xican imbroglio. By 1914, however, he
had lost all rewards of honor which he had previously won. As for
Equality, since the Civil War, he had been guaranteed this goal by
three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These
forgotten amendments read in part:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction....

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and
of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws....

"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
persons in each State....

"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account
of race, color or previous condition of servitude."

America of 1914 was prone to look upon this part of the Constitution as
a mere scrap of paper. From what point of vantage might the Negro hope
for Honor, Recognition and Equality at the hands of the allied
governments?

Land of the free and home of the brave, America is assumed to be so
openhearted, munificent and princely, so liberal and so generous that
could she but behold a man, of whatever hue, trampled in the mire, or
hear his piteous cry, she would hasten to his aid and deliver him. So
much does she admire genuine human worth that a man of heart and spirit
and fortitude cannot perish while she is nigh at hand. Such, at least,
is the assumption.

From the debasement of industrial serfdom, the black workman wished the
American people of 1914 to stop the trend of their strenuous existence
and behold him ... and test him ... and proclaim him. He not only wished
to be given a free field and a fair chance to work at the same job, for
the same wage, during the same hours, and under the same conditions as
the white workman, but he was ready to contend for