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)
