erre in conjunction with Henry Johnson. The cheering of the
audience stopped proceedings for a long time when Mr. Roosevelt arrived
and shook hands with Roberts.

"Many nice things were said at the meeting," commented the New York
Age, "but the nicest of all was the statement that after the war
the Negro over here will get more than a sip from the cup of
democracy."

One of the splendid activities of the Circle was in the providing of an
emergency relief fund for men who were discharged or sent back, as in
the case of Needham Roberts, on account of sickness or injuries. Many a
soldier who was destitute on account of his back pay having been held up
was temporarily relieved, provided with work or sent to his home through
the agency of the Circle.

While the war was in progress the Circle attended to a variety of legal
questions for the soldiers, distributed literature, candy and smokes to
the men going to the war and those at the front; visited and ministered
to those in hospitals, looked after their correspondence and did the
myriad helpful things which other agencies were doing for white
soldiers, including relief in the way of garments, food, medicine and
money for the families and dependents of soldiers.

The organization had over three score units in different parts of the
country. They engaged in the same activities which white women were
following in aid to their race. Here is a sample clipped from one of the
bulletins of the Circle:

"On the semi-tropical island of St. Helena, S.C., the native
islanders have, in times past, been content to busy themselves in
their beautiful cotton fields or in their own little
palmetto-shaded houses, but the war has brought to them as to the
rest of the world broader vision, and now, despite their very
limited resources, 71 of them have formed Unit No. 29 of the
Circle. They not only do war work, but they give whatever service
is needed in the community. The members knit for the soldiers and
write letters to St. Helena boys for their relatives. During the
influenza epidemic the unit formed itself into a health committee
in cooperation with the Red Cross and did most effective work in
preventing the spread of the disease."

Similar and enlarged activities were characteristic of the units all
over the nation. They made manifest to the world the Negro's generosity
and his willingness in so far as