History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With MexicoSweeney, William Allison
History
History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico
Sweeney, William Allison
African American soldiers; African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
Many concessions will be required before complete justice prevails and
the Negro comes into his own; before the soil can be prepared for the
complete flowering of his spirit.
Primarily, before attaining to the full growth and usefulness of the
citizen under the rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution, the
Negro, especially in the South, will require better educational
facilities. If he is to become a better citizen, he must have the
education and training necessary to know the full duties of citizenship.
He pays his share of the school taxes and it is manifestly unjust to
deny him the accruing benefits.
He is ambitious too, and should be encouraged to own land, and to that
end should have the assistance without prejudice or discrimination, of
national and state farm loan bureaus.
Unjust suffrage restrictions must and shall be removed, giving to the
Negro the full rights of other citizens in this respect. With better
educational facilities and the ownership of real estate, he will vote
more intelligently, and there will be no danger that his vote will be
against the interests of the country at large or the section in which he
resides.
The withering taint of "Jim Crow"-ism, must be obliterated; wiped
out--will be. Railroads will be compelled to extend the same
accommodations to white and colored passengers. The traveller; whatever
his color, who pays the price for a ticket, must and shall in this land
of Equality and Justice, be accorded the same accommodations.
Peonage, so-called, will end. It cannot endure under an awakened,
enlightened public opinion. Negroes, all other things equal, will be
admitted to labor unions, or labor unions will lose the potentiality and
force they should wield in labor and industrial affairs.
The Negro's contribution to the recent war and to previous conflicts,
has earned him beyond question or challenge, a right to just
consideration in the military and naval establishment of the nation.
America, grudging as she has been in the past to enlarge his rights, or
even to guarantee those which she has granted, has grown too great
indeed. Her discipline has been too real to deny him this fair
consideration. There will be more Negro units in the Regular Army and
National Guard organizations; untrammelled facilities for training, in
government, state and college institutions.
Selective draft figures having revealed the Negro as a better; if not
the best, physical risk, will make it easier for him to secure life
insurance, which; after all is a plain business proposition. Insurance
companies are after business and are not concerned with racial
distinctions where the risk is good. The draft has furnished figures
regarding the Negro's health and longevity which hitherto were not
available to insurance actuaries. Now that they have them, no reason
exists for denying insurance facilities to the race.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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