness to 
 obey those laws. 
 
 How will the American delegates treat this 
 question if it ever arises in the Peace Conference? 
 Soon we shall know, but not soon enough to in- 
 form our readers. Our delegates will go into the 
 conference with full knowledge that there are 
 places in their own country where Negroes are 
 burned at the stake by mobs ; that there are places 
 in their own country where Negroes are forced to 
 ride in public conveyances, commonly known as 
 Jim Crow cars, that are hardly fit conveyances 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 99 
 
 for cattle, and for which the same rate of fare is 
 charged as is charged white people for decent 
 accommodations; that there are states in their 
 own country where the Negro has long since been 
 denied the last vestige of his political rights ; that 
 everywhere in their own country there are well 
 organized efforts that are calculated to strip the 
 Negro of the rights, privileges and immunities of 
 citizenship guaranteed by our constitution, and 
 which are so essential to life, liberty and the pur- 
 suit of happiness. But, I ask, what would be the 
 attitude of the delegates of our country, if one of 
 the conditions of membership in the proposed 
 League of Nations should be the granting of 
 equal rights to all citizens? Would they yield? 
 If so, then into the waste-basket must go the con- 
 stitutions of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and all 
 other states that have boldly inserted in their laws 
 provisions that are in direct violation of our Fed- 
 eral Constitution, and which are intended to 
 abridge the rights of Negroes. 
 
 But a vast deal of patience will be necessary 
 while the world is readjusting itself to the new 
 order. We, like other oppressed peoples, can 
 only speculate as to the material advantages that 
 will accrue to us from this world-controversy. 
 Patience is a virtue with the Negro. We are a 
 
100 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 peculiar people, and the fact that through all the 
 intervening years we have maintained our love 
 for our country and loyalty toward its institutions 
 is the wonder of the age. 
 
 As the w^orld enters upon a realization of its 
 new ideals, let the Negro, who has suffered most 
 of all from oppression, and who has learned his 
 lesson well, take a definite stand for freedom, and 
 for the freedom of our people in other lands. 
 
 The Negro can reasonably expect a change in 
 the nation's attitude toward him. The war gave 
 the Negro the opportunity to demonstrate that 
 he is an important factor in America. In the 
 long, troublesome days of the war, when there 
 came the uncompromising acid test of the draft 
 law, the Negro proved himself loyal to the stars 
 and stripes, and I believe that America has appre- 
 ciated the Negro in this war as never before in 
 history. 
 
 The colored soldier's tremendous capacity for 
 service and sacrifice under the stress of war is no 
 new thing. Their service at this time has only 
 been in proportion to the frightful magnitude of 
 the war. 
 
 In ordinary times the Negro might be content 
 with a fighting chance and a clear road to work 
 out his own salvation through his own strivings. 
 
Shall America Be Safe For Democracy? 101 
 
 That was before the war. Now, like other op- 
 pressed peoples, we are not content to wait upon 
 evolution at the old speed. Four years of war 
 have crowded into the world centuries of change. 
 A people's war must mean in the end a people's 
 peace, and there cannot be a people's peace if any 
 race of people is left victim to oppression. The 
 Peace Conference may or may not bring about 
 the desired ends. All will depend upon the lead- 
 ers of the nations who assemble there. The 
 terms of that peace will be the grim test of the 
 faith of the leaders in the ideal of democracy. 
 Upon their decision the people, including the Ne- 
 groes, wait uncompromisingly. 
 
 Meanwhile, American Negroes, as yet denied 
 a part in the councils of the internations, must 
 fight on for suffrage at home. There is some- 
 thing rather ominous in that fight. Negroes take 
 the phrase, **a w^ar for democracy," very literally. 
 Editorials from the leading Negro papers show a 
 resentment that is auspicious w^hen we realize 
 that it is backed by twelve million Negroes. Shall 
 the Negro, debarred from any voice in the prob- 
 lems of reconstruction, be forced to look hope- 
 lessly on, while leaders of other races struggle 
 with each other to rebuild a better world? But, 
 
1 02 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 be this as it may, the struggle for freedom at 
 home must go on. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Democracy As Applied to the Negro 
 
 The difficulties involved in the application of 
 democracy in the South are more intricate and 
 perplexing because there is where the great 
 masses of Negroes live. Once while I was talk- 
 ing with a man of education and high position in 
 Georgia, he said: 
 
 **Our experience with the Negro here in the 
 South since the Civil War convinces us that after 
 all the democracy of which our forefathers 
 dreamed is an impossibility. There is and can be 
 no equality between Negroes and white men, and 
 we might as well admit it.** He went on to re- 
 view the familiar assertions concerning the 
 masses of Negroes in the South; their dense ig- 
 norance, their irresponsibility, their vices and 
 crimes. **We are meeting these conditions,** he 
 said, **by frank legislation which looks to the 
 limitation of democracy. Politically we have the 
 disfranchisement laws, socially we have the *Jim 
 
 Crow* laws. We see here in the South that while 
 
 103 
 
1 04 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 democracy is possible for white men, it is impos- 
 sible for white and colored men together. We 
 have no unkind feeling for the Negroes. We are 
 perfectly willing that they should build up a de- 
 mocracy of their own, if they can, but it must be 
 apart from our white democracy.** But democ- 
 racy cannot be limited by laws which apply to 
 one race or class of citizens, it can only be de- 
 stroyed, and upon its ruins will grow the worst 
 form of oligarchy. 
 
 How can the South expect the Negro to be free 
 from ignorance, vice and crime, when every con- 
 ceivable barrier is placed in the way of his moral 
 and intellectual advancement, and when, by 
 these very laws by which it is attempted to limit 
 southern democracy, the Negro is denied that in- 
 centive and inspiration which flow from the full 
 enjoyment of all the rights, privileges and immu- 
 nities of citizenship? 
 
 In his remarks this southerner expressed the 
 conviction not only of the southern white people, 
 but of many northern white people as well. 
 
 But let us not be confused by statute book de- 
 mocracy. Democracy is not law, not customs, 
 nor institutions. Democracy is a spirit. And if 
 that spirit does not prevail among the people it is 
 useless to retain laws on the statute books and 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 105 
 
 provisions in our constitution which we do not 
 intend to obey. Let us be willing to face the 
 truth. Hie fact is that most of the people in the 
 North do not believe in any real democracy as be- 
 tween white and colored men. Distrust of the 
 laws in this particular, habitual disobedience 
 wherever the Negro is concerned, has spread 
 until it has affected every human relationship. 
 Men resort to personal vengeance instead of 
 seeking the courts. The '*un written law" is more 
 potent than the written law ; mobs bum and hang 
 without punishment. 
 
 The South does not believe and never has be- 
 lieved in a democracy which applies to every man 
 regardless of race, religion or condition. But 
 neither does the North. Undoubtedly the North 
 possesses more of the democratic spirit than the 
 South; and yet, studying the growth of com- 
 munities in the North which have large Negro 
 populations, I am thoroughly convinced that if 
 they had an3rthing like the proportion of Negroes 
 that the South has, we should also find the North 
 developing a spirit not unlike that of the South. 
 Lynchings, mob-law, discrimination and preju- 
 dice are not unknown today in the North. In 
 the haunts of snobbery, in the hovels of vice, in 
 the realms of pleasure, yes, even in the churches 
 
1 06 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 of the North, this same undemocratic spirit is to 
 be found. The same spirit that has burned Negro 
 colleges in Texas and hung Negroes to trees in 
 Georgia, has driven them from towns in Indiana 
 and lynched them in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
 
 The point I am making here is that the spirit 
 of democracy which, after all, is the only thing 
 that counts, is not exhausted with exercise any- 
 where in this country. We have made a little 
 relative progress toward democracy ; we have ex- 
 pressed its shining ideals in some of our institu- 
 tions, but for the most part the human heart is 
 woefully aristocratic, ungenerous, prejudiced, 
 and it expresses its haughtiness not only in the 
 South, where the Negro suffers most, but in the 
 North as well. In Chicago, in St. Paul, in Boston 
 and other cities of the North, white parents often 
 do not want their children to sit in schools where 
 Negroes attend. This is the plain, unvarnished 
 truth. 
 
 But a tremendous endowment of power fol- 
 lows any effort to arrive at the real truth of 
 things. Thus the discussion in the South regard- 
 ing the limitation of democracy on the statute 
 books has opened the question as to where, hav- 
 ing begun to limit, the line shall henceforth be 
 drawn. If you study the political campaigns in 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 107 
 
 the South, if you read the proceedings of the re- 
 cent legislatures of southern states, you will dis- 
 cover that, however blindly, the discussions have 
 turned upon these questions : 
 
 How many colored men can be cut off from 
 participation in the political rights of the democ- 
 racy? How many seats at the rear of the car 
 shall the Negroes occupy? At what door shall the 
 Negro enter the railway station? Shall Negroes 
 be confined in the same prisons with white men, 
 or take the oath with their hands on the same 
 Bible, or be buried in the same cemeteries ? How 
 many parts of white blood shall admit a Negro to 
 real participation in democracy? What occupa- 
 tions must Negroes pursue in the democracy? 
 Some would compel them all to be servants, 
 others would admit them as small business men, 
 but not as professional men ; others still would let 
 them practice medicine if they practiced only 
 among their own people. 
 
 All these questions may seem amusingly trivial 
 to the outsider who cannot understand that they 
 are, after all, profoundly and fundamentally edu- 
 cative. 
 
 Think what a tremendous experimental labor- 
 atory in applied democracy is this South of ours ! 
 A whole people trying to draw an illusive line be- 
 
1 08 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 tween some men who belong and some who do 
 not! In each legislature, in each campaign, the 
 line wavers, is broken down at some point, is 
 newly drawn. Some awful event like a riot comes 
 along and the best white and colored men, who 
 have never come together or knew one another, 
 are irresistibly forced into common eflFort. A 
 white man says : **1 did not know there were any 
 such intelligent Negroes in the country.*' An- 
 other asks: * 'After all, are we not brothers?'* or 
 some prominent Negro arises, an educator, who 
 will not be classified, who breaks through many 
 lines. **What shall be done with such a man?" 
 these campaigners and legislators ask themselves. 
 **He serves the South. He is useful to all of us. 
 How can we legislate such a man out of the de- 
 mocracy? But can we let him in and keep out 
 the dark-skinned man who follows close be- 
 hind?" 
 
 So these southern men are concerning them- 
 selves with real questions ; they are being driven 
 by the tremendous logic of events. They will see 
 sooner or later the utter absurdity and impossi- 
 bility of limiting a democracy. It must either be 
 a democracy or else a caste system or graded 
 aristocracy, which, if it is forced, will petrify our 
 civilization as it has petrified that of India. Once 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 109 
 
 an attempt is made to draw lines and it is discov- 
 ered that the whole attention of the people is cen- 
 tered, as it is today in the South, on drawing and 
 re-drawing the lines — to let a few more in or to 
 keep a few more out, so we shall discover in 
 time and by painful experience that if the Negro 
 does not fit into our present sort of democracy, it 
 is not the Negro who is wrong, but the democ- 
 racy. The final test of any democracy is its 
 humblest citizen. 
 
 Science has taught us that every atom is neces- 
 sary to every other atom in the universe. It is 
 also teaching us that every human being is neces- 
 sary to every other human being; that there can 
 be no real democracy which leaves anyone out. 
 Emerson says: **To science there is no poison; 
 to botany no weed; to chemistry no dirt.** To 
 this we may add: **To democracy no Negro.** 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood. Some people 
 think that democracy means that men must 
 necessarily eat together, or marry one another, or 
 indulge in some other curious ritualistic proof of 
 equality. A dinner table is made the test of the 
 philosophy of government and civilization! 
 Could anything be more trivial! Let me empha- 
 size again that democracy is not a code of social 
 laws; democracy is a spirit. No word has been 
 
1 1 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 more misunderstood in this connection than the 
 word equality. The equaUty of men, the supe- 
 riority or inferiority of men — what do they 
 mean ? I never yet have seen any two men who 
 were equal in any outward particular whatsoever. 
 I have met white men and white women and 
 black men and yellow men; and lawyers and 
 plumbers, and artists and preachers and street 
 cleaners, but I have never yet been assured of 
 any superiority or inferiority. I don't know how 
 that is to be settled. Surely not at a dinner table 
 or by different seats in the same car ! 
 
 There is just one sort of equality that we can 
 finally recognize, and that is the spiritual equality 
 of efficiency. Does a man do his unselfish best 
 at his job? If he does he is the equal of any man 
 on earth ; he belongs here ; he is a necessary per- 
 son, for that is the sort of equality of men which 
 is meant by democracy. I have seen in the South 
 the black man serving the white man, but I have 
 seen in the South a reluctance on the part of the 
 white man to return that service. I have heard 
 the familiar argument, that God in His wisdom 
 made a special people who are white in color to 
 live easily, fare softly, sleep quietly, while an- 
 other people who are dark colored do all the hard 
 work and suffer in ignorance. But democracy on 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 1 1 1 
 
 its way downward is curiously unobservant of 
 special privileges, however bolstered by appeals 
 to divine law; it does not believe that one man 
 or a group of men has a monopoly of God*s gifts 
 or his smiles; for democracy looks humbly for 
 efficiency and when it finds the man who is a 
 good servant it makes him the ruler and hero. 
 No, the place of the Negro in the democracy is 
 the place he can fill most efficiently. 
 
 Thus the spirit of democracy is the spirit of 
 common effort and sympathy between different 
 sorts of people. In its essence it is intensely re- 
 ligious, and it is the only thing that will finally 
 solve the Negro question in the South. I have 
 heard absurd talk of exportation, segregation, ex- 
 termination — quack remedies every one, the 
 mere temporizing with which delays the cure. 
 
 What I say here is not visionary. I do not be- 
 lieve that men can be made over by sudden revo- 
 lutions. The human soul does not change 
 quickly. It must meet sorry experience and go 
 through the travail of thought, I wish I had some 
 exciting or sensational remedy to propose. I 
 might stir people to enthusiasm; but I have no 
 such exciting message. I have only to offer cer- 
 tain platitudinous suggestions: That we cannot 
 look for laws to accomplish what the spirit back 
 
1 12 The Negro, Demcx:racy and The War 
 
 of them does not warrant. The spirit of true de- 
 mocracy is faint in this country. What we need 
 is a revival of the spirit of democracy, both South 
 and North. How can this be attained? Again 
 only by old-fashioned remedies: I mean by edu- 
 cation and the passionate preaching of the relig- 
 ion of service. 
 
 By education I do not mean that sort of train- 
 ing which means soft hands and an ability to 
 spend money ; but the training which means hard 
 hands and the production of some good thing. 
 And not for Negroes only would I recommend 
 that sort of education, but for white boys and 
 girls as well. The trouble with the education of 
 a great many people today is that it trains men 
 away from the common life, not into it. There 
 are scores of institutions of learning in this coun- 
 try where the work does not mean as much in 
 the development of democracy as that at Hamp- 
 ton, Tuskegee and other schools of that type. 
 
 One of the finest tendencies in the North to- 
 day is the effort to introduce agriculture and the 
 mechanical arts in the common schools. Let us 
 have farming and Greek and stock-raising and 
 philosophy taught side by side in all the schools ! 
 All are necessary in a democratic state and no one 
 of them should be held in contempt. 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 1 1 3 
 
 It is noticeable once a man (white or black) 
 learns to do his job well, how he finds himself 
 in a democratic relationship with other men. The 
 wisest leaders in the South, both white and col- 
 ored, are turning aside from the old noisy ways 
 of the agitator and are getting down to the work 
 of education, doing real things in a real world. 
 
 Today multitudes in all the nations of the 
 world are praying for a more liberal democracy; 
 they gaze into the future with eager and expect- 
 ant eyes; they see the growth of liberty coming 
 swiftly like the rising sun. Those nations that 
 have enjoyed democracy in some form or other, 
 as well as those that have been held within the 
 iron clutches of militarism, are rejoicing in hopes 
 for the future, and each one dedicates itself to the 
 common welfare of humanity, and renews its 
 professions of faith in the divine power of the 
 Almighty to rule over the destinies of men. 
 
 Upon the adjournment of the Peace Confer- 
 ence we shall know what each nation has gained 
 or lost as a world power; we shall know what 
 lost territory shall be restored to robbed repub- 
 lics; we shall know the penalty that Germany, 
 Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey must pay 
 for wielding the tyrant's sword; we shall know 
 
1 1 4 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 what each nation promises to contribute toward 
 the future peace of the world. 
 
 From Poland, Armenia and Palestine, and 
 from all the oppressed peoples of the eastern 
 world, in their own tongues, will come pleas for 
 long-delayed justice — individual freedom, relig- 
 ious liberty, education and faithfulness to 
 treaties. 
 
 Then comes the Negro, with untarnished honor 
 as a soldier and unswerving loyalty as a citizen, 
 who has suffered every wrong, every robbery, 
 pleading his right to share in the world-wide dis- 
 pensation of justice. The Negro will point back 
 behind the cloud of centuries of oppression and 
 say, **I will maintain the high ideals of modern 
 civilization.** He will not have to turn back and 
 explain any violation of treaties for he did not 
 violate any treaties. He can, therefore, expect to 
 have the confidence of the free peoples of the 
 earth. He will not have to explain any history of 
 protracted religious persecutions, because he has 
 not been guilty of them. Then no race should be 
 freer than the Negro in an age when all the world 
 is free. 
 
 Throughout all these generations of sorrow 
 the Negro has been fighting for freedom and de- 
 mocracy. Fighting with prayers, fighting with 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 115 
 
 books, fighting with political organizations, he 
 battled up to the breaking out of this great war 
 and all through the war he fought for the prin- 
 ciples and ideals of world democracy. A race 
 that has kept the faith like this will keep it for- 
 ever, and should be enriched with all the new 
 freedom of the Golden Age of Democracy. 
 
 God grant that America will erect on her old 
 freedom a nobler edifice of human liberty, deter- 
 mined to realize all that the future holds for a 
 fearless people. 
 
 "Justice should have no kindred, friends, 
 nor foes, nor hate, nor love; 
 As free from passion as the Gods above. 
 
 A discussion of the rights of a people in a 
 democracy is hardly intelligent without some 
 reference to their obligations as citizens. As we 
 protest against the wrongs we suffer, as we de- 
 mand the rights which we are denied, let us ever 
 be conscious of the fact that the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities that devolve upon us by virtue of 
 our citizenship are equal to those of the most 
 favored people in the land. 
 
 The best service any man can render to his 
 country is to support its constitution and obey 
 its laws. The highest standards of industry, in- 
 telligence and morality can only be attained by 
 
1 1 6 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 each one consecrating himself to the cause of 
 humanity and ^unselfishly devoting himself to 
 some movement with a higher and nobler pur- 
 pose than mere personal advantage. 
 
 The world today is face to face with social dif- 
 ficulties, with pressing problems, haunted by the 
 evils and miseries of dangerous conditions, and 
 the Negro, like other races, must not fail to seek 
 enlightenment as to his own duty in the many 
 difficult situations. What have we to offer as our 
 share of the common good? Surely there is no 
 better contribution a man can make toward the 
 redemption of society than to purify and conse- 
 crate himself. The giving of all one possesses, 
 without giving himself, will not do much for the 
 welfare of society — **the gift without the giver 
 is bare.*' 
 
 Turning away from the useless things in life 
 and from the paths of evil and giving all we have 
 for the common good of society, will tend to 
 purify our ambitions and motives and purge our 
 souls of that selfishness which not only retards 
 our own progress, but deprives society of the 
 things it can justly claim. We must scrutinize 
 and examine ourselves and our motives, and de- 
 termine whether we are bearing our share of the 
 burden. 
 
Democracy as Applied to the Negro 1 1 7 
 
 We cannot avoid becoming involved in the un- 
 rest of the world by running away from diffi- 
 culties. We, who seek to make the world a better 
 place for us to live in, must also seek to make the 
 world better because we live in it. 
 
 **When the last dawns are fallen on gray, 
 And all life's toils and ease complete, 
 They know who work, not they who play, 
 If rest is sweet." 
 
 No exception can be made in the case of any 
 man; if we would enjoy a better day, we must 
 make the best use of the present. We must do 
 all that may be in our power to strengthen every 
 fiber that goes to make up the entire fabric of 
 society. The man who thinks only of himself 
 and lives only for himself, is already self-con- 
 demned. If we have no need to work for a liv- 
 ing, there is still an obligation resting on us to 
 offer our services to the public good in other 
 ways. We have recently seen very striking 
 examples in our own country of men giving their 
 energies to unrecompensed work in social, phil- 
 anthropic, and religious activity. They were in- 
 spired by a sense of duty to God and their fellow- 
 man. 
 
 I do not intend to intimate that the average 
 Negro is lacking in appreciation of his duty to 
 
118 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 his fellow-man. Indeed, a race that has endured 
 the hardships of the American Negro, cannot help 
 but have a sympathetic feeling toward his fellow- 
 man. The Negro has been charitable even to his 
 oppressors, realizing that 
 
 **To err is human and to forgive divine.** 
 But the great truth that I am trying to bring 
 home to the people of my race is that all our 
 lives come into touch with other lives at some 
 point or other. All of us can render some service 
 to our fellows. We must consider that our con- 
 duct is ever affecting some. We must take our 
 life seriously as a high opportunity, and let the 
 thought of service sink into our hearts, redeem- 
 ing our lives from selfishness, and making them 
 the service of God and of our brethren. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Some Remedies For the Race Problem 
 
 What is the most obvious remedy for this great 
 problem commonly known as the * 'Negro Prob- 
 lem**? It is to remove the cause. Many times 
 the idea of deportation of the Negroes has been 
 suggested ; it was suggested by Thomas Jefferson 
 more than a century ago. An instant objection 
 is that it is resisted by nearly every one of the 
 twelve million Negroes, South and North. They 
 no more wish to cross the ocean eastward than 
 their ancestors did to come westward. The Ne- 
 groes are attached to their homes and would no 
 more be willing to take up their abode in other 
 lands than would the American white man. An 
 equally strong objection is that the white people 
 absolutely will not permit the Negro to leave the 
 country. As far back as 1889 attempts were 
 made to draw Negroes to Kansas, but the boats 
 that were carrying them were stopped by armed 
 men and the Negroes were driven back with the 
 
 shotgun. 
 
 119 
 
120 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 Nevertheless, where the Negro is there he 
 stays. In some respects there seems to be a mut- 
 uality between whites and blacks that cannot be 
 destroyed. The real confidence of the whites in 
 the Negro race is shown by their almost universal 
 practice of committing their little children to 
 Negro nurses. 
 
 To deport the Negro would mean the social 
 disruption as well as the economic ruin of the 
 greater part of the South, and the advocacy of 
 that method which one hears occasionally from 
 southern men is simply a piece of acting. Every- 
 body knows that there is no substitute for the 
 Negro in the South, since the South has never 
 been able to attract immigrants. Most immi- 
 grants work with their hands and avoid regions 
 where there is a poor opportunity for their chil- 
 dren, and where handwork classes them with a 
 servile race. The only foreign element that has 
 in recent years sought the South is the Italian, 
 thousands of whom are to be found in the Mis- 
 sissippi bottoms. 
 
 A remedy not publicly advocated, yet prac- 
 ticed in some remote parts of the South, is peon- 
 age. It is not necessary to go to the length of 
 some state laws which assume to legalize con- 
 tracts by which the laborer agrees to work or 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 121 
 
 else to accept a whipping and a bull pen ; servi- 
 tude is realized if they are deliberately kept in 
 such a condition of debt and dependence that 
 they cannot acquire land or move about freely. 
 The testimony of people who have visited rural 
 plantations is that in many places great advan- 
 tage is taken of the ignorance of the Negro ; that 
 he is cheated in his efforts to buy land, that in 
 some places he is a serf, tied to the land. Inas- 
 much as probably a majority of the white people 
 in the South take the position that the Negro was 
 better off in slavery than in freedom, there is in 
 some regions insufficient healthy public senti- 
 ment to protect the rural laborer. 
 
 Another method widely applied in the South 
 is that advocated by the late Senator Tillman in 
 this language: **We shall have to send a few 
 more Negroes to hell.** This brute method is a 
 deliberate attempt to keep the race down by oc- 
 casionally shooting Negroes because they are 
 bad, or loose-tongued, or influential, or acquiring 
 property; and by insisting that the murder of a 
 white man, and sometimes even a saucy speech 
 by a Negro to a white man, is to be followed by 
 swift, relentless and often tormenting death. 
 
 But in every case of passionate conflict be- 
 tween two races the higher one loses most, be- 
 
122 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 cause it has most to lose; aside from other con- 
 siderations, lynch law as a remedy for lawless- 
 ness of the Negroes has the disadvantage of de- 
 moralizing the white race, and eventually of ex- 
 posing white men to the uncontrollable passions 
 of other white men. The usual, though not the 
 real, justification for lynching is that nothing else 
 can protect or avenge white w^omen. Rapes and 
 lynchings aggravate, but do not cause race 
 hostility. 
 
 Another remedy is education. It would be 
 very unjust to leave the impression that all the 
 white people of the South approve of solving the 
 Negro problem by aggravating it. Since the Civil 
 War the South has made some small provision 
 for Negro education, though it somewhat exag- 
 gerates its benefactions by dwelling on the fact 
 that the Negroes pay two percent of the taxes and 
 furnish nearly one-half of the school children. In 
 New York and Chicago there is no protest be- 
 cause the people who furnish nineteen-twentieths 
 rof the school children pay only one twentieth of 
 the taxes. 
 
 The South, however, begins to realize that 
 reducing the present illiteracy in the South 
 among both Negroes and whites is not all the 
 battle. The ability to read, write and cipher will 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 123 
 
 not make model citizens out of the morally de- 
 graded, whether they be white or black, and this 
 is true in the North as well as in the South. There 
 is a constantly growing interest in the South in 
 industrial education for both races. This is partly 
 due to the success of Hampton and Tuskegee and 
 other like institutions, which have proven the ex- 
 pansion of mind resulting from the more intelli- 
 gent forms of handiwork combined with a judic- 
 ious use of books. In these schools a great part 
 of the good is done by the character of the teach- 
 ers, and nobody can see the fine body of young, 
 alert minds trained by the best universities of the 
 country which make up the faculty, say of Tus- 
 kegee, without hopefulness that they will train as 
 well as instruct. Yet from the southern point of 
 view their success will raise the same ultimate 
 difficulty as other forms of education for the Ne- 
 groes. The whites of the South in general do not 
 wish to see leaders and organizers arise among 
 the Negroes; they distrust the Negro preachers, 
 and have a contempt for Negro professors, law- 
 yers and physicians. If industrial education pro- 
 duces good blacksmiths, carpenters and domestic 
 servants the South will be pleased, though, per- 
 haps, the trades unions will have something to 
 say; but the South does not wish to see political 
 
1 24 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 and social leaders springing up among the Ne- 
 groes, lest they attempt such organization as 
 would give them too much power. 
 
 A panacea recommended by some p>eople 
 most genuinely interested in the Negro race is the 
 so-called **race separation.** The phrase does not 
 mean the color line, for that is now so strict that 
 a short while ago a white visitor to a rich Negro 
 planter was told by his host that if they both sat 
 down at the family table the house would prob- 
 ably be burned over the head of the owner. No 
 Negro by character or behaviour can acquire 
 membership in a white club or the right to sit in 
 the presence of a white man, or even a resting 
 place for his dead in the same enclosure with his 
 white neighbor. That, however, is a closed chap- 
 ter; so-called social equality does not exist, can- 
 not be made to exist, and did not exist when there 
 was a squad of Union troops in every town in the 
 South. 
 
 **Race separation,** then, means that whites 
 and blacks shall keep up two distinct social and 
 business organizations. That Negroes shall de- 
 posit in African banks, establish their separate 
 corporation stores, patronize Negro theaters. So 
 far this plausible regime has made little headway. 
 The idea is in practice unworkable. The plan 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 125 
 
 instantly runs aground when the white dealer is 
 called on to deprive himself of all Negro custom. 
 What would become of the retailers of Charles- 
 ton if the Negro laborers were to withdraw the 
 purchases which their weekly wages enable them 
 to make? And in rural regions, where the 
 Negroes most predominate, almost all large plan- 
 tations and country stores are carried on by 
 white people. 
 
 Race separation, is impossible in the sense of 
 building an invisible wire netting between the 
 two races, for they tread the same streets, read 
 the same papers, drink the same water, ride in 
 the same trolley cars and trains, and each is 
 indispensable to the other. 
 
 If the foregoing remedies do not seem thor- 
 oughgoing, what else has been seriously put for- 
 ward by the South? Practically nothing; yet in 
 the deepest grooves of the Southern mind is the 
 conviction that the Negro question is to be solved 
 only by Southerners, and that even a suggestion 
 of interest on the part of Northern people is an 
 impertinence. The same feeling permeated the 
 pro-slavery literature of ante-bellum days. 
 
 Does anyone soberly think it possible for any 
 one section of the United States to settle its dif- 
 ficulties alone? Under the Federal system we 
 
126 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 are **every one members one of another** — the 
 people of South CaroHna through their share in 
 making the Federal Constitution have modified 
 the constitution of Massachusetts; the Congress- 
 ional representatives of Massachusetts in their 
 turn have to settle questions which deeply affect 
 South Carolina. The United States of America 
 has a character to maintain. If the public auth- 
 orities of Colorado arrest and deport people in 
 defiance of right and justice, have not the people 
 of the South a right to protest? Does not injus- 
 tice toward the Negro in the South injure the 
 good name of the whole country and thus con- 
 cern the North? The attempt of the South to 
 muzzle critics of their 'Peculiar Institution" 
 melted down once for all in the furnace of the 
 Civil War. 
 
 Any remedy for the ills that beset the South 
 must recognize that the condition of the Negroes 
 is discouraging; the dark picture must, however, 
 include also about half the poor whites, who, 
 though superior to the Negroes in intellect, over- 
 match them in bloodthirstiness. These are the 
 conditions from which the community must ex- 
 tricate itself, or admit that it cannot civilize its 
 own people. 
 
 It is perfectly true, and the people of the North 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 127 
 
 must candidly acknowledge and appreciate it, 
 that many Southerners are making genuine and 
 self-sacrificing effort to upraise their colored 
 neighbors, by personal interest in their education, 
 by protection of their rights, by example of mod- 
 eration and respect for law, by appreciation (so 
 far as the color line permits) of their best men. 
 These are the white people who ought to solve 
 the problem, if anybody, yet they are the very 
 people who see the only solution in a very slow 
 elevation of the colored race, during which many 
 things may come in to accentuate the race prob- 
 lem. 
 
 On one side the remedy is the slow develop- 
 ment of the Negro race, the practice of those 
 homely virtues of industry, steadiness, thrift and 
 habits of saving which have made the Northern 
 communities what they are. The Southern people 
 are right in demanding that the Negroes them- 
 selves shall discourage and discountenance the 
 criminals of their race, and make it their busi- 
 ness to help to bring to legal, orderly punishment 
 the criminals who arouse the most fearful resent- 
 ment of the whites. 
 
 The Negroes must be taught to respect and 
 honor the best members of their own race, and 
 to bring up their children to follow such models. 
 
128 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 That is the way, and the only way, in which a 
 race can rise. 
 
 But how can the Negroes be expected to re- 
 spect and admire what the whites despise? Can 
 the poor white call the thriftlessness of the Negro 
 hopeless? Is the Negro to set the examples of 
 law-abiding to the white man? Are the South- 
 ern whites to abjure the duty of the highest in 
 the community to make the standard of coolness, 
 patience and observance of law? A South Caro- 
 lina storekeeper who stepped into a Negro 
 school and made a speech of encouragement 
 found himself in danger of. being mobbed and 
 made an abject recantation. But, why not 
 everywhere, if the Negro schools are without suf- 
 ficient competent teachers, put educated white 
 teachers in them, such as are employed in 
 Charleston? Why do not the white people with 
 good will open the door of opportunity to a few 
 places in the public service to Negroes whom they 
 recognize as qualified? 
 
 The reason is simple; the Southern whites 
 have an unfounded and unformulated fear that 
 somehow white supremacy is endangered. 
 
 The true remedy for the South is to do with 
 the Negro exactly w^hat his brethren are doing 
 up North with the Pole, the Slovak and the Hun- 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 129 
 
 garian. Why does he not make the best of a 
 bad job and not the worst ? Why not set before 
 the Negro every possible inducement to rise, by 
 facilitating the purchase of land, by opening new 
 industries, by granting to the best Negroes such 
 scanty rewards as the white man's color line per- 
 mits ? The Southern white community may well 
 ponder the meaning of one of the late Booker 
 T. Washington's noblest utterances: *'I will 
 never allow any man to drag me down by mak- 
 ing me hate him !*' 
 
 None of the remedies which I have suggested 
 are harsh or unjust; I do not advocate the over- 
 throw of anything, nor any fundamental 
 changes ; I contend only for the fulfillment of the 
 guarantees in the Constitution, for the impartial 
 interpretation and application of the law, and 
 for common justice and equal opportunities for 
 the Negro. Besides other considerations, this of 
 course must include more liberal provision for 
 the education of Negro boys and girls than has 
 been made heretofore, both by Federal and State 
 governments. The question of Federal and State 
 aid to Negro education in the South is one that 
 lingers after the book is closed. Taking into 
 consideration sixteen Southern states, the District 
 of Columbia and Missouri, with a population in 
 
/ 
 
 1 30 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 1 9 1 6 of 23,682,352 white and 8,906,879 Negroes 
 and of children between six and fourteen years 
 of age numbering 4,889,762 whites and 2,023,- 
 1 08 Negroes, it appears that the average salary of 
 a teacher in white schools was $10.32 per pupil 
 and in colored schools $2.89, and that the per- 
 centage of illiteracy in whites was 7.7 per cent 
 and among colored 33.3 per cent. 
 
 One of the after-war problems is going to be 
 education, and it will be found of inestimable 
 value that such institutions as Hampton and Tus- 
 kegee have prepared the way for a getting to- 
 gether of whites and blacks to work out their 
 common destiny. The history of Negro educa- 
 tion in the South would contain many sad pages, 
 were it not for such schools. 
 
 The success of thousands of students of the 
 industrial schools for Negroes in the South is a 
 tribute to the wonderful foresight, zeal and 
 genius of General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, 
 who established Hampton Institute fifty years 
 ago. 
 
 At the close of the Civil war, the economic 
 prostration, the political confusion, the race an- 
 tagonism, and the sectional bitterness threw the 
 question of the education of the Negro into a state 
 of uncertainty. Individual attempts were made 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 131 
 
 by philanthropists to aid the Negro by means of 
 schools, and political efforts found expression in 
 the Freedmen's Bureau and similar agencies. But 
 philanthropy was sadly inadequate for such a 
 stupendous task; national endeavors were viti- 
 ated by partisan politics; and the North and 
 South became more estranged during the period 
 of reconstruction than by the Civil War. But 
 during those days of intense feeling agencies were 
 at work in modest and humble ways to bring 
 about better conditions. Among these agencies 
 was Hampton Institute. 
 
 It was not a simple matter by any means, this 
 problem of educating the Negro. On the one hand 
 was the impatient North that thought that all that 
 was necessary was to set up New England school 
 houses, and the work w^ould be done; while on 
 the other hand the prostrate South felt that the 
 Negro was not fitted for education. Between the 
 two lay the unfortunate cause of the estrange- 
 ment. 
 
 The need was for practical-minded men and 
 women, who not only could educate the Negro, 
 but who could do it in a way to make the whites 
 appreciate that education. General Armstrong 
 was peculiarly qualified for that work. The son 
 of an American missionary living in the Hawaiian 
 
n 
 
 1 32 The Negro, Democracy and The War 
 
 Islands and educated with the natives, he aheady 
 had a fine appreciation of the race question when 
 as a young man he returned to this country to 
 finish his education. The example of his father's 
 work among the Hawaiians enabled him to grasp 
 the Negro problem better than our native born, 
 for he had seen the handicap under which a back- 
 ward, or perhaps one should say neglected, race 
 labors, and at the same time he understood the 
 feeling of the more advanced races. To this he 
 added deep religious convictions that enabled him 
 to appeal to the emotional nature of the Negro. 
 So that, taking everything into consideration, it 
 may be doubted if any man was better qualified 
 for his work. 
 
 Character was of primal essence in all of Gen- 
 eral Armstrong's thought. Education as he con- 
 ceived it, was not for the purpose of making 
 scholars or teaching professions, but for making 
 men and women. At that time responsibility 
 with the Negro was an idea that had to be in- 
 stilled into a mind associated with ownership by 
 another, now charged with ownership of itself. 
 As General Armstrong put it, **Ideas take root 
 in a moment, habits only in a generation.** 
 
 But who was willing at that time to wait a 
 generation to see ideas grow into habits? The 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 133 
 
 North thought the teaching of the Negro wouM 
 immediately transform him into a being equal 
 in every way to the white race ; while the South 
 believed the Negro was physically incapable of 
 ever acquiring the attributes of the civilized races. 
 History has proved, however, that both were 
 wrong. 
 
 Some of the attempts made by zealous and 
 self-denying missionary teachers utterly antag- 
 onized local opinion, and did little more than 
 create a condition of impotent unrest among the 
 Negroes; but a few grasped the broader view 
 and possessed the patience to work and wait. Of 
 these, General Armstrong may be placed among 
 the first. His was the practical mind. He realized 
 that however much learning an individual Negro, 
 isolated from race and former environment, might 
 acquire, it woud not convince the Southern whites 
 that the mass of black people could or should be 
 so educated. But he believed that if young men 
 and women could be given a course of social, 
 religious, industrial and intellectual training that 
 would enable them to go back among their people 
 and live that life, there would be a positive and 
 permanent gain. 
 
 This has been the mission of these industrial 
 and normal schools throughout the South. They 
 
1 34 The Negro. Democracy and The War 
 
 have trained and distributed among their people 
 Negroes who, by their example, convinced the 
 better class of whites not only that the Negro can 
 be educated, but that there is nothing else that 
 can be done with him. 
 
 And so education must in the future, as it has 
 in the past, play an important part in the progress 
 of the Negro race; education not only of the 
 blacks, but of the whites as well; educate them 
 away from the silly prejudices and jealousies that 
 are alone responsible for race discrimination, jim- 
 crowism, disfranchisement and lynching. Pro- 
 fessions of faith in the Fatherhood of God, are 
 meaningless unless we accept the doctrine of the 
 brotherhood of man. 
 
 We have suffered infinite agony in silence and 
 sighed vainly through the ages for deliverance 
 from our fetters, while our manhood has been 
 taunted, and we have been branded with the 
 vulgar stigma of inferiority. But the dawn of 
 another day is breaking upon the world and the 
 Negro is at last awakening from the nightmare of 
 the ages. The light of the new day beams from 
 his eyes and the spirit of progress thrills his eager 
 soul. 
 
 The Negro demands the whole of freedom for 
 the whole of his race. Not charity, not sympathy, 
 
Some Remedies For The Race Problem 135 
 
 but justice. More than this we do not ask, less is 
 contrary to the spirit of the free poHtical institu- 
 tions of America. The ballot is but a paltry con- 
 cession to our ambition and determination, and 
 it is the shame and reproach of the South that it 
 has robbed the Negro of his birthright and gloried 
 in his humiliation and in its brutal conquest. 
 
 Speed the day when the American Negro shall 
 be free! Then, too, shall the American white 
 man be free, and they together emancipated from 
 the degrading ignorance and superstition of the 
 past. 
 
 THE END 
 
W92 
 

 
 
 
 
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