Volume 2, Number 21 Lincoln 3, Nebraska Thursday, February 26, 1948
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Writer Probes Lincoln Bias
Makes One-Day Studyf
Negroes’ Status in *
O ' . x v’v aS
By Charles Gool$> ^ %
George S. Schuyler, nationally fair A Jh' for
the Pittsburgh Courier, was in Linco1 ng in
formation about Nebraska’s gover: conscious
that our national capital is a seat of ) ^ ndered how
civil rights were working in state cap» -ne nation. He
began a tour to find the answers.
From the information gathered,
he is presently writing a series of
sketches entitled “Democracy—
How It Works in State Capitals.”
In studying the status of civil
rights, he related, the report of
the president’s committee “To Se
cure These Rights” is used as a
• yardstick. By the end of the day
he had talked to a number of
people in informed government
and social welfare positions.
In an interview with local
NAACP officers, the white-haired
New York author, in his soft
spoken, unrushed manner, asked
many questions about Negroes’
opportunities in Lincoln and
about discrimination as apparent
here. Queries on housing, educa
tion and educational facilities,
employment, church membership,
restaurants, labor unions, dis
criminations in certain places of
amlisement and the efforts to
develop better relationships be
tween Negro and other groups
brought ready replies from the
Advancement Association’s men
tors.
When asked what he thought
was the most pertinent reason for
the discriminations he had re
corded on his tour, the veteran
observer replied, “There is no
logic to it. People are moved
largely by traditions.” What then
do you feel is the best approach
to the problem? “Inter-racial
methods are best,” he declared,
“because then there is no clash.
Membership in labor unions,
churches, social and welfare
agencies is helpful, but perhaps
best of all is just the making of
friends with members of other
groups.”
Schuyler holds a Ph.D. degree
* and has written several books.
Among other affiliations, he is a
trustee of C. O. R. E. This marks
his twenty-fourth year with the
BPittsburgh paper.
Award Winner
Mr. Walter Starnes of Topeka,
Kansas is the first person to re
ceive the National Mental Health
Foundation’s five hundred dollar
award as the “Psychiatric aid of
the year.”
Dr. Karl A. Menninger, of the
Winter Veterans Administration
Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, said
that Walter Starnes “is an am
bassador extraordinary. The qual
ities for which he was chosen—
kindness, tact, sensitivity to the
needs and feelings of others, pa
tience, humility and above all
character, could very well make
Mr. Starnes the outstanding man
of the year.”
Alabama Forgets
The Alabama State Board of
Education “forgot” to discuss the
application of William Bell, sopho
more, at the State Teachers Col
lege for Negroes.
Mr. Bell applied to enter the
Alabama Polytechnic Institute at
Auburn, Ala.
5 mmmmm mmmm
Elder McDaniels
Made Overseer
Installation services were held
Feb. 16-18 honoring the appoint
ment of Elder B. T. McDaniels as
Overseer of the state of Nebraska
for the Church of God in Christ
by Bishop O. T. Jones of Phila
delphia. A spiritual feast was en
joyed as Bishop Jones instructed
Elder McDaniels in his duties and
urged the people to pledge faith
and cooperation.
Thursday night, Feb. 19, two
hundred and fifty guests at a re
ception in the Omaha North
Branch Y.W.C.A. extended their
wishes for unlimited success.
Special service will be held at
2:30 p. m., Sunday, Feb. 29, at
Denton Chapel in Lincoln where
Elder McDaniels has been pastor
for about six years. He resides at
2006 “U” Street.
Susie Conway
Accepts Labor
Dept. Position
Mrs. Susie Conway, a Pennsyl
vanian, after successfully passing
a civil service examination, has
accepted a position with the State
Department of Labor in the divi
sion of Placement and Unemploy
ment Insurance.
Mrs. Conway is a graduate of
the Henry George School of So
cial Scienoe and holds an Elemen
tary Professional Teacher’s cer
tificate from the board of educa
tion of ^he state of Virginia. She
also holds a merit award from
the Chicago N.A.A.C.P. Mrs. Con
way resides with Mrs. A. Cf.
Smith, 645 So. 20th street.
Nurses Sought
In Chicago, the American Nurses
Association have asked that Negro
Nurses be employed “without dis
crimination” to cut down the
present shortage.
A resolution urging the creation
of professional opportunities for
Negro Nurses was adopted at the
close of the three day meeting by
the Registrars of Nurses’ registries.
Bethune Club
Gives Wheat
The Mary Bethune Literary and
Art Club met Thursday, February
19th, at the home of Mrs. Izetta
Malone, 1035 Rose Street. Plans
were submitted for a formal tea
to be given Sunday, April Uth, at
the home of Mrs. Leona Dean,
1018 Rose Street.
Mrs. Helen Randol gave a very
picturesque description of “A Day
in Mexico.”
The club contributed a bushel of
wheat to the Abraham Lincoln
Friendship Train.
Summaries were given of the
lives of Abraham Lincoln and
George Washington.
The club adopted the theme,
“Giving Our Best to the Job” as
its theme this year.
City Y.W.C.A.
Opens Town
Meet Series
The Public Affairs Committee
its season of local Town Meetings
of the Lincoln Y. W. C. A. opens
on Wednesday, March 3rd, at 8
p. m. The topic for discussion is
“Can We Wage Peace?”
Participants will discuss the fol
lowing subjects: Dr. Gerald Ken
nedy, “Fear and Safety;” Arthur
Emerson, “Economic Ways to
Peace;” Dr. William E. Hall,
“Where Does Peace Begin?” Dr.
F. K. Beutel, Dean of the Uni
versity of Nebraska law school, is
moderator. A question period will
follow the addresses. Admission is
free.
F.E.P.C. BiU
ThruCommittee
Senator Irving Ives (r., N. Y.)
is sponsor of the F.E.P.C. bill
which conforms to one of the
major plans in President Truman’s
civil rights program. The bill faces
tough opposition in the senate
where the republicans will have
to meet the head-on filibuster
against the measure by southern
democrats.
The bill is not quite as strong
as the F.E.P.C. bill was during the
war. One of the major provisions
of the bill is to correct discrim
inatory practices by a system of
federal mediation to be under
taken by a national commission
against discrimination in employ
ment. If mediation fails, the com
mission would be empowered to
obtain a court order to enforce
it’s decision.
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Alpha Fraternity
Entertains
Members of the Alpha Phi Fra- |
ternity and their pledges, the
Sphinxmen, entertained eleven se
lected men from Lincoln campuses
with a smoker last Saturday eve
ning, February 21st, at the Stir
dent Union. The get-togethers are
sponsored each semester as a
means of introducing unaffiliatdd
men students to fraternities and
to the members of Beta Beta chap
ter. This is the 21st year for the
Alphas at the University, although
during the war years the local
chapter was inactive.
4
President’s Civil Rights Committee
Member Endorses Urban League
Vocational Opportunity Campaign
“Being prepared for an unusual economic opportunity is as im
portant as having the opportunity of taking a new and unusual job,”
Dr. Sadie Alexander, eminent Philadelphia attorney, advises Amer
ican Negro youth. *
NEW YORK.—Sadie T. M. Alex
ander, well-known Philadelphia
attorney who served as a member
of President Truman’s Civil
Rights Committee, gave high
praise this week to the National
Urban League’s 1948 Vocational
Opportunity Campaign, in a spe
cial call to Negro Youth.
Addressing herself specifically
to the VOC slogan “The Future is
Yburs—Plan and Prepare!’’ At
torney Alexander warned against
careless and indifferent attention
to one’s preparation for the job
either at hand or the job expected
in industry.
“We must recognize that the
Negro youth must fight harder
and endure longer hours of study
and training for the unusual in
economic opportunities if he hopes
for anything better than the basic
marginal and low scale type of
job. Even after he gets that un
usual job he has a harder time
than his-white co-worker to keep
that job and to advance in that
position, especially if it is a new
one.
“Therefore, the prime thing for
the Negro youth is that he get the
BROTHERHOOD
The Rev. Gordon Lippitt, in
stigator of the forum, “Is Brother
hood Possible in the Modern
World?" is active in Lincoln So
cial Action Council, a member of
the Lincoln Cooperative Club,
Secretary of the American Chris
tian Palestine Committee, and ex
tremely active in social welfare
work in the city. He holds a B. S.
Degree from Springfield College
in Mass., B. D. Degree from Yale
Divinity School and his M. A. De
gree from the University of Ne
braska. He has served the Uni
versity Y. M. C. A. for the past
three years, and during that time
has revitalized the work of that
group in the city.
Civil Rights
Representative Walter Huber of
Ohio has proposed a 10-men con
gressional committee to spot-light
civil rights violations.
Investigations could be made of
such organizations as the Colum
bians, and the KKK which seek
to take away the rights of the in
dividual.
Mr. Huber said that the House
Un-American Activities Commit
tee could do this if it wanted to,
| “but in some cases they seem
more interested in taking away
j civil rights than protecting them."
Officer of Methodist
Church Speaks in City
Dr. A. R. Howard, Washington,
D. C., Field Representative for
the Board of Temperance over the
Central Jurisdiction of the Meth
odist church, was guest of the Rev.
G. W. Harper, pastor of Newman
Methodist Church, Monday and
Tuesday of last week. Dr. Howard,
who was on a speaking tour of the
west, filled an engagement at the
Lincoln Urban League on Monday
evening before going to Colorado.
highest and most efficient type of
training,” the eminent woman
lawyer advised. I recognize that
it is going to be a difficult job,
that it will require long periods of
sacrifice and perhaps the future
will not look too bright at the out
set or even shortly after you un
dertake studying for this new job.
Negro Engineer Succeeds Despite
Discouraging Criticism.
“In my experience,” Dr. Alex
ander continued, “I have known
some of the most unusual kinds of
jobs to open themselves up to
young men and women who, in
the beginning were laughed at for
even expecting or hoping for such
an opportunity to take place. For
example, in my own city, in one
of the largest aircraft designing
companies in America, a youqg
Negro graduate of the engirleering
school in one of the large univer
sities of New York City, came for
a job wholly unheralded. But he
had a basic fundamental keenness
for mechanical design, particularly
in the aircraft industry. He was
taken on by one of the largest
manufacturers of airplane engines
in America. Later they trans
ferred him to structural designing
of airplanes. In a very short
while he excelled in this to the
extent that he became chief struc
tural designer for one of Amer
ica’s largest aircraft companies.
All during this time many of his
friends told him there was ab
solutely no hope in this particular
industry for a Negro. He paid no
attention to these discouraging
remarks or to criticism from other
sources.
This particular illustration could
be multiplied scores of times
throughout America. The Na
tional Urban League has kept rec- /
ords of hundreds of such cases as
this in the most unusual fields in
American industry. The Urban
League staffs in 56 cities are
working daily making just such
new opportunities for trained Ne
gro people. In 1947 the Urban
League placed more than 35,000
Negro workers and helped 1,015
employers in using Negro workers
for the first time. It is not un
usual for the Urban League per
sonnel to make new job oppor
tunities. As a matter of fact, we
experience difficulty today in fill
ing all of the applications that we
have for trained and qualified Ne
gro men and women in the vari
ous fields.”
The National Urban League’s
Annual VOC is a concerted nation
wide effort to make America
aware of’ its responsibilities in
providing full opportunity for
training and employment of Ne
gro men and women; in eliminat
ing discrimination in all phases of
industry; and in equalizing educa
tional opportunities, with a special
attention to planning his career
and preparing himself for the
careers that the Negro boy or girl
will choose. It will be observed
j nationally during the entire week,
i March 14-21, 1648.
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