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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1928)
L I F T I v ~ - LIFT <8 D r* —-=r=pr* O - ***4 1 o *•1 4 •“*• 4 O The Monitor NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor. GROWING — THANK YOU $2.00 a Year-. % Tent* a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, July 13, 1928 Vol. XIV—No. 2 Whole Number 675 Thousands Cross ‘Color Line’ Annually CHURCH WOMEH TO HOLD SECOHD RACE COHFEREHCE Spiritual Forces Generated at Former Meeting Demonstrated Great . Advantages Obtained by Conference. INTERRACIAL PROGRESS MADE Need Felt for Further Discussion of Many Problems by Outstand ing Leaders of Both Races. New York, N. Y.—Because the de- j velopments of interracial work among | church women have made such strides the past two years and because there are many problems which need fur ther discussion by the white and col ored women leaders, the second gen eral interracial conference of church women has been called by the church women’s committee on race relations of the Federal Council of Churches, | at Eagles Mere Park, Pa., Tuesday j and Wednesday, September 18 to 19. 1 "This conference,’ ’says Mrs. Rich ard W. Westbrook, chairman of the women’s committee, “comes as a logi cal development of work done by church women, north and south, 1 greatly stimulated as they have been ! by the spiritual forces generated at j1 the first conference held at Eagles I' Mere in September, 1926. Since that meeting a permanent committee, rep resentative of churches and affiliated organizations, such as the Y. W. C. A., has been developed. Local confer- . ences have been held; a number of local committees of white and colored church women have been set up and j are actively dealing with the com munity problems involving the two j ’ , races that confront them. There are 1 j < so many things that are now to be ^ ' {liscussed by women leaders, white nd colored, from all sections of the ;ountry, that a second conference is ' very necessary. This conference will * provide, as did the first one, a choice * of opportunity for understanding 1 through the fellowship of delegates.” 1 A special committee has gathered 1 suggestions from women all over the country and is shaping those sugges tions into a program. Some topics to be discussed are: The present status of the Negro in the cultural life of America; his achievements, handi- ‘ caps and cultural opportunities in 1 America; how Sunday schools and E other religious educational organiza- 1 tions can be used for developing 1 friendly racial attitudes; the problem 1 of interracial relations in our mission * schools; race relations and religious 1 education; mental and moral atti- ‘ tudes involved in interracial contacts. 1 A full review of experiences of ^ church women during the past two 1 years in dealing with problems that ^ confront them in their local commun- < ities and methods they used in deal- 1 ing with these problems will be con- * sidered by the conference. * Invitations have been sent out to 1 more than four hundred national, ! state and district organizations of < church women and a number of these I oraganizations have selected their 1 delegates who plan to attend. Among 1 some of the outstanding leaders who 1 are expected to attend and who will I take part on the program are Mrs. 1 John Ferguson, president, Council of 1 Women for Home Missions; Mrs. C. 1 P. McGowan, chairman, Interracial 1 committee of South Carolina; Mrs. May Leonard Woodruff, secretary, Woman’s Missionary society of the M. E. church; Mrs. J. W. Downs, sec retary, Board of Missions, M. E. church, south; Miss Caroline B. Chap in of New Jersey, Miss Margaret P» Mead, Mrs. Cordelia A. Winn and Mrs. George E. Haynes of the Na tional Board of the Y. W. C. A., Mrs. I Charlotte Hawkins Brown, principal of Palmer Memorial institute, Sedalia, N. C.; Mrs. W. A. Newell, superin- i tendent of social service, M. E. I church, south. _ 1 Mr. and Mrs. T. P. Mahammitt have < as house guests, Miss Marion Small- ! wood of Washington, D. C., and their nieces, Miss Denise Lacey of Pasa- i dena, Cal., and Miss Jennie Black- i well of Baltimore, Md. Mrs. William G. Haynes and small son returned Sunday night from Pittsburgh, Penn, where she was call ed two months ago by the serious ill iess of her mother, Mrs. Belle Pul jress. She left her monther much mproved. PEACE PROBLEM SOLUTION IS RACE PROBLEM SOLVENT? International Peace Offers the Best Opportunity for Meeting the American Race Problem, Says Speaker. Los Angeles, Cal. — International >eace offers the best opportunity for . neeting and solving race problems, ;ven the race problem in the United states, declared Miss Ethelwyn Mills, ipeaking before the 19th annual con ference of the National Association ’or the Advancement of Colored Peo- . )le. Miss Mills is president of the job Angeles branch of the Women’s ( nternational League for Peace and ’’reedom. . “It would be far easier to solve the ' ■ace problem in the United States in ] imes of permanent peace,” declared | Hiss Mills, “than during the cata- ; ilysm of war. 1 “The governments f, the world to- 1 lay stand bristling with suspicion of ’ inch other. The white man arro- ( -antly pushes his way through the < irieut and the yellow peoples in turn ] ire learning the white man’s ways of riolence, and hurl at him their dis7 I rust. We seem to stand only a step 1 >r two away from gigantic war, which 1 night easily involve the whole world ■ n unimaginable terror and misery. “One of the greatest obstacles to 1 >eace is the fact that war is legal. • t is supported by an enormous per- * entage of all national budgets, al- ■ nost the entire code of international ( aw, by pulpit, press and platform, t is not a makeshift but an establish d institution.” Miss Mills urged as a personal pro :ram for freeing the world of war, hat individuals free themselves from 1 irejudice and come to realize that the ' nterests of all races and nations re equally important. ENTERTAINS FOR EASTERN VISITORS J i Mrs. C. B. Frederick was the harming hostess at the prettiest and ^ lost elaborate affair given in Omaha ( ocial circles this season when she , ;ave an “At Home” from 4 p. m. to p. m. Sunday at her beautiful res ience, 2220 Lake street, honoring er sister-in-law, Mrs. Florence Hurt ,evel of Detroit, Mich., and little j laughter, Nettie Mae. Sharing hon rs with the guest of honor was Mrs. ‘ laudell Bondrant of Washington, ' ). C., who is the guest of her mother, Irs. C. W. Ricks, and Mrs. Madison f Chicago. Seventy of the elite ! yere invited by the hostess to meet * ter guest, and the ladies responded ' >y wearing their elegant summer af- j ernoon gowns that gave the exqui-t ite effect of the affable hostess’ ‘ ool and beautiful color scheme of ! link and white, a decided touch of nidsummer grandeur which was al- < uring. Mrs. Alfonso Wilson assisted I he hostess in receiving. Other ‘ riends assisting throughout the par- < ors and dining room were Mesdames lenry Moore, Addie Holmes, Gooden 1 ticks, Georgia Brown, and M. Jack- 1 on. i The dining table was exquisite with I ts dainty artistic filet linen' table- 1 loth and center of a mound of gar len flowers of pink and white, and 1 he pink tall candles lent a striking < ffectiveness that was enjoyed by all. < rhe cool summer menu served was 1 nost delicious. The parlor, with I Irawn shades and soft lights, was ' leautiful. '• - 1 Mayor Walker of New York City ! ecently laid the cornerstone of an 1 i8,000,000 home and training school i or colored nurses, in connection with < .incoln hospital for Negroes. “Race I liscrimination must never have a 1 dace in the life of our city,” said 1 flayor Walker. “Every man, woman md child coming to a city hospital nust be assured of comfort and the >est treatment.” EDITORIAL Religion is the stabilizing force not only of the individual put of the nation. The higher the type of religion the higher s the character of the individual and of the civilization which t molds. Among the primitive types of mankind, be it in Europe, Asia, Africa or America, animism has been found to >e the prevailing religion with its superstitious cults, practices ind codes of morals and conduct. All on a low plane, but dearly a groping in the darkness for something higher and setter, a stretching out of the hand, as it were, “to clasp God’s sand in that darkness and be lifted up and strengthened.” Giving due credit to the great ethnic religions of the world which have influenced untold millions and all of which contain *ays of light from that “true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” the highest type of religion and ruitage of all that has preceded it, is Christianity. No higher orm of religion than this is conceivable. In it is found that per ect union of God with man, the clasping of the hand of man, j he child, within the Hand of God, the Father, Who lovingly eads him ever upward and onward to purer heights of light ind love and service. All of this is involved in that great nystery which theologians call the Incarnation and which in he Gospel according to St. John is eloquently expressed in hese words: “And the Word (Logos) was made flesh and I welt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of he only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” This is the fact upon which Christianity is founded and here can, therefore, be no higher or fuller revelation than this, ts motivating power is Divine Love, infinite and eternal, and •adiating therefrom spring the highest and closest relations jetween God and man, between mankind throughout the world, ind indeed between mankind and the whole creation. It de ermines man’s rightful relation to God, to mankind and to hings, animate and inanimate. Brotherhood, with all it in volves, is inherent in the Christian religion. And so the hope jf America, as that of the world, lies in the living and practice >f the Christian religion, which teaches brotherhood and op portunity for all. It is adherence to the faith of our fathers, often imperfect y expressed and perhaps narrowly interpreted, which has led is as a race thus far on our way and if we are to fulfil our God riven destiny in this country, it will only come through allegi mce to the moral and spiritual standards of the Christian re igion. There is no other panacea for the ills and evils and thortcomings of the nation, which affect other groups as well is our own, than not merely the profession of, but, the practice if, the principles of the Christian religion. ‘Status of Negro Democracy’s Test,” Declares Spingarn in Striking Address Los Angeles, Cal.—Addressing a nonster mass meeting in the Los Angeles Civic auditorium, Sunday ifternoon, July 1, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Arthur B. Spingarn, Jew York attorney and the associ tion’s vice president, declared that he acid test of American civilization nd democracy centered in the status f the Negro in the United States. In ighting for full citizenship rights fon he Negro, asserted Mr. Spingarn, the Jational Association for the Ad ancement of Colored People had tood for fundamental Americanist nd he challenged any patriotic or •anization in the country, including hose which have “blacklisted” the Advancement association, to show a inrallel record of patriotic achieve nent during the past two decades. “The acid test of American civili ation and the democratic form of ;overnment is in their attitude to ward and their treatment of the Ne rro population,” said Mr. Spingarn. 'What is and should be the position ■f the least protected and the least idvantaged group in a democracy? “Theoretically, everybody in Amer ca believes that all the people should lave the equal protection of the law ind equal opportunity for life, lib irty and the pursuit of happiness. Phe time has come to take stock and ee which of the organized groups r. America that attempts to perpet late these American ideals, has tried iractically to bring about a condition vhere these ideals could be fulfilled. “We invite a comparison of the :elf styled patriotic groups which re ently have set themselves as arbiters T Americanism and have seen fit to ind this organization wanting, with he National Association for the Ad ancement of Colored People. Has iny of these groups a constructive irogram which will bring about the afety of the individual, larger op >ortunity for education and training n true Americanism, the carrying >ut of the principles of the consti ution of the United States, the in rease of the wealth of the submerge id and the making of a richer life or all citizens? D. A. R. and “Keyhole” Men “The D. A. R. in its effort to per >etuate the virtues of the Fathers has doubtless a real place. But, alas, that program has deteriorated into an attempt to create a privileged class in America, reaching its apotheosis in the presentation of the president of that organization at the Court of St. James. “The patriotic societies typified by the Keymen of America which started to prevent sedition and keep down obstructionists during the war, have developed into Keyhole Men of Amer ica, whose chief business is to sup press any freedom of thought and I whose nadir is found in a blacklist which includes as dangerous radicals such men as Chief Justic Taft. The Ku Klux Klan stands revealed on its record as an organization whose aim is the spread of hatred and whose method is terrorism and corruption. Record of N. A. A. C. P. “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, throughout its career of almost two decades, has stood for procuring to all American citizens the rights which they are entitled to under the funda mental laws of the United States, by orderly processes of government and the courts. We have stood and fought for and won the fundamental rights for which the pilgrim fathers came to this country, for which the patriotis fought in the War of the Revolution and in defence of which the Civil War was begun. / “We have stood for tolerance and the equal rights of every American citizen. We have stood for the right of every American child to receive an education and by our victories at Toms River, N. J., and in Gary, Ind., we have made good this stand. We have stood for the right of every hu man being to live a healthy life, to be born and bred among hygieniq conditions instead of darkness and filth. Our segregation cases, carried to the highest court of the land, have prevented ghettoes, the pestilence of the old world. We have stood, in the celebrated Grandfather Clause and Texas White Primary cases, for the right of franchise and its integrity. Our victory in the Texas White Pri mary case has broken the first stonq for the road that will lead to univer-. sal suffrage in America. “We have stood for the principle that in America there is no need for Mrs. L. A. Morris spent a few days this week as the guest of Mrs. Hiram Greenfield, a lifelong friend. Mrs. Morris was en route to Colorado after a four years’ stay with her daughter in Owensboro, Ky., who is one of the high school teachers of that town. FIVE THOUSAND NEGROES YEARLY CROSS COLOR LINE industrial Proscription Forcing Thou sands to Leave Race and Pass for Whites, Declares Bishop. Los Angeles, Cal.—That five thou sand Negroes of light color “pass” and become to all intents and pur poses white people, was the assertion of Bishop J. W. Martin, of the A. M. E. Zion church, addressing a mass meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple in its 19th annual conference here. "Fully five thousand Negroes of lighter hue are forced ‘over the line’ each year, in order to get a chance to win their daily bread at the kind of work they love best and for which they are best fitted,” declared Bishop Martin. “I know the mayor of a certain town who is a white man now, but as a boy he was as good a Negro as the community had, and his brother is to this day a good colored preacher. We want the doors of all professions and trades, of all skilled and unskilled labor opened to us and we want them opened wide enough for us to get in without having to ‘pass.’ “An equal opportunity to spend and to be spent along with any and all groups in this country is the de mand made in behalf of the Negro. We want no special favors, but just a chance to shoot from taw and keep on shooting until the game is ended.” any group to be poor and degraded. By teaching manhood rights and by the cultivation of the genius of the American Negro; by finding oppor tunity for its expression in literature and art; by the publication of The Crisis magazine and the impetus that its publication and maintenance has given to numberless other literary godchildren; and by our insistence upon obedience to civil rights laws, we are bringing about a condition where the degradation of the Negro group as a group can no longer be thought of as possible. Negro Farmers and Peonage “By fighting restrictions which have prevented free use of opportuni ty for larger economic development we are helping to bring about a con dition which has permitted untold thousands of Negroes throughout the country to own their own farms and to develop them so that no longer is it possible to think of the Negro as a perpetually impoverished group. “By our fight against peonage, par ticularly in Arkansas, we have helped to bring about a condition making it impossible to exploit this or any other group. Nay, more, in winning the cases of the colored farmers in Ark ansas, we brought about a condition where, by mandate, the highest court of this country proclaims that just ice must be meted out to the verjj lowliest and that justice will not be satisfied with an idle gesture but that it must be real justice. “We have done much to remove the shame of America, lynching and mob murder, and to make this an orderly country. It is conceded that it was the fight against lynching be-; gun and carried on by this associa tion which made lynching a national issue and drastically reduced the number of these horrors so that this year, for the first time in the 39 years during which records have been kept, we could report the first four months free from this blot. “I said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People welcomes a comparison with any oth er patriotic society in America. I might say that looking back at our record we challenge any organization in the United States to point to a record of achievement for such a pe-, riod which has evinced and made for so much genuine patriotism to our common land.” CLARION CALL FOR FRIENDLY LIVING BY TUSKEGEE PRINCIPAL Moton Exhorts Vast Commencement Audience to Follow Christian Methods in Race Relations. AMERICA’S SUPREME CHANCE Opportunity Is Hers to Show World That Different Races Can Lire Together in Peace and Amity. Atlanta, Ga.—“America has a su preme opportunity to show the world that two races radically different can live side by side in peace and friend ship and work out their destiny to gether in mutual helpfulness,” said Dr. Robert R. Moton, principal of Tuskegee Institute, before an inter racial commencement audience of 1,500 that packed and over-ran the Sisters’ chapel of Spelman college. “We have not yet learned fully how to do it,” continued Dr. Moton, “but thousands of sincere people of both races are working at it honestly, and encouraging progress is being made.” Taking as his text the parable of the Good Samaritan as illustrating the second of Jesus’ great laws, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” Dr. Moton showed how the parable applies perfectly to the inter-racial situation in America today, and made a powerful plea for an unselfish, Christianlike love of humanity that will make each race kindly, just and helpful in its attitude toward the oth er. Such an attitude, he insisted, ofy fers the only hope for the solution of the inter-racial problem. It will work and nothing else will, he said, basing his confidence on many striking in cidents from his own observation and experience. “If I could keep only one of Jesus’ two great laws,” said Dr. Moton, “I would choose to keep the second; for I very much doubt if there is any way by which a man may really love and serve God except by loving and serv ing his fellowmen. Whether you can measure up to that standard even though your neighbor be your ene my, is the test of both your education and your religion, for the primary purpose of each is to prepare people to get along together in friendly helpfulness.” Dr. Moton spoke in high terms of the inter-racial move ment of the hundreds of southern women who have gone on record in condemnation of lynching and in be half of a fair deal in race relations. The occasion of Dr. Moton’s ad dress was the joint commencement sermon of Spelman and Morehouse colleges, which brought out the larg est audience assembled in the Sisters’ chapel since its dedication last spring by its donor, John Dr. Rockefeller, jr. Miss Florence M. Read, Spel man’s new president, occupied the chair and presented the speaker. The scripture was read by Dr. John Hope, president of Morehouse, and prayer was offered by Dr. M. S. Davage, president of Clark university. Sev eral beautiful musical numbers were rendered by the students under the skilled direction of Prof. Kemper Harreld. STUDENT DROWNS IN ATTEMPTING TO SAVE SWIt MING COMPANION Iowa City, la.—Miss Clyde Redd, school nurse in Kansas City, Mo., was drowned here July 4 when she step ped into a hole in the Iowa river bottom. Lynn Collins, a colored student from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who was a member of the swimming party, attempted to save Miss Redd, but lost his own life in the river. Mr. Collins and Miss Redd were both enrolled in summer school courses at the Univer sity of Iowa. Miss Lois Watts of Fremont, Neb., was the house guest of her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Augtin Brannon, 2802 North Thirtieth street, over the week end.
