Omaha Woman Admitted To Bar
Mrs. Elizabeth Davis Pittman
Will Be First Negro Woman
To Practice In Nebraska
Mrs. Elizabeth Davis Pittman, recent graduate of the
Law College of Creighton University, was admitted to the
practice of law by the Supreme Court of Nebraska on Sep
tember 15, 1948.
Mrs. Pittman is the first Negro woman admitted to the
bar in Nebraska since Miss Zanzye Hill passed her exams
in 1929. However, Miss Hill did not practice in the state,
according to the office of the Supreme Court Clerk.
Mrs. Elizabeth Davis Pittman
Mrs. Pittman is the only Negro
woman attorney in Nebraska at
the present time. She will form
a partnership with her father,
Charles F. Davis, who has prac
ticed law in Omaha for many,
years.
In addition to her Bachelor of
Law degree, she also holds a
Bachelor of Science degree, with
a major in political science and
history. Mrs. Pittman was an
honor graduate of North High
school in Omaha, Neb., and upon
her graduation received a Regents
Scholarship to the University of
Nebraska where she completed a
portion of her undergraduate
work. Later she attended Creigh
ton University where she was also
an honor student and received her
two degrees. She was chosen the
Law School Princess last spring,
for the 1948 Creighton Junior and
Senior Prom.
Mrs. Pittman is the wife of Dr.
A- J3- Pittman, one of Omaha’s
leading veterinarians, who is now
in the process of building an all
modern veterinary hospital. They
have a year and a half old daugh
ter.
Mrs. Pittman is very active on
the civic and social scene in
Omaha in addition to being a
Vestry member and Secretary of
St. Philip’s Episcopal church, an
officer of Delta Epsilon Omega
Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sororify, a member of the
Y.W.C.A., Cherokee Temple No.
223 and the Nebraska Kennel
Club.
Mr. Davis brings many years
of experience in fraternal and
civic affairs to the new law firm
of Davis & Pittman. He has been
Exalted Ruler of Iroquois Lodge
No. 92 for the past twelve years,
the first Polemarch of the Omaha
Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fra
ternity, Assistant Grand Legal
Advisor of the National Elks
Lodge, Legal Advisor of the
Omaha Branch of N.A.A.C.P.,
only Negro member of the May
or’s City-wide Planning Commis
sion, founder and Secretary
Treasurer of the Carver Savings
& Loan Association, and founder
and President of the Carver De
velopment Company.
The “father and daughter” part
nership marks one of the few of
its kind in the nation among Ne
groes and the first association of
this type in Nebraska. f
Fall Opening is
Success Al Lincoln
Urban League
Approximately 250 persons
filled the Urban League audi
torium last September 24 to at
tend the Fall Opening. In greet
ing those attending, Mr. Clyde
Malone, executive secretary, ap
pealed to the community for
voluntary workers for the vari
ous League activities. Mr. Doo
little led the community singing
and Miss Virginia Seiler played
the accordion. Barbara Moody
and Phyllis Bradford played a
piano duo. The Girls Glee Club
sang a group of five numbers
under the direction of Mrs. Eu
genia Brown.
Howard Univ.
Treasurer
■Resigns
WASHINGTON. (ANP). Vir
ginius D. Johnston, 52-year-old
treasurer of Howard university,
ended his 17 years of association
with the school here last week by
handing in his resignation. Al
though no reason was given, it is
believed the separation is a result
of a rumored shakeup in the ad
ministrative set-up of the insti
tution.
For some time, it has been ru
mored that the position of treas
urer would be abolished and that
of a comptroller substituted. Fred
erick Stanton, an assistant in the
office of President Mordecai John
son, is said to be considered for
the new post.
Johnston formerly was secre
tary of the Victory Life Insur
ance company, Chicago, before
coming to Howard. He holds a
master’s degree in business ad
ministration from Northwestern
university, and did his under
graduate work at Virginia State
college and Virginia Union uni
versity. Married, he plans to open
a real estate office in Washington.
Chicago Doctor
Named To Expert
Medical Group
CHICAGO. (ANP). Dr. Roose
velt Brooks, senior attending sur
geon at Provident hospital, was
notified here last week that he
has become the fifth Negro sur
geon from Chicago to be admitted
to the American College of sur-''
geons in the last five years. Dr.
Brooks will be formally inducted
into the college on Oct. 22 when
it meets in the Biltmore hotel,
Los Angeles.
Oneof Chicago’s leading ophthal
mologists, Dr. Brooks is a gradu
ate of the University of Illinois
college of medicine, where he is
also an instructor in ophthalmol
ogy. In addition he is certified
by the American Board of ophthal
mology, and is a member of Chi
cago Ophthalmological and Inter
national Congress of ophthalmol
ogy.
The American College of Sur
geons was organized in 1913 and
is composed of the leading sur
geons in both the United States
and Canada. The late Dr. Dan
Williams was a charter member,
but no other Negroes were ad
mitted until recently.
Launch Campus
Magazine
JERRERSON CITY, M. (ANP).
William L. Watkins Jr., former
student of journalism at Lincoln
university, is now editor and
publisher of a new collegiate
publication, Campus Magazine.
It will be issued nine times a
year, October through June, and
will contain news and features of
interest to all collegiate minded
readers. Over 114 Negro schools
of higher learning in the United
States will be represented each
month.
Watkins is offering salesman
ship experience to needy stu
dents and has established bon
NAACP To Launch Fall Drive
With Dinner And Rally Oct. 1
—Couri..-> ot ii.c Lincoln Journal.
Mr. Weaver
Mr. Arthur J. Weaver, City
Councilman and Chairman of
the Nebraska Delegation to the
Republican Convention, who
will be one of the four speak
ers at the NAACP rally.
Bishop Walker
To Hold First
Conference
Bishop D. Ormonde Walker.
The Rt. Rev. D. Ormonde
Walker, presiding bishop of the
Fifth Episcopal District of the
AME church, will open his first
annual conference in Nebraska
on October 6, at Omaha, Neb.
The conference which includes
parts of Kansas and Nebraska
will convene at St. John African
Methodist church of which the
Rev. E. B. Childress is the pas
tor.
The former dean of ' Payne
Theological Seminary at Wilber
force, Ohio, was elected to the
Episcopal office at the last Gen
eral Conference of the church
held in Kansas City, Kas., last
May.
uses ranging from $1 to $300 for
campus circulation representa
tives. Campus magazine is also
in the market for short stories
and newspictures.
The debut issue will be re
leased next month from Lincoln
university here. It is the only
publication of its kind devoted to
Negro colleges in the
States exclusively.
The Lincoln Branch of the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People will
begin its Fall membership drive
October 1 with a big Citizen
Rally. The program will begin
with a citizens dinner at 6 p. m.
which will feature tender young
Nebraska turkey. Following the
dinner at 7 p. m. four men will
present the platforms upon which
their party candidates are seeking
election November 2. The rally
will stress the importance of vot
ing (without reference to any par
ticular party) and will urge every
registered voter to exercise his
privilege and duty, to himself and
his community, by electing hon
est, competent, responsible per
sons to public office—local, state
land national. The speakers are
among the ablest obtainable.
In an interview with a Voice
staff member, Rev. Robert Moody,
president of the local branch
pointed out the importance and
necessity of every citizen voting.
“In the South, people are beaten
and killed for exercising the right «
and privilege of voting. Western
(Continued on Page 2, Col. 4)
Dr. Joseph Johnson
Heads ‘Emergeney*’
Committee For DuBois
By Conrad Clark.
NEW YORK. (ANP). An
“Emergency Committee. To Pro
tect the NAACP Action Against
Dr. W. E. DuBois” was announced
here, Friday with Dr. Joseph
Johnson, dean of the Howard
University School of Medicine, as
chairman.
The committee, with head
quarters at 49 West 44th St., or
ganized with the view that the
NAACP’s action against Dr. Du
Bois wras unwarranted and merits
further consideration since Arthur
Spingarn, NAACP president,
himself declared DuBpis is “one
of the greatest leaders of his
race.”
The committee, whose member
ship includes Shirley Graham,
author of the Frederick Douglas
biography, “There Was Once a
Slave” and Atty. Archibald S.
Pinkett of Washington, has sent
telegrams to many NAACP mem
bers throughout the country in
viting them to join the committee
in protesting the ouster of Du
Bois.
The committee will recommend
that the ouster oirder be re
scinded, and already other sub
committees are being organized
in other cities and states.
The action taken by the
NAACP’s board of directors Sept.
13, which followed Dr. DuBois’
criticism of Walter White for tak
ing the post of consultant to the
U. S. delegation to the United
Nations, was that of relieving
him from his duties with the or
ganization when his contract ex
pires on Dec. 31.
In the ouster charge, the
NAACP said that Dr. DuBois had
given a memo to the press on the
dispute before the board had had
time to study the DuBois charges.
