- .I ■"»- "^’gjf LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITY --MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS >' * — ' .—— I. | Ml. II I " — I' _ .'I II I ‘ 'J ■>.'« I " Entered as Second-Class Matter at The Post Office^ Omaha, Nebraska, Olttaha, Nebraska, Saturday, May 24, 1941 OUR 1 1th YEAR—No. 10, City Edition, 5c Cony Under Act of March 8, 1874—Business Phone: WE. 1517 . *_ The Mitchell Case We have on our desk the decision of the United States Supreme ourt in the now nationally famous Mitchell case. The opinion! of the court was delivered by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes in which he declared that Mr. Mitchell, being a citizen of the United Stat es, had a right to travel when and where he desired, and when traveling as an interstate passenger must have equal accommodations in Pullman cars. We commend Congressman Mitchell for his cour age in fighting the case through the court of last re sort. But we must not stop here. Other cases must be brought before the Supreme court until Mr. Jus tice Frankfurter’s “area of sensitive social policy” is destroyed there. We must be ever watchful, because “Congress has power to regulate traffic between the states, with Foreign Nations and the Indian Tribes”. The Act of Congress under which Mr. Mitchell sought and won relief permits segregation of the races in interstate commerce or travel, but provides that though separated, equal accommodations must be provided by transportation companies. The Uni ted States Supreme Court, therefore, says directly and simply, Congress can pass a valid law providing for racial segregation. And all of this leads us to ask, CAN WE HAVE EQUAL AND AT THE SAME TIME SEPARATE ACCOMMODATIONS? BEWARE. ■ii.iiiiinmiiiifniiniiijnHihiiimmimimiiiniiiBniiiiiiiimiimiiiHiimiiiiiiMiiiifmmiiminiHHiimiiHimiiiiimmmirtiiiimiimiiiiiimi'iiinimiiitiimiminiMiiniiiiiiiiimmnitimiiiitaita i —rowimmuwwimmwmwn—w—— BOY SCOUT TROOP AT AK SAR-BEN SCOUT SHOW Boy Scout Troop 83, of South Omaha, Nebrask^, performed a very good demonstration on nealt'n and safety at the Ak-ar-Ben Col iseum, Friday May 9, and. Satur day* May 10 at the Boy Scout Cir cus. The boys demonstrated how first aid should be given in a case of fira- The scene was a burning building The presentation show ed all the methods of treating the patients until the physician arriv es. These methods were Boy Scout methods of course. The troop consisting of about 25 all colored, was commented greatly of the procedure they have made this year. The Scout Master of troop 83, Mr. C. A. Stewart and the Senior Leaders, David Stewart, Donaid Stewart, Arthur Davis and Henry Davis are very proud of their troop. All the active boy scout troops of Omaha, Nebraska con tributed a performance at the col iseum Friday and Saturday. SUBSCRIBE TO THE OMAHA GUIDE NOW—FOR IT WILL BE A BIGGER PAPER ON MAY 31st From that date on, the Omaha Guide will be an eight page paoer. Take the Guide now and give your subscription to the girl of your choice. A year’s subscription at $2.00, gives a girl 10,000 votes; a 6 month’s subscription at $1.25 giv es some girl 4,000 votes and a 3 months’s subscription at 75cts giv es a girl 1,500 votes. The girl winning highest num URBAN LEAGUE5 FINANCIAL DRI ——————— " " 1 t Negroes To Get G S. district court iter® decided against a Negro citizen who attacked the Texas white primary in the courts, has served only to sharpen pub lic interest in the whole campaign. The case is being handled by NA ACP. attorneys, and will be ap pealed to the U. S. supreme court. A heavy registration of dele gates from southern states is ex pected to take part in a discussion of the white primary, the poll tax, and registration problems, to be held Wednesday morning, June 26. Conference sessions will be held in Good Hope Baptist Church of which the Reverend A. A. Lucas is pastor. Mr- Lucas is also the president of the Houston branch of the NAACP. host to the confer ence, as well as the president of the Texas State Conference of Branches. -- r i Queen of the Relays Miss Lillian Spurlock of Peoria, Illinois who was chosen “Miss Mid West”, to reign over the Mid-West Conference Track Meet held at Lin coin University, May 16-17. Miss Spurlock, a junior majoring in English, who spent one year at the University of Illinois, is a stu dent assistant in the English De partment. Her attendants were: Misses Lucille Wesley, junior, Fin leyville, Pa., and Frieda Roye, Hiiwra: senior, Kansas City, Missouri. f DETROIT, May 22 (by Robert A. Crump for ANP)—That Negro es might at long last get a chance ot work as skilled artisans in Gen eral Motors plants on jobs hereto fore denied them loomed over ihe past week as General Motors cor porations sent letters and ques tionnaires to its 160,000 automot ive employees telling there is a cry ing need for many skilled laborers on defense production in its plants amounting to $760,000,000. The letter implies that skilled men within the plants will be giv en preference before more men are hired. The letter says in part:— "Every possible facility of the cor poration that is needed must be used buildings, tools,' machines, etc But the greater importance is the ‘know how’ of the trained person nel available for responsible posi tions. General Motors is fortun ate in having so large a group of men with this pracatical training. "In order that we may have the complete facts as to men qualified and available for special work we are giving you an opportunity of j filling out the attached question naire.” The questionnaire* which makes no designation as to race lists a great number of skilled jobs. Just how many colored men within the plants will be able to qualify for some of these jobs is, of course, is not known but the significant thing is that if the bariers are be ing let down it may offer a chance to those who are prepared for special work to break through when the corporation brings in skilled men from the outside BELL AIR CRAFT HIRES 14 NEGRO’S Washington ,May 22 (ANP)— From the office of OPM comes the announcement that the Bell Air craft factory of Niagara Falls, N Y., has engaged 14 Negroes the first to be hired, in the fabricating division of their plant and has op ened its training school for Negro es. The Curtis Wright Aeibplane company of Buffalo also opened its training school to Negroes with seven admitted to a specialized course and four workers employed in the factory. Already the com pany rports it has in its employ one Negro engineer and only Sat urday employed another colored engineer. The Cheney Silk Company, man ufacturers of parachutes at Hart ford, Conn., has employed a num ber of colored girls in its factory and plans further use of addition al colored help. Out in Kansas City, the OPM reports that the Lake City Audit orium company, which is building a huge plant, has taken on Ncgto bricklayers and plans to use some 50 in the construction of their huge building- This is the third A- F. of L. union that has been entered in this area where hereto fore Negroes were not wanted nor used and within a short time it is expected that the painters union will also give employment to many workers in that region. RESIDENT OF OMAHA MANY YEARS DIES SUDDENLY Miss Anna E. Logan, 2609 *7. 22nd Street, resident of Omaha for many years, died suddenly at noon May 20th, the result of heart fail ure. The body is at the Myers Funeral Home pending funeral ar rangements. VE BEGINS The Omaha Urban League's fi nancial'drive started off with a bang when 50 persons attended a meeting of captains and woiktrs to hear the final instructions for this campaign. Mr. S. C. Hanger, acting as general chairman of the drive, explained to the workers their responsibility n raisng one thousand dollars ($1,000.00* to pay on the purchase of the bulding now occupied by the Urban League. He informed them that the Lea gue had received enthusiastic sup port from all who had been asked to participate in this financial ef fort. He mentioned how encour aged he was by the enthusiastic response in spite of the fact that the money must be raised by June 1st .when the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company is expecting to make the final lead with he Urban League. Mr. Charles Anger, Publicity Director of the Omaha Commun ity Chest, was introduced to the workers by the Execeutive Stc'y of the League, Mr. Raymond R. Brown, Mr. Brown explained that Mr. Anger had had years of ex perience in this kind of work and would have ability to advise the workers and captains in the tech nique they should follow in mak ing solicitations. Mr. Anger, in his remarks, was very hopeful of the results he felt could be ob tained by the enthusiastic group present. He stated how valuaLle the Urban League was to the com munity and how much respect had been gained by the organisation throughout the city. "This is your agency,” he said, ‘‘to serve Co'cre.1 people and it should get the com plete support of all people in this community.” Mr. Anger then pro ceeded to outline the various meth ods to use in approaching people, and the reasons that could be ad vanced to people contributing to the drive. Remarks were also heard from Mr. E- W. McCowan, Mr. W. L. Myers and others who were pres ent to assist With this work. Mrs. Lenora Gray, mother in law of Mr. Charles Stewart, re ported that Mr., Stewart was ill and had asked her to serve as captain in his place. It was a wonderful spirit that motivated her to carry on the work of Mr. Stewart- She stated that because of the importance of the drive to Negro youth in the community, she would not ailow his part of the work to fail. There were about 500 prospect cards hung on the walls of the Urban League before the meeting. Over half of them had been taken by the close of the meeting fcr the first effort on Friday. It was announced that several plans had been made for special efforts in raising funds by the various teams. Among the activities which will be presented is a Bene fit Charity Ball sponsored by the Urban League as a whole at the 1 Dreamland Hall on Monday, May 2th. The Hall and music have been donated for this occasion. On May 28th, a Baby Contest sponsored team No. 20, Mrs. Thel ma Hancock captain, will be held at the Urban League. On May 29th, Mr. John T. Davis, captain of team No. 5 will sponsor a Card Party in the auditorium of the Ur ban League. Mr. Martin Thomas, Director of the Boys’ Work Department of the Urban League .reported that the Grade and High School senior leagues are making special ef forts to get contributions from the boys that belong to their various groups. On May 31st, a Midnight Show will be held at the Ritz Theatre. Mrs. Eula Carter’s team, No. 12, is sponsoring this activity. Mrs. Florence Branch is chairman of this special affair and is planning to have a stage show along with the movie. Performance will be gin at 11:30. Urban League Gets First Report— Friday night the first report from the captains were handed ir 'Editor Sent To Prison Farm for Protesting Judges’ Use of Word ‘NIGGER’ Jacksonville, Fla., May 22 (ANP A local newspaper editor was rail roaded to the “Blue Jay” city pri son farm here, Tuesday on trump ed up charges of operating a news paper without a city license and contempt of court. Arrested, jailed, tried in muni cipal court before Judge I. Muncy Anderson, fined $100 cash and sent to the city pmon farm all within a period of a half hour was Spike Washington, who for the past sev en months has served as manag ing editor ol' the Florido Press^ lo cal week!/ newspaper publication and member of the Scott News paper syndicate of Atlanta, one of the most militant, progressive ar.d outspoken papers ever to be cir culated in this city. Two weeks ago the Florida Press published an editorial urg ing in it that the prevalent use of “nigger”by police officers, white witnesses and others in municipal court be discontinued- The story stated that the court had no dign ity and urged the judge elect, Charles Miller, who defeated Judge Anderson, in the recent April primary election, to discon tinue the procedure when he takes over the bench on June 21. Judge Anderson and the munic ipal lincense inspector, J. Ray Fermenter, were furnished copits of the Press in which the editorial appeared and immediately Wash ington was sought to appear in court. He was finaly reached by telephone and ordered to court on Saturday of last week. He refus ed Tuesday morning two police of ficers were sent for Washington. He was taken to jail in the ‘Black Maria”, the patrol wagon and ap peared before Judge Anderson and Mr. Fermenter with his counsel who was hurriedly sumoned to court. Court for the day had ad journed but the Judge held a spec ial session for the sentencing of this young journalist. While counsel was arranging to pay the $100, Washington was hur ried to the “Blue Jay”, where he donned the prison garb, consisting of a ragged pair of blue overalls, an overall jumper with many rags hanging from it and rbos several sizes too small for the prisoner. Washington was arrested at 10 o’clock in the morning, without a warrant, embarrassed and humil iated because he dared to write the truth about a court which ha3 little respect for the colored citiz enry here. The editorial which resulted in this action follows: LET’S DISCARD NIGGER JUDGE— “There are certain courtesies and respects due even to dogs and cats. Most of you will agree with this. Since you do, you will fur ther agree that there are many not given that are due human be ings. “Colored people are human be ings if our physiology is correct. If our dictionary is correct colored persons are human beings. Then why shouldn’t they be treated like human beings in our local munic ipal court? “There are certain things judges of courts may do- He sets a pro gram by which his court is run. There are certain expressions he asks officers and witnesses to re frain from using. His request are granted usually. “Often we have heard the word ‘Nigger” used in courts of our city, mainly municipal court, when reference is made to members of our race. Judges in these court? have permitted the practice until the word is now a by word of that court. “Like a Boy Scout— the first act of our new young forward moving and progressive judge, the Hon. Charles Miller, should be the ; discording forever and ever of the use of ‘Nigger’ in his court. At least we hope he does ” to Mr. Hanger, general chairman of the drive, by the captains. He reported that one gift of $50.00 from a “friend” of the Urban lea gue has given great impetus to *he drive. A more complete report of the captains will be turned in Monday night after they have had more time to contact people. Thereafter, each day daily reports will be made by the captains. Letters went out to all of the ministers urging them and their congregations to support this ef fort. It \\*as explained that the churches would not be asked as a church but that individuals would probably be contacted by the cap tains and workers. The ministers were also urged to lend their mor al support to the efforts of this i welfare agency.