Afterthought
WE verily believe that the scriptural passage used as an introduction to these thoughts, is the rock upon which the colored people of America must build the superstructure of their civilization for all their future. It offers the only sure solution for their many difficulties, although it must be accompanied by righteous and indignant protest against injustice.
Some were not anxious for the colored soldier to take a part in the great World War. They felt that it would be a needless sacrifice for something that would bring no tangible results by way of alleviating his present condition; others felt that if he offered his life upon the altar for the principles of a new freedom, the remaining shackles that have so long bound him would be wholly broken.
Neither were correct; for while the shackles have not been wholly removed from his body there have been wonderful results accomplished that have in some measure removed the fetters from his soul.
Approximately 150,000 soldiers, officers and men went to France to represent the colored race in America. Many of them were brigaded with the French, while other thousands had a contact and association with this people which resulted in bringing for the entire number a broader view of life; they caught the vision of a freedom that gave them new hope and a new inspiration.
Some of them received the rudiments of an education through direct instruction; a thing that would not have come to them in all the years of a lifetime at home, while many hundreds had the opportunity of traveling through the flowering fields of a country long famed for its love of the beautiful, and seeing its wonderful monuments, cathedrals, art galleries, palaces, chateaux, etc., that represent the highest attainment in the world of architecture and art. They looked upon the relics left by a people long gone, and saw the picturesqueness of a great and wonderful country, as they took their way from the port cities to the front line trenches, or to the towering Alps, or through the farms and villages of a quaint and thrifty people. And while they traveled they learned that there is a fair-skinned people in the world who believe in the equality of races, and who practice what they believe.
In addition to this they had an opportunity of making a record for themselves that will be in no wise hidden from the generations of the future; a proud record of which the Frenchman took note, and for which he will be given due credit in the true history of the Great World War.
They also had an opportunity to give the truth a hearing before the Court of Justice of the civilized world; the truth with regard to their conduct, their mental capacity, their God-given talents, and their ability for the leadership of men and the accomplishment of results that were a credit tothemselves and to the nation which they represented.
All of these things were quite enough to offset whatever came to them of hardship and sacrifice, of war and suffering, of mean prejudice and subtle propaganda, of misrepresentation and glaring injustice.
They have a right to have a wonderful hope for the future. Nothing but the Hand of Providence could have guided them into a great world maelstrom and brought them out with such wonderful and satisfying results. Their future endeavor should be to a greater extent than ever before along the line of demonstrating to the world their ability to follow that Providence more closely and with a greater faith; to become to the world a living example that the principles of Christianity can be applied with greater and increasing success to everyday life; and to blaze a pathway for themselves whose brightness and beauty will make a plea so eloquent that the ancient doctrine of the Brotherhood of Man will finally become the chief cornerstone of our Democracy.