 Woodson believed that African Americans should not just focus on themselves and addressed issues that only apply to them but should address issues that apply to everyone.“Reward the dead for some distant favors from the past”  Woodson, in this chapter, is trying to inform African Americans that because their ancestors were influenced by—and died—for certain rights in the past does not mean they should always be followed.Woodson strongly enforced that Africans Americans should not enforce a particular political party because of this.