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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1916)
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, May 13, 1916 Volume I. Number 46 Discharged Colored Girl Is Reinstated Miss Jane Bosfield Given Her Former Position in Medfield State Hospital. M’CALL TAKES RIGHT STAND — Young Woman Discharged Because She Refused to Submit to Un called For Humiliation. Boston, Mass., May 12.—Miss Jane R. Bosfield, who was recently dis charged from the Medfield State Hos pital, declared last week that she had received a letter from Dr. French who had caused her dismissal offering to reinstate her. Miss Bosfield said that she answered Dr. French’s letter and would report for work at once. Miss Bosfield was discharged because she insisted that she should be served in the dining room with other employes and as she was the only Colored girl there the whites objected and Dr. French discharged Miss Bosfield, The trustees upheld the doctor. Sought Legal Aid Miss Bosfield then sought legal aid and took the case to the courts. The Supreme Court decided against her. Then the fair name of the Bay State was dragged into the case and several newspapers, es pecially the Boston Post (white) and The Guardian, sought to arouse the people because Miss Bos field was not getting a square deal. The case was taken to the Governor who said he would hear the case with the executive council. At this hear ing Miss Bosfield told how she had been treated and that sometimes she wo.'ld go without food because it was edd and brought to her on a tray. The Governor seeing what pressure had been brought to bear ordered her reinstated even if Dr. French and the trustees did not like it. Their po sitions would be at stake. Miss Bos field has said that she believed there is a feeling of unfriendliness to ward her at the institution, but add ed "that is one of the things I shall have to bear and live down.” Reinstated. Faced by the formidable “request” of the Governor and Council that Miss IJosfield, the Colored stenographer, be reinstated in her old position at the Medfield State Hospital, the trustees and the superintendent of that insti tution, though still prating about the “right” to do as the superintendent did, have taken the very practical course of putting the girl back to work. This time there will be no knuck- j ling to the nonsense of the rest of I the employes as to eating in the same dining room with Miss Hosfield. And these employes may now be expected to have the good sense and courtesy to treat her properly. If they do not it will not be well for them. The girl (Continued on eighth page) Thoughts From Our Own Authors UNDER THE STARS. Written for The Monitor. Twilight shades are creeping ’round me— Stealthy gloaming, sweet and still; As the misty dews surround me, All my being seems to thrill With emotion, deep and tender, When I lift my wondering eyes And behold the heavenly splendor Of the star-decked evening skies. O, ye golden lamps of heaven! Myriad stars and changing moon! Oft great solace ye have given; Changed my midnight into noon. Oft again when pressed with sadness, Striving ’gainst earth’s sordid bars, 1 have found both peace and gladness, Underneath thee, silvery stars. —Mrs. J. Frank Hammond. Omaha, May 12, 1916. Something To Make You Think PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICABILITY. (By James VV. Johnson in The New York Age.) There are times when the course of action which is practicable, which is expedient, which is necessary, runs counter to principle; then one may be excused for hesitating over what he should do. But when one thing which must be done, and the thing which ought be done lie in the same direction, it is sheer folly to take any other course. This, we believe, meets the question of what course of action the Amer ican Negro should take. Here and there a cry of doubt is arising as to whether or not we should continue to assume and perform the obligations and duties of American citizenship if the full rights and privileges of that citizenship are not accorded to us. Now, without any cant about patriotism or love of country, or without recourse to any other sentimental reason, let us see if we cannot arrive at the true answer. It is generally accepted, except by anarchists, that the performance oi national duties is right in principle. Then let us see, if for the American Negro, the performance of these duties is not only the right thing, hut also the practicable, the expedient, the necessary thing. Let us see if it is the thing which not only ought be done, but also the thing which must be done. If it is both, there can be do excuse for doubt or hesitation as to what course of action the race should follow. There are two, and only two ends before the American Negro, and at one of them he must finally arrive. One is the status of full citizenship and the other is a condition of serfdom. There is no middle ground. If the Negro in this country continues to work and fight, he will finally reach the former. When he stops working and fighting, he will gradually sink into the latter. It is a question of full citizenship or civil death. Should the Negro either from discouragement or bitterness say there is no hope, and cease to work and fight, he would surely be making the choice of civil death. It is clear that the practicable thing, the expedient thing, the necessary thing before the Negro is the gaining of full American citizenship, and he has got to use every means within his power to achieve his purpose. It takes only common sense to see that this can never be done if he himself renounces his claim and title to citizenship, and accepts the position that this is a white man’s country. He must continue to perform his duties while he still contends for all the rights. For him to accept and perform the duties and not demand the: rights would be pusillanimous; on the other hand, to demand the rights, and (Continued from first page.) Use the Monitor to Reach the | Colored People of Nebraska, j It Is Their Only Newspaper. | ♦ 4 From Fair Nebraska to Sunny Tennessee Incidents of the Trip and Impressions Received by Editor on First Visit to Southland. PROMINENT PHYSICIAN DIES. Doctor Albert Sidney Johnson Bur chett Found Dead by Supervisor in Willis Park. We were to have told you some thing about the two Memphis banks which were organized, capitalized, of ficered and successfully conducted by members of our race. You are to be disappointed. We must ask you to wait for what we have to tell you about the Fraternal Savings Bank and Trust Co., and the Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Co. until later. We cannot write now of banks, but of a friend whom we made and to whom we were most strongly drawn, and he to us when in Memphis. We in tended to speak of him later, when we got around to telling you of our phy sicians, of whom there are eighty in Memphis. You will understand why we write of him now, since his useful life has ended and under circum stances which are most painful to the many friends who knew and loved him. News Item Brings Shock. Under the caption “Memphis Phy sician Found Dead,” our eyes a few days ago fell upon the following item which brought us a severe shock: “Dr A. S. J. Burchett, one of the most prominent doctors of this city, was found dead shortly before noon, Saturday, April 29th, in Willis Park by a playground supervisor. He was in a sitting posture on a bench with a pistol in his right hand. The police believe that he committed suicide.” When we tell you that this physi cian was one of the very last men who clasped our hand just before our train pulled out from Memphis the night we left that city the last of February, homeward bound, and when we add to this that he was one of the last men to whom we had the privilege of ad ministering the holy communion on the early morning of that day in a never-to-be-forgotten service in Em manuel church, you will understand something of our feeling when we read this item. naa we neara me pistol snot wmcn ended that life., we could not have been more startled and distressed. You will understand now while we ask you to bear with us while we write of a friend rather than of a bank. A Cultured Gentleman. In our half century of life we have had the privilege of meeting many men of culture and refinement. We account our acquaintanceship with all of these and friendship with many of them—for there is a difference be tween acquaintance and friendship— (Continued on third page)