“The Loyalty of the American Negro”, 1917

. . . there are adequate reasons for the unrest and dissatisfaction which at present manifest throughout twelve millions of Americans of Negro descent, and that no assumption of a special propaganda on the part of pro-German sympathizers is necessary to explain this situation.

“The Loyalty of the American Negro” 1917

The NAACP wrote this memorandum to contradict rumors of German agents agitating African American society. The authors—probably W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson—enumerate the ample reasons for unrest and dissatisfaction among African Americans without enemy involvement.

National Archives, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs