i = i The Monitor ,l= i
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A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS.
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THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor t , O;
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, MARCH 1, 1919 Vol. IV. N*. ' nole No. 190)
Amazing Achieve
ments in Fifty Years
Ohio Congressman Marshalls a Great
Array of Facts Which Reveal the
Marvelous Story of Race’s Advance
ment During Its Brief Period of
Comparative Freedom.
SOME SURPRISING STATISTICS
Given in Lincoln Day Speech in the
House of Representatives by the
Hon. Henry I. Emerson From the
Twenty-second Congressional Dis
trist, Cleveland, Ohio—Future Holds
in Store Greater Accomplishments.
(Special to The Monitor by Walter
J.Singleton, Staff Correspondent.)
Tr/7‘ASH,NGT0N> Feb. 24.—An ad
W dress of more than passing inter
est was delivered in the House of Rep
resentatives on Lincoln’s birthday an
niversary by Congressman Emerson of
Ohio. It is of special value to the
country at this time, as it forces the
attention of the public upon an array
~ of facts which show the remarkable
progress made by the race in the
United States during the brief period
of freedom. Statistics are not gen
erally interesting. These as a revela
tion of astonishing racial progress will
prove an exception to the rule. Con
, gressman Emerson said:
On this, the 12th day of February,
the anniversary of the birth of Abra
ham Lincoln, it is very interesting to
consider for a few moments the prog
ress of the Colored people in this
country who feel greatly indebted to
him for his efforts in securing for
them freedom and opportunity.
On September 22, 1862, President
Lincoln issued his emancipation proc
lamation wherein he stated that on
January 1, 1863, all persons held as
slaves within certain states were to be
free. The close of the Civil War found
the Colored man free—not only free,
but he was invested with all the rights
and responsibilities of citizenship.
How he has progressed since that
time is now a matter of history, re
duced to figures and facts, and it is
well for us to consider them, bearing
in mind that the civilization and prog
ress and accomplishments of this race
have taken place in the last half of a
century.
In 1915 the races of the world were
in about the following proportions:
Yellow, 703,000 000; white, 560,000,
000; Colored, 258,000,000.
To give an idea of the great in
crease in the efficiency of the Colored
race, I desire to submit the following
figures:
Homes owned, 1866, 12,000; 1916,
600,000.
Farms operated, 1866, 20,000; 1916,
981,000.
Business conducted, 1866, 2,100;
\ 1916, 45,000.
Wealth accumulated, 1866, $20,000,
000; 1916, $1,000,000,000.
Now let us turn to educational sta
tistics:
Percentage literate, 1866, 10 per
cent; 1916, 75 per cent.
College and normal schools, 1866,
15; 1916, 500.
Teachers in public schools, 1866,
600; 1916, 36,900.
Students in public schools, 1866,
100,000; 1916, 1,736,000.
Property for higher education, 1866,
$60,000; 1916, $21,500,000.
Expenditures for education, 1866,
$700,000; 1916, $14,600,000.
The religious progress of the Col
ored race has been wonderful, but here
are the figures:
Number of churches, 1866, 700;
1916, 42,000.
Number of communicants, 1866,
600,000; 1916, 4,570,000.
Number of Sunday schools, 3866,
1,000; 1916, 43,000.
Number of Sunday school pupils,
1866, 50,000; 1J16, 2,400,000.
Value of church property, 1866, $1,
500,000; 1916, $76,000,000.
In 1914, in the state of Georgia,
Colored citizens made returns upon
$38,603,307 worth of property and
owned 1,592,555 acres of land.
In North Carolina Colored citizens
made returns upon $32,197,890 worth
of property.
In Virginia Colored people owned
1,674,823 acres of land and had $37,
851,973 worth of real and personal
property.
In 1900 Colored people were inter
ested in 51 banks and insurance com
panies and held policies to the amount
of $25,800,000.
Colored people have interested
themselves in playgrounds for chil
dren, social improvement, Negro up
lift, civic improvement and health im
provement.
They have won prizes in raising
corn, pigs, cotton, potatoes and other
vegetables.
They have noted preachers, invens
ors, teachers, sculptors, actors, artists,
singers, composers and musicians.
The Colored man in the wars of the
United States has always shown him
self loyal, patriotic and ready to fight
—never flinching from duty.
The Wood of Colored men has been
shed upon every battle field from the
Boston massacre to the time of the
signing of the armistice last Novem
ber.
Crispus Attacks, a Colored man,
was the first to fall in the Boston
massacre, Match 5, 1770.
Samuel Lawrence led a company of
Colored soldiers at Bunker Hill.
Peter Salem fired the shot that
killed'Major Pitcairn.
The Black Legion in 1779 covered
themselves with glory at the siege of
Savannah.
Over 3,000 served in the Revolution
ary War and fought for independence
of this Nation.
In the present world war thousands
of Colored soldiers went over the top
for freedom and democracy.
Over 33 Colored people have re
ceived Carnegie medals, 3 graduated
from West Point, and they have a
lower percentage of crime than many
foreign races that come to this coun
try.
What the Colored man needs is edu
cation and an equal opportunity. Ed
ucation is the only safeguard for free
institutions, and if this opportunity
is given the Colored race what will
he do in the next 50 years?
Lynchings are a form of anarchy,
whether the person lynched is black,
white or yellow. They should be dis
couraged by all the means and all the
power at the government command.
If one crowd of people can lynch one
person, whether he is innocent or
guilty, one never knows who will be
the victim of the next lynching.
I am in favor of giving every man,
black or white, an even opportuni ’
to work out his own salvation.
Equal opportunity is the essence of
free government; without it a free
government ceases to exist.
Every child in this country should
be given an opportunity to obtain an
education. It should be a part of the
fundamental law of the land. Repub
lics that have failed in the past have
failed because the people were not
all educated.
I desire to speak strongly for the
education of the Colored people, for
the care of their health, and the giv
ing him an opportunity to work out
his own future.
Many Colored pupils have graduat
ed from public schools and colleges
at the head of their class, and what
one pupil has done many others can
do and will do if given an opportu
nity.
In the city where I live—Cleveland,
Ohio—there are Colored lawyers and
doctors, who stand very high in their
profession, and some of the most elo
quent preachers I ever listened to.
They are but the representatives of
the future of the Colored citizens in
the professions.
“There is so much good in the worst
of us and so much bad in the best of
us that it hardly behooves any of us
to speak ill of the rest of us.” That
is a good policy.
In conclusion let me state that if a
people can accomplish these things
in 50 of the first years of their free
dom, what will they accomplish in the
second 50? Time alone can answer
the question. (Applause.)
AFRIC A NS B ECO MING
STRIKINGLY DEMOCRATIC
_
Sierra Leone, West Africa.—(Spe
cial to The Monitor.)—In the annual
report made by the governor to the
colonial office at London, the follow
ing excerpt is taken and shows the
trend of native affairs:
“The native institutions are strik
ingly democratic, and the spread of in
tellectual enlightenment and wealth
among the lower orders of the pop
ulation has a tendency to render them
increasingly democratic in practice as
well as in theory.
“Simultaneously the material condi
tions of life are undergoing a great
change owing to the sudden acquisi
tion of wealth by the inhabitants of
the cocoa-producing districts.”
COLORED LAWYER AP
POINTED SPECIAL COUNSEL
Columbus, O., Feb. 27.—Attorney
Robert B. Barcus, well known local
Colored lawyer, has just been appoint
ed special counsel in the office of the
attorney general.
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THE LAST BREATH OF WINTER
ROBERT CHURCH NEW
SOUTHERN LEADER
Young Men to Play Prominent Pari
in Future Political Situation.
Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 27.—From all
indications, the campaign for presi
dent in 1920 is now on and promises
to be the most extensive ever car
ried on in the history of the na
tion. One of the real leaders to be
reckoned with in the south, one of the
younger men of wealth, education and
aggressiveness is Robert R. Church
of this city. Mr. Church is in the
game of politics as a real profession,
and because he believes he can serve
the best interests of his race, he
frankly admits that he aspires to be a
real leader, nor for selfish purposes,
or for a mere job but to get advan
tages that are now denied the Negro.
Every returning soldier is coming
home with a new vision and grim de
termination to get the justice he was
promised when he was fighting and
bleeding on the battlefields of France.
There is no hesitation in saying that
the “old time politicians” must step
down and out for the soldier boys and
the men of the younger generation.
“COHORT OF THE DAMNED”
TO BE USED IN ALGERIA
Paris, France, Feb. 26.—It has re
cently been made known in Paris that
the French war office intends to use
the “Cohort of the Damned” in Al
geria to police the desert and hold
natives in check. It is assumed that
one airplane will be worth more than
a regiment of cavalry in protecting
the provinces of the African wastes.
“The Cohort of the Damned” is
composed of French aviators whose
minds have been left more or less
unbalanced by reason of their work in
the recent war. They are virtually
daredevils and wild men and are con
sidered safer in Algeria than in the
more civilized regions of France.
EUROPEAN EMIGRATION
TO AFRICA INCREASING
London, Eng.—A recent census of
the European population of Africa
furnished the colonial office is as fol
lows:
Cape Province, 180,771, an increase
of 15,101 compared with 1911.
Natal, 120,465, an increase of 22,
619.
Transvaal, 497,236, an increase of
77,352.
Orange Free State, 181,292, an in
crease of 6,469. ».
Total for the Union, including trav
elers, 1,418,060, an increase of 141,
818 compared with 1911.
BLACK MEN REPRE
SENTED IN GREAT PICTURE
London, Eng.—(Special to The Mon
itor.)—The Royal Academy of London
is holding an exhibitionof nearly 400
paintings depicting Canada’s part in
the late war. Some of the most strik
ing works are from the brush of Lieut.
Wyndham Lewis and in a scene en
titled, "A Gun Pit,” the painter has
included two black figures along wtih
six others. The picture shows the
manning and firing of a huge gun. '*
STRIKES AND GENERAL DIS
AFFECTION IN TRANSVAAL
Capetown, South Africa.—Mr. Mof
fat, chief magistrate of the Transkein j
territories, calls the attention of the
government to the prevailing unrest I
among the natives. The gentleman j
states that the disposition of the local '
employers to discriminate against the
natives in favor of the white laborers
is the primary cause of the discon
tent. He also proposes the establish
ment of a dispute board, the with
drawal of the color bar provisions
from the mining regulations and con
demns certain native dwellings in
Johannesburg in which the natives are
forced to live.
“NO JIM CROW
TRENCHES IN FRANCE
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. —There is
muclr discussion going on here in va
rious newspapers concerning the prop
er treatment of Negroes. The daily
newspapers are freeer with their
space on matters affecting the Negro
than they have ever been before.
Much of the writing is good, and
there must !>'■ some beneficial results.
The Philadelphia Public Ledger con
tained a long letter recently from
R. F. Mintz, a private in the medical
department, at Camp Humphrey, Va.
The writer, “a southern soldier by
both blood and birthright,” as he
proudly proclaims, really makes a se
rious effort to defend “jim crowism.”
His letter was inspired by an editorial
in The Public Ledger entitled: “No
Jim Crow Trenches in France.”
MAY NAME PARK AFTER
LATE LIBERIAN MINISTER
St. Louis.—A movement is on foot
here to name the public park be-,
ing constructed opposite the Negro
high school in honor of J. Milton Tur
ner, late minister of Liberia.
NEW POLITICAL PARTY
Columbia, S. C.—Negroes of South
Carolina are working for the forma
tion of a new political party to be
known as the Union Republican party,
which proposes to affiliate with any
“political organization that will give
us the rights to which we are en
titled.” Bishop Chappele is a leading
figure in the movement.
FIGHTING SCHOOL SEGREGATION
Topeka, Kas.—A big fight is on
in the Kansas legislature where a bill
has been introduced to establish seg
regated schools in cities and towns
of the second class. The Negroes of
Kansas are bitterly opposed to the
measure as untimely and undemo
cratic anil are fighting it with a big
lobby.
SIR HARRY JOHNSON ILL
London, Eng.—Sir Harry Johnson,
the famous English author and friend
of Africa, has undergone a serious op
eration. His complete recovery is as
sured, but it will be some time before
he can resume his work on behalf of
the, Africans.
CONCERNING NATION
WIDE PROHIBITION
Paralleled in Editorial Comment With
the Handling of Various Amend
ments.
By the Associated Negro Press.
Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 27.—The effect
of nation-wide prohibition upon the
country is being paralleled in editorial
comment with the handling of the
13th, 14th and 15th amendments. The
Valdosta (Ga.) Times (white) says:
“In order to find another precedent
of the same sort, we need only to go
back to the thirteenth amendment,
which destroyed many millions of
property in slaves with a stroke of the
pen, prpvided far less compensation
for slave holders than the eighteenth
amendment provides for distillers,
brewers and wine merchants. . . .
If the institution of private property
survived the thirteenth amendment
it can survive the eighteenth.” There
is a growing determined effort that
the fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments must be enforced.
INTEREST IN PAN
AFRICAN CONGRESS
Chicago, Feb. 27.—There has been
much discussion here over the Pan
African congress in session in Paris,
France, which is attended by delegates
from all the countries and colonies
in the world where people of African
descent are living. There is a gen
eral opinion, regardless of the inabil
ity of some of the American dele
gates to receive passports, that the
congress is timely, and there are some
very important and significant things
that may be said to the delegates at
tending the peace conference.
All are agreed that the rights and
privileges of the Colored peoples of
the world, which racial division forms
thrpe-fouiths of the total population
of the world, has reached a crisis in
view of the principles behind the
world war. Bolshevism, which is
spreading terror in so many sections
of the world, has never found any
encouragement from Negro peoples,
and because of their loyalty to their
respective governments, it is deemed
only right that they should be ac
corded equal and exact justice, say
many Chicago leaders.
CHARLESTON TO HAVE
COLORED TEACHERS
Charleston, S. C., Feb. 27.—The
board of trustees of the city of
Charleston have finally agreed to em
ploy Colored teachers to instruct Col
ored pupils in the public schools of
the city. September, 1920, the be
ginning of the new school year, is the
date named for the inauguration of
the new plan. Charleston is the last
city of the state to adopt this proposal.
HOLD MEMORIAL MEETING
Keokuk, la.—A grand memorial
meeting was held in honor of the
late Theodore Roosevelt and Paul
Laurence Dunbar, Rev. J. Sterling
Moore presided, and addresses were
made by Dr. T. H. Phillips, Rev. C. R.
Waters, Alonzo W. Drane and F. S.
Johnson.
Chicago Welcomes
Colored Heroes
Wonderful Public Demonstration
Marks Return of 370th Infantry,
Former 8th Illinois, From France.
HALF MILLION VIEW PARADE
“National Negro Capitol,” Chicago’s
Newest Name, Proud of Colored Sol
diers and Plans to Give All Em
ployment.
(The Associated Negro Press.)
CHICAGO, ILL.—(Special to The
Monitor.)—The most gigantic and
wonderful public demonstration ever
held in the city of Chicago, took place
Monday when the 370th Infantry, the
old Eighth Illinois, was welcomed
home by the populace. It is not the
woid of an enthused individual pa
triot, but the published expression of
every daily newspaper in Chicago, and
all leading authorities, that never has
Chicago seen anything to equal the
Monday demonstration. It was more
than an event, it marks an epoch,
and it is in this light that the story
of the occasion is treated.
Never have the Chicago daily news
papers given so much space in news,
illustrations and editorials to anything
in which the Negro was connected.
Great full page wide headlines, full
page illustrations and column edi
torials announced and welcomed the
dusky heroes who achieved undying
fame on the world battle fields of
France.
Let it be thoroughly understood
that it was not a race event, it was a
truly Chicago event in all that the
word implies, and its effect will be
felt throughout the nation. More
than 500,000 people viewed the parade
in which the conquering heroes
marched through the principal thor
oughfares of Chicago’s famous loop
business district. Business was sus
pended everywhere, and the enthus
iasm of all the people showed with
out doubt that Chicago, with its great
cosmopolitan population, is the climax
American city of true democracy and
justice.
There was speech making by Mayor
Thompson, Col. Thos. Roberts, Col.
Otis Duncan and others, and the one
fact impressed on all was this; The
day has come when the door of op
portunity in the United States is
opened for the Negro, and it must
be kept opened at all hazards.
The men were attired in full mili
tary equipment, with steel helmets,
rifles, cartridge belts and the para
pehmalia with which they chased the
Germans back across the Hindenburg
line. They were the first soldiers out
of Chicago who actually participated
in the fighting, to return as a unit.
Looking to the future, after the men
have been demobolized, the fighting
men have returned home with the
same grim determination to enter into
civic life that they used in chasing
the Huns back into their own country.
Captain Lewis F. Johnson, an attor
ney in civil life, and the man who
built the first great Negro Y. M.
C. A. in this country at Washington,
expressed the sentiment of the men
when he said: "We intend to get
into political and civic affairs, and we
are determined to be heard. We sac
rificed that democracy might be made
safe, and we are going to have some
say in seeing how the game is carried
on at home.”
Lieut. Col. Duncan, the man of
whom it was said: “He didn’t have
sense enough to know when to stop
fighting,” stated that the men were
all glad to get home, and are very
serious in their desire to enter into
civil life, now that the fighting is
over, and the days of peace are at
hand. Col. Duncan also said that he
will do all he personally can to keep
in touch with the men of his regiment
and encourage them.
There is active effort being carried
out in Chicago, in an organized way,
to give employment to everyone of the
Negro sold’ers returning home.
BRITAIN SENDS SPECIAL
AGENT TO COLONIES
London, Eng.—The colonial office
has appointed Sir Alexander Wood
Renton, retired chief justice of Cey
lon, to visit the West African col
onies and inquire for the British gov
ernment into the conditions of sendee,
life and remuneration on the coast.
Chief among the many things which
the natives intend to bring to his no
tice is the criminal code proposed for
Sierra Leone. The Africans are a
unit against this code and hope to
have Britain prevent its adoption.