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About The voice. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1946-195? | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1948)
* HJ" ■ " " "—— ..■■■■... ■ ... ■■ Volume 2, Number 41. ld*Q a,J* * Lincoln S, Nebraska Thursday, July 22, 1948 ■ * J Wit- .. 11 '"■■■■ 111 1 " ... * ... ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■■ .. II ■■ IN ■■ ■ . .Ill - ■■■■■■■II .— Democrat, It Works In Lincoln (Courtesy of the Journal) Mr. George Schuyler, associate editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, visited Lincoln last February to obtain Information on the civil rights of the Negroes in Lincoln. By GEORGE S. SCHUYLER LINCOLN, Neb.—If the Great Emancipator could re turn to this mortal coil and visit the State capital named after him, he would find little to praise and more to con demn. He would find his dictum that a nation cannot exist half slave and half free honored here too often in the breach. If it be true that the right to work and advance on the job is a civil right, as President Truman’s committee declared, then the Ne gro’s civil right in Lincoln is not too much. The 1,500 Negroes here in a total population of more than 90,000, are all working, but they encounter the usual bar riers. Foundry Work There is considerable difficulty in getting work in industrial plants such as the Western Elec tric, Elgin Watch Company and the Cushman Motor Works, although some Negroes do foun dry work in the latter. During the late war Negroes were able to get much machine work, but with peace these jobs vanished. There are some Negroes em ployed as laborers and helpers in the Havelock Shops of the Chi cago, Burlington & Quincy Rail road. They are not unionized, it is said, but they can join if they wish. Negroes are not hired as bell hops in any of the local hotels, but do v/ork as maids, porters, cooks and waiters. There is din ing car and chair car work in and out of the city. Repair Boss One colored man is head of furniture repair in the city’s largest department store. There is one Negro electrician, but the union will not permit him to join up. It gives him a permit to work. Negroes are in both the plasterers and cement finishers unions. One man drives a truck for the supply department of the Lincoln Telephone Company. The municipally owned electric light company has a colored man in charge of supplies, but the gas company hires Negroes only as janitors. There is one colored stenographer in the Nebraska State Employment Service, and a stenographer and machine and index operator in the Depart ment of Labor. Hotels, Restaurants The right to recreation and ac commodation is not completely enjoyed by colored people. Only one local hotel, The Comhusker, will take Negro guests if they are important personages. There is a civil rights law prescribing fines of from $25 to $100, and it has been invoked on several occa sions recently, but nevertheless Negro hotel guests are a rarity. However, Negroes have eaten frequently in the dining room of the Cornhusker Hotel and in the better restaurants of the city. But the cheap restaurants frequented by the white proletariat discour age Negro patronage. No civil rights suits have been brought against any of them as yet by the ninety-member NAACP branch or other liberal groups. Right to Swim There is no discrimination against Negroes in the local the atres and the same is true of publicly owned recreational fa cilities. Negroes just recently won a fight to use the municipal swimming pool, but one privately owned pool still bars them. Col ored patronage is also refused by privately owner roller skating rink and bowling alleys. Privately owned ball rooms are also not available to Negroes. Colored people are members of both the YMCA and the YWCA. They can use the recreational facilities and engage rooms. There are colored members of the YWCA board, but not of the YMCA. However, it is possible for Negroes to use the swimming pools at both places. Negro students were banned from the dormitories of the Uni versity of Nebraska until Febru ary of this year, and girls of color are still barred from dormitories. However, five col ored girls stay at the YWCA In ternational House, and this policy has been in operation for several years. It is noteworthy that some of the University of Nebraska, Wes leyan University and Union Col lege have removed the previous ban on Negro patronage. Much of the change has been due to the activities of the NAACP and the Committee on Racial Equality (CORE). The summer camps of the YMCA welcome Negroes and they can avail themselves of all facilities, including swimming. Right to Education Negroes in Lincoln enjoy full right to education. There are no separate schools as are found in neighboring Kansas. It is said that the city will not hire Negro teachers, but some Negroes say that there is no eagerness on the part of qualified Negroes to ap ply. In any event, there are none, although it is reported that white (Continued on Page 2, Col. 1.) Randolph Has Defied Draft Law In N. Y. A. Philip Randolph, chairman of the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation, deliberately violated the selective service act Saturday night by advising a 22-year-old youth to refuse induction into the army. In a meeting of over 200 he ad vised, Robert White “to refuse to register for a Jim Crow army.” Randolph stated that a picket line would be thrown in front of the war department building in Washington on August 16, the day draft registrations will begin. O. W. Ferguson to Vacation in Calif., Remainder of Year Mr. and Mrs. O. W. Ferguson, former residents of Lincoln, re turned to the city for a short visit and proceeded to California. Mr. Ferguson came to Lincoln in 1916 to work on his master’s degree. He remained in the city until 1929. Ten years ago the Fergusons moved to. Florida where Mr. Fer guson teaches in the Science De partment and Mrs. Ferguson teaches in the English Department at the Florida Normal and Indus trial College. The Fergusons are on a year’s leave of absence and will spend most of the time in California. They have already visited their daughter, Marie, in Chicago and are on their way to Berris, Cali fornia, to spend the remainder of their time with their daughter, Correne. —Subscribe to the Voice— Wallace Aide Charges KKK Sabotage Try NEW YORK.—C. B. Baldwin, campaign manager for Henry Wallace, said last week that he had learned that the Ku Klux Klan had timed its national “Klonvokation” for July 23—to coincide with the opening day of the national founding convention of the New Party in Philadel phia. Baldwin said the Klan’s “avow ed intention” was to make its national meeting “a signal for all out war against the only political party which is really fighting ra cial and religious discrimination.” Baldwin said that Grand Dragon Earn Green of the Klan had sent half a million copies of a “fiery summons” to KKfrf members throughout the country, inviting them to attend the national “klon vocation” ceremonies atop Stone Mountain, Georgia. Green hopes to have 1,000 new members to “induct into citjjen ship in the Invisible Empire dedi cated to war against Negroes, Catholics and Jews,” Baldwin said. —Selected. Ga. State Gets Visiting Prof, for Summer Term Mr. James E. Parker of Knox ville College is serving in the Physical Science and mathema tics department at Georgia State College. He is a native of Missouri and cousin to Lynnwood Parker. In 1934 he received the Niles scholarship to Fisk University where he earned an A.B. degree in 1938 and a M.A. degree in 1939. He did graduate work at the Universities of Iowa and Chi cago in Statistics and Logic. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America and is interested in student Christian work. (Courtesy of Journal) PRES. TRUMAN Truman to Fight Segment of Party President Harry S. Truman was nominated by the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia to be the standard bearer for them in the November presidential con test. Mr. Truman will face one of the toughest bouts of his political ca reer in November when he will have to answer to the 80th Con gress, to the Republican Nominee, to Henry Wallace, to Normaji Thomas, and to the Dtxiecrat (Courtesy of Journal) GOV. THURMOND Nominee who rebelled against his civil rights program. The Dixiecrats met in Birming ham to choose a candidate to op pose President Truman on the Civil rights issue. The Nominee chosen to head the Dixiecrat Ticket was Governor J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. The question to be answered is whether the Dixiecrats will take the electoral votes away from President Truman and give them to the Republicans. — Peace it’s wonderful. A rose by any other name is just as sweet—or is It? —Courtesy Lincoln Journal. FRANK SORRELL Sorrell Regards Civil Right Plank As 6Unnecessary9 By Lynnwood Parker I greatly suspect that when Mr. Frank Sorrell’s great great, great grandparents landed at the docks to enter on American soil, my great, great grandparents were probably there to meet them. Yet, whether they came here to escape persecution or to help build a country devoid of the evils of the one from which they left, I am not at liberty to say. I can say that they expected to take part in the making of America—to make it strong and prosperous—a place to raise their children and to worship God as they saw fit. I wonder what they would have thought if the lawmakers at that time had considered their right to participate in government, or to live happy normal lives as “unnecessary and merely adds in sult to injury?” Just how a man of Mr. Sorrell’s standing, who expects to become governor, can countenance such an attitude, is surprising Indeed. I would not be surprised if he flew to Birmingham to be a delegate to the Dixiecrats Conference—“To Suppress These Rights” instead of “To Secure These Rights.” Congratulations are in order for those courageous men of the Ne braska democratic delegation, who stood up to be counted.They are Francis Matthews, who served on the President’s committee for Civil rights, Clifford Anderson, and Don Morrow, both of Lincoln. These three men have imagination which is commensurate for the times. I am not quite sure that the same can be said for the other Gentlemen of Nebraska, who would “suppress” rather than “se cure” rights for all people. The men who would suppress the civil rights as expressed in an amendment by the mayor of Min neapolis are: Tom Lanagan, Grand Island; James Quigley, Valentine; Frank Sorrell, Syracuse; Paul Busch, Howells; W. T. Thomp- ■ son, Cozad; Riley Warren, North Platte; Otto Bogner, Crofton, Al ternate for Stanley Long; Jean Kennedy, Norfolk, alternate for William Ritchie; Frederick Deu tsch, Norfolk, alternate for Peter Parkert. The three alternates voted in ac cord with intsructions from the delegates they replaced. The amendment and Civil Rights plank read: “The democratic party is responsible for the great civil rights gains made in recent years in eliminating unfair and illegal discrimination based on race, creed or color. “The democratic party commits itself to continuing its efforts to eradicate all racial, religious and economic discrimina tion. “We again state our belief that racial and religious minofrlties must have the right, to live, the right to work, the right to vote, the full and equal protection of the laws, on a basis of equality with all citizens as guaranteed by the constitution. “W# highly commend President Harry Truman for his courageous stand on the issue of civil r|ghts. “We call upon the congress to support our president in guaranteeing these basic (Continued on Page 2, Co!. 3.)