l=j The Monitor i
A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS.
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, JUNE 5, 1919 Vol. IV. No. 49 (W ' No. 203)
Government Opens
Model City for Race
United States Housing Corporation
Tries Experiment at Truxton, Va.—
Town Comprises Ninety Acres, and
Contains 224 Buildings.
PRESI HE NT SI IERM A N
DELIVERS ADDRESS
Claims Experiment Will Be Watched
With Interest and Concern by
Thousands of People Throughout
Country—Will' Be Viewed With
Hope and Skepticism.
PORTSMOUTH, VA., May 29.—
Uncle Sam, through the U. S.
Housing Corporation of the Depart
ment of Labor, Sunday opened the
first town constructed by the govern
ment exclusively for Negroes. This
model city, built and operated by the
U. S. Housing Corporation is located
at Truxton, Va., near the great naval
i -- station at Portsmouth and is com
prised of some 224 buildings. The
town covers approximately 90 acres.
Officials of the LT. S. Housing Cor
poration, officers from the Ports
mouth navy yard and officials of the
state of Virginia attended the open
ing ceremonies and the principal ad
dress was delivered by L. K. Sherman,
president of the Housing Corporation,
who represented Secretary of Laboi
Wnt. B. Wilson.
Truxton is in eevrv sense a modern
town. It will accommodate 250 fam
ilies, either in single or semi-de
tached homes. Rents range from $10
to $19 per month. There are six store
buildings within the limits oY the
town which it is proposed to operate
under a stock company formed by the
tenants. A doctor and a dentist will
be invited to locate in the community.
Although the formal opening of the
Housing Corporation’s town did not
take place until Sunday, 90 families
have already located in the houses
now' finished and applications for
homes already received insure the oc
cupancy of the buildings as rapidly as
they are completed. The town will he
completely finished and occupied with
in the next two months.
Members of the Negro race have
taken a great interest in this novel
and model town, a very active Negro
advisory committee under T. C. Irvin
supervisor of Negro Economics foi
Virginia, having carried on an ac
' tive campaign among prospective ten
ants with a view to establishing Trux
ton as a model workers' community.
A high standard has been set for
the community and plans are under
| way for the establishment of a library
V and other educational features.
Officials of the U. S. navy yard and
of the city of Portsmouth, together
with the Negro population, feel a
high sense of pride in the new town
and the Housing Corporation is as
sured of efficient co-operation in the
management of the project. This is
the only place in the United States
where the Housing Corporation has
deeloped a housing project exclusively
for members of the Colored race. In
dustrial concerns throughout the coun
try are interested in the develop
ment of the new towm which, if it
proves successful from the standpoint
of the tenants, will unquestionably
lead to similar undertakings looking
to the provisions of housing relief for
Colored workers.
President Sherman’s Address.
In an address delivered at the ex
ercises in connection with the formal
^ opening of the town, President Le
Hr, _______ . . -
[ Roy K. Sherman of the U. S. Housing
Corporation said:
“We are dedicating the completion
of a housing project built by the
United States government for the
•Colored people. This village was not
built for charity. It was not built
to uplift anyone. It was built pri
marily as a war measure to aid this
great Hampton Roads naval base in
crushing the arrogant, scientific bar
: barism of the Huns.
"Although all of the powers and
| effectiveness of our government were
| not in full operation at the time of
the signing of the armistice; although
Truxtun was not yet completed, I,
nevertheless, believed that works of
1 preparedness like this housing village
i for war workers did play a most im
portant part in bringing Germany to
i her knees.
“When David Crockett's coon said,
1 ‘Don’t shoot David, I’ll come down,’ it
realized as Germany did through her
I insiduous channels of information that
j Uncle Sam was soon to be as well
prepared for the inevitable as was
David Crockett.
“The material preparations for wat
are generally lost although a nation
may be saved. These houses built as
a war measure are not lost. The poor
i character of the dwellings for the
Colored population are tradition. The
shacks, the hovels and the slums with
which they are afflicted is notorious.
An Opportunity and an Experiment.
“Here is an opportunity. Here is
: an experiment. A model village of
: 250 up to date houses located in pleas
ant surroundings built by the gov
[ ernment and turned over for the ex
clusive use of the Negro citizen. It
is an experiment that will be watched
with interest and concern by thou
sands of people throughout the United
States. It has the hope of all friends
of justice and fair play and it has
also the doubt and skepticism of
rminv.
“Will the experiment be a success?
Will the citizens rise to their oppor
tunity ?
“All men may be equal before the
law, but the law cannot make men
equal. Opportunity may knock at the
i floor, but she is a bashful dame. She
does not follow. She waits for the
ardent suitor. Opportunity is a great
he'p, but it availeth not unless taken
advantage of. Often a two spot has
beaten a pair of indolent kings.
Town One of Twenty-Four.
“This village of Truxtun which we
i are dedicating today is one of twenty
four war housing projects, which the
U. S. bureau of industrial housing and
transportation, in the name of the
U. S. Housing Corporation, is now
rapidly completing. Altogether they
! will consist of 6,000 houses and 64
apartments or dormitories. They will
: house over 35,000 people. They repre
, sent a returnable value to the govern
ment of over 25 millions of dollars.
They are collectively !)5 per cent com
pleted today. By the end of June
they will be beginning to return in
| rentals to the government two and
| one-half millions of dollars per an
num. These housing developments of
the U. S. Housing Corporation are
located throughout the country from
( San Francisco and Puget Sound on
the Pacific to Bath, Me.; from Wa
tertown, N. Y., to Portsmouth, Va.,
all located at points where there was
: a concentration of war industry. The
Housing bureau is a temporary war
adjunct to the department of labor
| under Secretary Wilson.
“What will be the future of these
250 houses ? T can say that for the
present these houses will be oper
; ited and rented to individuals by the
(Continued on Page 2)
- - . -. -oat
Mr. Advertiser:
The Monitor reaches 15,000
Colored people in Omaha, Lin- I
coin and Council Bluffs and I
hundreds throughout Nebraska
j and other states. f |
^ As a wide-awake advertiser fj
does this mean any
you?
THE RT. REV. HENRY BLANTON PARKS, D. D.
Bishop of the Sixth Episcopal Itistrict of the African Methodist Episcopal)
Church, Who Has Been Invited to Preach at St. John’s Sunday, of
Which Church He Was Once Pastor.
CHICAGO RESIDENCE
IS TWICE BOMBED
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Chicago, June 4.—Bomb workers
are again at work in this city and, for
the second time in two weeks, have
bombed the beautiful residence of
Mrs. Gertrude Harrison, 4807 Grand
boulevard, one of the exclusive sec
tions of Chicago.
WOMEN COURTEOUSLY
MAKE JUST DEMAND
Respect full? Request That White
Women of the Republican Party
Take a Bold Stand for the Rights
of Colored Women.
(By Associated Negro Press.)
New York, June 4.—The following
telegram was recently sent to Mrs.
Medill McCormick, national chairman
of the women’s committee of the re
publican party:
“We respectfully ask that the white
women of the republican party take
a bold stand for the rights of Col
ored women. It is not enough to quote
what Lincoln did in 1868. The Col
ored people desire their further eman
cipation. We ask that you go on
record as favoring better sta(e civil
rights bills forbidding discrimination
in places of public accommodation;
that you welcome Colored women into
your organization on complete equal
ity; that you oppose any amendment
to the Susan B. Anthony amendment,
whereby enforcement of the consti
tutional amendment would be left to
the states; that you favor a federal
lav, against lynching.
(Signed) Mrs. Marie Jackson Stew
art, president; Mrs. Eslanda Cardozo
Goods, secretary, the Harriet Tubman
Club, New York.
DENY OUR RACE IS
EMBRACING BOLSHEVISM
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Pensacola, Fla., June 4.—The Grand
Lodge of the Grand United Order of
Odd Fellow's, in session here, went on
record protesting against the report
that the race in this state is embrac
ing bolshevism. The report is called
“malicious slander.” It further states
that “the patriotic response of our
youth to the call of our country to join
the army to make the world safe for
democracy, and the liberal response of
the Colored people of Florida in sub
scribing over $1,000,000 to purchase
Victory bonds, is a complete refuta
tion of the slanders, and is indispu
table evidence of the loyalty of our
people to this great country, of which
we are justly proud.”
A leading citizen, who asked that
his name be not used, remarked:
“Those resolutions sound good, and
they are true; but acts such as the
Florida legislature refusing to hear a
! etition from us is enough to make us
many things.”
i_m
CHARLES G. GARRETT,
HEADWAITER OF THE
SEYMOUR LAKE CLUB
Mr. Charles G. Garrett, headwaiter
of the Seymour Lake Country club
and one of St. John’s active members,
has made a great hit with his em
ployes by securing substantial salaries
for them, for which they desire to ex
press their appreciation by the fol
lowing:
“We, the employes of the club, wish
to thank Mr. Garrett, headwaiter, for
the interest he has taken in the mem
bers of the race. Mr. Garrett not only
succeeded in getting a tip-top salary
for himself but for the other employes
as well. We thank him.
“EMPLOYES SEYMOUR LAKE
COUNTRY CLUB.”
CALIFORNIA JOURNAL
TAKES SANE VIEW
OF RACE PROBLEM
Colored Americans Asking No More
Than Should Be Accorded Them if
Country is Sincere in Proclaiming
Its Ideals.
SOCIAL EQUALITY MISNOMER
(By Associated Negro Press.)
STOCKTON, Cal., June 4.—In speak
ing editorially on “The Demands
of the Negro” and going into detail
concerning the achievements of the
race, the Stockton Record, white daily,
states that the Colored people of
America are “asking no more than
should be accorded them if we are at
all really sincere in what we are ap
plauding in President Wilson and
other leaders of national and_ world j
thought in their efforts to establish
and perpetuate democracy.”
Concerning the much talked of mis
nomer of “social equality” the Record
says: “The most vexatious element of I
the entire Negro race problem seems |
to be the ghost of social equality j
which bobs up every time the word!
Negro is mentioned. This, however, is
an issue by itself. Social equality is
no more a matter of legislation than t
is intellectual equality. To accord the
Negro his political, educational and I
religious privileges is the sacred con- j
stitutional duty of the. American peo- j
pie, but this does not involve the ques-1
tion of social relationship. One is not I
a social equal because he is a white ;
man. Taste, culture, affinity and en- j
vironment are the things that deter
mine social equality. If either the j
Negro or the white man prefers to ac
cord, to his own race superiority and
priority that is his privilege so long
as he does not interfere with the right
accorded to others by the eonstitu- i
tion."
CLEVELAND SIXTH
CITY OF NATION
Ohio’s Beautiful Metropolis Democra
tic in Spirit; Employs Half Hun-;
dred Colored Teachers in Mixed
Schools; Councilman Fleming Rep
resents Wealthy Ward.
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Cleveland, 0., June 4.—Councilman
Thomas W. Fleming, the only member
of the race in the city council of
Cleveland, has announced- his inten
tion of becoming a candidate again for
the office. The majority of the voters
in the Eleventh ward are Colored,
while, like the famous Second ward of
Chicago, some of the city’s wealthiest
citizens live in the ward on Euclid j
avenue. Councilman Fleming has re
cently been instrumental in having
the city appropriate $100,000 for a
bath and recreation house in the cen
ter of the ward.
Cleveland is regarded as one of the
most democratic cities in America,
more than fifty Colored teachers be
ing employed in the public schools,
the majority teaching only white
pupils. There are about 30,000 Color
ed people in Cleveland, thousands hav
ing come recently from the South.
Hundreds of the citizens own beauti
ful homes and there are scores of suc
cessful business men. Cleveland has
a total population of over 800,000, be
ing the sixth city of the nation.
ESTABLISHES SANATARICM
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Baltimore, June 4.—Plans for the
establishment of a sanatarium near
the city for our tubercular people of
the state are being developed rapidly
by directors of the Maryland State
sanatarium. The legislature has ap
propriated $75,000 to begin the work.
_ i
CLERK OF IMPORTANT
NAVAL COMMITTEE]
Washington, D. C., June 4.—Frank
A. Byron, who for a number of years
has been attached to the naval affairs '
committee, has been selected as as
sistant clerk of the important com-!
mittee under the new congress. This !
is the first time a member of the race
has ever held such a position.
GEORG IA FEDERATION
HOLDS S E S SION
Atlanta, Ga., June 4.—The Georgia
Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs
is in session in Cordele, Ga., June 5-7.
Mrs. Alice Carey, the president, has
issued a remarkable statement calling
upon the women of the state to attend
the convention, in order that a definite
program may be mapped out for
carrying on the great reconstruction
work in the state.
“To Make America
Safe for Americans”
The Slogan of the Campaign for 100,
000 Members of the National Asso
ciation to Wage Contest for Full
Rights of American Citizenship.
CONFERENCE IN CLEVELAND
Country Cannot Be Safe While Funda
mental Rights of Citizens Are Wan
tonly Denied and Denial Justified
by Lawmakers.
EW YORK, June 4.—A nation
wide drive to obtain 100,000 mem
bers to defend the constitutional and
legal rights now denied, more than
four-fifths of the Negro race in this
country has been announced by John
R. Shillady, secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
The association, which has now more
than 50,000 members expects to double
its membership by June 21, at which
time a national conference is to be
held in Cleveland, Ohio.
The program “To Make America
Safe for Americans,” on which the
Association is making its drive was
given out as follows by Mr. Shillady:
1. A vote for every Negro man
and woman on the same terms as for
white men and women.
2. An equal chance to acquire the
kind of an education that will enable
the Negro everywhere wisely to use
this vote.
3. A fair trial in the courts for all
crimes of which he is accused, by
judges in whose election he has par
ticipated without discrimnation be
cause of race.
A right to sit upon the jury which
passes judgment upon him.
5. Defense against lynching and
burning at the hands of mobs.
6. Equal service on railroad and
other public carriers. This is to mean
sleeping car service, dining car serv
ice, Pullman service, at the same cost
and upon the same terms as other
passengers.
7. Equal right to the use of public
parks, libraries and other community
services for which he is taxed.
8. An equal chance for a livelihood
in public and private employment.
0. The abolition of color-hyphena
tion and the substitution of “straight
Americanism.”
“If it were not a painful fact that
more than four-fifths of the Colored
people of the country are denied these
elementary rights,” said Mr. Shillady,
“it would seem an absurdity that an
organization is necessary to demand
for American citizens the exercise of
such rights.
“One would think, if he were from
Mars, or if he knew America only by
reading the speeches of her leading
statesmen, that all that would be need
ful would be to apply to the courts of
the land and to the legislatures.
“When the fundamental rights of
citizens are so wantonly denied, and
that denial justified and defended as
it is by the lawmakers and dominant
forces of so large a number of our
states, it can be realized that the fight
for the Negro’s citizenship rights
means a fundamental battle for real
things, for life and liberty.
“The common citizenship rights of
no group of people, to say nothing of
nearly 12,000,000 of them, can be
denied with impunity to the state and
the social order which denies them.
This fact should be plain to the dullest
mind among us, with the upheaval of
Europe before our very eyes. Whoso
loves America and cherishes her insti
tutions owes it to himself and his
country to join hands with the mem
bers of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
to “Americanize” America and make
the kind of democracy we Americans
believe in to be the kind of democracy
we shall have in fact as well as in
theory.”
TEACHERS STAND
FOR IMPROVEMENT
Westchester, Pa., June 4.—Teachers
in Colored schools of Pennsylvania and
Delaware, at their annual institute
and Cheyney Training School for
Teachers, placed themselves on record
as opposing lynching and will start
propaganda against this evil. Resolu
tions adopted provide for:
“Stimulation of race pride through
the study of racial improvement; ad
justment of daily program to specific
needs of the city, small town or rural
community; formation of parent
teachers’ associations; organizations
of teachers’ clubs in every school for
the study of professional problems.”