Nebraska Newspapers

    p=an The Monitor ~n
A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Colored Americans \
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor ^
- -% .
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy _OMAHA. NEBRASKA. MAY 4. 1918 Vol. III. \ 44 (Whole No. 146)
Spingarn Medal
To Be Awarded
9 -
The National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People An
nounces That the Coveted Medal
Will Be Awarded Friday, May 3.
NEW YORK, April 26.—The Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People an
nounces that the Spingarn medal,
given each year to the man or woman
of African descent and of American
citizenship who shall have made the
highest achievement during the pre
ceding year in any. field of elevated or
honorable human endeavor, will be
presented on the evening of May 3 at
tre First Baptist church, Providence.
R. I. The Spingarn medal has been
donated annually since 1915 by Major
Joel E. Spingarn of New York, chair
r ian of the board of directors of the
National Association fcr the Advance
ment of Colored People.
This medal has been awarded in
previous vears to E. E. Just for re
* searches in biology, to Colonel Charles
Young, U. S. A. (retired), for services
in organizing the constabulary of Li
beria, and to Harry T. Burleigh for
excellence in the field of creative
music.
The medal will be presented by Gov
ernor R. Livingston Beeckman of
Rhode Island. Moorfield Storey of
Poston, national president of the As
sociation for the Advancement of Col
ored People, and Major Spingarn will
deliver addresses suitable to the occa
sion. Announcement of the winner of
the medal is withheld until the date
of presentation. The committee of
award consists of Bishop John Hurst
of Baltimore, chairman; ex-President
Taft; Dr. James H. Dillard, director
of the Jeanes fund; Jonn Hope, presi
dent of Morehouse college, Atlanta,
and Oswald Garrison Villard, presi
dent of the New York Evening Post
company and treasurer of the Nation
al Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
COLORED WOMEN TO
MEET IN DENVER IN JI LT
Denver.—The National Association
of Colored Women will convene in
Denver July 8, one of the local repre
sentatives of the organization. The
convention, it is stated, will mark the
greatest gathering of Colored women
in the history of the country.
Woman suffrage will be one of the
problems taken up during the conven
tion. Many of the members are ac
tive in civic and patriotic work. These
subjects will be discussed and a plan
of greater co-operation in all of these
endeavors will be formulated. One or
more prominent suffragists will
speak. Literary and musical convest3
will be among the features.
WOULD SUCCEED
PROFESSOR KEALING
The Peck Brothers Are Rivals For
Presidency of the W'estem I niver
sity; One Prominent St. Louis Pas
tor; the Other Resident of Topeka.
Kansas City, Mo.—Revs. W’. H. Peck
and F. Jesse Peck, brothers, are being
urged for the presidency of Western
university at Quindaro, and one of
them seems reasonably sure of land
ing the position. The presidency has
been vacant since the recent death of
Dr. Hightower T. Kealing. Rev. Wil
liam H. Peck is pastor of an African
Methodist church in St. Louis and was
educated at the old M Street High
school, Washington; Lincoln and Wil
berforee universities. The other broth
er lives in Topeka, Kan. He was edu
cated at Storer and Oberlin colleges.
SEEK AID FOR COLORED
ROMAN CATHOLICS
Cleveland, O.—An appeal for aid in
erecting Col • red schools and churches,
separate from the whites, in the South
was made here recently in St. John’s
cathedral by Monsignor John E. Burke
of New York. Bishop Farrelly and
the Rev. D. J. Bustin also spoke at the
meeting.
VOTE FOR THIS TICKET
JAMES C. DAHLMAN,
JOSEPH B. HUMMEL,
GEORGE B. PARKS,
WALTER S. JARDINE,
DAN B. BUTLER,
CHARLES H. WITHNELL,
HARRY B. ZIMMAN.
NATIONAL COLORED
LIBERTY CONGRESS
To Be Convened in Washington Lat
ter Part of Month to Secure Democ
racy for All, Regardless of Race or
Color; Eminent People to Attend.
Boston, Mass., May 3.—The Na
tional Colored Liberty Conference,
which was organized in this city June
13, 1917, has called a national con
gress of Negro citizens at Washing
ton, D. C., from May 29 to June 2.
The meeting will be named the Na
tional Colored Liberty Congress and
its sole purpose will be to secure from
congress guarantee of the establish
ment of true democracy for all, re
gardless of race or color, in this coun
try, in connection with the world-war
democracy.
The Rev. A. Clayton Powell of New
Y'ork is president of the congress; the
Rev. M. F. Sydes of Rhode Island, re
cording secretary; Mrs. S. J. Allen,
corresponding secretary; the Rev. D.
S. Klugh of Boston, treasurer; Her
bert H. Harrison of New York, chair
man of the executive board; Prof.
Allen W. Whaley of Boston, national
organizer, and William Monroe Trot
ter, executive secretary.
Heroic Deeds When
Steamer Sinks
Another Colored Hero Win* Place on
Roll of Honor; New York Woman
Gratefully Tells How James Wal
lace of Savannah Rescued Her and
Her Baby; Saves Two Others.
N ATLANTIC PORT, May 2.—
._, Survivors of the coastwise steam
er City of Athens, sunk in a collision
with a French cruiser off the Dela
ware coast yesterday morning, with a
loss of sixty-six lives, related here to
day many tales of heroism by the
crews of the two vessels.
All praised the efforts of the French
sailors especially, who launched small
boats within a few minutes after the
accident and aided by the cruiser’s
searchlights picked up many of the
su.vivors from pieces of wreckage.
The survivors agreed that the
speedy sinking of the steamer—with
in five minutes after being rammed
ty the warship—was responsible for
the heavy toll of life, although some
asserted that the City of Athens’ life
saving apparatus failed to work prop
erly. There were 135 persons, includ
ing twenty-four United States ma
rines. on board the steamer, which
was bound from New York to Savan
nah with a $2,000,000 cargo.
Negro Proves Hero.
Mrs. Florence Pickard Harrison of
New York today told how her life,
that of her 2-year-old baby and two
others were saved through the bra
very’ of a Negro fireman on the City
of Athens.
Awakened from her sleep, Mrs.
Harrison barely had time to put a
coat over her nightdress and hurry to
the deck with her child. “I saw a life
boat," she said, “but no one was pay
ing any attention to it except a United
States marine, who lifted the baby
into the boat. I was about to climb in
with h*s aid when the steamer top
pled and my grasp on the gunwale
slipped. 1 caught up the baby as the
ship sank under the swirling waters.
When I came up, choking and almost
unconscious from the water, with the
little one in my a'ms, we were direct
ly under the bow of a lifeboat.
Many Thrilling Rescues.
“A man, whom I afterwards learned
was James Wallace of Savannah, lift
ed the baby from my arms. When I
regained consciousness I found myself
in the lifeboat, covered with a piece
of canvas, which I wrapped around
the baby. My coat and nightgown
were tom from the struggle to drag
me in. After that Wallace rescued
one marine and a civilian, lhat bl*ave
Negro deserves a hero’s medal.
“We were in the lifeboat for about
two hours before we were picked up
by the ;rew of the French cruiser. I
cannot r.neak too highly of the gal
lantry and kindness of the French of
ficers and men during our rescue and
the time spent on the cruiser.”
GARY’S COLORED COLONY
Gary, Ind.—Gary’s Colored colony
is increasing so fast that it has al
most become a city in itself and the
number of Colored business and pro
fessional men in the steel city’ is
larger than the white total in many
nearby communities. Editor J. D.
Cooke, who directs one of Gary’s two
Colored newspapers, estimates that
there are between 7,000 and 8,000 of
the race in Gary.
I*-*--.■-.. •«• «. .I
j
Poem Dedicated to Stanley j
Mackay
William Cressy, one of the stars at the Orpheum this week, brought
tears to the noon-day crowd at the Omaha Chamber of Commerce last
i Thursday when he read the poem entitled, “When Blue Stars Turn to
| Gold.” Mr. Cressy said that he composed the poem following his
f breakfast that morning. He dedicated it to Stanley Mackay, son of
I the Rev. T. J. Mackay, who died in service. Following is the poem:
j WHEN THE BLUE STARS TURN TO GOLD
| Rev. T. J. Mackay'* Son.
I We don’t seem to know ’till we’ve lost it
| Just how much a thing is worth,
i And then when it’s gone we discover
ITwas the most precious thing on earth.
Something we prized in its newness
Grows dearer as it grows old,
And that which we treasured as silver
* * We discover is purest gold.
Perhaps today you are treasuring
A wee flag of red and white;
f It is hanging in your window
1 Through the day and night,
l And on its white heart is gleaming
A star of heaven’s own blue—
• A star for your boy, who is fighting
For his country and for you.
I Our service flags are crimson: !
| How we glory in each star!
How we love our boys and miss them,
♦ And how proud of them we are!
! And if God, in His infinite wisdom,
Should call them to His fold,
We still fly the flag of crirrr n—
i But the blue star now is gold!
i |
♦ Oh, boys! In the flush of your manhood,
IHow you answered that call to arms!
How you came from the towns and cities,
From the villages and the farms!*
How we glorified in your going!
* And we ask, dear God, to hold
[And to help us if the time comes
When your blue star turns to gold. 1
I ::
* And we’re sending you this message
* To that land across the foam,
i To tell you how the home folks
J Are praying for you at home.
♦ And if you should never come back,
You must know that as time grows old
{ We shall treasure that flag of crimson,
• With the blue stars turned to gold.
*. J
The Children of the Sun
By George Wells Parker
/ _
1AST week I wrote of the Sphinx
* and tried to explain why that
wonderful monument must ever re
main the emblem of Egypt. I told you
that the face was the face of one of
that race which men call Negro, or to
use a better term, the face of a typical
African. These same features are to
be found related to everything belong
ing to ancient Egypt. All we have to
do it to examine carefully the mum
mies, the many statues, the intaglios
and monuments, to become Convinced
that Egypt was African in the sense
of race as well as in the sense of lo
cality. The Egyptians tell us them
selves that they were autochthones of
the soil—that is, a race springing
from the native earth, made from the
black mud of the Nile—and that they
called their country Chemi, meaning
“the land of the blacks.” We know,
too, that the Egyptians were well
known to all ancient nations and that
men and wanderers of all the earth
visited Egypt because of her repute
as the abiding place of wisdom and
knowledge. Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny,
Strabo, Homer, Aristophanes, ^Eschy
lus, Livy, Virgil and a host more were
acquainted with the Egyptians from
personal contact and verify more than
once the racial relationship of the
Egyptians in their writings. How,
then, you may ask, do historians say
that the Egyptians were a white race?
Why does Ridpath classify them and
the Ethiopians as a branch of the Cau
casian race? Why does Myers say
that the Negro was never anything
but a hewer of wood and a drawer of
water? Why does Hart of Harvard
say that no African race ever rose to
the eminence of an organized and
civilized government?
There is but one answer to these
questions. Of late years men have
realized more and more that Egypt
has made wonderful and lasting con
tributions to human civilization. “An
cient Egypt itself,” says Sir Arthur
Evans, the world renowned archeolo
gist, "can no longer be regarded as
something apart from general human
civilization. Its influences are seen to
lie about the very cradle of our civili
zation." Such being the exact truth,
or.e of us need not search far to ex
plain the reason for such historical
discrimination. The historians of Eu
rope have often hesitated to attribute
to the African race the mighty civili
zation of Egypt; the historians of
America have absolutely refused to
let any such great credit even be hint
ed for men of dark skin. The latter
have found their country steeped in
jrejudice against the black man and
would perpetuate it, even at the cost
cf truth. They would persuade them
selves and our country that civiliza
tion is the gift of the white race alone
and that any other claimant to a share
of glory is an imposter and a liar.
But it is an axiom of history, no
less than of life, that error cannot al
ways triumph. What the historian
has been unwilling to do, the archeolo
gist insists upon doing. The historian
is generally an armchair savant and
the scope of his information does not
pass beyond the four W'alls of his li
brary; the archeologist is a worker
and his information is gathered by
digging with the spade upon the sites
of ancient civilizations. When the lat
ter draw's a conclusion he draws it
from tangible things, from stones,
statues, manuscripts, palaces, coins
and a hundred other things which he
digs from the sands. They are the
soundest and most convincing proof in
the world of who an ancient people
have been and what they have accom
plished. There is no need of argument,
proof and voluminous histories to fur
nish the proof of their truth. They
are truth themselves.
It is not my purpose today to re
view the mass of remains which
archeologists have excavated in Egypt.
It is so great that even archeologists
themselves have been unable to reduce
the whole to complete understanding.
Their efforts were begun for the rea
son that historians’ efforts to escape
the truth had made history a hodge
podge of a thousand opinions. Sincere
men wanted to know the truth and
could not be satisfied with the duck
ing and doging indulged in by pseudo
historians to bolster up one race to
the utter discredit of another. In Eu
rope that battle raged more fiercely
than elsewhere, and eventually the
German Anthropological association
| determined to settle the question once
and forever, if it admitted itself to
settlement. At one of its meetings
the members unanimously requested
Dr. Rudolph Virchow to spend a year
in Egypt and bring back to them the
answer to the question of the racial
relations of the ancient Egyptians. Dr.
Virchowr at that time was one of the
most famous men of Europe, an
eminent scientist and the discoverer of
cne of the most important branches of
medicine. He accepted the honor and
went to Egypt. During that year he
worked harder than at any time in his
entire life. He visited the sites of
every ancient city, every ruin, every
monument and examined every article
recovered from the country and cared
for in the museums of Egypt. He was
convinced of the truth and when he
returned to Europe and stood before
the great scientific society to give his
answer these were his wards: “I
thought that I could find by compara
tive examination of the living and the
remains and pictures of the dead some
points establishing the change of the
ancient Egyptians into the Egyptians
of historic times, but I have returned
with the conviction that ancient Egypt
and its neighboring countries have not
essentially changed during all these
periods. If Menes really existed then
they ware in his times NEGROES,
si ice quite all ancient remains and
mural paintings show NEGROES w'ith
all their peculiarities.” This answer
settled the question once and for all
with the greatest scientific body of
the modem world, and surely it should
answer it for all men.
The Egyptians were of the same
blood that courses through our veins.
What wa must learn and expound is
the wonderful influence which this
black-skinned race has had upon all
succeeding nations of the earth. When
you have learned something of this
you wrill no longer wonder why the
Anglo-Saxon has hated to admit the
truth and still tries to hold it a secret.
He knows that if the African had
never produced any civilization but
that of Egypt it alone would entitle
him to be held in honor forever and
forever by all the children of men.
Opposing American
Lynching Mania
Law and Order League of Memphis,
Tenn., Sends Protest to Governor
Rye; Declares That Such Unrestrict
ed Lawlessness Will Undermine
Morale of the Colored Troops.
_ V
TVTKW YORK.—The National Asso
1 1 ciation for the Advancement of
Colored People is authorized to make
public the following telegram ad
dressed to Governor Tom C. Rye of
Tennessee by Bolton Smith of Mem
phis, Tenn., secretary of the Law and
Order league, which was organized
two months ago, following the Estill
Springs burning, to put a stop to
lynching:
San Antonio, Tex., April 23.
Hon. Tom C. Rye, Governor, Nash
ville, Tenn.:
The lynching of Berry Noyes at
Lexington, Tenn., April 22, cannot but
sow disunion among our people, un
dermine the morale of our Negro
troops and lessen the effectiveness of
(ur propaganda among Colored people
for food production and conservation.
It will therefore tend to prolong the
war and increase the price in dead and
wounded we have to pay for victory.
I have been visiting the Texas camps
and witnessed the self-sacrificing
work of our splendid young men who
are preparing to risk all for us. It i3
strange our own people will not help
them by exercising the self-control
necessary to give a Negro charged
with crime such a trial as our own
laws provide. The government of the
LTnited States is controlled by South
ern men. It has called the Negro to
the defense of the colors and the
American people will demand that a
race thus honored shall be granted the
justice of a fair trial when accused of
crime. We all know that when guilty
there is no doubt of full punishment.
The Lexington lynchers cannot have
realized the extent to which their act
furnishes aid and comfort to the
enemy. As secretary of the Tennessee
Law and Order league, organized to
stop lynching, I urge you to issue a
proclamation to our people pointing
out the treasonable effect of such act
and that you call upon the president
of the United States as commander of
the nation to reinforce your words, for
it is plain we are threatened with a
nation-wide increase of this crime.
BOLTON SMITH.
ProX L Against
the Army Edict
Meeting Opposes General Ballou’s Re
cent Order Counselling Command to
Temporarily Waive Legal Rights.
SEND RESOLUTIONS TO BAKER
Chairman of Meeting Reluctantly
Consents to Singing “America,”
Stating That the Only Bar He Sings
Is, “Land Where My Fathers Died.”
BROOKLYN, N. Y.—More than 400
men and women were present
Monday night, April 22, at a meeting
in the Concord Baptist (Colored)
Church of Christ, Adelphia street,
near Myrtle avenue, at which resolu
tions were adopted protesting against
the recent order of Major General
George Ballou of Camp Funston to
the Ninety-second Division, advising
Negro soldiers to refrain from visit
ing places and amusements frequent
ed by whites. The resolutions will be
sent to Secretary of War Baker.
The Rev. George Frazier Miller,
rector of St. Augustine’s Protestant
Episcopal church, presided and out
lined the purpose of the meeting. He
declared that Negro soldiers were be
ing denied the privileges of exercising
their legal rights. This, he said, in the
last analysis makes the German sol
dier superior to the Negro.
“God made me a man,” he said. “I
feel like a man, and only a man’s
treatment of me will be satisfactory.
The Negro is called upon to shed his
blood upon the field of battle so that
the white man may be free, and still
he is denied the right of the funda
mental principles upon which this
government is founded.
“The black man has won many a
victory'. The Negroes saved Roose
velt and his Rough Riders at San Juan
Hill. They fought at Carizal. Now
they are asked to fight to make the
world safe for democracy and still
they are denied the privilege of en
joying this democracy right here at
home.”
George W’ibeean, president of the
Frederick Douglass Forum and of the
Citizens’ club, declared that if it had
not been for this prejudice the Negro
would long ago have enlisted in the
National Guard and that there would
be more than 83,000 Negro men and
1,000 officers fighting for the cause
of this government.
The Rev. Frederick R. Cullen, pas
tor of the Salem Zion A. M. E. church
of Manhattan, took exception to state
ments of the Rev. Mr. Miller regard
ing a meeting that had been held in
that church, in which he accused the
men there of cringing in their pro
test. He declared that all differences
should be forgotten in the crisis.
So many requests were made upon
Mr. Miller for the singing of “Amer
ica” that he finally consented, but
stated that he did not feel disposed to
do so, as the only bar of the hymn
that he sings is “The land where my
fathers died.”
Brief addresses on the necessity of
organizing were delivered by John A.
Shilliday, secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement of
the Colored Race; Walter White of
the same association, and R. M. Me
roney, secretary of the Carlton Ave
nue Branch Y. M. C. A. The resolu
tions were signed by all present.
The following were in charge of the
meeting: The Rev. George Frazier
Miller, Mrs. Charles H. Lansing, Miss
M. W. Ovington, Dr. W. H. Buckley,
Emory Jones, Dr. Franklin Myers and
F. W. Morton.
PATRIOTIC SONG WRITTEN
FOR COLORED SOLDIERS
New Orleans.—Prof. W. J. Nicker
son, a local Colored music teacher, has
composed a patriotic song, “The Col
ored Soldier Boys of Uncle Sam,”
which is being sung with great en
thusiasm by the Colored population.
The words are full of patriotism
and greatly aid and encourage the
soldiers in their patriotic duty to their
country. The music is published by
the Grunewald company and the piece,
it is said, appears destined to become
the song of the Colored troops. The
music gained such popularity that it
was necessary to order a second edi
tion two weeks after the first.
Gary, Ind.—Ras Bar, said to be the
only Ethiopian rabbi in the United
States, was here recently from Abys
sinia and proposed the establishment
of a synagogue for the race. The
movement is being seriously consider
ed.