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While visiting in Richmond, Virginia in April 1865 President Lincoln told an audience that Negroes should have every right that other citizens enjoyed and upon his return to Washington he would begin the task of securing for them all of the rights of citizenship. Shortly after this he was dead and until now the task represents the unfinished business of American democracy. Efforts to secure these rights over a period of almost a hundred years point up changes which involve progress and problems. The evidences of progress stem to some extent from the loss on the part of Negroes of, first, an older conception of a "white benefactor" and, second, the positive acknowledgement and beneficial utilization of the "American conscience." These have been and continue to be the keys of education for the acquisition of merited public recognition and human dignity. They establish the elevation from which a realistic appraisal of the remaining unsolved problems may be viewed and studied.

Immediately after "Pearl Harbor" "acceleration" became the dominant tone in most American colleges and universities in their effort to "aid in winning the war." Colleges for Negroes joined in this acceleration movement which had the blessings of the American Council on Education, the United States Office of Education Wartime Commission, the Baltimore Conference of College and University Presidents and many state and local educational bodies. Sufficient time has now passed to permit a cooling off from the original rush toward acceleration and perhaps a partial check on its scope. It is clear that the colleges and universities realized that grave responsibilities rested upon them as a result of the war and lost little time in adjusting their programs to do their part in meeting war demands. This paper is concerned with current changes in senior colleges for Negroes which have been introduced to meet some of the immediate demands of the war. For a factual statement concerning these changes 75 of a total of approximately 109 colleges and universities which are operated for Negroes, were asked to submit evidences of their wartime programs. Forty-five representative institutions responded with usable data and these will serve as the supporting contribution of this paper. No effort will be made herein to evaluate the work and war efforts of the contributing institutions and the summarizing statistics of this paper should be generously interpreted. An impartial review of the wartime programs of the 45 institutions as submitted would suggest under rather than over statements of their efforts to aid the war emergency. The difficulties of participation on the part of some institutions in the wartime effort of educational acceleration are acknowledged but not discussed. In addition, the scope of institutional changes is indicative of widening war services in keeping with the increasing demands of the national emergency.

Between 1861 and 1890 much of interest was taking place in the educational life of the Negro. The discussions of the presidential campaign which resulted in the election of Lincoln as President increased the desire on the part of Negroes not only for freedom but knowledge as well. During the Civil War period agitations, travel, contacts, and new plantation responsibilities all combined to urge Negroes to continue to learn on a selfhelp basis. After the Civil War plans were rapidly executed to lessen the degree of ignorance on the part of the Negro made firm through years of human slavery. Among the factors which operated for the education and enlightenment of the Negro were the following: (1) The recently emancipated Negroes looked upon the attainment of a literate status as a key to the solution of their vexing problems.1 This idea became an intense passion of the Negro freedmen for educational advancement and served through the coming years in reducing illiteracy from 70 per cent in 1880 to 57.1 per cent in 1890, to 44.5 per cent in 1900, to 30.4 per cent in 1910, to 22.9 per cent in 1920, and to 16.3 per cent in 1930. (2) The efforts of the

At best this statement can serve only as an introduction to the subject of Negro participation in the U. S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard in World Wars I and II. Factual data covering the use of Negroes in these services in the first World War are meager and, for the current second World War, the continuation of the first, are buried for the most part in "military secrets." The plan to be followed herein is to open the subject in the hope that later, more objective and detailed treatment may be accorded it. The limitations imposed in the subject of this paper will cause to be omitted from it consideration of Negroes, slave and free, who fought with credit and honor in the American Revolution against the British in the Continental Navy. Some of the Negroes volunteered, some were drafted; and others served as substitutes for their masters.1 Following the SpanishAmerican War, limited Negro participation in the Navy has frequently dimmed the democratic hopes of Negroes. Often they have had to fight for their inclusion in various branches of the service. A global war has resulted in an accelerated induction of Negroes into armed forces. Of 1,080,000 or more Negroes to be called, the Army will get approximately 835,000 while the remainder will go to the Navy, Air Forces, Coast Guard, Marines, and