Vol. 4, No. 24 -iV0UJ0l**W ***** 3, Nebraska Official and Legal Newspaper Thursday, April 6, 1950
—Courtesy Tlie Daily Nebraskan
Pictured above are four students rehearsing for “The Story They’ll
Never Print.” They are (1. to r.) Charles Goolsby, Bob Riedy, Gay
lord Marr, director, and Jeanne Malone.
“The Story They’ll Never
Print,” Eric Barnouw’s contribu
tion to the American Negro the
ater, was heard at 9:30 p. m.
March 30 over KFOR on “Authors
of the Ages,” weekly dramatic
feature of the University of Ne
braska’s radio section.
Barnouw’s drama, demonstrat
ing points of inter-group strategy,
understates one of Americans’
fears: The fear among men whose
skin happens to be white of ac
cepting the man whose skin hap
pens to be black.
George Randol, well-known for
mer Broadway actor and former
director of the Circlet theater,
was featured as guest performer.
Cast in the role of the Urban
League representative who points
out the complexity of inter-racial
understanding, Mr. Randol was
heard in some of what is con
sidered Barnouw’s most brilliant
dialogue.
Charles Goolsby and Jean Ma
lone characterized the young Ne
gro couple about whom the play’s
dramatic action evolved. Although
the persons portrayed were fic
tional, the roles were composites
of numberless Negroes who ex
perienced in the postwar years
the situation depicted in the Bar
nouw script: The experimental
introduction of Negro labor in a
hostile, all-white factory.
Others in the cast were Erling
Jorgensen as the narrator, Gus
Riedy as Mr. Harris, Dutch Mey
ers as Vendemeer, prejudiced
production manager, Dutch Bar
ron as Fred, Dick Carlson as
Steve, anti-Negro worker, and
Anne Marshall as the secretary.
Contending frequently that ra
, dio drama should have purpose,
the author of “The Story They’ll
Never Print” declares: “One of
the greatest dangers to radio is
the notion that it is somehow in
the public interest to keep con
troversial issues out of radio
drama. Controversial issues are
the issues that must be faced and
solved. They need to be explored
in every possible way. For the
sake of an informed public, it is
important that radio drama be
allowed freer scope. It can play
an important part in public life.”
“Authors of the Ages,” heard
weekly over three Nebraska sta
tions, is directed by Gaylord Marr
with technical production by Jesse
Crump.—The Daily Nebraskan.
Walter White
Wants To Get
Baek To Office
CHICAGO. (ANP). Rumors that
Walter White wants his office of
; executive secretary of the NAACP
back were verified here last week
by Walter White in an exclusive
interview. White told an ANP
reporter that he expects to re
turn to office when his leave is
up May 31.
The NAACP board of directors
will act on White’s return at its
regular May 8 meeting, accord
ing to Ray Wilkins, acting sec
retary, in New York.
White was in Chicago for a
brief stay to visit friends before
going to Springfield, 111. He said
that he had withdrawn his res
ignation and was ready to return
to work.
In the meantime from New
York, Wilkins verified the fact
that White had officially with
; drawr^his resignation. White sub
1 mitted his resignation in May,
1949, according to Wilkins, and
withdrew it March 13, 1950.
When White first attempted to
resign the board refused to ac
cept, and instead voted him a
year’s leave of absence. Just what
action it will take at its May meet
ing no one will venture to say.
While It Yet Was Dark
by Grace Noll Crowell
WHILE it was still dark, they came,
Their faith quite blurred, their hope grown dim,
They bore a grief that had no name
Since they had looked their last at Him.
They knew they lost their Friend and Guide
The day that He was crucified.
There in the dark they could not see
The blossoms that had pierced the gloom;
The hope of immortality
Was overshadowed by the tomb,
And then, oh then—the rich reward:
There in the darkness stood their Lord!
This day is dark beyond belief,
The dawn delays, no wild birds stir,
Within the shadows of our grief
Each waits beside some sepulcher,
Yet closer than hands or feet stands One,
White as the morning, gold as the sun:
A living proof—as clear as a cry—
That those whom we love can never die!
Supreme Court To Hear
Three Civil Rights Cases
McLaurin, Sweai
Appeals To Be A
By Louis Lautier
WASHINGTON, D. C. (NNPA).
United States Supreme court de
cisions, as well as state court de
cisions, support the constitutional
validity of state laws providing
for separate but equal educational
facilities for white and colored
students.
That is the main argument of
the state of Oklahoma in its brief
filed in the case of G. W. Mc
Laurin, a retired professor of
Langston university now a stu
dent in the Graduate School of
the University of Oklahoma.
McLaurin is appealing from a
decision of a special three-judge
Federal district court upholding
race segregation at the graduate
level in state-supported institu
tions.
The case is one of three civil
rights cases which are calendared
for argument before the Supreme
court this week. The other two
cases are those of Heman Marion
Sweatt, of Houston, Tex., who was
denied admission to the Univer
sity of Texas Law school, and
Elmer W. Henderson, of Wash
ington, who is attacking racial
segregation on railroad dining
cars.
The justice department has filed
briefs in all three cases, as a
friend of the court, asking the
Supreme court to re-examine to
reach a determination that race
segregation under compulsion of
law, violates the due process
clause of the 14th amendment.
While both the McLaurin and
Sweatt cases involve the question
of racial segregation in institu
tions of higher learning, here is
a fundamental difference between
the two.
Sweatt declined to enroll in a
separate law school which the
State of Texas established for
colored students after he had un
successfully sought a write of
mandamus to compel his admis
sion to the University of Texas
Law school. He contends that
separate schools are unconstitu
tional, no matter what the degree
of equality may be.
McLaurin brought suit against
the Oklahoma State Regents for
Higher Education, the Board of
Regents of the University of Texas
and administrative officers of the
university in August, 1948. In
October, 1948; the three-judge
Federal District court ruled that
Oklahoma’s Jim Crow laws were
unconstitutional and unenforce
able as applied to McLaurin, but
issued no injunction.
In November, 1948, the three
judge court ruled that Okla
home’s Jim Crow statutes, previ
ously held to be unconstitutional
could be used as the constitu
tional and unenforceable in the
case of McLaurin could be used
as the constitutional basis for
segregating him from all other
students, and the Fourteenth
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t and Henderson
rgued This Week
Amendment did not prohibit the
State of Oklahoma from making
racial distinctions in providing
public education.
After the ruling, McLaurin was
permitted to go into the regular
classroom and sit in a section
surrounded by a rail on which
was a large sign stating “Re
served for Colored.” At the be
ginning of the semester (last
February), the rail and sign were
removed.
The State denies that in adopt
ing the restrictions McLaurin is
attacking, the purpose was to
“humiliate and degrade” him or
to place a “badge of inferiority”
upon him. It asserts that their
adoption was “an honest at
tempt” by university authorities
to comply with the public policy
of Oklahoma and at the same
time not violate the Fourteenth
Amendment. The Supreme
Court, however, may choose to
avoid the fundamental issue of
segregation raised and decide the
case on the theory that the ac
commodations have not been
“equal.” If that happens, the
Sweatt case would lose much of
its importance, as it would be
just another case where the
courts have decided that facts
have violated the “separate but
equal” test for lawful segrega
tion, as laid down in the Plessy
vs. Ferguson case, decided by the
Supreme Court in 1896.
The NAACP appealed the
Sweatt case to the Supreme
Court on the issues that the ac
commodations at that institution
were not equal to those at the
University of Texas and sec
ondly that segregation is illegal
per se, as it stigmatizes Negroes
as inferior, and therefore denies
them the equal protection of the
law as guaranteed by the Four
teenth Amendment.
Harrington Discusses Housing;
Says People Are Sympathetic
Saturday, April 1, R. E. Har
rington, president of Lincoln
Housing, Incorporated, addressed
I the Republican Women’s club at
! an open meeting at the Y.M.C.A.
Speaking under the topic, “Public
Housing.
Listing mistakes in estimating
the housing requirement for Lin
coln, Mr. Harrington pointed out
that the Housing authority had no
“correct” survey to base its
figures. The climate of opinion
was that if government housing
were to be “temporary” in nature,
to absorb the great increase in
population and families following
the war, it would be all right. But
permanent government housing?
Such units would not pay taxes
for municipal services like water,
light, sewage, streets, etc but that
the “payments in lieu of taxes”
(about 10 percent of rental fee)
would not be sufficient.
The matter of schools wex-e dis
cussed since such a project would ;
house about 2,500 people. School
buses to Huskerville are okay, but
some doubt was expressed about
the wisdom of transporting so
many children to existing schools.
The corporation makes use of
many surveys. One recent one of
136 persons at Huskerville showed
that Huskerville people are ,
“happy,” there being no report ot
“adverse conditions.” Mr. Har
rington also noted that the aver
age income at Huskerville was
about $170 a month, so that most
of the people there would be in
eligible for low-cost renting.
An interesting comment on the
situation asked: “Why should the
government set down 700 houses
for people who never had ‘that
kind of living’. Build new houses
for the people who can afford
them, then let the lower income
—Courtesy of I.lncoln Journal
R. E. HARRINGTON
Lincoln Realtor
group move into the old houses,”
he suggested.
Mr. Harrington also warned of
Socialism (government provision
of the “general welfare” clause of
the Constitution preamble), how
ever, he was not able to show that
Senator Taft and others who
sponsored the housing bill were
Socialistically inclined.
Mr. Harrington said the LHI’s
first obligation was to Negroes
because figures show they have
a legitimate need. He announced
that several lots were purchased
by LHI last week for the con
struction of housing for Negro oc
cupancy in locations “that are
suitable” to them and “satisfying.”
However, he declined to dis
close their location. Construction
on them will begin in a few days.
He charged that people who fa
vored public housing did so for
sympathetic reasons.
Segregation in Lincoln marches
on.