THE % VOICE
Volume 1, Number 5_Lincoln 3, Nebraska November 8, 1946
Johnson Becomes Fisk’s First Negro President
Family Life Institute
With the objective of promot
ing more stable homes and
healthier family life, the Lincoln
Public Schools and other interest
ed organizations are conducting
a Family Life Institute, Sunday
and Monday, November 17 and
18 at St. Paul’s Church. We are
not able to present the full pro
gram but we are urging that you
attend. So watch for the public
announcement. It is only through
community action that the rising
tide of broken homes, juvenile
and parental delinquency and
unstable families can be rolled
back. Let us give the project our
ful support.
A Negro 'Renaissance'
By W. G. Rogers
CRITICS, publishers and others
have noted the suddenly increased
activity of Negroes and their not
able new individual successes in
the dance, music, literature and
art. They believe that a full
fledged Negro “rennaissance” is
now underway.
Familiar are the names of
Marian Anderson, Dorothy May
nor, Todd Duncan, Langston
Hughes and Paul Robeson. Many
newcomers also rapidly are earn
ing a wide acceptance for earnest,
worthwhile contributions to mod
ern American culture. Among
them are.
Ann Petry and Chester Himes
in fiction.
(Continued on page 6)
»** A A •*« *% »*,
PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
HAITI'S LEADER
Dumaris Estime, the recently elected president of Haiti, has de
clared he will sponsor reforms to improve the condition of the masses
of the people. Better educational and economic opportunities for
the people are among the things for which he stands.
Congresswoman Pleads
For Racial Understanding
CLEVELAND—(ANP)—Speak
ing at a Cuyahoga County Repub
lican dinner held at the Hotel
Statler here Friday night, Con
gressman Frances P. Bolton, who
represents one of the Cleveland
districts in Washington and is a
potent influence in the national
Republican party scene, made a
plea for unity among the people
of the country.
“We must face reality even
though we £eep our eyes upon
the stars,” Mrs. Bolton said as
she pointed out that “the Republi
can party is again becoming the
symbol of freedom.”
“That reality contains many
problems, many situations far re
moved from that dream that
brought the Pilgrims to our
shores, that fired Washington,
that sustained Lincoln. II is not
enough that there is more op
portunity here than in any other
land in all the world.
“We must face the fact that
there are still minority groups
who find themselves restricted on
every hand. Certain it is that we
must accept the challenge of their
need and find the way will untie
the ropes of prejudice, intoler
ance and ignorance that bind
them, remembering that no man
is free when another man is
bound.
“The old days are finished, a
new world is being born, a new
era comes into being. Things
can be better only through a
new interpretation. Only as we
speaTc tomorrow’s language, only
as we envision tomorrow’s needs
shall we, who are Republicans,
build strength into this nation.’-’
Many colored political leaders
and workers were at the Statler
dinner. Mrs. Bolton represents a
district in which there are many
voters of colored origin as well
as of foreign descent. She is fam
ed for her work among the un
derprivileged especially in the
field of nursing and health. In
Congress she serves on the for
eign relations committee and last
year toured Russia and much of
Europe and North Africa to see
at first hand what the problems
of the people were.
NEW YORK — (ANP) — Dr.
Charles, S. Johnson, famed soci
ologist and distinguished scholar
who has been serving as chair
man of the department of sociolo
gy at Fisk university, was elected
president of the institution last
Tuesday during a meeting of the
board of trustees held here. Mrs.
Vera Cravath Giggs, chairman of
the trustee group, announced the
election of Dr. Johnson who be
comes the sixth president to serve
the university during its history
of 80 years and the first Negro to
occupy that post. He succeeds
Dr. Thomas E. Jones who resigned
last June to become president of
Earlham college at Richmond,
Indiana.
Dr. Johnson was born in Bris
tol, Va., on July 24, 1893. He re
ceived a B. A. degree from Vir
ginia Union university, Richmond,
in 1917 and a Ph.B. from the Uni
versity of Chicago in 1918.
Since 1921, Dr. Johnson has ser
ved on many commissions and
committees of national and inter
national importance. After his
return from a league of nations
investigation into forced labor in
Liberia in 1930, he served as an
America member of the com
mission, he was awarded the Wil
liam H. Harmon award for dis
tinguished achievement among
Negroes in science.
As secretary of the committee
on Negro housing, he attended
President Hoover’s Conference on
Home Building and Home owner
ship in 1931. In 1934 he was ap
pointed a member of the sociolo
gical committee of the Tennessee
Valley authority. He was a mem
ber of the executive and planning
committee during the 1940 White
House Conference on Children in
a democracy.
He is now a member of the
Southern society, and served as
president of that body in 1945.
He was secretary-treasurer of the
Sociological Research association
from 1943-44.
Sec. 562, P. L. & R.