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NEBRASKA'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor.
$2.00 a Y % -5 Cents a Copy
Omaha, Nebraska, June 29, 1928
Vol XIII—No. 52
Whole Number 673
‘ Negro Disfranchisement Distorts Power
URBAN LEAGUE
REPORT SAYS EM
PLOYMENT BETTER
Lansing Opens Shops to Negroes.
Worcester and Tampa
Lose.
T. Arnold Hill, director of the in
dustrial relations department of the
National Urban league, has issued
the following bulletin on employment
conditions for May:
Unemployment is vanishing. In
dustrial commentators say so and em
ployment tabulations show it. The
gauge the Urban league uses is like
wise to be depended upon. When
Negroes are called back to jobs va
cated during business depressions it
is a very certain index that others
have already been re-employed. This
has been happening in all parts of
the country where the labor of Ne
groes was used before business got
bad; and there is also evidence that
they are again finding opportunities
; in lines of work new to them.
Out in Minneapolis the Ford as
sembling plant is adding a few col
ored men. Detroit, where production
of automobiles is at one of the high
est points in the history of the indus
try, reports that “most men have
work or can find it.” In Springfield,
III., where the Urban league placed
33 per cent more men in May than
in April there is said to be “much un
employment yet, but times are bet
ter.” From Los Angeles comes the
report that a gain of 8 per cent was
^ made in jobs filled by one office.
. Conditions here were relieved by the
' emigration of families to Central
California to chop cotton. In Win
ston-Salem the tobacco factories have
added workers and in Boston 25 col
ored men, members of local No. 46 of
the Compressed Air and Foundation
Workers’ union were employed on
the new Sears-Roebuck company
building. From Harrisburg, where
conditions have been continuously be
low par for a year or more employ
ment showed a “marked advance in
May and Negro men were greatly
benefited.”
New Jobe
Elevator girls and waiters were put
to work at the Mill House, one of the
most popular hotels in Columbus,
Ohio; a firm in Kansas City, Mo.,
accepted a colored girl for its office;''
and a company in the loop district of
Chicago employed its first colored
stenographer. Temporarily three ra
dio employees were placed in the gov
ernment’s signal corps plant in Chi
cago. In this city also 21 men and
women were employed at selling.
These were students of a school in
salesmanship conducted by the Chi
cago Urban league from which 39
were graduated in May.
This encouraging report comes
from Lansing, Mich., “Our largest
automobile plant, which a few years
ago would not hire Negroes except
as janitors, is gradually increasing
the number in their employ and plac-.
ing them indiscriminately about the
plant.’’ Baltimore gave temporary
employment to 160 Negroes in the
city’s street cleaning department. It
was thought to be a political gesture,
but 76 were still at work in May with
indications that they would have per
manent employment. In Philadelphia,
St. Louis, Hot Springs, Ark, Fort
Wayne, Charlotte, N. C., Newark,
Jackson, Mich., and Cleveland, the
building trades and street repair oc
cupations used large numbers of Ne
gro men.
Union Labor
The calling off of the threatened
Pullman porter strike with the co
operation of President Green of the
American Federation of Labor, was
the most significant relationship be
tween Negro workers and the organ
ized labor movement. While Boston
tolerates restrictions against Negro
union members, on a construction job
there colored union men are at work.
In Springfield, 111., colored union
miners »nd hod carriers are said to
be dropping away from the union. In
a Brooklyn plant employing 70 press
ers, all union pressers struck, none
of the colored pressers were mem
bers, but some went out with the
strikers. The union agreed to waive
the joining fees and all the seventeen
colored pressers went into the union.
In some cases wages increased from
$25 to $40 per week.
Loasei Sustained
A force of GOO men brought from
the south to Worcester, Mass., suf
fered curtailment when labor troub
les arose. Our correspondent reports
as follows: “There is a project to
build a huge reservoir along the Ware
river; this water supply will be part
of the metropolitan water system to
be connected with the West Boylston
reservoir by a tunnel. A Philadelphia
contractor brought 600 Negroes from
Georgia, but about a month ago a
Massachusetts contractor took over
the work. He was not favorable to
employing Negroes, and on complaint
that there had been trouble in the
community with the men, he has
taken on the white men who have
applied for work, and let an equiv
alent number of Negroes go. As I
understand it, this letting off process
has covered a period of a month, and
there are still many Negroes em
ployed.” Although Tampa, Florida,
shows signs of increased business ac
tivities, Negroes are not getting their
old jobs back, according to the fol
lowing, “Negroes of Spanish descent
are often experienced cigar makers.
Some of them claim that after eight
months of unemployment factories
are opening but they are refused em
ployment until white Spanish people,
Italians and other fairer people are
employed.”
PRESENTS PUPILS IN
PIANO RECITAL
Miss Elaine Smith presented her
pupils in a well prepared program at
St. Benedict’s Community House,
Wednesday evening. Miss Smith is
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. F.
Smith, 3027 Manderson street, and
has been giving piano lessons at St.
Benedict’s for about a year. She is
a pupil of Mrs. Florentine F. Pink
ston. The following program was
rendered:
“Sweeping Day” Bilbro
Bridea Guston
“Night Wind” Ballard
Juanita Cole
“Wicked Witch” ..
Ellen Richardson
“In An Old Garden” Wonich
Modessa Richards
“Gayety Polka” - Fearis
“L’ Arabesque” Burgmuller
Dorothy Scott '
“Charges of the Uhlans” Duet
Mae Guston and Teacher
“Witching Moonlight” Ballard
“Rose of the Orient” .. Anthony
Elizabeth Hunter
“La Ballade” . Burgmuller
“Fluttering Leaves” Rolling
Maxine Harrold
“The Gypsies” Burgmuller
“Tender Thoughts” Anthony
Dorothy Spraingers
“Dancing Moonbeams” Anthony
Alice Spialek
Pauline Harbin
STATE FEDERATION OF
COLORED WOMEN’S CLUBS
CLOSES GOOD SESSION
The 23rd annual convention of the
Nebraska State Federation of Col
ored Women’s Clubs, which was in
session Tuesday and Wednesday at
Claire Chapel M. E. church, Twenty
second and Miami streets, came to a
close Wednesday evening, at which
time the newly elected officers were
installed and an address was given by
Dr. A. H. Higgs, pastor of the church.
The newly elected officers are Ada
Holmes, Lincoln, president; Gertrude
Shackleford, Omaha, vice-president;
Rhieva Harrold, Omaha, secretary;
and Daisy Gordon, Beatrice, treas
urer. The organization has a mem
bership of over 200 in about twenty
local clubs. It now owns a large
modern home in Lincoln, which it
plans to remodel for a dormitory for
colored university co-eds as soon as
sufficient funds are available.
An ad appealing in The Monitor
three weeks ago for an up-to-date
barber secured for Mrs. Turner, 1002
South Thirteenth street, Mr. W. Rob
ert B. Alexander, who has accepted
the management of the barber shop
at the above number. Advertize in
The Monitor to get results.
EDITORIAL
Colored patrons of a local theater have been told that
there was an agreement upon the part of the “Colored Cham
ber of Commerce” that colored people would not attempt to
occupy seats on the first floor. We do not know where they
got this information. There is no “Colored Chamber of Com
merce,” but there was a “Colored Commercial Club.” Per
haps that’s what they mean by ‘‘Colored Chamber of Com
merce.” It so happens that we were a member of the Execu
tive Committee of that club during the entire period of its
activity and we can therefore speak with authority with refer
ence to its transactions. No such proposal w’as ever presented
to the club and no such agreement was even discussed to
say nothing of being assented to. Had such a proposal been
presented it would have been voted down. So the statement
as to any such unmanly and cowardly agreement is absolutely
false.
But even though the membership of that club had been
pusil^nimous enough to have signed such an agreement, is
there anyone in his senses big enough fool to believe that it
could have any binding force upon the Negro citizenry of
Omaha? Could such an “agreement” signed by a thousand
“Chambers of Commerce,” colored or white, nullify the con
stitutional law of this sovereign state? None but an imbecile
would for a moment entertain such a silly contention. No
individual is so influential, no organization so powerful that it
may willy nilly set aside the law.
So, this silly stuff certain theaters are hatching up to
justify their violation of the law is absolutely false, and even
though it were true it could have no binding force outside of
those who voluntarily made this agreement, and only upon
them as a kind of “gentlemen’s agreement.” Not being a
representative body they could only speak for themselves.
Nebraska’s Civil Rights Bill stands, with its definite, clear
cut, unequivocal provisions to protect and safeguard the civil
rights of all citizens of this state. Let all live within the law.
Here lies the way of amity, good-will and safety. This is
the law:
Sec. 1. Civil Rights of Persons. All persons within
this state shall be entitled to a full and equal enjoyment of
the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges
of inns, restaurants, public conveyances, barber shops,
theaters and other places of amusement; subject only to
the conditions and limitations established by law and ap
plicable alike to every person.
Sec. 2. Penalty for Violating of Preceding Section.
Any person who shall violate the foregoing section by
denying to any person, except for reasons of law applica
ble to all persons, the full enjoyment of any of the accom
modations, advantages, facilities, or privileges enumerated
in the foregoing section, or by abiding or inciting such de
nials, shall for each offense be deemed guilty of a mis
demeanor, and be fined in any sum not less than twenty
five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, and pay
the costs of the prosecution.
THE NEGRO AT KANSAS CITY
By Kelly Miller
There were fifty Negro delegates
and ten alternates at the recent re
publican convention. A goodly pro
portion came from northern districts.
Their interests were mainly segre
gated and racial. The dominant is
sues of prohibition and farm relief
did not arouse their emotions, nor stir
their enthusiasm. After the manner
of the southern plan, the Negro rep
resentatives were shut into them
selves by domiciliary segregation.
The great Methodist Episcopal con
ference had met in the same city sev
eral weeks previous. The colored
contingency was similarly disposed
of. Neither politics nor religion runs
as deep as the color line. The Negro
is learning painfully the purpose of
the Nordic to set a social separatrix
which shall operate as effectively as
the decimal point in arithmetic. The
basic question is, what power has he
to alter or affect that purpose? It
operates with baleful effectiveness
alike in education, religion, politics
and social procedure. All of our
bombardment does not seem to budge
it.
The Negro delegates did not seem
to figure in any effective way in the
general procedure of the convention.
In the main, they were lined up on
the winning side long in advance.
The Afro-American has an instinct
for picking the winner and getting on
the band wagon. The Negro contin
get held its own racial caucus. It
constituted only five per cent of the
enrollment of the convention. The
chief concern of the colored political
leaders was to secure the insertion of
a plank insisting upon the enforce
ment of the 14th and 15th amend
ments. The colored troops fought
nobljs but to no avail. They were
not cven able to have these amend
ments bracketed with the 18th, whose
enforcement was especially stressed
as a party policy. But true to the
verbal traditions of the party, somd
slight reference must needs be made
to the Negro and his claims. Cerebus
must haye his sop. The insertion of
the splinter of a plank on lynching
was only a complimentary gesture. 1
It serves to remind the race that the 1
G. 0. P. has not altogether forgotten j
the black ally who was formerly held <
in such high regard and esteem. The i
insertion will not be without indirect ■
benefit. It serves to keep afresh in ]
the mind of the Ai. erican people the ;
enormity of the evil of lynching. IJ j
do not believe that a single Negro will i
be deceived thereby. It will cer
tainly not be stressed as a campaign ,
issue. i
A colored delegate was assigned to j <
make one of the four or five minute I <
addresses seconding the namination i i
of Secretary Hoover. This he did 1
creditably. I believe that this is the
only instance where a Negro fune- i
tinned conspicuously in the proceed
ings. The race undoubtedly impress- i
ed less influence upon the Kansas :
City convention than upon any like <
session since enfranchisement. We :
can hardly believe that in 1884, Hon. .
John R. Lynch was chosen temporary
chairman. As late as 1912, the late
Henry Lincoln Johnson held the fate ■
of the convention in the hollow of his
hand. It was the emphatic and un- i
swerving attitude of this bold blacll
leader that determined the issue be
tween Roosevelt and Taft, which put'
the G. O. P. out of luck for the en
suing eight years. What a swift de
scent from the political heights of
those days to the low level of today!
But there is a darker semblance
yet. The Negro was all but elimin
ated as a dominant force in any of
the states. Walter Cohen, the little
pelican war horpe was dethroned in
favor of white leadership. He was
personally allowed to retain his seat
as a delegate merely to save the reg
nant party from the odium of throw
ing out a leading colored man with
out courtesy or consideration. Ben
Davis lost the committeemanship in
Georgia. Perry Howard alone sur
vives, but even his temporary succeed
has no assurance of permanency. The
slightest shift in the exigencies of the
situation would have relegated him
to the company of his forlorn de
feated brethren. Throughout the
south the lily whites are in the as
pendancy. In Virginia, North Car
olina, South Carolina, Florida and
rexas, where the voice of the Negro
ielegates used to be heard at nation
il conventions, alas, they are heard
10 more. The Negro politician has
given up the ghost, without expecta
;ion, if not without hope of resur
rection.
The race owes ex-President Hard
ng an unrecognized debt of political
gratitude. All had once before been
lost to the Negro. When Judson Lyon
ivas thrown off the national commit
tee by Lincoln Johnson, there was
not a single Negro representative left
in that august body. Lincoln John
son fought his way to chieftainship.
But when President Harding seized
the reins of power, he decided to turn
aver to Negro control the states of
Mississippi and Louisiana. The na
tional committeeship in that state be
longed to Cohen, who by abnegation
gave it to the very white man who
nas brought about his unhorsing.
Such is political gratitude. But the;
lutstanding fact remains, the Negro
las been practically eliminated from
trusteeship of the Q. O. P. He is
now holding on only by a tenuous
:hread which the scissors of political
fate are ready to clip.
There is little likelihood that thii?
power will be restored. The great
republican party is a practical body
mil, excepting the Roman Catholic
Church, is the most efficient organi
sation on earth. It has no sentiment
chat will stand in the way of effi
ciency. It desires to build up a func
tioning republican party in every
state of the union. Nowhere has this
^et been accomplished under Negro
eadership, certainly not since the
lays of Wright Cuney of Texas. The
party in such states as North Car
olina, Virginia, Florida and Texas
chrives much more vigorously under
vhite sponsorship. Negro leaders for
,he most part seem satisfied to traf
fic in delegates rather than build up
strong local organizations which will
nduce every republican to vote in
ocal as well as national elections,
jven under restrictions by revised
constitutions. Theodore Roosevelt in
\is progressive campaign, adopted the
>olicy of placing in power in the
southern states the men who could
>est command the situation, regard
ess of race. But he found that they
vere mostly white men of local stand
ng, courage and influence and
vealth. It is needless for the would
ie Negro leader to hark back to the
sentimentality of a bygone age. In
)olitics as elsewhere, it is a case of
he survival of the fittest.
The loss in the south is partially
iffset by gains in the north. The
dtal difference is that the northern
lelegate must needs speak with a
lictated voice. He is in the hopeless
mnority in every state and must fol
ow the fortune of party bosses,
there is little or no latitude for ra
cial independence.
And so, now we face the coming
campaign with eyes wide open. There
nust be devised an entirely new set
if reasons and arguments for racial
iupport of Hoover and the G. O. P.
Appeal to Lincoln and Sumner and
I rant will not sway Negro votes as
t did aforetime. Extravagant proph
•cy of what the new administration
s going to do for the Negro has been
lone to death in previous campaigns!
vith sad disillusionment. Only the
simple will bite at that bait. Denun
ciation of the democrats and dread of
southern fire eaters, if Smith suc
ceeds, will no longer frighten the
simple. The southern fire eaters eat
is much fire under republican as un
ler democratic national authority.
There are sufficient sound reasons
»nd good sense why the Negro should,
n this campaign, prefer the republi
can to the democratic party, why
Hoover should be chosen rather than
Smith. But the Negro spellbinder
must learn its spell and potency. The
one which he has used for the past
40 years has lost its spell and po
tency.
—June 21, 1928.
Washington, D. C.
Miss Mary Belle Bryant of Chi
cago, 111., has been the house guest of
Mrs. R. D. Allen, 2715 Hamilton, and
Mrs. Lizzie Buford, 2227 Miami
street, the past three weeks.
SOUTH TO STAY
“SOLID” SAYS A
NEGRO LEADER
Will Vote for Smith, or Any Other
Democrat, Dr. W. E. B. Du
Boi* Believe*.
GOES TO RACE CONVENTION
(From The World-Herald)
“The ‘solid south’ will vote for A1
Smith—or any other democrat nom
inated. Of this I am as confident as
I am sitting here,” declared Dr. W.
E. B. Du Bois of New York, editor
of “The Crisis,” and said by many to
have accomplished more than any
man of his race in the forcing of
recognition of the intellectual power
of the Negro.
Dr. Du Bois was one of 50 men and
women traveling in three special cars
that passed through Omaha Saturday
afternoon en route to the nineteenth
annual conference of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People to be held in Los
Angeles, June 27 through July 3.
Also of the party was James Wel
don Johnson, writer, musician, com-,
poser of national note, and secretary
of the association, who served as U.S.
consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua;
William Pickens, field secretary and
colored orator, and Charles Waddell
Chestnutt, of Cleveland, novelist and
short story writer who is to receive
the fourteenth annual award of the
Spingam medal, given for the high
est achievement of an American Ne
gro. It is to be given him for his
“pioneer work as a literary artist de
picting the lift and struggle of Amer
icans of Negro descent and for his
long and useful career as a scholar,
worker and freeman of one of Amer
ica’s greatest cities.” Dr. Du Bois
and James Weldon Johnson have been
awarded the medal in previous years.
No Chance for New Party
Others included Harry E. Davis,
civil service commissioner of Cleve
land, and Arthur B. Spingarn of New
York, chairman of the national or
ganization’s legal committee and both
members of its board of directors.
“There is no possibility of a third
party today, no matter how some may
consider the crying need,” continued
Dr. Du Bois. “The disfranchisement
of the white man as well as the Ne
gro, in the south, and even today ip
the north, makes it impossible. The
powerful influences that dominate
the voting power of the individual in
both parties are at work. If they
don’t vote the way the wind blows—
they don’t vote at all!
“Smith will be nominated, or his
party will fail. The people of the
south are not going to make the to-do
that is looked for. They will act si
lently, vote for Smith if he is nom
inated, and if by any chance he is not,
for the democrat that is. A great in
crease in population in the south has
been marked by no increase in voting
power. As for the Negro of the
south, take Louisiana for example,
where today actual figures show that
but eight hundred Negroes are regis
tered out of a Negro population of
three-quarters of a million.”
Negroes Favor Smith
To Dr. Du Bois’ remarks James
Weldon Johnson nodded a second and
said: “The south is dominated by
representatives of its wealth, the
average white, like the Negro, as a
matter of personal welfare, follows
the dictates of party domination.”
Both say there will never be a
change, “until a real democracy is
realized and an appeal made to the
intelligence of all the people.”
There is a great deal of sympathy
for Smith throughout the land on the
part of the colored people, members
of the party declared.
Politics, anti-lynching laws, segre
gation and such will be discussed at
the coming convention in Los An
geles. The opening convention ses
sion will be addressed by Dr. Du Bois
whose topic will be “The Presidential
Election, Black Votes and Democracy
in the United States.” Some five
hundred persons from all parts of the
country will be in attendance there,
(Continued on Page Three)