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Dear First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 

My name is Needham Roberts and I served in World War I as a part of the Hell fighters (Army, US ARMY NEWS, 2015). Although I fought hard and proud for this country, once I returned home I was greeted with hatred and disgust. I am writing to you because there are many soldiers like me who are too wounded to work and too black to receive aid. Those who have spoken out have either been beaten, lynched or both. I know that there has been talks of another World War and I want to encourage our African American men to fight but for what? A county that disowns them? One that treats them like a bastard child? Some want to pursue a higher education but only a limited amount of resources are available. The ones who are whole enough to work can’t find work due to the lack of training. I wish the rest of the white folks were like you Mrs. Roosevelt. Although your own husband and his administration is against you, you still continue to fight. I have seen you fight for equality and try to enhance the education systems, you are very courageous woman. You have motivated people like you to take a stand and encouraged both whites and people of color to recognize that the system is flawed. Some people question your ethnicity but I think that you are just what this country needs, a white woman willing to take a stand. I’ve seen you collaborate with some of the well-known African American men in our community and it had me hoping that you could come to talk to some of the African American men thinking about enlisting soon. I would hate for them to end up like my friend in arms Henry Johnson.  I’ve heard about your efforts to put this nonsense to rest and I would just like to thank you for your support and ask you to please consider my invitation (Papers, n.d.).  

I choose to write on this topic because of my affiliation with the military. I thought that it would be good to look at this from a veteran perspective, especially because we just discussed African American in the Military during last week’s discussion. Although ER did not focus on the military specifically she did target at lot of the issues stated above. She was a supporter of equality and she believed whole hearted that education. She found things such as violence and racism despicable. She was a stern woman who did not back down from anyone. She saw wrong doing throughout the world and wanted to make it right (Papers, n.d.).

Dear Mrs President

I am writing to you because I am hoping to be one voice of the many. We have been treated badly for so long and it seems that it will not end. We were freed from slavery, yet we remain slaves to segregation and discrimination. We are barely allowed an education now which is how I learned to write. I do not wish to bother you or your husband Mr. President. African Americans have been fighting for equality for a long time. White people have also been fighting for us to have our right such a President Lincoln who freed the slaves. You Mrs President also fight for us as I have heard.

I know you have heard of what we have been through, we have won a few battles but they almost always come with set backs. Our pay was made equal to that of the whites, and we lost our jobs. African American men and woman serve in the war effort against the Germans. I have heard white people complain of the treatment of Jews from the Nazi Germans, but why do they not protest the treatment of African Americans by themselves? How can they be so hypocritical to not see that what they are doing is also wrong? They have killed African Americans, hung us from trees, burned down our homes and churches. We have not been given proper representation when tried for murders and rapes we did not even commit. 

We are treated like dirt, our children are treated like they do not belong and that is what hurts the most, the children are innocent. All we ask for is peace and equality. The color of our skin does not define us.

Sincerely,

A freed man