be justifiable today...." , as any wife of a veteran, and mother of a soldier, would like to have a balanced media that would think before issuing statements which endanger our country and troops abroad.

Sadly soldiers themselves can lose their rights as they are repressed for fighting in a battle that is viewed as wrong, or the individual is of a certain color. Liberty for the Blackman was no easy journey. As I write this sentence, I can't help but quell the notion that perhaps the bitterness that races held against each other during the First World War was not their fault. In retrospect, it was an environment that promised so much during the time of struggle for a continued freedom and liberty, dashed to pieces against the rocky edges of a business venture that could not see past the end of war. Southern black men were encouraged by promises of jobs in Northern factories. They therefore, ventured beyond the haven of their agrarian roots, only to find a hostile environment and segregation awaiting them in the North. Civil Liberty was impersonal in the North, as the growing competition for houses and jobs added fuel to the fire (Divine 796). Black solders did not get the respect that they had earned in their fight for liberty. Most jobs were still hard to find for the black man after the war. Although the NAACP had managed to pressure employees, labor unions and the government to hire more African Americans the gains were limited. Even after the war, African Americans continued to experience poor job opportunities and segregation. (Devine, 713). Despite their contributions, the American black soldiers were not allowed to march in the victory celebrations in Paris. Blacks from the English and French colonies were depicted on murals drawn by the French, but American blacks were not included in the pictures (Divine 789).

James Madison's belief pictures "... That all power is originally vested in and consequently derived from the people..." seemed to fall on deaf ears at the start of World War I as the need to control the shipping lanes of the world invoked the frightening force of rage without wisdom. Wisdom came to bare on our rights when, in 1868 the 14th Amendment was passed to counter the "black codes" and ensure that no state "shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States . . . [or] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, [or] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws...." While reading on civil rights it has become quite obvious that in time of war the President has plenty of power. Abraham Lincoln used this power to go beyond his normal government decisions by ignoring the civil rights of people he felt were guilty of breaking the laws. When people look back on war following (9-11), like World War I, it will reveal some actions that will be seen as necessary in order to keep the Union from falling apart.

Works Cited

Divine, Robert A., et al. The American Story Volume Two: Since 1865. New York:

Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 2002.

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