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PUBLISHED WEEKLY
“Dedicated to the promotion of the cultural, social and spiritual
life of a great people"
Rev. Melvin L. Shakespeare
Publisher and Editor
Business Address 2225 S Street Phone 5-64S)
If No Answer Call 5-7508
Ruble W. Shakespeare----Advertising and Business Manager
Lynnwood Parker---Associate Editor, U. N._Dorm-B, 2-7651
Charles Contributing Editor, U. N. Donn-E. 2-7651
Roberta Molden.___Associate Editor 1966 U Street, 2-1407
Mrs. Joe Green.-- -Circulation Manager
Member oi the Associated Negro Press aad Nebraska Press Association
Entered as Second Class Matter, June 9, 1947 at the Post Office at Lincoln,
Nebraska under the Act at March 3, 1879.
NATIONAL € DITOM AL_
_m SS<3S
The Freedom Train
The Freedom Train is coming to Lincoln May 16. This train,
you’ll remember, was originated by Attorney General Tom Clark
and the Justice Department to help familiarize millions of Ameri
cans with the famed and a few less-known documents and letters
that have shaped our American democratic tradition for the past
178 years. “We hold these truths to be self-evident . . . life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness” are not words penned by the mighty
Jefferson for political occasions and the 4th of July, but a basic
philosophy of our laws. Government “of the people, by the people
and for the people” was the way Lincoln set American society apart
from the overlordings. of the feudal system.
But all the Freedom 'frain’s documents are not old, there are
some more recent ones that set forth the aims of World War II, j
words for which Americans of every national, racial and religious
background spilled their blood in #the far corners of the earth.
The documents of the Freedom train remind Americans every
where they have an individual duty and responsibility for preserving
the ideals of democracy and for insuring the dignity of all men.
—C.M.G.
Truman s Impending Triumph
Truman’s stubborn stand for his civil rights program has con
verted this writer long ago. When the civil rights committee was
projected, I was one of the first to label it a “political move," a kind
of political net to catch Negro votes. But subsequent events have
proven that my prognostication was wrong and I am tremendously
glad to be able to see wherein I erred.
When President Truman defied the southern bloc of combined
Negro-baiters and rabble-rousflCS Bftd thin-skinned liberals, I was
convinced that his purpose was nobly concaved and would be stub
bornly defended. Moreover, if Truman goes down he will go down
on account of his civil rights stand, and I am not venturing too far
afield prophetically when I say that millions of Negroes are going
down with him! No other course is open to us, since his magnificent
stand has brought down upon his head the wrath of the south and
a great part of the deceitful north with its appeasement of the south
at any cost.
But it Is not yet certain that Truman will be defeated. It is true
that the vocal part of the south is heaping upon him malign and
pernicious accusations; he is accused of everything but being a
conscientious southerner who is trying to face up to reality by trying
to do at his doors what we are trying to do across the seven seas.
Truman is trying to make of democracy a living and vital principle
by which this nation goes up or down, instead of letting it remain
merely a pleasing platitude.
The south should be proud of Harry Truman, fearless advocate I
of political righteousness and, today, democracy’s leading champion j
instead of trying to crucify him upon a cross of outworn tradition ;
and political expediency. President Truman is looking over the
shoulders of his traducers and hecklers. When these shortsighted
fact-evaders are long forgotten, Truman’s name will be a redeeming
influence in the history of one of the most sordid political periods of
the history of the struggling south.
Nor am I convinced that the carping critics of Truman and
Trumanism constitute the majority of the south. It is true this
contingent is more vocal, but there is another current flowing
through the sentiment of the south that need not be discussed. There
are too many things happening in the south of a constructive nature
to concede that Truman is lost beyond hope. When Georgia can cast
a majority of its votes against Talmadgism, there is no guarantee
that a majority of the same Georgians will pot cast votes against
the anti-Trumanites, come election day.
The south is not as dull and unthinking as her reactionary lead
19x12 FELT RASE
HEAVY WEIGHT LINOLEUM
Reg. $10.95, now only $8.88
Choice of Patterns
i' ii
IQQ NORTH 10th ST. PHONE 2-1489 f
Out of Old
Nebraska
By James C. Olson
SnprlntMMtat. SUt« Hlfttoriral >■«>>•
On Sunday, May 13, 1804—Just
144 years ago—two stalwart young
men left St. Louis at the head of
an expedition bound up the wild
Missouri to explore for the United
States that vast new country put
chased from France the year be
fore.
Meriweatther Lewis and William
Clark were their names—names
that will live permanently in the
annals of the West. For theirs was
the original American exploration :
and theirs was the achievement
which extended American knowl- ]
edge and, to a degree. American
control over all the vast wilder
ness from the mouth of the Mis
souri to the mouth of the Colum
bia.
This first American exploration
of the Nebraska country was not
conducted by a large force of men
or with a great show of arms.
Lewis and Clark had under them
only 40 men. These men and their
supplies went up the river in three
boats. Sometimes there was
enough wind to allow them to
proceed under sail. All too fre
quently, however, it was neces
sary to drive the vessels upstream
by sheer brute force through the
use of cars or a tow rope.
On July 11th, almost two
months to the day after they had
set out, the explorers camped*
across the river from present-day
Nebraska, opposite the mouth of
the Nemaha which empties into the
Missouri about three miles south
of Rulo in Richardson County.
There they killed seven deer.
The next day Captain Clark
took five men and ascended the
Nemaha about three miles. He
climbed a mound where he had
an extensive view of the sur
rounding country, which accord
ing to his journal, “afforded one
of the most pleasing prospects
(he) ever beheld.”
The expedition was along die
Nebraska coast until September 8
when it moved on into South Da
kota. Part of the time they camped
on the Ipwa and Dakota side of
the river and part of the time in
Nebraska. They made rather ex
tensive notes regarding the coun
tryside and the native inhabitants.
Two councils were held writh the
Indians in what is now Nebraska.
The first was with the Otoes on
The Sports Front
BASEBALL
Well spring is here and one
; sure harbinger of the warm days
ahead has been the ball teams
| getting in shape. The Lincoln In
dependants are in fine shape, ac
cording to Shorty Botts, team
manager. Last year (he Inde
pendants Club ran up a hard-to
beat record of 27 wins against
only 4 losses.
New suits of Old Gold and
Blue have been ordered and the
team will be as neatly clad as
any nine in the league.
Starting lineup for their first
game of the season with the
Yellow Cab squad May 10th.
was:
Calvin Rogers—Calctoer
Hank McWittiaan- Pitc*»er.
Bill Cast ran—Pi«5t»w.
Richard Hotomt)—F1r*i Base.
Kraie Wilson First Base.
Johnny Vaachc Second base
Sammy Nr veils—Second base.
John Duncan—Third tease.
Own Tarpiey FasMter.
Walter Bell—SMeUrr.
Onorge Alexander—fielder
Gardener Bntn—Fielder.
Frank Nevtto—Fielder.
Harrison Dillard
NEW YORK. (ANF). America’s
number one track hope in the
Olympics in London this summer,;
according to all the experts, is
Harrison Dillard, America's great
est hurdler from Baldwin-Wallace
college.
Dillard owes his track supre
macy to his idol of 12 years ago, a
fellow native of Cleveland, Jesse
Owens, the 1336 Olympics super
man. Then, when Dillard was
only 12 years eld, he admired the
former Ohio State great. «
In hurdling his way to the top
Dillard has won 55 straight races
since last summer when he was
defeated in the 220’s by Bill Por
ter of Northwestern. Before that
he had won 43 in a row.
While achieving these victory
August 2. The second was held
with the Yankton Sioux on August
31st at Calumet Bluff, in Cedar
County across the river from
Yankton. -* j
On both of these occasions the
Indians were informed that the
great white father in Washington
was now7 their master and that
they must obey his rules. This for
the most part seemed to be agree
able i<5 the red men and had aB
white men treated them with the
diplomacy and tact utilized by
Lewis and Clark perhaps it would
have continued to be agreeable.
_!•
' j i
ership would have us believe. The fellow with the weak side of an
argument always speaks the louder; so the southern reactionaries
with the weak side of the tantamount moral question of the day, may
be equally disposed to speak loud perchance to impress the outside
world with a strength they really do not have.—Gordon Hancock
for ANP.
•
.e''
5 1
THRIFTY
TELEPHOHE
TALK
Value-wise people these day*
are making their long distance
calls after 6 PM and on Sunday.
Rates are much lower during these less
busy hours, and service is much faster too. So
plan on doing more of your personal long distance
telephoning after 6 PM or on Sunday. It s
the thrifty thing to do.
Lincoln Tolaphono and Tdtgraph Co.
9 "A Nebraeh* Company Serving Its FeopleT ^
While Policeman
Awarded $25,000
DALLAS. (AMP). For injuries
sustained after being struck by a
Henderson-Wren ambulance Aug.
5, 1944, a white policeman was*
awarded $25,000 damages from
Price A. Wren, Negro owner of
the company.'
The police officer, Chester Paul
Smith, 3S, origmtUy filed suit for
$90,000 damages.
strings, Dillard has broken or tied
nearly every meet record. Ameri
can record or world mark in both
high and low sticks from 66 yards
to 220 yards.
Unlike otther hurdlers, Dillard
I has no style. He relies on sheer
I speed and force and drive-to carry
him through, lie is short for a
hurdler, too, only 5 feet, 16 inches
tall. Yet his leaping stride takes
him 13 feet through the air com
pared to only 11 for the average
sticks man.
His coach, Dick Finnigan said,
“Why change has style if he tan
set world records that way?”
Dillard attributes his drive to
his coach; ‘“He taught me to drive
at that first hurdle and he im- (
proved my finishing form.”
A major in business administra
tion, Dillard is a “B” student. He
hopes to become the first track
ace in history to sweep the high
and low hurdles in the National
AAU meet in Milwaukee in July
for the third tone.
After Milwaukee he plans to
enter 13?e Olympic trials at North
western and then the Olympic
games themselves in London.
^k The Best In
Picture framing
M Everything in
I WafIpaper
Paints and Tools
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T~7 j
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2120 O Lincoln 2-3839
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