Page:W. E. B. Du Bois - The Gift of Black Folk.pdf/146

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
134
The Gift of Black Folk


against them. The young Negro officers especially made a splendid record as to thinking, guiding leaders of an oppressed group.

Thus has the black man defended America from the beginning to the World War. To him our independence from Europe and slavery is in no small degree due.