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Wilson's Treatment Of African Americans During Ww1

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President Woodrow Wilson did not uphold the ideals of the fourteen points in his treatment of American citizens in World War One. African Americans serving in the military were segregated. He made 2 acts that restricted freedom of speech, in which people were arrested for “breaking” these acts. Women had to fight against Wilson to convince him they deserved the right to vote. African Americans in the United States army were only assigned manual labor, and mistreated. Compared to the French army, they allowed them to be on frontlines and treated with equality and respect. They were even awarded the French Croix de Guerre. At this time, White Americans considered African Americans to be unfit to fight on the frontlines. In early July, 1917, a …show more content…

Louis and all of the lynching in the country, and they even had a meeting with President Wilson, but he cancelled the meeting last minute (Unit 6.3 - African Americans in WWI, Slide 5-7). Despite the riot that occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, Wilson felt as if it wasn’t worth having a meeting because of him canceling it last minute. He wasn’t willing to, at the very least, listen to the problems of his own people. Wilson restricted his people's freedom of speech by using the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition act of 1918. The Espionage Act of 1917 - “Passed by Congress on June 15th, 1917, this act made it a crime to interfere or attempt to undermine the U.S. military during a war, or in any way assist the enemy during war time. If caught, one could face punishments ranging from fines of $10,000 dollars, 20 years in prison, or even the death penalty.” This act would go against the first Amendment of the constitution (Unit 6.2 - Restricted Freedom, Slide 1). This is one of the two acts that restrict freedom of speech. Robert Goldstein made a film called, “The Spirit of ‘76” which was based on the American …show more content…

Last he was seen was when he traveled to Europe and likely died during the Holocaust (Unit 6.2 - Restricted Freedom, Slide 5). The United States made these two to mainly stop propaganda that sided with Germany, however this caused German Americans to be accused of being a German spy with each crime they’re accused of. Wilson denied women suffrage and thus went against his point of equal democracy.A group of women, called the “Silent Sentinels” would stand outside of the White House with signs that pointed out Wilson's hypocrisy of promoting democracy in Europe while denying it to women in his own country. When WWI started, over 500 women were arrested and 168 of them actually served prison time (Unit 6.4 - The Women’s Rights Movement, Slide 5). They were peaceful and simply protesting, but they still got arrested. Even after Wilson changed his mind and urged that the Senate make women suffrage into an amendment (the 19th), African American women still couldn’t vote because of the Jim Crow Laws that still existed at that time period (Unit 6.4 - The Women’s Right Movement, Slide 7). During WWI, more job opportunities were open for African Americans other than farming in the

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