A Politics of Service.

The article discusses debate among African Americans in the northern U.S. during the U.S. Civil War concerning African American enlistment in the U.S. armed services and African American citizenship. The article discusses the demands of African Americans for full citizenship following then-U.S. president Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The author analyzes how debate among African Americans was manifested in several major African American newspapers of the day including the "Pine and Palm" of Boston, Massachusetts, New York City's "Anglo-African Weekly," and the "Christian Recorder" of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.