The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1918-05-11

daZed and confused by the liberty
into which it was thrust and which
it knew not how to use, Supplied by
the anodyne of bondage still lingering
in it's blood, it now is beginning to stir
from it's lethargy and emerge from
its bewilderment.
At last the dawn is beginning to
break, and he who has been asleep, or
cropping binding in the night is COM
ing forth into the morning. The light
of a new day is upon his face and
that cheer, which made possible the
of slavery, and softened the sting of
the overseer's lash is still in his heart.
We are living in an age and an
epoch which is characterized by
growing and insistent demand for
justice and democracy. The United
States is sending men, money and
munitions to the battlefields OF
Europe as it's demand for justice, free
dom and equality of opportunity for all
peoples, and it would be we'll for the
Americans at this time to remember
that here in our own country for the
past fifty years since the abolition of
slavery is a race of loyal, patriotic peo-
pie who are not enjoying at the hands
of this government here at home the
principles of that democracy for which
we are fighting to make the world
safe, and in which fight God helping
us, we will be victorious.
The Negro is loyal in time of peace
and patriotic in the time of war. He
vies with every other American citizen
IN -,
honor to the American flag and offers
his life and resources to the govern
ment for the maintenance of our re-
public as a world power in bringing
about world democracy for all man.
kind.
Did it ever occur to you that what
you and l commonly know as the
Negro race is not a Negro race. Web
ster's Standard dictionary defines
Negro as Zone of the black races in
Africa. The colored people in
America are not a black race. They
are a multi-colored race, peculiar in
that they vary in color and in other
important particulars.
All other peoples have some or sew
eral peculiar racial marks that are
characteristic of that certain people,
most races can be told by their sur.
name, as for instance Murphy,
O'Toole, Flanagan, plainly denote the
Irish; and LaBatty, St. Julian and De
Baptist, the French; Olson, Johnson
and Anderson, the Swede; Goldbloom
Simon and Cohen, the Jew; with
Wagner, Betz and Herman the Ger
man. But there is no name that is
peculiar to the American colored man
All other races have some peculiar
facial feature, hair or distinctive color
that marks them Enthusiastically, but
the American colored man has the
facial features of every race under the
sun. He has hair from the texture OF
the cOarsest wool to sOftness Of silk
and in all colors from black to golden
! He varies in complexion from the dark
ness of an Egyptian night to as fair as
the lily, and because Of these varia
lions you pass many of them on the
streets day after day with never even
!. a suspicion that they belong to that
race of people commonly called
Negroes in this country. And this
/, condition, having been created by the
American white man, it therefore ap
pears to me that this race variety was
MADE IN AMERICA, and that we are
a. race without nationality save that
which we have acquired under hard
conditions upon the soil of this coun.
try. We owe neither allegiance MOI
sympathy to any foreign prince, poten.
tate or power. We hate tyranny be.
cause we have been the victims OF
tyranny. We have no prejudices &C.
Quired abroad, no affiliations with an
older civilization, no prepossessions OF
language, religion or philosophy or kul.
tur to mitigate our Americanism
therefore, we are Simon-pure one hun.
dred per cent American. -
We now have nearly a hundred thou.
sand such Negroes in the camps and
, across the seas somewhere in
France" and at this hour $4,000, more
are on their way from their homes
in the South to the various training
camps. And although compelled te