f
The Monitor g,°——
5 NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
2' THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
O. ^_____ _____ -
$2M a Year—5c a Copy £ OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1925 Whole Number 504 Vol. X—No. 35
_ S? __ ._ ■■ - -
Beautiful Hai and It’s Brave Hearted People
How they achieved their independence and preserved it—Helped the
American colonies to achieve independence
The Haytian girl is the biological
product of Africa, Spanish and French
forbears with a remote strain of In
dian blood coursing through. Close
personal contact with the French dur
ing four centuries of slavery followed
by the unlimited opportunity for self
expression made possible by more than
a century of political independence
and sovereignty have fostered to the
limit the development of the peculiar
traits derived from those several an
cestors. Reared for the most part in
local conventual schools, and initiated
at Paris in the arts and mysteries of
( feminine elegance, the Haytian girl
has developed a personality of charm
and distinction that is singularly cap
tivating.
Many Marry Foreigners
In giving such a flattering descrip
tion of the Haytian girl, I wish it to
be understood that I am not express
ing a purely personal appreciation of
the subject under discussion, but the
consensus of universal verdict, both
European and American. Time and
space do not allow us to quote names
and newspaper articles; but the facts
are borne out, we think, by the innu
merable international marriages that
our girls have contracted. Such mar
riages are an every-day occurrence
and have been so for nearly three
quarters of a century. Moreover,
these international marriages have not
been restricted to the elite; quite a
few peasant girls, just one genera
tion removed from the soil, have been
led to the altar by aliens.
THE HAITIAN GIRL
An Analysis by Theodora Holly.
(In The Negro World.)
As a rule, the aliens who go there
marry with girls who are their social
equals. Consequently the girls of our
social elite have intermarried with
merchants, scholars and diplomats of
various nationalities; some have mar
ried into the French nobility. It is a
significant fact not one case in a
thousand has resulted in a divorce.
Entry Not Easy
A European who goes to Hayti sel
dom, if ever, chooses to return home to
select a bride. And yet it is not an
easy matter to gain admission into a
Huytian home. A mere introduction
will not do it. Where his family is
concerned, a Haitian of the cultured
class holds new comers at arms length
until he has studied him thoroughly.
In the meantime, he does his enter
taining at public clubs and hotels.
When at last an alien has been admit
ted into the privacy of the home, and
he falls in love with one of the daugh
ters, oh, the formality and etiquette
to which he has to conform.
Foreign residents in Hayti have
sometimes reported to their friends
that there is great need for domestic
science in that count. This statement
must not be taken unreservedly. It
refers exclusively to women and girls
of the lower classes who usually go
about offering their services as do
mestic helps. Coming from squalid
homes, or from public schools where
such training does not exist, they are
truly incapable and inefficient. But
it is not so in the better classes. The
women are very capable home-makers,
skilled in French culinary arts, fine
dressmakers and wonderful embroid
erers and lace-makers. The talent for
embroidering is shared by girls of all
classes in fact, and is directly or in
directly attributable to the presence
of the nuns on that island.
Favorable Comparison
Intellectually our girls compare
favorably with their sisters aibroad.
While they manifest an instinctive dis
like for certain professions or avoca
tions, which they consider more be
fitting to the stronger sex, they will
ingly embrace commerce, teaching,
nursing, chemistry, etc. Their great
fault is that they are too self-centered.
One might wish to see them wake up
to the necessity of engaging in activi
ties for the social uplift to their sisters
of the working classes. A start has
been made in that direction, but the
movement has not yet gathered suffi
cient impetus to make itself felt as
a national force. Until this is done,
our girls may well consider themselves
remiss, both in their Christian and
civic duties. However, there are indi
cations that this attitude of indiffer
ence will be eventually overcome.
— » w
TEC HNICAL HIGH STUDENT
HAS ARTISTIC ABILITY
James Boyd of 2706 Erskine street,
has the ambition to be a second Henry
O. Tanner In painting. The boy does
free hand drawing with ordinary pen
cil aa accurately as the well trained
artists. He can take a brush and
paint and convert his pencil sketches
into works of real art.
Aside from his ability to sketch, he
is a musician. He plays the clarinet
with the adeptness of a musician with
years of orchestral experience. He has
had many obstacles to surmount in
his endeavor to meet his ambition as
an artist; despite these he still strug
gles.
Boyd is a quiet young man, very
atttentive to his art, which is charac
teristic of all real artists. He is only
sixteen years old and a student of
Technical High School. He does
sketches for periodicals at the school.
N. A. A. C. P. MET SUNDAY
The Omaha branch of the N. A. A.
C. P. met at the North Side “Y” Sun
p day afternoon at 4 o’clock. Necessary
routine business was transacted. A
debate on the subject, ‘‘Resolved, That
the Negro Is Taking Advantage of His
Opportunities” provoked quite an
animated discussion. It was opened
by Rev. J. H. Harris for the affirma
tive and Y. W. Logan for the negative,
after which it was thrown open to
voluntary speakers. Sherman Jack
son, a recently released prisoner from
Lincoln, was granted permission to
tell of his experiences while confined
at Lancaster.
MORE JKWS IN BRONX THAN
IN SIX NATIONS, SAYS WISE
Atlantic City.—There are more Jcvs
in the Bronx alone than in France,
Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden
and Italy, according to a declaration
by Rabbi Stephen Wise, addressing
the Independent Order of B’nai Brith,
in convention here recently.
There are a million and a half Jews
in New York City, he said, compris
ing one-tenth of the entire Jewish
population of the world. The con
gestion of Jewish areas in New York
has created a problem of vital im
portance to the future of the Jewish
ROBT. S. ABBOTT,
“Editor of Chicago Defender, “The World’s Greatest Weekly”.
Mr Abbott will arrive in Omaha Monday at 9:20 a. m. to
spend the day as the guest of Bethel A. M. E. Church and the
citizens flt gt j0hn’8 a. M. E. Church under the aus
pices of Bethel A. M. E. Church on the occasion of their third
anniversary, Monday evening. Mr. Abbott recently spent some
time in Smith America, and is doubtless one of the best versed
men on the Negro living today. ,
A reception committee of one hundred will form at 22nd and
Willis Ave. Monday morning at 8:30 and go to the Union Station.
race, he declared, and concluded by
urging the support of the Zionist |
; movement.
The convention endorsed the Jewish |
Homeland movement, but refused to j
support the Zionist movement polit-'
ically.
AMERICA DOING
GREAT SERVICE
FOR THE WORLD
—
British Visitor So Regards Efforts for
Racial Adjustment Now
Engaging Serious
Attention
i _
Atlanta, Ga., March 6.—Sepcial.)—
In seeking an amicable solution of
their problems of race relations, the
American people are doing the world
a service of greatest importance, ac
cording to Secretary Kenneth Mac
lennan, of the Missionary Conference
of Great Britain and Ireland, who
now in the United States studying the
interracial situation and the status of
Negro education in this country. After
inquiring carefully into the Interracial
Movement in the South, at its head
quarters here, Mr. Maclennan said:
"You Americans are doing a much
more important thing than you real
ize, one which has significance not for
America alone but for the whole
world. The twelve million Negroes
in this country are but a small part of
the world’s colored population and the
relation of the two races here is only
a segment of a world-wide problem of
racial attitudes. Great Britain alone
is dealing with a vastly larger "native
population in Africa and with some
three hundred million inhabitants of
India.
“The best minds among the British
people are earnestly seeking the right
solution of this tangled web of race
relations,’’ continued Dr. Maclennan.
“They are looking hopefully to Amer
ica where the problem seems to be
clearing up through mutual efforts to
promote understanding, sympathy and
helpfulness between the races. You
may feel encouraged, therefore, to go
forward with your efforts,” he con
cluded, "seeing that they mean so
much to millions of people in other,
lands.”
While in the South, Mr. Maclennan
visited Tuskegee Institute and several
of the Negro colleges in Atlanta and
expressed himself greatly pleased with
the educational progress the race is
making in this country.
H. PERRY RESIGNS—WILL
REBUILD SUB-CONCERN
Atlanta, Ga., March 6.—H. Perry,
president and founder of the Standard
Life Insurance Company, recently
taken over by a white insurance com
pany, has resigned. He is said to be
devoting his time to the rebuilding of
a subsidiary service company.
MRS. NICK PATTON ILL.
Mrs. Nick Patton, wife of the pro
prietor of Patton’s Hotel, is confined
to her home with heart trouble. Mr.
Patton thinks that her Illness is more
serious than it was first reported. He
fears that her condition will force him
to call a specialist.
governor mcmullen h
GIVEN STATE POSITION
MEMBER OF RACE.
The Rev. E. H. McDonald, Appointed
Deputy Oil Inspector, the
First in History of
Nebraska.
The Rev. E. H. McDonald has been
appointed deputy oil inspector by the
Governor McMullen. The appointment
became effective March 1st. This is
I_ - .
the first time a position of this kind
has been given to member of the race
in this state. It comes, and Justly so,
as a recognition of the loyal support
given Governor McMullen by our vot
ers in the last campaign.
Mr. McDonald is a man of excellent
character and ability and is well qua- i
| lified to discharge the duties of the j
| position to which he has been appoint- :
ed with credit to himself and to his !
race of which he is a most worthy re
j presentative. His friends feel abso
I lutely confident that he will give sat
j isfaction and fully justify bis ap
I pointment.
Mr. McDonald is a home-owner and
i a tax-payer here and resides at 2859
Wirt Street.
MADAME CHARLOTTE
WALLACE MURRAY
DELIGHTS AUDIENCE
_
A fair sized, but highly apprecia
tive audience, greeted Madame Char
lotte Wallace Murray, mezzo-soprano
of New York City, upon her initial
appearance in this city, under the aus- [
pices of the Theodore Roosevelt Post
of the American Legion, Thursday |
evening, February 26th, at St. John’s;
A. M. E. Church. < I
Madame Murray possesses a most
pleasing voice of wide range and
beautiful quality, which showed the
result of careful training. She sang;
a varied and difficult program with
power and charm, which with her j
gracious manner, captivated her audi
ence.
The program was aR follows:
PROGRAM
Invocation .Rev. C. A. Williams
Aria—Xerxes (Ombriu Mai Fu) Han
del.
I’ve Been Roaming, Horn.
Caro Mio Ben, Giordani.
I Attempt From Love’s Sickness to
Fly, Purcell.
Reading. ""Wl
In the Silence of Night, Rachmanin
off.
Mon Jardin, Fourdrain.
The Cry of Rachel, Salter.
Wings of Night.Winter Watts
Three Little Fairy SongH... . Besley
Come to the Fair.....Martin
Reading
Spirituals.Arranged by Burleigh
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
I Don It Feel Noways Tired
O Wasn’t That a Wide River
Sinner, Please Don’t Let Ths Har
vest Pass.
Aria—Samson et Dalila (My Heart at
Thy Sweet Voice).Saint Saens
Mrs. Belle Riley, dramatic reader,
in her usual inimitable way, gave sev
eral selections which were highly en
joyed by all. Mrs. Florentine F.
Pinkston proved an able accompanist.
E. W. Kellingsworth, post commander,
made a plea for membership for the
American Legion. Mrs. Clarence Gor
don, president of Woman’s Auriliary
to the American Legion, spoke in be
half of her organization, and Rufus
Long, adjutant, gave a brief report of
the splendid relief work which is be
ing constantly done by the American
Ijegion. Taken as a whole, the re
cital was one of the most creditable
affairs given for some time.
AWARDED $2,000 IN SUIT
AGAINST STREET RAILWAY
Greensboro, N. C., March 6.--J. F.
Pace, a colored man who suffered a
painful injury through an accident
sustained while riding on a street car
operated by the North Carolina Public
Service Company, was awarded $2,000
in a suit for $6,000 against the con
cern in the Superior Court, here.
Dr. Ernest E. Just, Dean of Negro Scientists
Kelly Miller, Prominent Race Writer, Gives an Interesting Theme on Life
and Works of Dr. Ernest E. Just, Negro Science Leader
educational ('apuciy of Negro
The Negro College was founded and
fostered by philanthropy whose chief
concern was to develop an educated
leadership for race reclamation and
uplift. The man of one taalent and
the man of five talents, alike, were
impressed into the service of human
ity at the point of greatest need. Spe
cial aptitudes and endowments were
devoted to the common ideal. Gleams
or glints of genius or high talent were
acclaimed as proof of the Negro’s
mental endowment and as justifica
tion for provision for his improve
ment. It is generally conceded that
the Negro has great emotional ca
pacity and gift of memory. He may
be expected to excel in music, poetry
and belles lettres, which rest upon
memory, emotion and imagination.
But he is deemed mediocre or defi
cient in the domain of the solid un
derstanding. He has not been ex
pected to excel in logical faculty and
the power of abstract reasoning. The
fullest refutation of this prejudice is
found in the United States Patent Of
fice which contains several thousand
discoveries and inventions as evidence
of Negro ingenuity and creative gen
ius. It has been only recently that
the Negro student’s attention has
been directed to the pursuit of sci
ence and abstract thought as a matter
of serious study. Our best colleges
are now establishing chairs in as
j tronomy, physics, chemistry, biology,
I and the social sciences. Colored men
| are now qualifying to fill these chairs
i according to the rigid requirements of
the collegiate field. Quite a number
are now filling such chairs with intel
ligence and efficiency. A number of
Colored students arer now pursuing
graduate courses in the several
branches of science with the doctor
ate in view as the highest approved
stamp of academic approval. In ai
few instances they have more than
met the minimum requirements of
those scientific chairs, but have
shown indications of capacity for re
search calculated to extend the boun
daries of knowledge.
Fields of Research
Research is a new word recently
added to the vocabulary of college
teaching. Roughly speaking, the
function of the small college is to
teach rather than to investigate;
while the function of the university
is to investigate rather than to teach.
There is at present no Negro uni
verrsity in the case of the investi
gative function. Notwithstanding
this limitation, seve-al Negro teachers
have shown the ambition to launch
out upon the higher ways of investi
gation. Genius cannot be restrained
by institutional limitations. Many of
the illustrious names in the annals
of science have rjot only come from
the small colleges, hut have fallen
wholly without the limits of college
walls.
Among the Colored men who have
gained distinction in scientific pur
suits might be mentioned the late Dr.
Charles H. Turner of the Sumner
High School of St. Louis, whose re
rearches on the instincts of the ant
and the bee gave him a national and,
indeed, an international reputation
among biologists. Professor George
W. Carver of Tuskegee Institute, has
recorded to his credit a number of
discoveries and inventions in biology
and chemistry resulting in several val
uable economic products. His ingenu
ity and intellectual resource are wide
ly recognized and extolled. Others
are doing worth while work of credit
and promise.
I)r. Ernest E. Just
Dr. E. E. Just, Professor of Biol
By Kelly Miller.
ogy, Howard University, easily takes
first rank among Colored men engaged
in scientific pursuits. Mr. Just is not
yet forty years old. He was bom in
Charleston, South Carolina, and re
ceived his early education in the
Charleston public schools and in the
state college at Orangeburg. From
there he went to Kimball Academy,
New Haampshire, where he was grad
uated in the class of 1907 with Magna
cum Laude, being the only member of
his class to attain that grade of dis
tinction. While in college his major
interest centered in biology which had
been impressed upon his attention by
reading a German monograph on that
subject. Upon graduation he was
called to the teachership of Biology in
Howard University where he has la
bored till the present time. The urge
of his specialty had such a compelling
hold upon him that, he, by the sever
est sacrifice, felt Impelled to spend his
vacations in the Marine Biological
Laboratory at Wood’s Hole, Massa
chusetts, the most famous institution
of its kind in America, if not in the
world. He has spent has vacations
there in arduous research work for
seventeen years without interruption.
He soon began to publish the results
of his research in the biological jour
nals. For the past ten years he has
ranked among the first as a frequent
contributor to biological literature,
and is widely quoted in learned treat
ises on the subject. In 1915 Mr. Just
secured leave of albsence from Howard
University in order to spend a year in
residence at the University of Chi
cago, from which institution he re
ceived the degree of Ph. D. in the class
of 1916. He earned his doctorate with
the same distinction as his baccalau
reate—Magna cum Laude. The Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People awarded Dr.
Just the Spingam Medal in 1914, as
having made the greatest contribu
tion of any member of his race for
that year. For the past five years
Dr. Just has been carrired as a re
search worker by the National Re
search Council which allows him to
divide his time between teaching at
Howard University and research at
Wood’s Hole.
World Wide Recognition
Dr. Just is co-author with Dr. Lillie,
head of the Department of Zoology in
the University of Chicago, of the sec
tion on Fertilization, in the treatise
on Citology edited by Dr. E. V. Cow- j
dry of the Rockfeller Institute. This
recognition shows how he stands in
the esteem of American biologists.
Recently he has been requested by a
group of German scientists to pre
pare a monograph on the Physiology
of Fertilization in a series of mono
graphs covering the biology of cellu
lar structure. The series contains the
last known word of biological knowl
edge. His selection from among all
of the biologists of the world shows
that he has won an international rep
utation in the special field upon
which he has focussed his attention.
The field of Dr. Just’s research is
limited to the question of fertiliza
tion upon which great emphasis is
laid by all scientists in quest of ulti
mate vital knowledge. It is gener
ally conceded that Dr. Just has pushed
the line of inquiry as far and in some
respects farther than any other in
vestigator in America or Europe. To
stand with those at the top in any de
partment of knowledge is a great dis
tinction, indeed.
Dr. Just possesses the elemental
qualities of intellectual superiority.
He is natural, simple and unostenta
tious. His distinction has in no de
gree affected his poise or swollen his
self-conceit. He has a becoming
measure of Newtonian modesty. He
vaunteth not himself, on account of
his accomplishments and is not puffed
up. This modesty is all the more re
markable because any member of a
backward group who gets far ahead
of his fellows is prone to glory in the
uniqueness of his distinction. But Dr.
Just wears his distinction with hardly
normal self-appreciation.
Deep Race Consciousness
Dr. Just has a deep sense of racial
responsibility and duty. He believes
in the possibilities of the Negro with
an unlimited and unshakable belief.
Although his special field of research
is as far removed, as one can think,
from the domain of racial welfare,
yet he never allows himself to be
deceived or carried too far from the
basic social situation to which he is
keenly alive.
Science Color Bl.nd
Science is color blind. There is
neither race nor nationality in knowl
edge. Nor is there any real necessity,
from a purely scientific point of view,
for the Negro or any group to be
pathfinders in the field of science.
The truth in the end will prove to be
the same, both in its pure essence and
in its practical application, it matters
not who first may hit upon it. Uni
versal principles have universal ap
plication. They can not be monopo
lized nor manipulated to suit racial or
national arrogance and pride. But it
is a matter of commendable pride for
any community to lay claim to its due
proportion of the celebrities whose
contribution have advanced the gen
eral culture of the species. A group
that fails to contribute its quota is
apt to be stigmatized with the re
proach of inferiority. In case of the
helpless and dependent group this im
puted inferiority may serve to con
dition its place and status among the
more powerful and lordly by which
they are regulated and controlled.
When one member of a despised
group rises to distinction or renown,
it quickly inspires his fellows who la
bor under like limitations as himself,
to bestir themselves for higher and
better things. The distinction that
has come to Dr. Just will inspire
hundreds of Negro college students to
renew their ardor and devotion to the
pursuit of science and exact knowl
edge. An example becomes conta
gious in proportion to its nearness to
the group to be inspired. Inspiration
is infectious and is infinitely more
effectual j>y contact than by counsel.
The value of a great name to any
group consists in its ability to repro
duce or to multiply itself. The mere
fact that'an individual may shoot
sheer above the level of his class or
group without disciples, imitators or
rivals may stand as an exotic, a sport
or jest of nature. The infertile in
dividual is cut off forever from the
current of human welfare. Dr. Just
is not only an investigator of abstract
scientific truth, but a teacher deeply
concerned in the advancement of his
students to whom he would impart
the full measure of his secrets and
methods without stint or reserve. He
is anxious that they should accom
plish not merely the things which he
has achieved, but that they should do
greater works than himself. The re
sponse is encouraging. He feels that
his isolated example counts for little
compared with the influence handed
down to those who are to come after
him. Not only so, but he is keenly
interested in encouraging timid and
hesitant Negro students and teachers
everywhere in the field of science and
precise knowledge.
FIFTEEN PIECE ORCHESTRA
TO PLAY AT DREAMLAND 1
A .fifteen-piece orchestra, composed
of the crack players from Adams’,
Desdunes’, Melody Five and Turner’s
orchestras, will furnish the music for
the grand ball to be given by the
Musicians’ Union Local No. 558 A. F.
of M., Monday evening, March 9th,
at Dreamland Hall. The committee,
consisting of S. Harold, Mrs. V. Clark
and L. Gaines, are sparing no pains
to make this one of the grandest af
fairs of the season.
STEEL CITY’S MAYOR
ASKS OFFICIAL TO RESIGN
Pittsburg, Pa., March 6.—Mrs. Mar
garet S. Gray, white superintendent of
the Bureau of Recreation in this city,
whose administration has been espe
cially conspicuous for its Jim-Crow
ism, has been asked to resign by
Mayor Magee.
We don’t particularly object to the
harem skirt, but don’t care for the
harem. Enough is plenty.
Types of Omaha Homes
HOME OF DR. A. G. EDWARDS !
, • \g. "0