! The Monitor
A National Weekly N' *devoted to the Interests of the Colored
* of Nebraska and the West
' f.\3
^ REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 24, 1917 Vol. II. No. 34 (Whole No. 87)
Taking Care of
Southern Immigration
Ministers’ Alliance of Birmingham
Appeal to Religious Leaders in
the North.
CHIEF CAUSES OF MIGRATION
Prejudice, Jim-Crawism, Disfranchise
ment, Maltreatment Account for
Great Exodus.
Birmingham, Ala.—The A. M. E.
Ministers’ Alliance of Birmingham,
has issued the following to Colored
ministers North, East, South and
West:
“To Colored Ministers North, East
and West:
It is alarming to note the unrest
and dissatisfaction among our people
here in Birmingham, Ala., and
throughout several southern states.
Tins unrest, dissatisfaction and mov
ing about of our people to certain
parts of our commonwealth is nothing
more or less than an effect. This ef
fect cannot exist without a cause. The
alarming and bitter effect is predicat
ed upon multifarious causes, to-wit:
No. 1. Prejudice. The prejudice
of our white south has been and is to
day, hot, bitter and strong. It is an
incubator out of which have come
many unfair things to stir up and
cause this unrest and exodus of our
people.
No. 2. Disfranchisement. Any sane
man whether white or black, ought
not be deprived of his vote, because of
cclor. The Negro was disfranchised
many years ago in most of our south
ern states. This cause stirred him
and created unrest, but he had no re
dress, nowhere to go until now.
No. 3. “Jim CrowiBm.” “Jim Crow
ism” is anywhere and everywhere in
our Southland, especially on the pas
senger trains with full fare paid for
a first class ticket, only to take the
fare that is not commensurate with
the money paid. Added to this insult
our women are forced into this em
barrassing condition only to find in
most every case that men and women
use the same toilet. They are hu
miliated and with them this race of
ours, in this Southland, are bleeding
at the heart and have been and are
and will continue to be dissatisfied un
less our southern whites learn to treat
us fairly and squarely on street can,
elevators, sitting rooms, parks and
many other places, the treatment is
not good.
No. 4. Lynching. God knows it is
less than a shame for any people to
claim civilization and Christianity and
indulge in human slaughter without
law, or reason. The lSw ought to have
its course on all crimes.
No. 6. Maltreatment. Thousands
of our people have for a long time
over crowded the cities because of the
bad treatment received on the farms.
The landlords, merchants, and too
many times our courts fail to observe
the Golden Rule toward our people.
“German Barbarians” and
the Infamous Ku Klux Klan
The Senior Senator From South Carolina, a State
Stained With the Blood of Murdered Blacks,
Horrified at German Kuthlessness.
A few days ago Ben Tillman, who
has boasted in the United States Sen
ate that the people of his state “shoot
down ‘Niggers’ and will continue to do
so to keep them in their place and
make them understand that this is a
white man’s country”—God save the
mark—insolently said: “Send Bern
storff back to his German barbarians."
The country applauded this sentiment.
This only shows how purblind Amer
icans are to their own moral turpitude.
That a United States senator should
be permitted in such a body as the
United States Senate to openly boast
that in his sovereign state they mur
der Americans for the atrocious crime
of having been bom black and go un
rebuked should cause all decent Amer
icans to hide their heads in shame.
And it illy becomes one of the Tillman
ilk to prate about “German barbar
ians!”
Moreover, in this connection, in may
be well to call attention to the six
months' record in sections of South
Carolina of the Ku Klux Klan, that
band of midnight marauders, mur
derers and despoilers of women who
are being pictured today as paragons
of virtue in widely-advertised movies.
This is the record of that band of cut
throats for six months in only one sec
tion of South Carolina as published,
after an official investigation, in 1871:
“In the nine counties covered by the
investigation for a period of approxi
mately six months, the Ku Klux Klan
LYNCHED and MURDERED 35 men,
whipped 262 men and women, other
wise OUTRAGED, shot, mutilated,
burned out, etc., 101 persons. It com
mitted cases of sex offenses against
Negro women. During this time the
Negroes killed four men (probably in
self-defense—the Editor), beat one
nan, committed 16 other outrages, but
no case of torture. No case is found
of a white woman seduced or raped by
a Negro.
“The reasons given for the Ku Klux
outrages were that the victims should
suffer in revenge for the killing of
four men and for some cases of arson;
that they were Republicans; that they
were radical; that they had attempted
to hold elections; that they were
carrying arms (supplied by the gov
ernor of the state when he organized
the Negro militia); that they were
‘niggers'; that they were ‘damn nig
gers’; that they boasted that they
would own land.’
The Ku Klux Klan were murderers,
thiefs, cowardly cut-throats, ravishers
of women. But you know, according to
Dixon and Tillman, they were most
honorable men, who ravished, mur
dered, tortured and robbed “to protect
white civilization in the South,”
Miserere, Domine!
And the pity of it is that the
LYNCHING, MURDERING, BURN
ING and MALTREATING of men,
women and children, because they are
black, which was begun by the Ku
Klux Klan, continues.
“German barbarians,” indeed. And
this in the face of the heroizing of the
infamous Ku Klux Klan!
In other words, in our helpless condi
tion, ignorant, poor and cowed down,
we have been easy prey for the ene
mies of our race.
No. 6. The Boll Weevil. The Boll
weevil has done its duty and has as
sisted much in giving rise to this great
exodus.
No. 7. Flood. The July flood of
1916 did its work well and lent its
help to this mighty exodus.
Following are some of the second
ary causes: Because, for the first
time in the history of our country Ne
gro labor is in great' demand in the
sl ops, factories and railroads in the
North, East and West; because he be
comes a franchised elector in the
North and can vote; because he is not
“Jim Crowed” to death if he pays
first class fare; because he is less
liable to be lynched and has the pro
tection of the law; because his chil
dren get the benefit of first class
school facilities, and because more
courteous treatment is accorded him
and his family.
We, as ministers of the A. M. E.
Ministers’ Alliance of Birmingham, i
Ala., pray and beg that our ministers,
and ministers of other denominations
in the North, East and West, for hu
manity’s sake look after these our
poor helpless people, many of whom
are splendid people. We are depend
ing upon you not to lose a single op
portunity to help our people make
good in church, State and their daily
vocation, through your advice and
leadership.
We feel and believe that this great
exodus is God's plan and hand. The
great door of industrial, financial, po
litical, educational, moral and religious
hope has been thrown wide, and in a
mysterious way, God is moving upon
the hearts of our people to go where
He has prepared for them. May the
blessings of God attend your efforts
to help and bless our people who are
fleeing from oppression and maltreat
ment, from darkness to light.
The white people of Birmingham
nd vicinity are greatly alarmed over
the preparations being made by Ne
groes to leave the South.
Interesting Fads
Concerning Africa
Nearly One-Fourth of the Earth’s
Land Surface Is Comprised
Within the Continent.
GREAT DEPOSITS OF MINERALS
Colonial Possessions of France and
England Cover Vast Extent
of Territory.
Nearly one-fourth of the earth’s
land surface is comprised within the
continent of Africa. It is as far
around the coast of Africa as it is
around the world. Every eighth per
son of the world’s population lives in
the Dark Continent. The blacks
double their numbers every 40 years
and the whites every 80 years.
There are 843 languages and dia
lects in use among the blacks of
Africa. Only a few of the languages
have been reduced to writing. Thir
ty-five years ago the export of cocoa
from the Gold Coast amounted to
$20,000. Today it is over $8,000,000.
The coal fields of Africa aggregate
800,000 square miles; its copper
fields equal those of North America
and Europe combined, and it has un
developed iron ore amounting to
five times that of North America.
Africa has 40,000 miles of river and
lake navigation, and water powers
aggregating 90 times those of Ni
agara Falls, according to the estimate
of a writer in The World Outlook.
If Africa had the same proportion
of railroad mileage as the United
States according to its size, it would
have 1,000,000 miles of track instead
of the 25,000 miles now in operation.
One area in Africa unoccupied by
missionaries is three times the size
’ New England, a second would
make four states like New York, a
third would cover eight Iowas, and a
fourth is 18 times the size of Ohio.
Throughout Africa there is one mis
sionary for every 133,000 souls.
Almost the entire continent is now
under European flags. France has a
colony in Africa 20 times the size of
France itself. The British flag flies
over a territory as large as the
Lnited States, and extends, almost
without interruption, from the Cape
to Cairo, a distance of 6,000 miles.
DELAWARE AND HUDSON
APPOINTS COLORED MEN
Albany, N. Y.—One of the first acts
of J. T. Loree upon assuming the du
ties of General Manager of the Dela
ware and Hudson Railroad, with of
fices in this city, was to appoint a
number of Colored men to good po
sitions and raise the salaries of sev
eral cooks and waiters, all of which
was done at the request of R. M. Mad
ison, the popular Colored steward of
the business cars. Mr. Madison’s sug
gestions also met with the approval
of L. F. Loree, President of the road,
who is the father of J. T. Loree.