The Monitor
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Eight Thousand Colored People
in Omaha and Vicinity, and to the Good of the Community
The Rev. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$1.00 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, August 14, 1915 Volume I. Number 7
Negro Civilization
In World’s History
No Racial Characteristic* Which In
dicate Inferiority or Su
periority.
HISTORY OF ANCIENT AFRICA
Notable Speech Delivered at Tuake
gee Summer School.
Tuskegee Institute, Ala., Aug. 10.—
Among the many notable addresses
to the Summer School for Teachers,
which closed Friday, July 23, was
the address of Monroe N. Work of
the Department of Research and
compiler of the Negro Year Book on
the subject, “Africa in Ancient and
Medieval History."
Mr. Work declared that the cur
rent geographies, histories and ency
clopedias characterized the so-called
true Negro as having black skin,
wooly hair, protuberant lips and re
ceding forehead, claiming that these
so-called racial characteristics stamp
ed the race, per se, as inferior. This
has given rise to the belief that for
the Negro to attain superiority he
must become like the white man in
color, achievements and along all
lines. This view, said Mr. Work, is
detrimental to the progress of the
Negro and he said the Negro must
make his own special contributions
to world progress. This can be done
through music, art, history, science
and mechanical developments, and
a number of facts have arisen in the
field of science and in the annals of
history which justify this possibility.
No Racial Inferiority.
Said the speaker: “Leading scien
tists in the field of anthropology are
telling us that while there are dif
ferences of race, there are no char
acteristics which, per se, indicate
that one race is inferior or superior
to another. The differences are In
kind, not in value. On the other
hand, whatever superiority one race
has attained over another has been
largely due to environment.
"A German writer in a discussion
some time ago of the origin of Afri
can civilization said, ‘What bold In
vestigators, great pioneers, still find
to tell us in civilizations nearer home,
proves more and more clearly that
we are ignorant of hoary Africa.
Somewhat of its present, perhaps,
we know, but of its past little. Open
an illustrated geography and compare
the bluish-black fellow of the protu
berant lips, the flattened nose, the
stupid expression and the short curly
hair, with the tall bronze figures
from Dark Africa with which we have
of late become familiar, their almost
fine-cut features, slightly arched noBe,
long hair, and you have an example
of the problems pressing for solution.
In other respects, too, the genuine
African of the interior bears no re
semblance to the accepted Negro
type as it figures on drug and cigar
store signs, wearing a shabby stove
Think on These Things
BROTHERHOOD.
When the golden links of Friendship are severed here on earth,
And the Love that is eternal still lives on,
And the Truth that came from Heaven returns again from earth,
May the Master say to Brotherhood, "WELL DONE."
Hon. James C. Dahlman, Mayor.
I
pipe hat, plaid trousers and a vari
colored coat. A stroll through the
corridors of the Berlin Museum of
Ethnology teaches that the real Afri
can need by no means resort to the
rags and tatters of bygone European
splendor. He has precious ornaments
of his own, of ivory and plumes, fine
plaited willow ware, weapons of su
perior workmanship. Justly can it be
demanded, ‘What sort of civilization
is this? Whence does it come?”
Discoveries in Ancient Africa.
Mr. Work pointed out that one of
the most important contributions to
civilization, the smelting of iron, was
probably made by the Negro race. In
support of this view, he said: ‘‘Ap
parently no iron was ;melted in Eu
rope before 900 B. C. That about
3,000 B. C. there began to appear on
the Egyptian monuments pictures of
Africans bringing iron from the South
to Egypt. That at a time consider
ably later than this iron implements
began to appear in Asia. There is
no iron ore in Egypt. In Negro Afri
ca, on the other hand, iron ore is
abundant."
Mr. Work pointed out that the Ne
gro nation to attain the greatest Tame
was Ethiopia; that it was by the help
of an Ethiopian army that Palestine
was able to hold out against Assyria
and the attempt of Sennacherib to
carry the Jews into captivity was
frustrated. In other words, the Ne
gro soldiers of the Sudan saved the
Jewish religion.
Closing, Mr. Work said: "And when
the faint gleam of tradition and fa
ble gives way to the clear light of
history, the luster of the Ethiopians
is not diminished. They still con
tinue the object of curiosity and ad
miration; and the pen of cautious,
clear-sighted historians often places
them in the highest rank of knowl
edge and civilization.
“From this brief sketch which I
have given of the African in ancient
and medieval times it is seen that
we should not despise the rock from
whence we were hewn. As a race
we have a past which is full of in
terest. It is worthy of our serious
study. From it we can draw inspira
tion; for it appears that not all black
men everywhere throughout the ages
(Continued on third page)
United Brothers of
Friendship Here
Hold Their Forty-fifth Annual Session
of the Grand Lodge in Omaha
Next Week.
SISTERS OF MYSTERIOUS TEN
In Thirty-second Annual Session of
Grand Temple—Official Program.
The forty-fifth annual grand ses
sion of the grand lodge of the United
Brothers of Friendship, and the thirty
second annual grand session of the
grand temple Sisters of the Myster
ious Ten and the twenty-first annual
grand session of the Royal House of
the Missouri jurisdiction, will be held
in the Douglas county court house,
beginning Monday, August 16th, and
concluding Saturday. August 21st, un
der the auspices of the local lodges
of the order. The local lodges with
their chief presiding officers are as
follows:
Faithful Lodge No. 25, Earl Jones
M. W. M.; Ak-Sar-Ben Temple No. 254,
Cachenia Austin, M. W. P.; Diamond
Square Temple No. 311, Mrs. Elvira
Lewis, M. W. P.; Leona Burton Royal
House No. 59, Mrs. L. B. Burton, M.
E. Q.; and John Davis, M. N. K.; and
Sweet William Juvenile No. 186, Aline
Bentley, Maiden Princess, and Hazel
Hall, Maiden Scribe. For the unin
formed it may be wise to explain that
these abbreviations stand respective
ly for most worthy master, most
worthy princess, most eminent queen
and most noble king.
The ordt r was organized lh Louis
ville, Ky., in 1861 by ten men for the
purpose of promoting the intellectual
and temporal improvement of its mem
bers and the general uplift of the
race. From the original ten the num
ber has grown into more than 100,000,
with lodges and temples in every
state in the union and members in Li
beria, Africa. The order hias homes
and orphanages, and a publishing
house. The publishing house is at Se
dalia, Mo., where their official organ
is published under the able editorship
of C. >x. Williams. The plant employs
several young men and women. The
Missouri jurisdiction maintains a
home at Hannibal, valued at $20,000.
This home and orphanage, for it fills
this dual office, is in charge of Dr. O.
C. Queen.
The order is comparatively young
in Omaha. Mrs. Leona B. Burton,
district deputy, organized Faithful
Lodge No. 250 October 7, 1908, the
degrees being conferred by the Rev.
W. F. Botts. Ak-Sar-Ben Temple was
organized by Mrs. Burton in 1910; the
Royal house in the same year; Dia
mond Square Temple in 1911, and
Sweet William Juveniles in 1913.
While there has been an efficient
local committee in making arrange
ments for the meeting of the grand
(Continued on third page)
