History of the American Negro in the Great World War Part 35

We have been asking the impossible of the colored man and the colored woman. We have demanded that they be honest, self-respecting citizens, and at the same time we have forced them into surroundings which almost make this result impossible. In many places they are deprived of a fair opportunity to obtain education or amus.e.m.e.nt in a decent environment. Only the most menial positions are offered them. An educated girl particularly has practically no opportunity to earn a livelihood in the manner for which her education fits her.

We whites of America must begin to realize that Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton was right when he said it was impossible to hold a man in the gutter without staying there with him, because "if you get up, he will get up." We do not want to remain in the gutter. We, therefore, must help the Negro to rise.

If we are to obtain the best results from colored labor, unions should admit it to their members.h.i.+p. It is not the universal practice to admit colored persons to unions. The result, of course, is that even if a colored man has the opportunity to learn a trade, knowing he will not be permitted to enjoy the benefits of a union, he does not have the highest incentive for learning it. The north is especially neglectful in not providing openings for the colored men in trades. In the south it is not unusual to see a colored brick-mason working alongside a white brick-mason. But in the north the best a colored man can hope for on a building job now is a position as a hod-carrier or mortar-mixer.

When the alien arrives in this country, he is given opportunity for virtually every kind of employment. But the colored man who is born in the United States, and, therefore, should share in its opportunities, is not given as fair a chance as the alien worker.

Naturally, we cannot hope that these conditions will be remedied in a day or a month nor can the colored man expect that the millennium will come to him through the action of white people alone. He can improve his chances of securing greater rights and opportunities in the United States, if he will make the most of the limited opportunities now afforded him. He who does the best he can with the tools he has at hand is bound in time to demand by his good work better tools for the performance of more important and profitable duties. The conviction is general that "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much."

The late Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, who was a good friend of the black man as well as the white, struck the right note in his introduction to the biography of Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton when he said: "If there is any lesson more essential than any other for this country to learn, it is the lesson that the enjoyment of rights should be made conditional upon the performance of duty."

There exist certain rights which every colored man and woman may enjoy regardless of laws and prejudice. For instance, nothing can prevent a colored person from practicing industry, honesty, saving and decency, if he or she desires to practice them.

The helpfulness of the colored race to the Government need not be confined to fighting in the army nor to service in the manifold domestic callings. It is the duty of the colored citizens, as it is their right, to have a part in the substantial development of the nation and to a.s.sist in financing its operations for war or peace. The colored people, as a rule, are industrious and thrifty and have come to appreciate their importance as a factor in the economic and financial world, as indicated by their prosperous business enterprises, their large holdings in real estate, their management of banks, and their scrupulous handling of the millions of deposits entrusted to their care. This capital, saved through sacrifice, has been placed in a most generous manner at the disposal of the Government throughout its period of need, and the list of corporations, fraternities and individuals who have aided in bringing success to American arms by the purchase of Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps and by contributions to other war relief agencies, is indeed a long one.

Opportunities of the colored people to make safe investment of their savings never were so great as they are today. The financial program the Government has entered upon and is continuing to carry out to meet the expense of the war gives a chance to save in sums as small as twenty-five cents and makes an investment upon which return of both princ.i.p.al and interest is absolutely guaranteed. Too often colored people have entrusted their savings to wholly irresponsible persons, lost them through the dishonesty of these persons, and in discouragement abandoned all attempts at saving. Today, however, there is no excuse for any man not saving a certain amount of his earnings no matter how small it may be. It is a poor person, indeed, who cannot invest twenty-five cents at stated intervals in a Thrift Stamp. Many are able also to buy small Liberty Bonds. It is a duty and a privilege for colored persons to help the Government finance the war, which was for both whites and blacks.

It is the particular duty of white persons, in cooperation with the most influential members of their own race, to explain these Government financial plans to the colored men and women that they may make safe investments, acquire a competence, and thus become better citizens.

It is my belief that the Negro soldier returning from France will be a better citizen than when he left. He will be benefited mentally and physically by his military training and experience. He will have a broader vision. He will appreciate American citizens.h.i.+p. He will know, I believe, that freedom, for which he risked his life and all, is not license. He will find his brothers at home who did not go overseas better for their war sacrifices. Both the soldier and the civilian have proved their devoted loyalty. Justice demands that they now be rewarded with an equal chance with the white man to climb as high in the industrial and professional world as their individual capacity warrants.

HOMECOMING HEROES OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY). FAMOUS NEGRO FIGHTERS MARCHING IN MICHIGAN BOULEVARD, CHICAGO.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

THE OTHER FELLOW'S BURDEN.

An Emanc.i.p.ation Day Appeal for Justice.

By W. Allison Sweeney.

Publisher's Note: At our request, Mr. Sweeney consented to the reproduction of this poem, which with the accompanying letter from the late Dr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, and the comment by the Chicago Daily News, appeared in that newspaper just prior to New Years Day, 1914. We regard it as a powerful argument, affecting the Negro's past condition and his interests.

"President Lincoln signed the emanc.i.p.ation proclamation Sept. 22, 1862. It went into effect at the beginning of January, 1863. New Year's day has thus become 'Emanc.i.p.ation day' to the colored people of the United States and to all members of the white race who realize the great significance of Lincoln's act of striking off the shackles of an enslaved race. Services on that day combine honor to Lincoln with appeals to the people of Lincoln's nation to grant justice to the Negro. A remarkable appeal of this sort is embodied in the poem here presented.

"W. Allison Sweeney, author of "The Other Fellow's Burden" is well known among his people as writer, editor and lecturer. His poem, which sketches with powerful strokes the lamentable history of the colored race in America and tells of their worthy achievements in the face of discouragements, deserves a thoughtful reading by all persons. Of this poem and its author Dr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton writes as follows:

"TUSKEGEE INSt.i.tUTE, ALA., Dec. 24, 1913.-To the Editor of the Chicago Daily News: I have read with sincere interest and appreciation W. Allison Sweeney's poem, 'The Other Fellow's Burden.' All through Mr. Sweeney's poem there is an invitation put in rather a delicate and persuasive way, but nevertheless it is there, for the white man to put himself in the negro's place and then to lay his hand upon his heart and ask how he would like for the other fellow to treat him. If every man who reads this poem will try sincerely to answer this question I believe that Mr. Sweeney's poem will go a long way toward bringing about better and more helpful conditions.

"Mr. Sweeney is, of course, a member of the Negro race and writes from what might be called the inside. He knows of Negro aspirations, of Negro strivings and of Negro accomplishments. He has had an experience of many years as writer and lecturer for and to Negroes and he knows probably as well as anyone wherein the Negro feels that 'the shoe is made to pinch.' The poem, it seems to me, possesses intrinsic merit and I feel quite sure that Mr. Sweeney's appeal to the great American people, for fair play will not fall upon deaf ears. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton."

The "white man's burden" has been told the world, But what of the other fellow's- The "lion's whelp"?

Lest you forget, May he not lisp his?

Not in arrogance, Not in resentment, But that truth May stand foursquare?

This then, Is the Other Fellow's Burden.

Brought into existence Through the enforced connivance Of a helpless motherhood Misused through generations- America's darkest sin!- There courses through his veins In calm insistence-incriminating irony Of the secrecy of blighting l.u.s.t!

The best and the vilest blood Of the South's variegated strain; Her statesmen and her loafers, Her chivalry and her ruffians.

Thus bred, His impulses twisted At the starting point By brutality and sensuous savagery, Should he be crucified?

Is it a cause for wonder If beneath his skin of many hues- Black, brown, yellow, white- Flows the sullen flood Of resentment for prenatal wrong And forced humility?

Should it be a wonder That the muddy life current Eddying through his arteries, Crossed with the good and the bad, Poisoned with conflicting emotions, Proclaims at times, Through no fault of his, That for a surety the sins of fathers Become the heritage of sons Even to the fourth generation?

Or that murdered chast.i.ty, That ravished motherhood- So pitiful, so helpless, Before the white hot, l.u.s.t-fever of the "master"- Has borne its sure fruit?

You mutter, "There should be no wonder."

Well, somehow, Sir Caucasian, Perhaps southern gentleman, I, marked a "whelp," am moved To prize that muttered admission.

But listen, please: The wonder is-the greater one- That from Lexington to San Juan hill Disloyalty never smirched His garments, nor civic wrangle Nor revolutionary ebullition Marked him its follower.

A "striker"? Yes!

But he struck the insurgent And raised the flag.

An ingrate?

Treacherous?

A violator?

When-oh, spectacle that moved the world!

For five b.l.o.o.d.y years Of fratricidal strife- Red days when brothers warred- He fed the babe, s.h.i.+elded the mother.

Guarded the doorsill Of a million southern homes?

Penniless when freedom came? Most true; But his acc.u.mulations of fifty years Could finance a group of princ.i.p.alities.

Homeless? Yes; but the cabin and the hut Of Lincoln's day-uncover at that name!- Are memories; the mansion of today, Dowered with culture and refinement, Sweetened by clean lives, Is a fact.

Unlettered? Yes; But the alumni of his schools, Triumphant over the handicap Of "previous condition,"

Are to be found the world over In every a.s.semblage inspired By the democracy of letters.

In the casting up what appears?

The progeny of l.u.s.t and helplessness, He inherited a mottled soul- "d.a.m.ned spots" that biased the looker on.

Clothed a freeman, Turned loose in the land Creditless, without experience, He often stumbled, the way being strange, Sometimes fell.

Mocked, sneered at from every angle, spurned, hindered in every section, North, south, east, west, Refused the most primitive rights, His slightest mistakes Made mountains of, Hunted, burned, hanged, The death rattle in his throat Drowned by shouts and laughter And-think of it!- The glee of little children.

Still he pressed on, wrought, Sowed, reaped, builded.

His smile ever ready, His perplexed soul lighted With the radiance Of an unquenchable optimism, G.o.d's presence visualized, He has risen, step by step.

To the majesty of the home builder, Useful citizen, Student, teacher, Unwavering patriot.

This of the Other Fellow.

What of you, his judges and his patrons?

If it has been your wont In your treatment of him Not to reflect, Or to stand by in idle unconcern While, panting on his belly, Ambushed by booted ruffianism, He lapped in sublime resignation The bitter waters Of unreasoning intolerance, Has not the hour of his deliverance, Of your escape from your "other selves"

Struck?

If you have erred, Will you refuse to know it?

Has not the time arrived To discriminate between Those who lower Those who raise him?

You are shamed by your abortions, Your moral half growths Who flee G.o.d's eye And stain his green earth, But you are not judged by yours; Should he be judged by his?

In his special case-if so, why?

Is manhood a myth, Womanhood a toy, Integrity unbelievable, Honor a chimera?

Should not his boys and girls, Mastering the curriculum of the schools, p.r.i.c.ked on to attainment by the lure Of honorable achievement, Be given bread and not a stone When seeking employment In the labor mart, At the factory gate Or the office door?

Broadened by the spirit of the golden rule, Will you not grant these children of Hagar An even break?

Is the day not here, O judges, When the Other Fellow May be measured in fairness, Just fairness?

It is written men may rise "On their dead selves to higher things;"

But can it be that this clear note of cheer To sodden men and smitten races Was meant for all save him?

Chants an immortal: "He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear G.o.d who loveth us, He made and loveth all."

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

AN INTERPOLATION.

HELD BY DISTINGUISHED THINKERS AND WRITERS, THAT THE NEGRO SOLDIER SHOULD BE GIVEN A CHANCE FOR PROMOTION AS WELL AS A CHANCE TO DIE-WHY WHITE OFFICERS OVER NEGRO SOLDIERS?