Nebraska Newspapers

    —r T H E M ONI I O R eb
(V
5. NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
O THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor.
$2.00 a Year ' a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1926 Whole Number 549 Vol. XI—No. 29
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NEGRO WHO REACHED
POLE WITH PEARY
LAUDED BY SPEAKER
Commander McMillan Tells Why Peary
Selected Mutt Henson to
Accompany Him on Trip
to North Pole
HAD EXPLORER'S CONFIDENCE
Chicago, 111.—Captain McMillan, fa
mous Arctic explorer, broadcasting
from WJAZ, the Zenith Radio Sta
tion, Straus Bldg., Chicago, Thursday
evening, Jan. 21, his lecture showing
why Rear Admiral Robt. E. Peary
reached the North Pole in April,
says:
"Admiral Peary has been criticized
for not taking a white man with hitn
to the Pole, but taking instead two
Eskimos and the colored man, Matt
Henson.
“During Peary’s 18 years effort to
reach the Pole, Matt Henson accom
panied him on every expedition. He is
one of the best dog team drivers in
the world today.
“Some of our men, dog teams and
sledges of food, were dropped every
twenty-five miles to constitute supply
stations for Peary’s return trip from
the Pole. I went with the expedi
tion to a point within 150 miles of the
Pole, and when it was found that
supplies could be taken for only two
men besides the Eskimos in their last
lap to tne Pole, Peury made the de
cision and picked the fittest man.
There is no other answer to it. Matt
Henson was his choice, tecause he
was the best man in the party.
“Admiral Peary showed no racial
discrimination, but chose the fittest
man for the extremely hard and haz
ardous job of making those long
marches in a temperature of 60 deg
rees below zero.”
Matt Henson Is the only living civ
ilized man who has teen to the North
Pole. He has added another pinnacle
of achievement or wreath of glory
to the progress of the race. Henson
is now living in New York City.
Oi l) COUNCIL BLUFFS
RESIDENT DIES
William Cray, one of Council Bluff's
pioneer residents, died at his residence,
1832 A*e. A Sunday morning Jun. 17, with
pneumonia after a two weeks’ illness. The
funeral whs held from the Beem-FH
ford Co. Funeral Home, Tuesday morn
ing at half past ten. Rev. John Albert
William* of Omaha officiated. 'Die de
ceased i* survived only by his widow. He
was employed at the Orchard and Wil*
helm Carpet Company of Omaha.
•
NEW YORK CITY IS
CELEBRATING NEGRO MUSIC
New York.—During the past week
New York City has quite done its bit
iti perpetuating the rhythm and soul
of Negro music. Following an open
musical forum at the Hotel Plaza,
at which J. Rosamond Johnson and
Taylor Gordon sang Negro spirituals,
a concert of Negro music in aid of
the Negro Art School was given in
the Ambassador theatre last Sunday
night under the direction of Will
Marion Cook.
* Besides numbers by Harry Bur
leigh, James Bland. Paul Laurence
Dunbar, and other noted Negro com
posers, Cook’s famous “Mammy”
sung by Miss Abbie Mitchell, and
“Swing Along” were faultlessly ren
dered to a packed house.
LARGE MID-WINTER REGIS
TRATION AT HOWARD
Washington, D. C.—At the end of
the winter quarter, Howard Univer
sity finds its dormitories and class
rooms crowded with 1,733 students.
In the college department nearly
1,000 have enrolled. The other depart
ments show enormous registrations,
as follows: Medicine, 227; dental, 97;
pharmacy, 68; law, 88; music, 54;
religion, 235. Total for the collegiate
year 1925-26 exceeds that for the
previous year by several hundred.
The United States has 45 chewing
gum factories.
On September 27, 1825, the first
public railway in the world was open
ed to traffic.
There is an obelisk in Egypt that
has never been raised. It weighs
1168 tons.
It is estimated that 800,000,000 per
sons in the world wear shoes of some
kind.
Thirteen American presidents have
been United States senators.
A water power sawmill built at
South Sunbury, Mass., in 1740, is still
in continuous operation.
ANM AL MEETING NORTH
SIDE BRANCH Y. W. C. A.
The assembly room of the North
Side Branch of the Y. W. C. A. was
crowded to capacity last Friday
i night tor the fifth annual meeting.
Reports of the various chairmen of
the board of management showed
encouraging work accomplished in
their respective committees. After
a piano solo by Miss Margaret Dal
1 las, the nominating committee was
I presented which showed the following
| persons elected to the committee of
j management: Mesdames Elsie Foster,
Eva i’inkett, Minnie Dixon and Kath
I erine Trusty, for a three year term;
Mrs. Irene Jones, for a two year term;
Mesdames Ardina Watson and J. C.
Parker, for one year term; Miss Ger
trude Lucas, Mrs. Anna Bowler and
Mrs. Alice Smith, nominating com
mittee. Brief addresses were given by ;
. Mrs. J. H. Vance, chairman of the com
! inittee on Colored work; Mrs. Palm
' er Findlay, a member of the commit
tee on Colored Work and Mrs. aC'r
rie Ada Campbell, general secretary.
A few but very sincere words were
given by the branch secretary, Miss
Edna M. StrattoTT, who closed the pro
gram by conducting an impressive re
cognition service for all new adult
members coming into the Association
since June 1925. Tlte social hour and
refreshments were enjoyed by all.
The fine spirit of cooperation and
fellowship that has existed through
out the year is commendable. The
financial goal was reached and went
over the top as usual. The total
, amount raised during the year 1925
was $1,511.01, The meeting was closed
with an invocation by the Rev. H.
Trusty.
SOLTHKRN WRITER PRAISES
PICKENS’ BOOK
Dallas. Tex., (By the Associated Negro
Press) Dean William Pickens' outlook on
the “race problem” is found to be kindly .
by O. IE, writing in the Dallas Morning
News, after having read Mr. Pickens’ I
j autobiography, “Bursting Bonds”.
"There is no great amount of heart
j m Dr. Pickens' book,” C. 11. writes. "He j
| tells with a charm horn of simplicity but
j not of naivete how he struggled to get
| through grammar school and high school
l in Arkansas, then Talladega Gdlege in
! Alabama, and finally Yale, where he
I graduated with a Phi Beta Kappa key in
| 1904. Later he wus professor of Greek
! in his alma mater in Alabama, and for
! one bitter year was connected with Wiley
University at Marshall, Texas. Then he
went to Maryland as dean of Morgan
Grllege, and in 192.3 moved to New York
to become field secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement of Color
ed People.
“Southern while people may be ins'
j terested iu his account of his experiences
on a Pullman car from St. Louis to Little
Rock, and people in Marshall, Texas.
! might be interested in his comment on
the relations obtaining between white peo j
pie and Negroes in the black belt of
northeast Texas. But entirely outside of
these two sections the book is worth read
| ing because it reveals the kindly outlook
of a distinguished member of a race that
j it beginning to have a healthy race-con
sciousness.”
Chicago, 111.— (By the Associated Ne
gro Press) The health education program
of the Young Women’s Christian Associa
tion in this city is to be supplemented
with classes in the “Charleston”. The of
ficials of the association believe that the
rhythm of the dance will prove beneficial
to the tired business girl.
Free Negro Family Heads in
the United States in 1830
■ — —
Two Valuable Books by Carter Godwin
Woodson Throw Interesting Light on
Race History in America
These works are the product of
the well known editor of the Journal
of Negro History and author of var
ious interesting and valuable works
on the Negro. As he has devoted
the last fifteen years of his life to
the special study of this neglected
group, he is now publishing at a rapid
rate numerous ‘books treating the
various aspects of Negro life and his
tory. These two publications are
brought out by the Research Depart
ment of the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History,
which the author founded ten years
ago and has directed up to the pre
sent time.
The aim of this work is to facili
tate the further study of this neg
lected group. Most of the people of
this country have forgot that about
half a million, almost one-seventh of
the Negroes in this country were free
prior to the emancipation in 1865
These were leaders of this despised
class, toiling up sometimes against
the teeth of opposition into positions
of ease and culture. Many were pros
perous farmers and efficient mech
anics. A few of them were printers,
editors, teachers, ministers, physi
cians and lawyers prior to the Civil
War.
The statistical report on Free Negro
Heads of Families is introduced by
a valuable discussion of the free Ne
gro from various points of view. The
author therein ably discusses the or
igin of the free Negro, the preven
tion of the increase of this class, the
free Negro before the law, economic
achievement, and social distinctions.
Probably the most interesting part
of the treatise is the development of
early race admixture as the origin
of the free Negro. The study is well
documented by references to incon
trovertible sources which inspire con
fidence in the author’s production and
enhance the value of the work.
Hie facts of the statistical part of
the work were extracted from the
manuscript schedules returned by
those who took the census of the
United States in 1830. After the
editor had first copied the record of
one state to acquaint himself in de
tail with the information given in
these census reports, the statistics
were then copied»vnder his directioi
by three persons. The matter thus
collected was then verified by the
editor and one of his assistants.
Accompanying tables give the
names of aliout 50,000 heads of fa
milies, showing in each case the dis
trict, the county and state in which
each lived. In some cases even the
streets of the cities on which sopie
resided are given. There appear al
so the approximate age of the head
of the family and the total number
of persons in the family including
the -slaves. Some one has referred
to this as a veritable blue book on
the Negro aristocracy a century ago.
The study of free Negro slave
owners is of unusual interest be
cause of the opportunity it offers
| for understanding the Negro him
self. The records show, however,
that the Negro owners of slax'es
were such largely from the point
of view of philanthropy. In many
instances the husband purchased
the wife or vice versa. The slaves
belonging to such families were few
mmipared with the large numbers
found among whites on the well-de
veloped plantations. Slaves of Ne
groes were in some cases the chil
li ren of a free father who had pur
chased his wife. If he did not there
after emancipate the mother, as so
many such husbands could not do
without becoming separated from
them, own children were bom ms
slaves and were thus reported by
the enumerators. Some of these hus
bands were not. anxious to liberate
their wives immediately. They con
sidered it advisable to put them on
probation for a few years, and if
they did not find them satisfactory
they would sell their wives as other
slaveholders disposed of Negroes.
For example, a Negro shoemaker in
Charleston, South Carolina, pur
chased his wife for $700; but, on
finding her hard to please, he sold
"tier a few months thereafter for $7G0,
gaining $50 by the transaction.
Benevolent Negroes often pur
chased salves to make their lot easi
er by granting them their freedom
for a nominal sum, or by permitting
them to work it out on liberal terms.
John Barry Meachum, a Negro
Baptist minister of St. Louis, thus
came into possession of as many as
twenty slaves by 1836. The exploi
tation type of Negro slaveholder,
moreover, ’sometimes feeling the
sting of conscience, liberated ms
slaves. Thus did Samuel Gibson, a
Negro of Mississippi, in 1844, when
he brought his six slaves to Cincin
nati, Ohio, ami settled them on free
territory.
Having economic interests in com
mon with the white slaveholders, tne
Negro owners of ^laves often en
joyed the same social standing. It
was not exceptional for them to at
tend the fcame church, to educate
their children in the same private
school, and to frequent the same
places of amusement. Under such
circumstances miscegenation easily
foMowed. While those taking the
census of 1830 did not generally re
cord such facts, the few who did, as
in the case of Nansemond County,
Virginia, reported a situation which
today would be consideerd alarming.
In this particular county there ap
peared among the slaveholders free
Negroes designated as Jacob of
Read and white wife. and Syphe of
Matthews with white wife. Others
reported with white wives were not
slaveholders.
Free Negro Heads of Families in the
.United States in 1830,.$5.00
Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the
United States in 1880.... $1.00
Change of Press Policy Pleasing to Race
Toledo, Ohio—) By the Associated Ne
gro Press) The Observer, published in
this city by Cornelius Edwoods, has just
succeeded in a campaign which had as
its object respect for the Negro race, as
reflected in headlines and stories in the
daily papers. Hereafter, according to rules
compiled by the white papers of the city
the word “Negro” is to begin with a
capital letter, and only where absolucly
necessary for identification is the word
to be used at aU. The following rules
adopted by the Toledo Blade show the
nature of the stand which the dailies hav<
taken:
1.—The Blade does not want to play up
the fact that any person figuring in the
news is colored, nor does it want to sup
press the racial adjective in every case.
2. —The color is never to be used in a
lieadline.
3. —The term “colored” is to be used
whenever possible in place of “Nebro”.
“Negress” must never be used. “Black"
is prohibited.
4. —Whenever “Negro” is used it must
lie capitalized. The word is seldom neces
sary, however, except where it is a part
of the name of an organization, such as
“Negro Business Men’s Club” or some
thing of that sort.
The Omaha Daily News and the
World-Herald adopted this policy
some months ago. They, however,
still offend by using the word “Ne
gress” which ought to be; stopped.
A course in character education is
to be started in Scottish public
schools.
Excellent candies are made from
the berries of a tree that grows in
South Africa.
Wires can be made so fine that it
would take 100 to make the thick
ness of a human hair.
The Uni\ysrsity of Pittsburgh has
estblished a laboratory of glass
technology.
Modern machinery now enables
metal workers to turn out a half
million shot a minute.
France is supposed to have the
strongest air force. That country has
more than 12,000 planes and 40,000
men in its air service.
__
ST. PHILIP’S MISSION
ORGANIZE AS PARISH
—
At a largely attended* parish meet
ing held in the Guild Rooms Monday
night the congregation of the Church
of St. Philip the Deacon formally or
ganized and incorporated as a parish
and elected the following Wardens
and Vestrymen: Senior Warden,
Isaac Bailey; Junior Warden, Birney
B. Cowan; vestrymen, Henry W.
Black, Charles W. Dickerson, Dr.
William D. Fountain, William G.
Haynes, Charles T. Smith, J. Frank
Smith and Dr. Herbert W'iggins. Wil
liam G. Haynes was re-elected trea
surer and Dr. Fountain clerk of the
vestry. The Rev. John Albert Wil
iams, who has been vicar of St. Phil
ip’s1 for many years was unanimously
elected rector of the parish.
For many years the Church of St.
Philip the Deacon has been recognized
as one of the strongest missions of
the Diocese of Nebraska and for some
time has considered becoming a par
ish. The parish owns church proper- i
ty valued at $35,000 and is entirely
free from debt. It has a commum- j
cant membership of 170. Certain im-!
provements are contemplated and a
progressive program is being out
lined.
NEGRO’S INDUSTRIAL
FUTURE TO BE DISCUSSED
New York.—At the time of the
fifteenth annual meeting of the Na
tional Urban league here February
3-5, an important conference will be
held which will mean much in the
future programs of industrial and
community welfare for the Negro.
Representatives from at least fifty
urban communities will attend this
conference and confer on such sub
jects as “Health and Housing,,, “Re
creation and Training of Workers in
Industry”. White and colored stu
dents of the problem of race contacts
will confer on methods by which fric
tion may be avoided and better and
more lasting fellowship between the
various racial elements in America
may be promoted.
AGED COAL PICKER
PREVENTS TRAIN WRECK
_
Hammond, La.—(By the Associated
Negro Press) But for the action of Law
son Williams, 65, the Panama Limited,
Chicago to New Orleans, the crack train '
on the Illinois Central, would have been
wrecked and many lives lost. Williams j
was picking coal along the track when he
discovered several spikes had l>een re
moved from the rails. Officials were noti
fied and the train halted a few miles from
the city. The spikes were replaced while
the train with its cargo of human freight
resumed its flight aganst time, and the
aged man is richer by the collection of a
few dollars donated by the passengers.
COLORED BROADCASTING
STATION IN CAPITAL CITY
Washington, D. C.—In addition to
radio stations WCAP and WRC, this
city boasts of stations 3LF and 3JF,
regularly licensed radio stations
operated by a colored expert, Rufus
P. .Turner. This is the first colored
station in the world.
The largest American educational
institution in the near east is at Bei
rut, Syria.
\
LEAGUE OFFERS GOLD
PRIZES FOR BEST
RACE SLOGAN
Race Attorneys of Both Coasts Donors
of Gold Frizes for Sesqui-Cen
tennial Slogans; Everyone
Can Enter Contest
Boston, Mass., Jan. 10, 1926—By
relinquishment of the privilege of
donating the 2nd prize on the part
of Hon. W. H. Lewis of Boston, 10
E. Burton Ceruti, of Los Angeles,
eminent race lawyer and Pres, of
local N. A. A. C. P.. the nation-wide
scope and interest is enhanced for
the Declaration of Independence slo
gan prize contest offered by the
National Equal Rights League. T. P.
Benjamin, of Boston, eminent race
lawyer and executive member of the
local Equal Rights League donates
the 1st prize of $25.00 in gold and
Mr. Ceruti the 2nd prize of $10.00 in
gold.
Prizes are for most effective slo
gans of less than 15 words for con
tending for rights in this year 1926
as the 150th anniversary year of the
Declaration of Independence, which
declared for equality, etc., and which
the race helped make possible.
The slogans must reach the Nation
al Equal Rights League at 9 Cornhill
by Feb. 1st, the winning slogans to
be made known before Feb. 12 for
Douglas-Lincoln Day meetings. The
judges of slogans are Editor Carl
Murphy of the Baltimore Afro-Amer
ican, Editor E. W. Rhodes of the
Philadelphia Tribune, Rev. J. G. Rob
inson, editor of the A. M. E. Church
Quarterly Review, Dr. W. A. Sinclair
of Philadelphia, national president,
and Rev. Benj. W. Swain, of Boston,
vice-president at-large of the league.
To make clear what slogans are,
the League publishes this sample:
“Race which helped found Independ
ence for nation in 1776 demands equal
rights in 1926.” All our readers are
urged to send in slogans at once.
MARRIED 64 YEARS,
NEVER QUARRELLED
Richmond, Va.—(By the Associat
ed Negro Press) Mr. and Mrs. John
B. Tyree living here, have been mar
ried sixty-four years, and are receiv
ing congratulations of friends. The
man says that they never quarrelled.
She say snothing, but Mr. Tyree adds:
“I wouldn’t live with a woman wno
nagged at me.”
DR. BOWENS AND VIRGINIA
CALL NEGRO ARTISANS
Norfolk—Dr. Jarvis Bowens, long since
an expert in the Negro social welfare
of Virginia and at present the director
of Colored Activities in a gigantic factory
and millwork project in Nansemond
County, Va., has issued the call for two
thousand industrious colored families, the
heads of which are skilled as millwrights,
electricians, machinists, plumbers, steam
fitters, and skilled mechanics, to locate
permanently in Nansemond where employ
ment at good wages and pleasant home
surroundings await them.
This giant project represents the money
and the confidence of promoters who be
lieve that American Negro labor is as
good as any that can be found. It is the
call of opportunity for Negro artisans who
are prepared to make good in an indus
trial project of great promise.
NEGRO EXPERT DEMONSTRATOR
Washington—Cortez W. Peters, gradu
ate of the business department of Dun
bar High School, and champion ama
teur typist of the world, was presented
a Christmas check for one hundred dol
lars by the Underwood Typewriter Com
pany in appreciation of his typing ef
ficiency, and has accepted an offer as
expert demonstrator of the Underwood
typewriter at the initial salary of $2,100
a year and all expenses.
Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Moore, 2802
North Twenty-seventh street, who
have been quarantined because of a
case of diphtheria in the family, that
of their little girl, are now from und
er quarantine, their daughter having
recovered.