Nebraska Newspapers

    !
LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEM'SPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITY —MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS
Nebra^Saturday, Nov. 14,1942 Our 15thYearTNo- 40 City Edition,5c Copy
Stress Need (or Using Negro Labor
INDICTED FOR I
NEGRO PEONAGE
Attorney General Francis Biddle
announces that a Federal Grand
jury sitting in the southern district
of Florida, at Tampa, returned an
indictment on two counts charging
the United States Sugar Corporat
ion its personnel manager and
three of its camp superintendents
with conspiracy to hold Negro su
gar cane workers in a condition of
peonage, in violation of the Federal
Civil Rights and Anti-Feonage sta
tutes.
Named as defendants were: Unit
ed States Sugar Corporation; M. E.
Von Mach, personnel manager,
Clewiston. Florida; Evan Ward 51c
Leod, superintendent. Bare Beach
Plantation: Oliver H. Sheppard, su
perintendent. South Shore Plantat
ion; and a Mr. Neal, superintendent
Miami Lochs Plantation.
Count One of the indictment charg
es that the defendants “injured,
oppressed, threatened and intimidat
ed ‘‘Negro field workers in the free
exercise of their rights under the
Thirteenth Amendment of the Con
stitufion by holding them in in
voluntary servitude. Count Two.
charges a conspiracy to violate the
eFderal Anti-Peonage statute.
Maximum penalty under the first
count (Section 51. Title 18. U. S.
Code) is imprisonment for ten years
and a fine of $5,000. Conviction on
the second count (Sections 88 and
444 Title 18. U. S. Code) carries a
maximum penalty of two years and
a fine of $10,000.
The indictment followed investig
(continued on pag,et^“2)
CHARLINE MAY, formerly
of Falls City, Nebraska, Takes
Charge of 7th Corp WAACs
BEULAH ELLIS,
FIRST RECRUIT
JOINS WAACS
This is to announce that Miss
Beulah Ellis, the first girl of our
race to volunteer for and be accept
ed from this ui£triCt*as » frffcmber of’
the WAACS, has been called to act
ive duty at Ft. DesMoines. Iowa.
She is the daughter of Mrs. Eleanor
Martin. 2714 North 25th St., Omaha.
Negro Voter
Electi’n Role
UNDER RATED BY
WHITE PRESS
SAYS W HITE
New York. N. Y.—Declaring that
the Negro vote played a larger part
in the 1942 elections than is rec
ognized by the white dailies Walter
White, Executive Secretary of the
NAACP in a statement to the press
said that the shift in a number of
Congressional districts of Negro vo
ters from the Democratic to the Re
publican side is in large measure
due to resentment against the dom
ination of national policy on the
Negro by the reactionary south.
The mistreatment of Negro soldiers
and civilians in the South particul
arly, continuation of Jim Crow lam
i nthe armed forces and war efforts
generally .transfer of the Fair Em
ployment Practice Committee from
its independent status under the
President to the War Manpower
Commission and other evils mala
Negroes sore enough to shift their
political affiliations. Mr. White
stated:
“It is true that much of this is
due to the attitude of voters gener
ally to "throw the rascals out"
when things do not go well. But it
would be a serious mistake for the
Republicans to believe that thev
now have recaptured the Negroes'
vote and will contnue to hold it no
matter what they do. On too many
fundamental issues, economic, mil
itary and social, there has been an
unholy alliance in Congress between
Negro-hating Southern Democrats
and reactionary Republicans who
think of the Negro only when he is
forced to around election time.
‘As the Norfolf Journal and Guile
stated editorially on November 7 re
garding the Republican Party's Ov
ersight ir. adopting a ten point dec
laration of policies and principles.
Republican House leadership “miss
ed the bus" when it insisted that
capable and trained leaders be use 3
in the war effort, ‘‘regardless of
party, group, class or section”, but
did not include regardless of race,
creed, or color.”
“Negroes are learning the lessen
of the shifting national and inter
national forces and utilize their
strategically located political
strength wisely, unselfishly, and
with complete independence. Only
I FORT DES MOINES, I A. Novem 5
*
ber 12—One of the two Negro Wom
en's Army Auxiliary Corps Third
Officers from Nebraska is returning
this week t° her home state. She
has teen asigned to t’>a Seventh
C'.er/ice Command to do recruiting
work.
She is Thira Officer _barline J
May, daughter of Mrs. Lois May of
141® Stone Street. Fat >9 City. Nebr.
Officer May was indu ■ -•! into the
Wo.iV' s army at Omaha o-l July 11.
She ‘mmediately entered olficer
candidate school at this Training
Center. She was graduated in the
first class of officer candidates on
August 29.
Following this, she was assigned
to the 14th Company. 3rd Regiment,
a company composed of Negro
WAACs, where she did administra
tive work.
Officer May is a graduate of Ne
braska Wesleyan University at Lin
coln. class of 1942. She majored in
sociology and psychology'. While
there, she was a member of Psi Chi
national honorary psychology frat
ernity for men and women; and Phi
Mamma Mu. national social Science
fraternity, she was active in pub
lic speaking, youth activities and n
ter-racial work throughout the
state.
by so doing can he cause the polit
ical leadership of al parties to know
that the Negro voter, is alert intel
ligent and is watching critically ev
ery word and deed of the various
political parties.
“Test of the administration will
be particuarly severe in that con
gressmen from the poll tax states
were able to return to the House
and inasmuch as the Democrats are
still the majority party their power
has increaesd."
picket War
Manpower
ummtssion
Detroit, Mich.—Belittling the De
troit NAACP's claim that the fact (
that less than 3 percent of the wo
men employed here in war industr
ies are Negroes as evidence of dis
crimination Mayor Jeffries refused
to issue any statement against the
anti-Negro policies of local war
plants.
The conference with the Mayor
took place while a picket line of 150
encircled the Boulevard biuldlng
which houses the War Production
Board and the War Manpower Coin
mission. Regional director Cusn
man of the WMC nformed an NA
ACP committee that making of pol
icy and the forcing of the employ
ment of Negroes was not within the
power of regional heads.
The Detroit branch has declared
its disapproval of the appointment
of a former discriminating person
nel manager of U. S. Rubber Comp- j
any as new regional head of the i
War Manpower Commission in this '
area.
Urging that the NAACP National
Office continue its fight to rem ove
FEPC from the War Manpower Com :
mission the Detroit branch stated i
that inasmuch as “the War Man- !
power Commission cannot enforce
its own policy it is inconceivable
that WMC will allow FEPC to crack |
| down on recalcitrant employers.
Colored Girls Poetry
Chosen for Yale Prize
Proposal oud
Prohibit Redcaps Tips
Counting As Wages
An amendment to the Fair Labor
standards Act to prevent redcao's
tips being counted as part of the 30
cents an hour minimum wage guar
anteed them under the Act, was pro
posed in a report Sent to the U. S
Senate by L. Metcalfe Walling, ad
ministrator of the Wage Hour ui-d
Public Contracts Divisions of the
U ,S. Department of Labor.
The proposal was advanced in a
report to the Senate on a survey of
wages, hours and working condit
ions for redcaps in railroad and
terminal companies. The survey
was ordered by the Senate in a res
olution introduced by Senator El
bert D. Thomas of Utah
- >
Importance of Mr. Waling’s sug
gestion was seen in the fact -hat
the amendment, as proposed, would
prevent other industries covered bv
the Act from adopting the "tips ac
counting plan" which the railroad
originated.
“The record shows clearly tnat
the ‘Accounting and Guam tee Plan
operated in many instances to de
prive redcaps-of the minimum
rates guaranteed to them by the
law^" Mr. Walling said in the re
port. "Many redcaps who received
less than the minimum wage in
tips nevertheless reported that thoy
had received the minimum wage,
either under real or imagined in
timidation from management, or
out of fear that they would be dis
charged or disciplined if their tips
earnings did not meet at least the
minimum wage level**.
In 1940 this plan was replaced in
most companies by the 10 cent a
bag system, under which redcaps
were employed on a straight wage
basis and required to collect 10 ‘
cents a bag from passengers, which !
they turned over to their employ-1
era. This system created friction
between redcaps and employers, the
report indicated, because the red
caps objected to turning over mon
ey which semed to them to be in
the nature of personal gratuities,
and further because they thought
the system reduced the tips or pay
ments in excess of 10 cents whicn
they received.
Many of the problems arising out
of this system have been solved by
collective bargaining, the repovt
said. Mr. Walling noted that the
Wage and Hour Division had never
questioned the legality of the 10
cents a bag plan. The proposed a
mendment. he indicated, was aimed
primarily at complete elimination
of the "tips accounting plan.”
FREEDOM IS MAJOR WAR ISSUE
NOT RACE OR COLOR'
SAYS DR. CALIYER
Declaring that the major issue of
this war is freedom, not race or col
! or. Dr. Ambrose CaBver, Senior
Specialist in the Education of N._gr
| oes. U. S. Office of Education, urged
!all principals of Negro high schools
I to organize Victory Corps in their
i institutions so that Negro students
! may have an Opportunity to oartic
ipate find share in the war effort
In a letter mailed to more than
12.000 principals of Negro high
schools. Dr. Caliver declared:
•'While we must continue to com
bat race and color prejudice and ills
criminations, in our present effort
to save democracy .we should keep
ever before Us that the major issue
Of this war W wiEEl KlM. . not race
! or color. Where ti.e latter have
been made to appear as the mam
issue they are Used merely as a
smokescreen. When we win this
I ;. ar and establ'su Freedom as tne
animating principal of life, the prob
lems of race and color which re
n -.in ca nbe a talked » lh greater
(Continued on page 3)
Score DAR Stand
On Anderson
Concert In D. C.
Washington. D C.—Scoring the
: DAR for its lack of courage and A
! mericanism displayed by its refusal
j to accept the "very modest ccndit
i ions Miss Anderson in self respect
(established for the acceptance of
the DAR s invitation that she sing
a benefit concert in Constitution
j Hall" he XAACP told the President
General of the Daughters of the A
merican Revolction:
‘ Americans would have respecc^d
the DAR more, even though they
might not have agreed with the
DAR’s decision to reject Miss An
derson's terms, had the DAR not
made the casuist and ridiculous ex
cuse that other artists invited to
sing in the series had not imposed
any conditions.
"There is no analogy in that, as
far as we are able to learn, al] of
the other artists who were invited
are white, and there has been no
ban on the appearance of white art
ists whether they be Americans or
foreign born, only Negro artists
have been banned by the DAR from
use of Constitution Hall.
"It is very certain that the DAR
and not Miss Anderson will suifer
in public esteem by this decision of
j the DAR at a time when the demo
cratic process itself is in peril.”
, IS FIRST OF RACE
TO WIN' HONOR
New Haven, Conn. (C) —Stephen
Vincent Benet. eminent poet and
judge of the Yale Series of Young
er Poets, selected the first colored
winner since the begining of the
contest in 1919, when he praised the !
winner. Miss Margaret Walker of
New Orleans. La.
The Series honors poets who give
promise of contributing literature
for the future of America- Her
title was ‘For My People.” It has
been published by the Yale Univers
ity press Mr. .Benet described it
as the expression of the times writ
ten in straightforward words con
veying the '’controlled intensity of
emotion” of this young poet. The
tone of the poems in this collection
is that of spiritual and folk songs.
Mr. Benet said of her language:
“Even when it is most modern it
has something of the surge of bibl
ical poetry And it is obvious that
Miss Walker uses that language be
cause it comes naturally to her and
is part of her inheritance
“A contemporary writer, living
in a contemporary world, when she
speaks of and for her people, older
voices are mixed with hers, the
voices of Methodist forbears and
preachers who preached the Word,
the anonymous voices of many who
lived and were forgotten and yat
out of bondage and hope made a
lasting music.
They are set for. voice and the
blues, they could be sung as eaaily
as spoken, and first and last, they
are a part of our earth," Mr. Benet
said. “I do know that, in this book
she has spoken of her people s.>
that all may listen. I think that is
something for any poet to have
done.”
MANPOWER COMMISSION
URGES WOMEN TO SEEK
TRAINING FACILITIES
MBS. DAVIS, MRS. HANGER.
ACTIVE SORORS HERE
Washington.—In a conference
this week with officials of the Non
Partisan Council on Public Affair.3,
Mrs. Maudelle Bousefield, member
of the Women's Advisory Board of
the War Manpower Commission,
urged race women to take advent
age of present training opportunit
ies.
Mrs. Bousetieia, who arranged tne
conference, is the only Negro mem
ber of the Women's Advisory Boa'.d
to the Manpower Commission and
is a]so principal of Wendell Phillips
High School, one of the largest
high schools in Chicago, with a
teaching staff of 128, only twelve
of whom are colored, and an en
rollment of more than 3,000 pupils.
Council representatives told Mrs.
Bousefield that race women had
worked three hundred years for
nothing and seventy five more for
nearly nothing, and were fast be
coming impatient with the employ
ment situation.
Mrs. Bousefield is interested in
having colored women take immed
iate advantage of training courses
now offered, whether or not they
feel immediate need for these skills.
Channels through which inform
ation on ‘training courses might
j reach the public were also discussed
such as the churches, religious and
fraternal organizations, educational
organizations, including parent
teacher groups, and women’s clubs.
Sorors active in this section of
the National Non-Partisan Council
on Public Affairs of the Alpha Kap
; pa Alpha Sorority are: lone Will
iams Hanger and Robbie Turner
I Davis.
FLORIDA EDUCATION BOARD
DISCLAIMS DISCRIMINATION
RESPONSIBILITY
Palm Beach. Fla.,—In the Palm
Beach Teachers’ Salary Equaliza
tion case which the NAACP is fight
ing here and of which Charles Steb
: bens is plaintiff .the defendants the
Board of Education, have filed ad
ditional deenses to the effect tha ‘
it is impossible for the Palm Beach
County Board of Public Instruction
to equalize the salaries of the Ne :
KNOX, PATTERSON,
McUTT, NELSON
CALL ON INDUSTRY
TO USE NEGRO
America Needs
Every Worker
We need ships, airplan
es, and powder to carry
the war to the enemy.
Ability, not color, Must
determine who holds
the welding torch, handl
es the rivet gun, or mix
es the chemicals.
What’s Behind
Discrimination?
Ask emplyers why
th§y don’t hire Negro
es. They’ll give you a
lot.of reasons: Negroes
can’t do the work
whites won’t work with
them—the unions won’t
have them. How valid
are these objections7
Four major war agencies.the
War Manpower Commission .the
War P-oduction Board, the Navy
md the Army., urged American
war conirac' ors to hire moio Negro
wokers •as a means of increasing
war production.
This action is stressed in a 13
page illustrated pamphlet "MAN
POWER: One Tenth of a’Nation”
issued by the War Manpower Com
mission and sigusd hy Paul V. Mc
Nutt. Chairman, WMC; Domld AJ.
Nelson .Chairman. WPB; Frank
Knox. Secretary of the Navy, and
Robert P. Paterson as Acting Sec
retary of War.
The strongly wended pamphlet,
which is be’ng mailed to more than
30,000 war production contractor^,
reviews America's goals and tells
employers:
‘‘You are going to need more wor
kers of every kind, skilled, semi
skilled and unskilled. You're go
ing to need every worker ou can
get. But labor is going to be short,
ver yshort. That means that nc
worker can be overlooked. It mean*
that skilled workers' must not be
wasted on unskilled jobs. It means
that we must get our whole Istboi
force to work, with every- man do
ing a job that fits the limt of his
skill and strength.”
On the avilability of Negro work
ers, the booklet points out:
"There are 120,00c 000 white peo
ple in this country There are al
most 13.OOC.fiO0 Negroes. More than
Z COO.000 of these .ireii.-an Negroes
art workers. They are men and
women of all skills a ad trades, in
all parts of tbe countiy Over 650
COO of then, are already ecuipped
for skilled and white collar work,
and more are being trained daily.”
Declaring that the whole nation
pays the cost of discrimination, the
pamphlet states:
“Discrimination limits production
because it keeps needed workers out
of war plants: it keeps Skilled men
on unskilled jobs: it creates artif
icial labor shortages.
"Every time you pass over a Ne
gro worker, for no other reason
than his color, either in hiring or in
pomotion. you place one more ob
stacle in the path of all-out produc
tion.”
Pointing out that “We are Using
them but we are not using them e
nough.” the booklet declares:
‘‘Negroes are being used today in
all branches of war industry. in
United States Navy yards, in arsen
als. in Army cantonements and at
naval bases, thousands of" skilled,
and semi-skilled Negroes are at
work---Before the Government
tackled the problem, however, near
ly three quarters of all our defense
plants refused to hire Negroes ex
cept as janitors. Many of those w ho
did hire Negroes for industrial
work confined them to jobs below
their skills Can we afford to limit
production—merely because of the
color of a worker’s skin?”
The booklet lists and analyzes
four basic objections which some
employers have raised to the employ
. Continued on page SSr1 2)
gro teachers for the reason that
the money to pay teachers, both
Negro and white is raised by taxa
tion in the special tax school dis
trict in which the particular teach
er is employed and that the disfi
bction of these taxes is fixed by the
trustees of that district.
The school board says further
that they cannot prevent the dis
crimination complained of by the
plaintiff because it does not control
the distribution of the funds of the
special tax district as these funds
are under the direction of the trus
tees in each district.
In Other words, the school board
is attempting to hide behind the
fact that Negro teachers in the
schools of Palm Beach County are
in some instances governed by Ne
gro trustees.
“MAt* POWER ‘
one-tenth of a nation
This man works for the TVA—three letters that mean power. He’s a
riveter, helping to build new electrical plants that put the punch into
America's war production. You’ve got to turn more wheels, clamp down
harder on more chunks of steel if you want to mold a fighting machine.
Fvery bead of sweat on this man's brow means more electricity for new
and greater war plants. He can smile proudly because he knows what
his job means to America's war for freedom. _
TRAINED EYES AND SKILLED
FINGERS
L......
Precision to the thousandth of an inch is all-important in the manufacture
of anti-aircraft guns. The slightest fault in construction may mean the
difference between a hit and a miss on an enemy plane roaring overhead.
That's why the trained eyes and skilled fingers of an inspector are one of
the most crucial functions in the huge job of turning out the big guns we
are placing on our coastal defenses and on all our oceangoing ships.
Above, T. A. Floyd, one of Uncle Sam’s arsenal workers, checks for any
4 possible flaws in a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. —
i
! Encourage your white neighbors to subscribe i;
! ;to THE OMAHA GUIDE and learn what the dark- !
:er oiie tenth of the American population is think- :j
mg and doing.
Assault On Negro
Woman In War Dept.
HOUSTON BRANCH CONTRIBUT
ES TO WASHINGTON BUREAU
The NAACP received this week a
gift of *176.70 f.-ora the Houston
Texas, branch. In an accompany
ing letter Henry Grayson, branch
Secretary said the contribution was
for the maintenance and work of
the NAACP Washington Bureau.
CHICAGO CHURCHES ACTIVE IN
NAACP MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
Chicago. 111.,—NAACP member
ship drive here has received sub
stantial impetus from local church
es. Among the many churches par
ticipating in the campaign have
been the AME Zion churches who
brought in more than *200 and th'
Cosmopolitan Community Church
which has recruited more than 700
members from its church rolls or
826. Rev. Evans, pastor of the
Community Church 5249 S. Wabash
avenue said at the church meetinc
"If three Negroes can be lynched
in one week in Mississippi we Ne
groes Should on our knees join the
one organization that is fighting
lynching.” The recruited NAACP.
members knelt at the alter to sign
pledge cards.
HAMPTON OBSERVING NATL.
EDUCATION WEEK
Hampton Institute. Va..—Hamp
j ton Institute is observing Ame-i -
j an Education Week this week, with
a series of lectures and discussions
centering around the general these:
| ‘‘Education for Free Men.” which
has been adopted by education sov
ieties and institutions throughout
the country- All events are open
to the public.
NAACP TAKES TAMPA
TEACHER SALARY CASE
Tampa. Fla.A pre-trial confer
ence in the Tampa school teachers
Salary case has been set for Novem
ber 17th by counsel for the NAACP.
5 EXPOSED BY
DC. BRANCH
Washington, D. C.—within twen
ty-five minutes after Lula Mae Rod
well, an employee of the Famiiy
Allowance and Allotment Branch of
the War Department, was slapped
by a male white employee repres
entatives of the Washington Bur
eau had arrived at the building and
begun a first hand investigation of
the incident.
The Allowance and Allotment
Branch, which moved its offices
from Washington to Newark or.
November 3, is in the process of as
signing the several thousand em
ployees who remained in Washing
ton to new posts in the War Depa t
ment- Long lines of anxious, tense
clerks moved forward to recei ?
| their assignment cards. A whita
man immediately in front of At j
| Rodwell complained about pushing
i in the line and is alleged to nave
asserted that If she pushed against
him he was going to ‘‘knock ho.
down.” As the line pushed forward
Miss Rodwell was involuntarily
thrust against her menacer. Be
] fore she could apologize, the man
[ grabbed and pushed her, adminis
j tering a resounding slap in her face
The young lady and •"'witnesses
were interviewed by representati\ cs
of the Bureau and within the hour,
a conference was had with Col. Har.
old N. Gilbert. Acting Director of
the Office of Dependency Benefits.
At the conference were Mias Velma
A. Smith, Director of Personnel, the
Captain of the Guard, Messrs Perry
and Reeves of the Washington Bur
eau, and Roy Garvin of the D. C.
Branch. It was agreed that the
Department had little or no control
over the circumstances which ga\>
rise to the incident. A thorough
investigation by the Department
was. however, recommended with
the view of disciplinary action a
gainst the employee.