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
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, February 26, 1916 Volume I. Number 35
Both Races Assemble
to Honor Washington
Carnegie Hall More Than Filled by
Enthusiastic Supporters of the
Great Leader.
MAJOR MOTON CHIEF SPEAKER
More Than Half Million Dollars Has
Already Been Subscribed to Booker
Washington Memorial Fund.
Nearly three thousand men and wo
men—colored and white—attended the
big memorial meeting held last Fri
day evening at Carnegie Hall in honor
of the late Dr. Booker T. Washing
ton; so great was the demand of cit
izens to attend the meeting that hun
dreds were turned away by the large
force of police detailed outside of the
hall.
The spectacle presented inside Car
negie Hall was unusual in many re
spects, and the meeting could not have
been more cosmopolitan in character.
On the platform sat men of promin
ence of both races; the Northerner
and the Southerner vied with each
other in lauding the life and achieve
ments of Booker T. Washington,
while in the audience the rich and the
poor, the white and the colored sat
side by side in boxes, orchestra and
gallery.
The meeting was held under the
joint auspices of Hampton, Tuskegee
and the Urban League. Seth Lowe,
chairman of the Board of Trustees of
Tuskegee Institute, presided. Music
was furnished by the Music School
Settlement for Colored People, J. Ros
amond Johnson, director, and Roland
W. Hayes, tenor soloist; the Fisk
Quartet and the Tuskegee Quintet.
Moton to Receive Loyal Support.
In the opening address of the eve
ning, after commenting on the great
service performed by Booker T. Wash
ington for both races, Mr. Lowe de
clared that the Board of Trustees of
Tuskegee Institute, the prominent
white and colored people of Alabama
and the influential white people of
North and South generally had pledg
ed themselves to loyally support Ma
jor R. R. Moton, who has been chosen
k I)r. Washington’s successor.
Mr. Low urged the white and col
ored people of the country to contrib
ute to the Booker T. Washington Me
morial Fund, and set the big audience
to applauding by stating the white
people had already subscribed $650,
000. He read a telegram from Em
met J. Scott, secretary of the Tuske
gee Institute, which told of the part
the colored people of the country were
playing in raising $250,000, the
amount they are asked to contribute.
Speakers Laud Washington.
Dr. H. B. Frissell, principal of
Hampton Institute, spoke of the early
life of Booker T. Washington. Of how
the Tuskegeean had come to Hampton
presenting a none too hopeful appear
ance and the novel manner in which
he was admitted to the school as a
Something to Make You Think
FROM A SPEECH BY FREDERICK DOUGLAS AT LOUISVILLE, KY„
SEPTEMBER, 1883.
“If the six million colored people in this country, armed with the Con
stitution of the United'States, with a million votes of their own to lean upon,
and millions of white men at their backs whose hearts are responsive to the
claims of humanity, have not sufficient spirit and wisdom to organize and
combine to defend themselves from outrage, discrimination and oppression,
it will be idle for them to expect that the Republican party or any other polit
ical party will organize and combine for them, or care what becomes of them.”
(FROM A MAGAZINE ARTICLE, 1886)
“The question is whether the white man can ever be elevated to that plan
of justice, humanity and Christian civilization which will permit Negroes, In
dians and Chinamen, and other darker colored races to enjoy an equal chance
in the race of life. It is not so much whether these races can be made Chris
tians as whether white people can be made Christians. The Negro is few, the
white man is many. The Negro is weak, the white man is strong. In the
problem of the Negro’s future, the white man is therefore the chief factor.
He is the potter; the Negro the clay. It is for him to say whether the Negro
shall become a well-rounded, symmetrical man, or be cramped, deformed and
dwarfed. A plant deprived of warmth, moisture and sunlight cannot live and
grow. And a people deprived of the means of an honest livelihood must
wither and die. All I ask for the Negro is fair play. Give him this, and I
have no fear for his future. The great mass of the Colored people in this
country are now, and must continue to be, in the South; and there, if any
where, they must survive or perish.
“It is idle to suppose these people can make any larger degree of progress
in morals, religion and material conditions, while their persons are unpro
tected, their rights unsecured, their labor defrauded, and they are kept only
a little beyond the starving point.”
student, by sweeping a room, which
he did well.
William H. Lewis, of Boston, former
Assistant United States Attorney
General, spoke on behalf of the Na
tional League on Urban Conditions
Among Negroes. Mr. Lewis told of
how he bitterly fought Dr. Washing
ton while attending Harvard, then be
lieving that Latin was more important
to one’s education and well-being than
labor, but that he later became an
enthusiastic disciple of the Tuskegee
an and his doctrine that “Labor Con
quers All.”
One of the most significant ad
dresses of the evening was made by
William G. Wilcox, a member of the
Investment Committee of the Board of
Trustees of Tuskegee Institute, who
was elected president of the New York
Board of Education only a few days
ago. Mr. Wilcox stated that so fa
vorably had he been impressed with
the methods of education employed
at Tuskegee that it was his intention
to introduce them in the public
schools of Greater New York.
Dr. James H. Dillard, a prominent
white educator from the South, who
was closely associated with Booker T.
Washington on many educational
boards, spoke of the Tuskegeean as
one of the great men of the South, re
gardless of color, and denied the
charge as absolutely false that Dr.
Washington was a truckler, citing in
stances of the renowned educator’s
aggressiveness when engaged with
white people on questions involving
the rights of the Negro.
It was after 11 o’clock when Maj.
It. It. Moton, principal-elect of Tus
kegee, and the principal speaker of
the evening, began to talk, and those
in the audience paid him a great com
pliment by remaining in their seats
at such a late hour.
Major Moton occasioned no little
merriment by stating he hoped no one
would believe for a moment that he
thought he could fill Dr. Washington’s
place; that it will require the com
bined energy and efforts of all the
Negroes in America, who will need
the co-operation and backing of the
white people to carry on Dr. Wash
ington’s work. “And then, I doubt
whether it would be done as effective
ly as he did it,” said the speaker.
Maj. Moton’s Address.
The following extracts are from
Maj. Moton’s address:
Negro Not an Accursed Race.
“If any one us because of weakness
and failings within our race, or be
cause of unfairness, injustice and in
convenience without, or because of the
color of our faces and the texture of
our hair have been hitherto lacking in
appreciation of our race, or have been
(Continued on third page)
0ROW QfllTH ^ROWING
* Omaha <*
Democratic Mayor
Raps “Jim Crow” Bill
Does Not See Why Races Should be
Separated in Public Carriers of
that City.
WOMEN OPPOSE THE MEASURE.
Leading White Papers Fighting Pro
posed Law Through Their Editor
ial Columns. ..Colonel Watter
son Enters Fray.
Louisville, Ky., Feb. 25.—Not only
are the self-respecting members of
the race bitterly opposed to the
Knight Bill which is designed to draw
the color line on street cars of this
city, but the white citizens and the
daily press as well are fighting the
bill to be introduced in the legislature
at Frankfort, Ky., the state capital.
Ever since Louisville has been a city
the two races have been friendly. Due
to scrimmages in a day coach by mem
bers of the race, the “Jim Crow” bill
was first introduced some years ago.
The people of the city and the press
prevented its passage at that time.
Louisville people said that a fight be
tween two ill-bred race men on a train
upon the mountains was no indication
of the whole race’s lack of good man
ners or gentility.
Democratic Mayor Speaks.
Mayor Buschemyer of this city, a
“dyed-in-wool” Democrat, had the fol
lowing to say on the proposed sep
arate street car law:
“I see no reason for the passage of
a law by the Kentucky Legislature
providing that members of the race
and whites must occupy separate seats
on the street cars, and, in the absence
of a reason, such laws should not be
adopted.
“The existing relations between
whites and blacks in Louisville are
good, and I for one want them to re
main so. Better street car manners
are to be desired both by members of
the race and white people.
“I do not think the proposed street
car law should pass. There is cer
tainly no demand for such a law from
Louisville.”
Citizens Object Vehemently.
Members of the race in this city
are no cringers. As soon as the bill
was first made known, such men as
Editor Lee Brown, Dr. J. C. A. Latti
more, Rev. C. H. Parrish, William
Warley, Prof. A. E. Meyzeek, Dr.
Walls, J. A. Emmerson, Leonard
Haley, Dr. H. B. Beck, J. B. Cooper,
Tom Young, Dr. Ivinslow, A. B. Mc
Afee, Dr. Ballard, R. C. Simmons,
Dr. P. R. Peters, and hundreds of
others formed a strong organization
to work vigorously against the bill.
These men knew that if they “laid
down” the bill would be passed. They
knew that if public consciousness was
allowed to remain silent on the ques
tion, soon there would be “Jim Crow”
cars on the streets of Louisville. These
men went to work—they pulled every
(Continued on seventh page.)
