5* The Monitor §§
\ NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
^ THB REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor.
$2.00 a | ir—5 Cents a Copy._OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1926 Vol. XII^-No. 3. Whole Number 573
" STUDENTS TO GO TO FINLAND
ONE THOUSAND AT
INTER-RACIAL
MEET IN TENNESSEE
Prominent People Participate in Se
rious Discussion of Plans for
Better of Race Relations.
REPORTS INDICATE PROGRESS
I m pro\enicnt Noted in Educational
Facilities. Parks. Playgrounds
and Other Pubic Utilities.
Nashville, Tenn.—More thaki ona
thousand people were In attendance at
the annual meeting of the the Inter
Racial league of Tennessee, held last
week at the A. & I. State Normal col
lege. Among the prominent speakers
were P. I,. Hamed, state superintend
ent of education; Judge Ligon and Dr.
Phelps, members of the state educa
tional board; Mrs. Katherine Grimes,
associate editor of the Southern Agri
culturalist, which has a circulation of
"00,000; Dr. Edwin Mims of Vander
bilt university; Hon. J. C. Napier, for
mer registrar of the United States
treasury; President W. J. Hale of
A. & I. college; Bishop I. B. Scott,
Mrs. F. M. Pierce, president of the
State Federation of Colored Woman s
clubs, and Dr. R. T. Burt, of Clarks
ville.
Reports were heard from over the
.'tate, indicating encouraging progress
in combating mob violence, in the in
crease of educational facilities, in
transportation, the securing for col
ored people of parks, playgrounds and
other public utilities, the clearing up
of critical situations, and the improve
ment of inter-racial attitudes through
local and state-wide conferences.
The gratifying anonuncement was
made that the state board of educa
tion had on that very day awarded
contracts for new buildings for the
state normal to cost $320,000, provided
for by the last legislature largely
through the efforts of the inter-racial.
organization. The work in the state is
directed by Secretaries J. D. Burton
and Robert E. Clay, whose reports |
were received with interest and ap
preciation.
OMAHA BRANCH N. A. A. C. P.
MEETS AT BETHEL CHURCH
A goodly sized crowd greeted mem
bers of the Omaha branch in Bethel
church. South Side. Sunday after
noon, in response to the untiring ef
forts of Vice President M. L. Hunter j
in the interest of such a meeting.
After devotional* and pointed in
troductory remarks by the president, !
Rev. John Albert Williams, Miss Helen
Wheeler presented a well written pa- j
per, "A Prophetic Vision,” which was j
well received by the audience.
Rev. Russel Taylor, delegate to the
Chicago convention, was then called j
on, and presented a terse repo it on
those features of the convention. eB- '
pecially concerned with eforts at resi
dential ,-egregation. These were dis
cussed under the headings, “Segrega
tion by Municipal Ordinances”—In
dianapolis and New Orleans as ex
amples; “Segregation by Property
holders’ Covenants”—the Curtis case,
Washington, I). C., as an example;
“Segregation by Mob Violence”—the
Dr. Turner, Dr. Sweet and other cases
in Detroit as examples. The situa
tion was summed up in the statement
that the United States supreme court
in decisions already rendered, had
killed the first of these methods—
that a case similar to the Curtis case
is now on file in the District of Co
lumgia courts, favorable outcome of
which is practically assured, and that
vigilance and united effort on the
part of the Negro Is fast putting to
nought segregation by mob violence.
A full report will be iven in the
regular meeting at North Side Y. W.
C. f Sunday, August 1.
Next Sunday, 4 p. m., at Pilgrim
Baptist church, Twenty-fifth and
Hamilton streets, an interesting pro
gram will be rendered.
Washington.—Mrs. Emmet J. Scott
has been appointed a member of the
board of public welfare here. She is
the only person of color on the board.
NEW LAKE THEATRE
NEARING COMPLETION
Twenty-Fourth and Lake to Have a
Handsome and Well-Equipped
Movie House.
Mr. Maurice D. Micklin, president
of the Micklin Lumber company, who
recently purchased the Luke Theatre,
has virtually rebuilt it, so that now
the people in the vicinity of Twenty
fourth and Lake streets will have a
theatre matching in beauty, arrange
ments and pictures the leading down
town theatres.
The work is rapidly nearing com
pletion and the new Lake Theatre,
which ought to be renamed The Palace
from the point of elegance and com- j
fort will he opened on or about Au- |
gust 1. The same air cooling and ven- !
tilating features which have popular- '
ized the World and Rialto have been
installed at the Lake. One feature
that no other Omaha theatre has is
the babies’ cry room. What can it
be? Well, it is a retiring and rest
room to which mothers can retire with
their babies who might disturb the
audience by crying, and so glassed I
in that thp mothers c>in view the
pictures without the audience being
disturbed.
'The Lake will get the latest pic
tures first after their showing down- i
town. The finest pictures and ar
tists will be featured.
William H. (Bill) Bergman, who
has been in the show game for ten
years will be personally in charge.
The Monitor will give a complete de
scription of the new Lake Theatre in
a subsequent issue. Meanwhile, as
you pass by note the beauty of the
exterior and keeji yourself in readi- j
ness to see the beautiful and artistic
interior when the theatre opens.
BISHOP JONES PLEADS
AGAINST BIGOTRY j
Chicago.—“No man can save my
soul who approaches me in an attitude
of superiority," asserted Bishop Rob
ert E. Jones, New- Orleans, at the
meeting of the World Sen-ice Com
mission of the Methodist-Episcopal
church in this city recently, he con
tinued 'If you would save uh we want
your schools, we want your money,
we want your fellowship, but only give
it, we pray, in God’s name. If you
would have us remain thoroughly Pro
testant, thoroughly religious as we
are, do not shake our faith by telling
us that we are totally different, and
now I speak the soul of my people. It
may hurt, but you ought to have it.
No man’s God, no man’s Bible, no
man’s Christ appeals to me who in
the same breath would tell me that I
am his inferior and not his brother.
Take me into your brotherhood and
I will follow you all the way to glory."
There is little luxury among Ne
groes. he advised, and wherever they
can. Negroes are taking up their own
load. But he believes it is too soon to
expect the Negro to do all, although
“the Negro is more like the American
white man than any other dissimilar
group in America, singing his songs,
praying his prayers, joining his
churches, fighting his fights.”
Bishop Jones predicted a change in
the political status to come out of the
agitation over the 18th amendment.
ALL RACE IKK TORS
IN N. Y. HOSPITAL
New York—For the first time in the
history of New- York city have both
white and colored patients of the ac
cident wards at Harlem hospital been
almost entirely attended by colored
doctors.
All of the ambulances now doing
emergency service are now manned
by colored surgeons, who began their
duties on the first of this month.
They are: Dr. McCowan, Dr. May
Schinn (ambulance service), Drs. May
nard Holmes, Alexander and Gren,
nedy, house surgeons.
BISHOP CAREY AT ST. JOHN’S
Bishop A. J. Carey of Chicago will
visit St. John’s A. M. E. church Sun
day morning and will preach at 11.
EDITORI A L
LET us face some important facts. These facts bear upon
our political status in Omaha. A consideration of them ought to
move us to intelligent action. We need to know our weakness
and our strength. We are too inclined to take things for granted
instead of basing our decision upon plain facts.
What are the facts concerning our voting strength in Oma
ha? How many potential voters have we and how many quali
fied voters? By potential voters we mean those who by reason
of age and legal residence would have a right to vote provided
they qualified by registering. *The law requires that all persons
who desire to vote must be duly registered. This registration
does not cost the voter a cent. He or she has simply to go to the
designated place, or to the election commissioner’s office in the
Court House and register. This makes him a qualified voter. A
qualified voter is one who has duly registered.
How many potential voters gelonging to our race have we in
Douglas county? Approximately 7,500. This is enough to give
us the balance of power in the average normal election, for the
majority vote of any successful candidate in this county very
rarely exceeds, if, indeed, it reaches 6,000. We are of the opin
ion, although we write subject to correction’, that it averages less
than 4,000. In other words, if our full potential strength could
be polled and cast intelligently and unitedly we could control prac
tically every election in Douglas county, which in turn is an im
portant factoi- in state elections. The governor of the state has
been frequently determined by the vote of Douglas county. We
ought, then, to appreciate what a powerful agent our full poten
tial vote could and should be, intelligently, wisely and conscien
tiously used. But what is our actual voting strength? How many
qualified voters have we? Less than 4,000! To be exact, there
are 3,731 registered colored voters in Douglas county. This is
less than half of our potential voting strength. This is not guess
work, but the actual figures supplied by the election commissioner.
Our largest registration is, in the second ward where the ac
tual figures are—white,4,469; colored, 1,690. The total registr
tion of this ward, in which our people are most largely repre
sented, is 6,159, of which registration our group constitute only
27% per cent. The second largest registration is in the third
ward with 719, being only 11 2, 5 per cent of the total registra
tion of that ward; our third largest registration is in the seventh
ward, where it is 584, which is only 11 4/5 per cent of the total.
These are significant facts for us to face. They show that
there is necessity for a campaign of education, vigorously pros
ecuted, among our people to make them realize the importance of
registering and voting. We have been told that many newcomers
decline to register because they think they have to pay a poll tax
or other charges. This impression should be corrected. Let us
face the fact that less than 50 per cent of those eligible to vote
are registered, and that while this condition exists, it weakens
our political influence. Let us face the fact that in our strongest
ward we constitute only a little more than one-fourth of the
voters. If we are to get anywhere politically we must face the
facts and know how to concentrate our vote.
Our 3,700 votes can do much for our city, state and for our
selves, but realizing what 7,500 votes mean let us register and get
out our vote and make it count.
N. A. A. C. P. Publishes Address to the Country
The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People has
made public the address to the Amer
ican people, adopted at the 17th an
nual conference in Chicago. The ad
dress states that the problem of resi
dential segregation is the foremost is
sue affecting race relations, denounces
segregation of colored employes in the
government departments in Washing
ton, urges complete independence of
party allegiance on the part of colored
voters, and urges that white labor rec
ognize its community of interest with
colored labor.
The address in full is as follows:
Residential Segregation.
The pressing problem before us this
year is that of residential segregation.
There is a widespread determination
to enforce a ghetto in the United
States in spite of the clear letter of
the law and the decision of the courts.
We have been fighting this tendency
for years and despite the temporary
delay involved in the latest decision
of the supreme court we are already
continuing this fight. The court has
not yet passed upon the essential point
und that is as to whether it is a good
public policy in a great democracy to
divide and classify people according to
race or color. We believe that the
fight against segregation is a funda
mental light for democracy among all
people in this country.
Evasion of Conatitution.
For a long time the southern states
of the United States have defied dem
ocratic government in this land. They
form an oligarchy where the political
power is held by a small minority of
the qualified voters and by a minority
which does not represent the best in
telligence of their own section. This
condition has been permitted by the
silent acquiesence of the north and
by a series of evasive and unconstitu
tional laws and practices. The most
outrageous of these laws were the so
called ‘Grandfather clauses.’ Through
the co-operation of this association
these laws were finally declared un
constitutional by the supreme court.
There still remain, however, the laws
and customs which support the white
primary. The white primary is an
attempt to substitute a single politi
cal party for the whole state and local
government and to allow' that party
to base its membership upon purely
racial lines. Such laws are a plain
defiance of the constitution of this
government, and this association
pledges itself to keep this matter be
fore the courts until justice is done.
Legal Defense Fund.
These and many other legal and
social battles show the absolute ne
cessity of an adequate legal defense
fund to protect the rights of Amer
ican Negroes. The $76,000 which
black folk and their friends gave to
defend the cases at Detroit and Wash
ington was a fine and generous ges
ture. Hut it was but a small beginning
toward our absolute need. We should
have $1,000,000 at least to make Im
possible the hitherto easy oppression
of American Negroes and the ruthless
and unpunished denial of their consti
tutional rights.
Segregation by Government.
We are astonished to note under
President Coolidge and the republican
administration a continuation of that
segregation of colored employes in
the departments at Washington which
was begun under President Wilson.
We have repeatedly appealed for re
dress against this grievance and we
appeal again to the sense of decency
and honor which should exist at the
capital of the nation and which should
save from insult persons who are serv
ing their country in the organized civil
service.
Dyer Bill Defeated.
Republican senators have defeated
again the Dyer anti-lynching bill;
only three of the nine republican mem
bers of the judiciary committee and
one of the seven democrats voted to
report the bill in the face of a series
of horrible lynchings in Mississippi,
Florida and elsewhere.
Political Independence.
There is but one effective reply to
such flagrant disregard of our rights
and wishes. Our political ^salvation
and social survival lie in our abso
lute independence of party allegiance
in politics and the casting of our vote
for our friends and against our en
emies whoever they may be and what
ever party labels they carry. This
may at present give us sorry choice
between twin evils but eventually
and soon there must come in this land
such political reform as will give the
honest independent vote, black and
white, a chance to cast his ballot for
law, decency and democracy.
Particularly is it possible and right
for American Negro voters so to cast
their ballots as to restrain financial
imperialism which has throttled Haiti
and threatens Liberia and Central and
South America and which is still us
ing slavery and forced labor to heap
up profits in Africa.
Union Labor.
For several years the National As
I sociaton for the Advancement of Col
ored People has tided on the one hand
to show white labor movement in the
United States that it must recognize
colored labor, welcome it to union
ranks and affirm the unity of all la
borers in the great fight for industrial
democracy. On the other hand, this
organization has sought to impress
upon Negro labor its duty to leave no
stone unturned in an attempt to co
operate with organized labor and to
maintain and advance the standards
for which organized labor has so long
fought. We are glad to note in the
unionization of the Pullman porters a
great step toward both these objects.
We regret that white union labor is
still disappointly laggard in taking
effective steps toward organizing
black labor.
Cultural Progress.
There is without doubt, a cultural
movement stirring among American
Negroes and Negroes the world over
which is of deep significance. It is a
renaissance of that ancient feeling of
men of black blood for beauty in mu
sic, in sculpture and in expression
which the world forgot during slavery
and the slave trade. As it begins to
blossom again in the new generation
of American Negroes it calls for every
encouragement. This association is
glad that through the Spingarn medal,
The Crisis magazine, the prizes for
literature and art, and encouragement
of public meetings and private exhor
tation, it has been able to do much in
the past to make this renaissance pos
sible. The association calls for the
widest co-operation among persons
and organizations to forward the
movement and encourage art and lit
erature; and above all, to make pos
sible through universal education in
adequate common schools, in better
high schools and in wider college fa
cilities, the development of the great
talent which lies in our race.
The conference also passed resolu
tions thanking the city of Chicago
for the “fine hospitality” shown the
association.
PIONEER UNDERTAKER
HIGHLY HONORED
At the recent convention of under
takers held in Indianapolis, Ind., Al
len Jones, one of Omaha’s pioneer
race undertakers, was honored by be
ing unanimously elected third vice
president. This recognition of Mr.
Jones’ standing and ability is a com
pliment not only to him but to Omaha
where he has built up quite a suc
cessful business.
COLORED COLLEGE
STUDENTS CHOSEN
FOR FINLAND TRIP
Race Representatives From Several
States Included in American
Delegation to Helsingfors.
TOBIAS HEADS DELEGATION
Western States Are Well Repre
sented in World Friendship Tour;
Many Will Be Discussion Leaders
New York.—Ten colored men, seven
boys, and two Negro college students
will be among the American delega
tion to the world conference of the
Y. M. C. A. which meets at Helsing
fors, Finland, August 1 to 6. The
boys will be members of one of the
“world friendship tours” conducted
every year under the auspices of the
National Council of the Y .M. C. A.
Max Yergan, who has achieved an
international reputation by reason of
his work for the Young Men’s Chris
tian Association in South Africa, will
be one of the speakers at a night ses
sion of the conference on August 2.
At the close of the meetings there,
Mr. Yergan will go to Denmark,
where he will attend a meetup of the
general committee of the World Stu
dent Christian Federation. Members ot
the colored delegation will also serve
as discussion leaders and leaders of
devotional exercises at Helsingfors,
where 52 countries will be represented.
Channing H. Tobias, senior secre
tary of the colored work department
of the national council, and Ralph W.
Bullock, national secretary for work
among colored boys, will head the col
ored group from this country. Local
colored Y. M. C. A.s will be repre
sented by the following prominent
men:
Louisville, Ky., Dr. James Bond; De
troit, Mich., H. S. Dunbar; Atlanta,
Ga., Dr. John Hope; Wichita, Kan.,
W. L. Hutcherson; Denver, Colo., L.
H. Lightner; Cleveland, O., A. H. Mar
tin; Cincinnati, 0., Dr. William T. Nel
son; and Bordentown, N. J., W. R.
Valentine.
The boys who will make the trip to
Helsingfors as delegates are: T Bur
ton Curry, Springfield, O.; Kenneth
Eldridge, Hartford, Conn.; Hightower
Kealing, Kansas City, Kan.; Arthur
Method, Columbus, O.; A. V. Smith,
Fort Worth, Tex.; C. C. Spaulding,
Durham, N. C., and Thomas Tolbert,
Dallas, Tex.
WORKERS COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION MEETING
The Workers Community associa
tion met in executive session preced
ing a business trip planned by S.
Walker, vice president and member
of executive committee. Mr. Walker
will visit Chicago and Detroit.
The committee endorsed John A.
Singleton for the legislature and
pledged financial support for same,
appointed M. L. Hunter as a sifting
committee to sift all candidates as
piring for public offices, and unani
| mously confirmed Section 9 of Article
III., whirh reads: “That the W. C. A.
shall not endorse any political party
but shall choose their own candidates
on principle and not party.
Miss Mabel Henry Piernas, member
of a prominent family of Biloxi, Miss.,
and member of Mothers Sorrows
Catholic church and its auxiliaries,
visited the committee and made a few
brief remarks and touched on the han
dicaps of the working class of the
race. Her remarks was inspiring as
to the future hope of Negroes in the
South. Mrs. Piernas dined with the
committee at the residence of M. L.
Hunter.
RESCUES 3 WHITE WOMEN
FROM BURNING HOME
Louisville, Ky.—Two Black Ameri
cans braved a dangerous fire last week
to bring Anna Ratheas, 76, and Misses
Christina and Lizzie Shuck, 66 and
73, respectively, all white, from their
home, which was destroyed. Mrs.
Ratheas and Miss Christina Shuck
are blind.