Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1918)
The Monitor n=ri WOy _ : . 1 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. JUNE 22. 1918 Vol. III. No. 51 <W*. ,e No. 155) Colored Troops Defeat Germans Sweep Back lluns—Take 300 Prison ers—Capture Many Guns—Occupy j Important Tactical Position—In flict Severe Defeat on Enemy. WINNING FAME IN FLANDERS Sable Sammies Sustaining Traditions, and Writing Another Brilliant Page of Achievements in the Military An nals of the World. BULLETIN WrITH the American Expedition ary forces in France, June 11. —The French-American forces to I night struck the Germans a hard blow all along a front of twelve miles be tween Rubescourt and St. Maur, the Colored American troops showing con spicuous daring and bravery, recap turing Belloy, Gentlis Wood and the heights between Courcelles and JVlor temer. Our boys inflicted heavy loss upon the Boches, delivering a brilliant1 counter tactical attack upon Gentlis Wood, recapturing it, thus cutting the enemy off from its shelter and ex 1,osing them to the concentrated dead ly fire of the heavy allied artillery and machine guns. Seeing their progress hindered, the Germans turned toward the other flank and nearly reached Itibeeourt to the north of which place the hottest encounters occurred in the woods of f Decaslin Court. The enemy was forced to deboucn •. on the plain near the Oise river where he found himself without shelter. The Germans found it necessary to i bring forward more divisions to fill I the gaps in their ranks caused by the I terrific gunfire of the Colored troops. Y The enemy’s possession of the height of Ecouvillon, below Tliies court, enabled him to filter troops through the small valleys, making the position of the allies occupying tlie small hillocks perilous and causing them to retire. The whole countryside hereabouts is dotted with these small hills, which are, called mountains, forming a kind of bastion, which, when turned from one side or the other, become abso lute traps for the occupants. Most of the valleys between run toward the ■ banks of the River Oise. Hence the importance of the brav ery of our Colored troops in clearing Gentlis Wood, leaving the enemy with no vantage point from which to en fillade the unprotected inhabitants, is not hard to estimate. Of the 1,000 prisoners captured by all our allied forces on this front 300 Boches were taken by our Colored soldiers and many guns. The Colorei* soldier is just beginning to write an- [ other brilliant page in the history of j bis country. CAPTURE GERMAN DESPATCH DOGS With the American Army in France, j June 7.—A wise Alabama Colored sol-1 dier in an organization with the ■ French troops used a novel means to capture German dogs employed to carry despatches to the front line ■ from the enemy rear posts. The soldier got leave to go huntmg and killed a fox. Then he crept across j “No Man’s Land” at night and j dragged the fox back along the ground | from the German trenches. The fol lowing day six German messenger dogs came bounding into the Ameri can trenches and were captured by! the soldiers. NOMINEE FOR CONGRESS NAMED AT CHICAGO Chicago, 111., June 12.—Colored men of the First Congressional district un der the leadership of Oscar De Priest, have nominated James A. Scott, for mer Asst. States Attorney for Con gress, on the Republican ticket, in opposition to Martin B. Madden, the present incumbent. Edward H. Mor ris, the well-known attorney, had been selected but refused to run. HOWARD UNIVERSITY GETS l BUST OF FOUNDER t — —■ / Washington, D. C., June 21.—Mrs. Elizabeth H. Bancroft, daughter of Gen. O. O. Howard, the founder of Howard university, has just loaned the bronze bust of the benefactor to that institution, and the figure wdl adorn a prominent niche in the Car negie library of the school. # COLORED GIRL BEST WRITER IN EIGHTH GRADE Alice Watson of Howard Kennedy ! School Carries Off Premium Honor in Penmanship. - I GEORGE GOFF RANKS FOURTH ALICE WATSON, eighth grade graduate of Howard Kennedy school and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Watson, 2925 Grant street, is the champion writer in the Omaha grade schools, according to awards announced last week, by J. A. Savage, writing supervisor. The next best nine writers in order of excellence with their respective schools, are: Ruth Cunningham, Walnut Hill; Heinrich Heine, Vinton; George Goff, Lincoln; Bessie Handler, Mason; Sarah Roitstein, South Central; Bea trice Canfield, Florence; Emma Ritch ie, Columbian; Dorothy Steinbaugh, Webster; Frank Maritsas, Central. Supervisor Savage issued 113 cer tificates of excellence in writing with gold seals, the highest honor a grade pupil can receive. Gold seals are is sued only to eighth grade graduates. More than 1,400 certificates of pro ficiency in writing were given during the school year. George Goff, who ranks fourth, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Goff of Forest avenue. Highly Honored by 367th Regiment Charles W. Anderson Is Made Honor ary Colonel of Famous New York Military Organization for Loyal Services to Government. FIRST TIME TITLE CONFERRED Custom Common in European Coun tries Hitherto Unknown Here—Will Doubtless Establish Precedent of Honoring Civilians. NEW YORK. June 12—Charles W. Anderson, Supervising Agent of tho State Department of Food for Markets, and who was for ten years Collector of Internal Revenue for the New York district, has been made an honorary colonel of the 367th United States Infantry. Although the cur tom is common in European countries, this is the first time that any man has been so honored in this coun try. It was awarded to Anderson as a mark of appreciation of his serv ices in organizing Colored regiments and in recognition of the manner in which he has aided the government in many other ways. At the outbreak of the war he col lected names of Colored men of fight ing age and organized a meeting to encourage enlistments. He introduced Colonel Haywood, commander of Ne gro regiments in the Spanish-Ameri can war, to the assemblage, and the meeting marked the formation of the Fifteenth Regiment of Infantry, the regiment which has been mentioned frequently for daring and courageous service in France. Working with Colonel Moss, com mander of the 367th, he has been in strumental in the building of the new auditorium at Camp Upton. Ander son was one of the first to sign the “Stand by the President’s letter, and has in every way combated tho in fluence of a few leaders who strove to lessen the participation of the Colored man in the war. He has been render ing service as a volunteer member of Draft Board No. 139 since July, 1917. BOMB THROWN INTO CHURCH. St. Louis, Mo., June 8.—A bomb explosion at 12:30 a. m. Thursday wrecked the interior of the First Bap tist church. Bell and Cardinal ave nues. The bomb was dropped into a committee room in the basement through a window and exploded there. Damage was estimated at $1,000. It was the third attempt in five months to destroy the building. Twr other bombs had failed to explode. Detectives working on the case re garded the explosions as a protest of white residents of the .community to the location of the church. PUBLISHING HOUSE TO MOVE TO NASHVILLE Nashville, Tenn., June 21.—The pub lishing house of the C. M. E. Church will be removed from Jackson to this city as soon as the machinery can be dismantled and shipped without undue interference with the publication work. SONGS OF THE NEGRO REVEAL HIS SPIRIT Harry Burleigh Calls Attention to Plantation Mel odies; Hopes Much from War for Negro. By Minna Lederman in the New York Tribune. □N unhappy people—but a people of great faith." Harry Rur leigh, singer and composer, charac terizes his race simply yet with that poetic grace which is the Negro’s gift for expressing himself. ‘‘Take all the plantation melodies and I challenge you to find one that suggests retalia tion. Vengeance, the mood that cre ates sharp dissonance in the song of the Indian, is never a motif in the song of the Negro. To peace, to truth, to all the cardinal virtues his mu sical soul was pledged. “His is a lovely acquiescence. Some times I feel it is too complete.. Had the Negro risen to shake off his chains and strike his blow, he might have suffered less. “But then, of course, he would have sung less. His religion held him in leash. Singing in reverent community with his fellows, he was purged of a'l 'pain. In his faith and his music he was solaced.” No one can speak with greater au thority upon the Negro spiritual than Harry Burleigh. By his collection and arrangement of this primitive mate rial, he has done more than any com poser living or dead, black or white, to focus the serious attention of the public unon it. The very moving melo dies, that he or his relatives or friends have heard on the plantations of the south he has furnished with careful yet rich revealing accompaniments. You may have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Burleigh himself sing these spirituals with great fervor. The stirring exhortation “(Jo Down Mosps,’’ “Deep River" epic., almost, in its yearning and sadness, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen," “You May Bury Me in the Eas,” the plain tive “By an’ By,” and that beautiful song “My Lord, What a Morning, When De Stars Begin to Fall,” w'hich has caught so equisitely the hush and wonder of dawn—these are hut a few of the treasures for which we are indebted to Mr. Burleigh. War Will Help Negro. Mr. Burleigh feels that America has been unfair to the Negro. “The public is only just beginning to realize what our musical heritage is. The old minstrels, beginning with Christy’s troupe, have done the Negro a great deal of harm. They reflected in exaggerated form the grotesque, the startling features of his dance, and America with characteristic su perficiality seized on these to exploit and imitate. Our songs, with all their inspiration, their true beauty, were muffled, while the buck and wing and the clog spread wildly through every state in the Union. In the pop ular mind the Negro figures most viv idly as a jigging automaton. “Perhaps he will be more truly felt now. The war will be a great leveler. It will demand sacrifice from us as from the rest of the continent, and I hope it will somewhat approach equal ity in its rewards. And then, too, the war will strike a blow at the easy frivolity of the American public. Gravity and somber mood will find more relief in our songs of eternal hope, than in our professional cake walk. Future of Negro Music. Mr. Burleigh is a mon of consider able musical attainment, not to say erudition. Besides his arrangements of the spirituals, he has composed over 100 original songs. They cover a wide range of subjects, and only a few are Negro in their musical con tent. He has set Walt Whitman’s “Ethiopa Saluting the Colors” to a very dramatic accompaniment. A re cent work is “The Young Warrior,” which has been translated and adopted by Italy as a war song, and has been orchestrated by no less a person than Zandonai, the composer of “Francesca da Rimini.” He has a son of eighteen, in whose promise as a musician and poet he takes great pride. The boy is al ready hnf1 father’s collaborator. One Sunday, in an old church of Virginia. .x heard for the first time the melody and words of “I Stood on De Ribber of Jerdon.” Recording them both, he sent them on to Burleigh, who gave it its present popular arrangement. He has also written a great deal of verse, which his father assures me is, some of it, quite extraordinary. “The future of Negro music ? It will depend, of course, on some Ne gro. Not me, but my son perhaps, or his son. The progress of art is slow, and extends over many genera tions. Meanwhile we will go forward developing our old chants. “Some day, I feel, we may achieve in music a great dramatic form, some new operatic expression. A tremen dous merging of dance and verse and song will be our gift to the new world.” NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF WOMEN’S CLUBS VISITS OMAHA Mrs. Mary B. Talbert, who is the national president of the Colored Women’s association, an organization representing over 100,000 women, will be an Omaha visitor next week. Mrs. Talbert will speak at St. John’s A, M. E. church and the public should eagerly embrace this oportunity of hearing her. It was through her efforts that the mortgage on the Frederick Doug las home at Anacostia was paid off and that historic place preserved for the Race. The association is now addressing itself among other things to securing the enactment of a law that will bring lynching under direct authority of the national government. COLORED SOLDIERS COUNTER ATTACK With the French Army in France, June 11 (By the Associated Press; noon.)—The strongest effort made by the Germans in the course of last night and this morning in their new offensive was in the direction of the railroad connecting Estees-St. Denis and Montdidier. The Germans met with such resistance that they re nounced for the moment their at tempts in this region. Negro troops, supported by entent allied tanks, which did great execu tion, delivered a brilliant counter at tack in this vicinity and recaptured the forest running southwest of Mar queglise, between Perte farm and Loges farm. DONS SHROUD AS DEATH APPROACHES Middlesboro, Ky., June 11.—The un dertaking firm of Gibson Brothers, of this city, yesterday received a hur ry call for a casket and a shroud, to be sent at once. The undertaker in quired who was dead and was in formed that no one was dead yet, but that one Kella Henderson, a Negro woman, was expecting to die and wished to inspect her grave outfit before passing to th<; eternal beyond. The coffin was delivered and the girl arrayed in her grave clothes and smil ingly awaited the visit of the death angel which finally made its appear ance and the funeral services were duly held attended by sorrowing rela tives and friends. This is the moss unique case on record here of its kind. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OP GRADUATE NURSES St. Louis, Mo.—The National Asso ciation of Colored Graduate Nurses will convene here August 20, 21, 22, 23, and will be entertained by the local Association of Negro Graduate Nurses. TRENTON HONORS ROBERTS. Trenton, N. J.—Trenton has gone on record as honoring her son, Need ham Roberts, one of the two Afro American soldiers awarder! the gold palms in France, by sending the fol lowing cablegram: Private Needham Roberts, 369th Infantry, U. S. Expeditionary Forces, France. I desire to extend to you the con gratulations and thanks of the citizens of Trenton for your inspiring acts of bravery, which have not only reflect ed glory upon yourself, your eity and your race, but which will live forever in the annals of American valor. Trenton is proud of you, her son, who has so gloriously upheld her best traditions on the battle field. The name of Needham Rob erts will have a cherished place in the remembrance of all patriotic Americans long after this conflict shall have ended. Trenton salutes you! FREDERICK DONNELLY, Mayor, Trenton, N. J. Asks McAdoo to Cut Out Jim Crow Cars — Ralph W. Tyler Asks for Equal Ac commodations on Railroads for Our Soldiers and Speakers Presenting War Aims of Government. PRESENTS CURIOUS ANOMOLY Patriotic American Citizens Compelled to Accept Inferior Accommodations to Which Aliens Are Not Subjected and Pay First Class Fare. WWASHINGTON, D. C., June 14.— Recently Ralph W. Tyler, na tional secretary of the National Col ored Soldiers’ Comfort Committee, sent the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Adoo, who is in charge of the rail reads now under government control, a letter asking that some steps be taken to stop the jim crowing of sol diers and speakers presenting the war aims of the government. It is •stated that Mr. Tyler in his letter suggested that since the railroads are under government control and this war is in the interest of the oppressed people of the world for the true spirit of democracy, it was hurting to com pel soldiers and patriots to accept inferior accommodations to which even aliens are not subjected. Mr. McAdoo, it seems, referred Mr. Ty ler’s letter to Judge Prouty, director of public service, who ii vited Mr. Ty ler to call for a conference on the matter. The conference was held last Tues day morning. It is reported that Judge Prouty expressed himself as having always believed our people should have equal accommodations and that he expressed sympathy for the Race and his personal views against segregation and discrimina tion because of color and promised to take the matter up with Mr. McAdoo on his return from the Virginia health resort, where he is now recuperating. Mr. Tyler advised the director that the subjecting of soldiers especially, and the men who had volunteered to de liver speeches presenting the war aims of thfe government to grossly in ferior railroad facilites was hurtful and directly inconsistent with the President’s declaration as to why America had entered this war. Judge Prouty is from the state of Vermont. KILLED IN ALTO ACCIDENT. Dorey McNeeley, Colored proprie tor of a pool hall at 2607 N street, South Side, was instantly killed early Sunday morning when an automobile he was driving crashed into a tele phone pole near Twenty-fourth and U streets, South Side. McNeeley’s neck was broken and his right arm fractured. The accident occurred near a curve in ^Twenty-fourth, at I the intersec tion of U street. Due to high speed the machine is thought to have got ten out of control of the driver and dashing up over the curb struck the pole. Five other occupants of the wrecked automobile escaped with but a few scratches. All were Colored people. FORMING WOMEN’S BATTALION. New York, June 21.—Unit No. 319 of the Red Cross workers are form ing a regimental battalin of women. They will be instructed as to the use of rifles and uniforms will be made for them in the near future. New York Socialists Nominate Candidates Prominent and Able Colored Men Are Chosen to Run for Congress, the State Senate and the Legislature, REV. GEORGE FRAZIER MILLER Fearless and Outspoken Champion of Human Rights Is Nominated for Congress From Twenty-Second Dis trict, Which Has Large Population. NEW YORK, June 21.—Friday eve ning, June 8th, the socialist party of New York designated three of the ablest Race men in the state of New York as the regular nominees of the party. Both races and both sexes participated in the nominations. The men selected to carry (the banner were Dr. George Frazier Miller for congress from the 22d congressional district of the state of New York; A. Philip Randolph for state senator from the 20th senate district of New York, and Chandler Owens for assemblyman from the 31st assembly district of New York city. These districts take in the bulk of the population of the Harlem district, where about 80,000 people are living right together and where the largest Colored Settlement in the world is located. Socialists Growing Among Race. The socialist party in New York is growing rapidly among our people. Last year after a strenuous and effi cient campaign waged by A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen, the socialist ticket polled about 25 per cent of the race vote. Candidates Men of Ability. Dr. George Frazier Miller is one of the most scholarly ministers in New York, who has always condemned injustices to the Race. He is an A. B. from Howard university, a graduate of the General Theological Seminary, a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple, and a student and writer of rare ability. A Philip Randolph is a polit ical scientist from New York City col lege. Chandler Owen'is an A. B. from Virginia Union university and did spe cial graduate work in the school of political science of Columbia univer sity. New York has led the way with men of character and ability who have taken part in nearly every real uplift movement in this city for the last five or ten years. Let the Race citizen* throughout the country lend all their aid to the election of these men, who will help to strike the blow fdr the liberation of their brothers and the oppressed peoples throughout the world. JACK JOHNSON WANTS TO FIGHT FOR COUNTRY Undefeated, but Ex-World Champion, an Exile From Home, Anxious to Do His Bit—Seeks Assistance of New York Congressman. Paris, June 12.—Jack Johnson, the American pugilist, now in Madrid, wants to fight for his country. He has written the following letter to Captain E. H. LaGuardia, representa tive in congress from New York: “After my talk with you yesterday it occurred to me to ask you to use your good offices in my behalf. 1 am as good an American as anyone living and naturally I want to do my bit. I firmly believe I wasn’t fairly treated at home. “All I ask now is a chance to show my sincerity. There’s no position I would consider too dangerous. I am willing to fight and die for my own country. I cannot offer any more. “Will you kindly make my offer known to the proper authorities? I am anxiously awaiting a reply.” Captain La Guardia referred the letter to the adjutant general. FIREMAN RESIGNS AFTER LONG SERVICE St. Paul, Minn, June 20.—P. H. An derson, lieutenant in Engine Company No. 22, city fire department, has re signed after thirty years and eleven months of continuous service. Lieu tenant Anderson was rated as one of the most efficient and daring fire fighters of the department. His name has been placed on the firemen retire ment roll and he will receive a pen sion of $58 per month. Engine com pany No. 22, is a complete hose and engine company, with fourteen men, and composed entirely of Colored men and captained by William B. Godette, who has been in the service for nearly thirty-five years.