And to the Republic: Patriotism, Dissent and the Fighting Black Press 1890-1920
And to the Republic: Free Speech, Dissent and the Fighting Black Press, 1890 – 1920 explores the conflict between patriotism and racial injustice among leading black newspaper editors during the rise of American global power. Considered one of the preeminent black institutions, the black press during this period consisted of about 150 newspapers that spanned the nation. During this time, black journalists not only documented the nation’s deplorable racial conditions but also outlined the steps necessary to achieve democratic ideals.
One of the most debated questions among the black intellectual and political leadership at the time was whether or not blacks should serve in the segregated US military. By exploring the thinking and division among these newspaper editors, And to the Republic details the dangers of both dissent and acquiescence during a period when speaking out against racism was deemed radical, subversive or worse, traitorous.
Federal agents and white citizen’s groups threatened many of these newspaper editors. Some were chased out of town, their offices burned to the ground. Under the draconian sedition laws enacted by the Wilson Administration, one editor was even imprisoned.
Harassment was not limited to those opposed to black participation in the war. Black war supporters were also ostracized within the black community for being traitors to their race.
W.E. B. DuBois, one of the nation’s most preeminent black intellectuals, was one of them. His infamous “Closed Ranks” editorial, published in Crisis in July 1918, urged blacks to “forget their special grievances” and fight for “democracy” during World War 1. DuBois, nearly 50 years old at the time, claimed he never felt more “American” than he did during war time. at any other time. It didn’t take long for him to believe he had made a huge mistake.
And to the Republic focuses on the simmering debates that led to a White House meeting in July 1918 with DuBois and more than 50 black newspaper editors and black political leaders to discuss patriotism and the role of blacks in the “War for Democracy.” Though some criticized the meeting with high-level White House officials as an attempt to muzzle the black press, it did result in several small wins: a subsequent anti-lynching speech by Woodrow Wilson, the appointment of a black war correspondent to cover the black troops on European battlefields and the hiring of scores of black nurses, to name a few. It also produced a momentary silence among the black press. The silence ended, though, when journalists learned that DuBois had accepted a captaincy in the U.S. War Department’s Military Intelligence Bureau in apparent exchange for his influential writing, “Closed Ranks.”
By telling the stories of this forgotten group, And to the Republic shows the heavy costs paid by black editors in their attempt to gain equal rights around the world. Theirs is a story of personal sacrifice and political awakening that carries important lessons about the role of the press in today’s divided contemporary society. Ultimately the black press detailed the American tragedy of men and women caught between the fight for a more perfect union and the eternal frustration of second-class citizenship.
Journalist & Author Howard Manly 