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About The voice. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1946-195? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1948)
Tik® ^/®n<£@ PUBLISHED WEEKLY “Dedicated to the promotion of the cultural, social and spiritual life of a great people.” Rev. Melvin L. Shakespeare Publisher and Editor Business Address 2225 S Street Phone 5-649) li No Answer Call 5-7508 Buhie W. advertising tmtf Business Manager Lynwood Parker .....Associate Editor, on Leave Charles Goolsby___ — Contributing Editor, on Leave Boberia Molden. _______Associate Editor 1966 U Street. 2-1407 Mrs. Joe Greea_Circulation Manager Member ot the Associated Negro Press and Nebraska Press Associatioa " titered as becona Class Matter. June 9, 1947 at the Pest Otbc* at Lincoln. Nebraska under the Act ot March 3, 1879. t year subscription__82.00_Single copy— ... .Sc NATIONAL €DITORIAL_ SSOCIATION Facts About Medicine and the Negro The Federal Government, the states and the cities of this vast, ; rich nation spend many millions of dollars every year to improve public health. Yet, with tragic imprudence, we are doing very little to strengthen one of the weakest links in this endless chain of money and effort. We are perpetuating, through preju dice, a critical shortage of Negro doctors—a situation which con tributes heavily to the high rate of Negro nportality and results in , the spread of disease through col ored and white populations alike. For contagion knows no color line. Only 4,000 Negroes are now practicing medicine, as compared with 176,000 white physicians, and it is estimated that more than 5, 300 more are needed to care for the increasing Negro population. The national average today is one colored doctor to every 337 Ne groes, although the accepted min imum standard is one to 1,500. In Mississippi the ratio is one to 18,527. “One important reason for this acute shortage of skilled medical men,” declared the recent report of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, “is the discrimina tory policy of our medical schools in admitting minority students.” Discrimination against Negro students is common in the North as well as the South, and it is not limited to the medical colleges. Only two of our seventy-seven medical schools freely admit Ne fro applicants, and these are Ne gro institutions. Many hospitals, vital to the training of all physi cians, close their doors to the colored medical graduate. Yet every day mothers and babies die for lack of proper treatment. Meanwhile, the Negro’s life ex pectancy is ten years less than the white man’s. The widespread notion that Ne groes, as a race, are especially prone to disease is no longer held by any competent scientist. Ne groes get sick because of poverty and neglect, exactly like all other members of the human race. Gen erations of bad housing, improper food and economic insecurity do not produce hardy men and wom en, but there is no proved racial susceptibility. More Negroes get tuberculosis and pneumonia, con tract venereal disease and other ills because, in the main, they live under worse conditions and because they do not receive ade quate medical care. Then they spread infection. The physicians of the United States, through their prejudice and lack of foresight, must accept part of the responsibility. But they are not, of course, wholly to blame. Their attitude is merely the reflection of a deep-seated national prejudice which has al ways been written large across the dark history of the Negro people. Some 10,000,000 of our 15,000, 000 Negroes live in seventeen My First Year’s Work at Pittsburgh University By Katherine Thompson The decision to return to school has been well worth the * sacrifice it required. The oppor tunity to learn the theories and methods of group w-ork and to put them into daily practice was val uable and compensating. First year students are required to spend twenty and a half hours each week in an agency. This as~ signment entails working with three groups, writing records of each individual and the group, and assisting with any projects that are sponsored by the agency. The analyzing of our behavior and our group gives u. the insight we need to help others move. This is one of the main objectives of ( group work. As leaders we try | to help each member get the most out of his group experience. We try to help each member feel that he is loved and accepted. This kind of attitude helps many girls and boys progress in a manner which is both satisfying and re munerative. My field placement was at Soho Settlement in Terrace Village 11. Terrace-Village and Addison are branch centers of Soho. These agencies are centrally located in the housing project to giv^ service to the people. These projects are widely known for their unique or ganization. The units have twen ty-four apartments in which fami lies live on a bi-racial pattern. In one unit the families live on an in terracial pattern. The apartments are available to families within a certain income bracket. My work in the agency was with a group of boys between the ages of five and seven, a Special Interest group for girls, from ten to twelve and a teen age club. Clubs were not available for chil dren between the ages of five and twelve; the agency felt that better relationships were fostered through open activities. This plan seems to be a good one for it gives children a chance- to become ac quainted with others who are dif ferent. This summer I was employed as Head Girl counsellor at camp Greenwood. The work there was similar to the school placement, except for the fact it involved closer contact with the children for a longer period of time. My training at school and my summer’s work has made me cog nizant of the importance of learn ing how to get the most out of i life. This in turn enables one to share freely with other. Dr. Lawrence Reports From South Africa K4.: TV flrM of a vrV* of artiolea by Dr. E. A. Uwmxf, mlnfMor a»4 e«Msa t«r ta tbe A. M. E. ebarrb la Africa. South Africa, with its new government which is composed of the most extreme nationalism for segregation, is in a turmoil. The colored people with the s y m p a thetic whites are up against this new form of segregation on the city trains. M e e tings of protest and de cision as to what action they will take are now or- E. A. Lawrence gjnized by all concerned. Hitherto segregation on the trains was confined to the long distance trains and the city people traveled according to class and not color. This introduction of further repressive measures promises to be hot for the gov ernment as the people will not take any more segregation doses dished out by any government in South Africa. The organized bodies are de termined from now onward to fight the entire segregation laws throughout the Union. The Teachers’ League of South Africa is fighting the educa tional color bar plus any other discriminatory legislation. The Communist party has been fighting the color bar for many years and has thrown in their lot with the colored organizations for the overthrow of all forms of discrimination against the non whites of the Union of South Africa. Will write the outcome of this organized opposition to the latest segregation move. Southern states and the District of Columbia and must attend seg regated schools. In the capital. Negro teachers receive salaries equal to those in the white schools, but this is rare. Ir» Geor gia and South Carolina in 1943-44 they were paid at about half the white teacher’s scale. Nearly everywhere the Negro schools are over-erowded and underequipped. The swollen mortality rate among colored Americans can be traced in part to poor teaching in the grade schools, to inability to finish high school, to the unquestioned ! Sports Scope All-American, Gets Overseas Post INDIANAPOLIS. (ANP). Her man Joe Holiday, Tuskegee insti tute’s 1937 Negro All-American football star, former local school teacher and UNRRA official, was notified here last week that he had been appointed to a post with the preparation commission for the International Refugee or ganization. He is scheduled to report to Bad Kissingen, Ger many, for assignment in a few weeks. The son of Mrs. Gussie Holi day, he was a member o£ the city recreation department’s staff from 1937 to 1942. He then be came physical education and in dustrial arts instructor at Crispus Attucks high school here. In March, 1943, while work ing as director of the Senate Avenue branch Indianapolis Service Men’s center, he was in ducted into the army. He saw overseas service in China, Korea and Japan with the UNRRA as a field emergency shelter specialist. fact that the doors of many uni versities are closed to Negroes. Thus it is that medical-school deans can protest, whether it is true or not, that they do not ad mit more Negroes because not enough qualified students apply. When they offer this excuse, the medical deans have a case, but it is far from foolproof. This was demonstrated in strange ways during the last war. Selective Service, reaching down into all , layers of the American popula- i tion, did more than uncover iRit- j eracy. In some cases it found un- 1 suspected genius. —Selected. j Urban League Hobby Show Even though this is mid-sum mer, it isn’t too early to think about the Urban League Hobby Show on October 22 and 23, 1948. Anyone interested in a hobby is cordially invited to participate. Simply call 2-5531 and register your name and articles. ■ HARDY’S SALE OF STUDIO LOUNGES NOW GOING ON THE LARGEST SELECTION OF STYLES, COLORS AND COVERS IN LINCOLN • % Easy Terms! 1314 “O” STREET t _ Our Children " By Mrs. William B» Davis. We should not let our children grow up without making it clear to them that their biggest job is parenthood. AH else is secondary to it. The home is the social unit and the parents its representative, and what they do to make better human beings should be the con cern of everyone. To know the needs of the mind and heart of a child and to have a part in the formation of the citizen of the future is the most interesting and satisfying job any man or woman can have. Surely we can find a method to handle it in a way to enhance the richness of family life both for our selves and our children. Put it in its most con densed form, the parent should have come to marriage prepared to give: the infant more affection and gratification; to the child at home, more patience and oppor tunity for supervised play, work and friendly association with other children; to the grade school child, more interest and inspiration; and the adolescent, more opportunity for romance and success. The big gest job of all is being a parent. r —i The 1 First National Bank of Lincoln ltth A “O” St Member F.D.I.C. 4 * “"“I \ QUALITY PHOTOS Lower Prices—Faster Service PHOTO NOOK • m.ma. to I ml mI 8mIo« 1443 '*©** Street I toff. HO». SMITH BROTHERS Good Coal and Everything to Build with. 2341 No. 44 Phone 6-2527