The Black Man’s Burden: The African-American Dilemma Over Joining the Spanish-American War A Paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of United States History Nelson Reed Department of History St. Albans School Washington, D.C. April 20, 2012 1 Amid the gloriously publicized wave of humanitarianism that swept the United States to free Cuba from Spain, the Spanish-American War of 1898 challenged African-Americans to define their place in a nation that was anything but humane. Only two years after the Supreme Court codified racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, the sinking of the USS Maine in February 1898 posed a unique dilemma for the African-American community: Should they risk their lives fighting for freedom in the uniforms of an America in which they were neither treated as equals nor truly free? While white Americans raced to prepare for war, many African- Americans joined in the enthusiastic “Remember the Maine” fervor, inspired by the plight of their dark-skinned Cuban counterparts and hoping to “liberate Cuba from the iniquitous and cruel yoke of Spain.”1 In African-American newspapers, the voice of black opinion during the era, supporters of the fight embraced this humanitarian goal along with the more pragmatic purpose of raising the black man’s status in America through honorable service in combat. African-American opponents of the war agreed that blacks would fight valiantly but wondered why, in the wake of recurring outbursts of racial violence in the United States and the military’s refusal to let black officers lead colored regiments, they should help spread white supremacy to Cuba. Although their wartime heroics would end up doing little to diminish racial prejudice in America, thousands of blacks chose to fight the Spaniards in the summer of 1898. An extensive review of African-American newspaper coverage makes clear that the patriotic crusade of African-Americans to improve the conditions of all colored people in the United States and Cuba by taking part in the war ultimately trumped the skepticism of those who rejected involvement in favor of fighting racial discrimination at home. 1 Theophilus G. Steward, The Colored Regulars in the United States Army (New York: Arno Press, 1969), pp. 91- 92. 2 The nation as a whole had watched the emerging revolution in Cuba from a distance, but the explosion of the USS Maine spurred a rush to war with Spain. In the late 1890s, as Cuban revolutionaries led an insurgence against Spanish forces on the island, the United States looked on with sympathy for the rebels. In his first annual address to Congress on December 6, 1897, President William McKinley wrote that if nothing improved the situation in Cuba, America would need to fulfill its “indisputable right and duty… to civilization and humanity to intervene with force.”2 On February 15, 1898, this lofty diplomatic rhetoric blew up along with the USS Maine, an American battleship sent to Havana in January with a crew of about 350 men. Though the cause of the explosions that sank the ship was never determined, sensationalistic newspapers led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer relentlessly printed headlines condemning Spain for the death of 260 officers, sailors, and Marines on board. Hearst’s Journal featured the immortal headline that would inspire and forever characterize the ensuing conflict: “REMEMBER THE MAINE! TO HELL WITH SPAIN!”3 At McKinley’s urging, Congress declared war on Spain by a combined vote of 353 to 41 on April 25.4 The nation was on course for combat, and African-Americans were left with the decision of whether or not to take part. In the twenty years since the end of Reconstruction, whites in the North and South stripped African-Americans of the political and social rights they had gained. In the Bargain of 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to leave the white South alone, setting back the cause of African-American freedom for decades. “Redeemers,” white Southerners hoping to undo any progress from Reconstruction, used their political capital to institute poll taxes, literacy tests, and 2 William McKinley: "First Annual Message," December 6, 1897, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29538 (accessed February 29, 2012). 3 Ivan Musicant, Empire By Default (New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1998), p. 144. 4 Library of Congress, Chronology of Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American War, http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/chronpr.html (accessed April 5, 2012). 3 “grandfather clauses,” in an attempt to wipe out the black vote.5 Whites went to great lengths to deny African-Americans suffrage. In an issue of the Richmond Planet, two articles ran side by side, one about war with Spain and the other an incident in Jackson Ward, Virginia, where white Democrats placed fake names on ballots to deceive black voters.6 The desire to disenfranchise African-Americans even corrupted the actions of Northern politicians. An 1890 bill aimed to protect black suffrage in the South failed in Congress because Northern Republicans wished to appease their Southern counterparts.7 In 1896, the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson denied equal opportunity for African-Americans by legalizing segregation throughout the country. These demeaning and detrimental changes made the African-American community more determined than ever to educate each other and overcome subservience and servitude. African-American newspapers provided an important public platform for reactions, opinions, and rigorous debate on the Cuban situation. These newspapers had surged in popularity after the Civil War. Inspired to escape further from the chains of slavery and the restrictions enforced after the failure of Reconstruction, many blacks saw education as the key to improving their status. In 1865, the New Orleans Black Republican expressed such a sentiment: “Freedom and school books and newspapers, go hand in hand. Let us secure the freedom we have received by the intelligence that can maintain it.”8 The ability to read, which the heroic runaway slave Frederick Douglass had called “the pathway from slavery to freedom,” became a prime goal for all African-Americans who desired a “pathway” from their diminished social and 5 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: an American History, 2nd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2009), p. 612. 6 Richmond Planet, May 28, 1898. 7 Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., Black Americans and the White Man’s Burden, 1898-1903 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1975), p. 3. 8 James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, September 9, 1988), p. 18. 4 political condition to one of equal opportunity.9 Indeed, the desire was so great that despite the poor condition of black education, illiteracy rates among blacks dropped from around 70 percent in 1880 to 45 percent in 1900, the largest drop in any 20-year period before or since.10 The spike in literacy prompted an increase in the proliferation and circulation of African-American newspapers. By the 1890s, dozens of African-American newspapers printed weekly issues filled with articles, editorials, ads, and short stories. This new forum for active black voices to discuss current events amplified the debate over the Spanish-American War. Proponents of African-American involvement in Cuba made two main arguments for taking part. First, some supporters praised the value of the war itself, pointing to the favorable consequences of Cuban independence. One African-American newspaper lauded the island for its autonomous natives and lucrative resources. In May 1898, the Langston City Herald ran an article entitled, “CUBA TO GOVERN HERSELF,” which examined whether or not Cuba was “equal to the obligations which self-government entails.”11 The article began by commending Cuba’s ongoing struggle “to maintain inviolate the sacred principles of freedom,” a fight made all the more admirable by the fact that her population was “more largely homogenous,” or colored, than Spain’s other colonies. As for the economic situation in Cuba, the Herald wrote that “another spot of earth equally productive is yet to be discovered within the four quarters of the globe.” The article described the vast array of goods made on the island, going so far as to cite production statistics from 1893, with suspiciously precise numbers such as 815,894 tons of sugar and 227,865 bales of tobacco. This data, the article argued, suggested that Cubans would have “little difficulty in taking care of themselves.” In conclusion, the Herald claimed that there 9 Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003), p. 64. 10 Thomas Snyder, 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait, January 19, 1993, http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp (accessed February 20, 2012). 11 Langston City Herald, May 7, 1898. 5 was “no argument against her capabilities for self-government,” advocating that her independence arrive with a defeat of Spain.12 Declaring its sympathy for colored people in Cuba and its faith in the economic potential of a liberated Cuba, the newspaper promoted active contribution to the war effort. That sympathy reinforced proponents’ second and more prevalent argument for mobilization as a way to advance the standing of blacks in the United States, an objective inspired by the valiant behavior of the units of colored regulars serving at the time. Through their pacification of the West, the four active regiments of African-Americans had earned an honorable reputation within black communities and beyond. The Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantries, formed in 1869, spent ten years in Texas, until the Twenty-fifth moved to the Northwest to help the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries fight against Indian tribes, which lasted until the beginning of the Spanish-American War.13 White officers frequently selected black troops to guard Indians, who respected and feared African-Americans with a veneration that explained the nickname, “Buffalo Soldier,” which referred to the animal plains Indians considered sacred.