i
LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITT —MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS
Saturday, Dec. 12, 1942 Our 15th Year:No/44 CitTEdition, 5c Copy
Omaha Branch NAACP to hold Election Sunday Dec. 13 330 pm.
~ ~~ .~ " ..... " ■ —
(Encourage your white neighbors to subscribe {■■ g g 1 1 / l l /> m
srr^=-“i;“rs! tluachuca Surrenders;WAACsTakeover
ine and doin?. 1! 7
® CALL MEETING FOR ZION BAPTIST CHURCH
aii memners or tne jvaacp are
' urged to be present at the election
; Pf Officers. Sunday, December 13tb,
jlH*j
Reports of the year's work will
be read and other interesting sub
jects. Come and bring your neigh
bor.
«j) FORT HUACHUCA, Arizona
j Not since the days of Caesar whe 1
he conquered Rome, was there a
more trimphant entrance made than
"’hen the WAACS conquered Fort
Huachuca, the largest Negro Milit
ary Command in the World.
Newsreel cameras clicking, bands
playing, soldiers shouting with the
distant hills resounding, caused a
riot of merriment as the train roll
ed into Fort Huachuca from Fort
DesMoines, bringing two full comp
anies of these soldiers.
Qualities of leadership, a requis
llontinued on page 2)
NEW FLYERS COMMISSIONED AT TUSKAGEE-The young
officers pictured above recently received their wings at Tuskegee Army
Flying School. They are left to right: Nathaniel M. Hill, son of Mr.
•nd Mrs Josiah Hill, Washington, D. C.; William T. Mattison, son of
Ux. and Mrs. Willie Mattison, of Conway, Arkansas; Dean B. Mohr,
whose wife is the former Miss Louise Leonard, of Detroit, Michigan,
and Melvin Thomas Jackson, of Warrentnn Virtrini*
Aegroes Receive More than $1,500,000 In Construction W'ork In Vital War Areas
Negro workers have received
more than 11,500.000 in the construe
tion of schools, hospitals, recreation
buildings and other community fac
ilities in vitai war areas, according
to a recent report to Major General
Philip B. Fleming. Federal Works
Administrator, by Wljliam J. Trent
Jr.. Racial Relations Officer. Thi'
amount represents payments to skill
ed and unskilled Negro labor em
ployed on war public works during
the first ten months of 1942.
More than half of the total pay
rolls on projects in North and south
Carolina was earned by- Negro lab
or more t- a third in Alabama.
Arkansas. Georgia. Kentucky, Lou
isiana, Maryland, Mississippi and
Virginia In south Carolina Negro
workers earned 23 percent of the
skilled pay-roll: in Kentucky, 22 per
cent and in North Carolina 16 per
cent.
Under contractual provisions, war
public works contractors are re
quired t° employ Negroes in pro
portion to their availability in the
communities in which the projects
are located. Before construction
begin on a given job, the contractor
is informed as to the approximate
percentage of Negroes in the local
supply of construction labor, skilled
as well as unskilled, and these per
centages are expected to be reflect
ed in racial employment on the pro
ject. Census occupational data,
field renorts and other relevant
sources are used i ndetermining ap
propriate percentages to bf used.
The experience of Negroes on W
PW projects has been very- favor
able. Of the total wage pay-ment.s
since the start of the program last
fall. Negroes have recieved more
than 18 percent. When this is com
pared with the proportion of Ne
groes in the total building construe
tion labor force as reported by the
Social Security Board, it indicates
the effectiveness of the FWA prima
facie non-discrimination procedure
in improving the position of Negro
workers in the building industry.
DEMAND FULL USE OF NEGRO MANPOWER
—
“HE'S WILLING,HE'S CAPABLE,AND WE NEED HIM -— USE HIM!!'
'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ii iiliiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiimiiimiii iiiiiin min mu in n i ii 11 n min i in nun 11 ii i ii 11 ii is
LACK OF FUNDS FORCES CLOSING OF ALA.
TRAINING CLASSES FOR NEGROES
Birmingham, Ala., (C)—Though Skilled workers, approximately 20
the war industries of Alabama and of the State's 30 training classes
all over the South are hungry for for Negro war workers are to be
,18 AND 19 YEAR OLDS SWORN INTO ARMY
NEW YORK—Beating the draft law, which embraces youths of their age class, here is a group of
boys all from 18 to 20 years of age, being sworn into the United States Army by Captain Emil Fichter.
The scene is Grand Central Palace, now the country’s largest induction center. All the boys came armed
with parents’ consents for the enlistment. /- ——
ESTIMATE 5,000 18 YR.
OLD NEBRASKANS
WILL ANSWER CALL
An estimated 5000 young Nebras
ka men who have reached their 18
btrthdays since June 30, 1942 will
re-i-rer with Selea.yi -i- *» cu.,
ing the period beginning Friday,
December 11th and ending Thurs
day. December 31st- Major H. K.
Turner, state registration officer,
announced. *
Local selective service boards,
the major said, will receive the leg
islations in Nebraska on week days
between the hours of 9 a. m. and 5
p. m. The registration will be tak
en by three age groups as follows:
First. Men who reached their 18th
birthdays in July or August, 1942,
are to register during the week be
ginning Friday, December 11th and
ending Thursday, December 17th.
Second, Men who reached their
eighteenth birthdays in September
or October 1942 are to register dur
ing the week beginning Friday,
December 18 and ending Thursday.
December 34.
Third. Men who reached their
eightepnth birthdays in November
or December. 194. will register dur
ing the period beginning Saturday.
December 2t>th and ending, Decem
ber 31st
“Local board staffs will be able
to handle theregistration? in most
counties without the aid of volun
teer helpers provided all the new
registrant-s don't try to register on
the first or second day of their reg
istration period," Major Turner
said: “Young men subject to the
registration should bear in mind an
avoid wholesale rushes to the reg
istration offices '
Beginning January 1, 1943 all I
youths are required to register
with their local boards on their
eighteenth birthdays, the major ex
plained. If a young man's birth- I
day falls on Sunday or a legal holi
day when the local board office is
closed, he is to register the follow
ing day. This automatic system
will make the fixring of further reg
istration periods unnecessary
Youths away from home who are
subject to the December or subse
quent registration orders may reg
ister wherever they are by report
ing to the local board office having
Jurisdiction over the area where
they are located. Such registrants,
however, should be sure to give
their correct HOME ADDRESS to
the registrar.
Enlisted reservists ar<d advanced
ROTC. students under government
al contract are not required to reg
ister.
DOca] boards will add the nam
es of December registrants to their
records in order of age (oldest man
first) immediately following the
files of 18 and 19 year olds who reg
istered in Jun, -. Order numbers
for the new registrants will be as
signed by age and therefore no na
tional selective service lottery will
be necessary for the December or
subsequent registrations.
DO YOUR CHRISTMAS
SHOPPING EARLY!
closed between now and January
15 because their graduates can’t
c^ash the South’s discrimfnation
policy to obtain jobs.
In Alabama now. 6,000 whites are
being trained and only 600o Negro
es. but with the closing down of
two-thirds of the units, only 200
will continue to get training. Cen
ters to be discontinued will include!
Dothan. Opelika, Selma. Mobile. |
Tuskegee. Huntsville. Fairfield and j
other cities in the state.
“In view of the fact that trainees
are not being placed from some of ,
our Negro classes ’ stated Director
■*
E. R. Plowden. state Supervisor of
vocational training, “these classes
wil] not be renewed upon termin
ation of the period.
“To do so would be a waste ot
public funds as well as time and ef
fort. and would lead the trainees
themselves to disappointment. The
State Department of Education,
however, wishes it distinctly under
stood that classes will be organized
for Negroes at any time and at any
place when it is reasonably clear
that the product of such classes will
be utilized in the war effort."
Negroes in the other classes, to
be continued in the state, are being
placed, according to Plowden. in lo
cal industries, in the Navy Seabees,
division, in aero-mechanic work at
Tuskegee and in othes war occupa
tions. No white classes are being
closed at this time, Plowden said,
as there is a constant demand from
Mobile for trained, white workers.
New training classes are organiz
ed, either for Negroes or whites
whenever the U. S. Employment
Sen-ice certifies a need for workers:
in nearby industries, according to
Director Plowden. This is his state
ment:
“The State Department of Educa
tion has exerted every effort over
the years to promote vocational
training for Negroes ,but arbitar
ily to set up training of Negroes or
whites or anyone, without regard
for placement possibilities of such
persons, would be to ignore the
primary purpose of vocational edu- \
cation, which is to enable an ir.ci
cidual to get and hold a specific
job.’’
More than 100 Negroes, trained in
j Birmingham during the summer, in
p
"Washington, D. C.—Declaring
l that ‘‘the Negro views the immin
ence of compulsory service with
real alarm because it threatens to
freeze him at his present employ- '
ment level, which is substantially
below his ability”, Leslie Perry, ad
| mimstrative assistant of the Nation
al Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, submitted thi i
week a statement to the Pepper Sub !
Committee on Senate Resolution
291 providing for a full imvestigat- '
ion of the man power resources of
the nation and their most advant
ageous use in the war effort.
The NAACP expressed "deep and,
(Continued on pagejgg?^)
- I
New York, N. Y.—Three hours
after the NAACP had thrown a
picket line around the 55th Street
Playhouse on December 2nd, the
infamous motion picture “Birth of
a Nation" which was being shown
at the Theatre was withdrawn from
the screen and posters advertising
“Abraham Lincoln" as the Thea
tres next attraction went up
The NAACP was first informed of
the revival of the ancient motion
picture by one of a group of white
army officers who telephoned pro
tests against the pictures on behalf
of the group who had wandered in
to the theatre without realizing
what was being shown.
The action of the NAACP was
taken after a representative of the
management failed to discontinue
&_
SCORE LUCKY STRIKE
MAKERS FOR RACE SLUR
SEEK REDRESS FOR
SENATE INSULT
TO CLERGMEN
Washington. D. C.—Seeking re
dress for discourtesies to A. Philip
Randolph and several other New
York Ministers bv capitol police on
the day of the cloture vote on the
anti-Poll tax bill, the Washington
Bureau of the NAACP immediately
requested that the victims issue af
fidavits so that charges might be
filed and trial be had of the offend
ing officers with adequate punish
ment for the guilty. The NAACP
brought the case to the attention of
Philip Levy. Secretary to Senator
Robert Wagner of New YOTk. v ie
has also called on Col. Chesley W.
Jurney, Sergeant at Arms of the
Senate for a full statement of the
facts as a basis for subsequent ac
tion.
The NAACP emphasized that the
persons attacked are highly res
pected citizens, that many of the
police in Washington got their jobs
as patronage from southern senat
ors and that they need to be taught
that Negroes have as much right to
the Senate galleries and other plac
es in Washington as any other A
merican citizens and must be pr o
tected in those rights.
At the present time control of the
Capitol police is in the hands cf
the Senate Rules Committee of
which Senator Harry F. Byrd of
Virginia is chairman. Many mem
bers of the Committee were filibus
tered against the anti-poll tax bill
including Senators Kenneth McKel
lar of Tenn.; Charles O. Andrews of
Florida; John H. Bankhead. 2nd of
Alabama; Lloyd Spencer of Ail:.,
and Burnet R. Maybank of South
Carolina. Other members of the
Committee are Senators Guy M.
Gillette of Iowa; Arthur H. Vande’i
berg of Michigan; Warren W. Bar
bour of New Jersey; and Charles W.
Tobey of New Hampshire.
It is possible that even wor3e
treatment is in prospect for Ne
groes in the next session of Con
gress since according to Drew Pear
son's Washington Merry-Go-Round
the Democratic Caucus is going to
elect Senator Wall Doxey, lame
duck senator from Miss., and one of
the most vicious filibustered a
gainst the anti-poll tax bill, as the
new Sergeant at Arms. Doxey tri
ed to out-Bilbo Bilbo in his tirades
against the Negro.
answer to requests from Mobile ship
yards, were not placed there. Vern
on J. Douglas, local director of vo
cational education, reported. Steel
Shipyard heads said that an expect
ed supply of steel did not arrive,
therefore additional workers were
not needed, and that Mobile hous
ing facilities could not take care of
an increased number of Negro
workers.
SUBSCRIBE
Mi MHM
New York_.. Discontinuance of
the sale of a pipe tobacco obnox
iously labelled “Nigger Head To
bacco” was insisted on this week
by the NAACP. A formal protest
was made to George Washington
Hill, president of the American To
bacco Company, ill Fifth Avenue.
The American Tobacco Company
whteh. distributed the pipe tobacco
in a number of Northwestern Stat-:
es including Oregon, Washington
and Wisconsin is also the distrib
utor of Lucky Strike Cigarettes.
The sections in which the pipe to- j
bacco is sold are areas only sparse-1
ly populated by Negroes.
Declaring that it was needless to
point out the fact that such a name
for a product is repulsive to all Ne
groes including smokers of Lucky
Strike cigarettes the statement con
cluded that the NAACP “is confid
ent that the American Tobacco Co.,
will immediately discontinue this
method of holding up the Negro
race to ridicule and insulting the
many Negro smokers of Luckv
Strike Cigarettes.”
BRITISH MAGAZINES
URGE TOLERANCE
New York, N. Y.—To the atten
tion of the NAACP was brought
this week several fall issues of Brit
ish periodicals featuring articles, on
I he treatment Of Negro troops sta
tic ned in England.
one of the publications “New
Heview, the first British News Mag
aziue.” English counterpart of Time
sirtes. “American *NegrceB ar the
instigation of American military
authorities have had a ban put up
to them in certain dance halls and
oilier places of entertainment. For
tunatc.lv most British people resent
rue:al intolerance and point out ir
etances in which the British have
endeavored to show friendship to
the Negro and have come Upon the
disfat or of prejudiced American, of
ficers. War Commentary, another
publication carries ar article Down
With Color Bar and the News Lea
dor carries comment on tvs article
a?d a friendly interview with a pair
ol' Negro s ldiers.
f the film alter making such a com-(
I mittment and announced that the
j picture would be shown "indefinit
| ely".
1 Originally produced in 1915 "Birth
Of a Nation" which appeals to pre
judice and glorifies the KuKluxKlan
as a "saviour of white women” has
been banned from 18 states because
of its vicious racial slander.
Recent announcement in the Hol
lywood Reporter stating that the
film was to be remade into a talkie
led the NAACP to communicate
with Nelson Pointer of the Holly
wood Bureau of Motion Pictures
of the Office of War Information,
urging that no re-make of the pic
ture be permitted. The NAACP
was advised by Mr. Pointer that all
plans for a talking picture version
of “Birth of a Nation” had been a
bandoned by United Artists. The
NAACP has since requested that
steps be taken to prevent the show
ing of the original silent produc
tion.
"This film", said the NAACP in
a corespondf-nce to Lowell Meilett.
chief of Bureau of Motion Pictures,
Office of War Information, "harm
ful and dangerous in peace times is
in war time a menace to national
morale and unity.”
WHITES FINED
FOR DINING IN
NEGRO CAFE
WHITE TALLEDEGA PROF.
AND WIFE FINED S25 T
COLORED PROPRIETOR
ALSO FINED
Birmingham. Ala. (C) Youthful
Sociology Professor, Donald Ras
mussen^ 25, white of Talledega Col
lege and his wife. Lore, 22, were
fined $25.00 a piece because they
dined with Louis Burham, colored.1
In the Nancy Cafe, one of the nice
st eating places in Birmingham,
Burham, 27, as well as Nancy Wil
liams. proprietor of the cafe, were
fined $25.00 each too and were charg
ed with violation of Sections 4927
and 5288 of the city code, which
provides for segregation of the rac
es in public places. All paid fines.
Professor Rasmussen said on the
witness stand that he knew ‘‘in a
general way” of the feeling in the
South concerning the segregation of
races but did not know that there
was any law against him and h>
wife dining in a Negro cafe. Burn
ham testified that Prof. Rasmussen
had sent a message to him request
ing a conference and later in the
evening when Rasmussen and h>?
wife met Burham. it was suggested
*>y the Professor that they go to
Nancy’s andv “eat while we talk."
Miss Williams testified that when
the trio came to her. she didn't even
notice that Burham was accompan
ied by a white couple. City Rec
prder Henry- Martin, who hand d
down the decision, told the defend
ants that since it was not shown
by the evidence that the couple and
Burham or Miss Williams were chal
lenging the segregation laws of the
city and state, he was assessing only
a nominal penalty; otherwise the
penalty would have been more se
vere.
GOV’T OF LIBERIA
GIVES U. S, RIGHTS
IN NEGRO REPUBLIC
(Photo by George S. Schuyler)
HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT
EDWIN BARCLAY. Former
Secretary of State and son of
former President Robert Barclay,
this little brown man rules with an
iron hand the destinies of the greaS
Negro Republic. ^
Negro Troops Doing
Superman Job There
The Government of Libenif'^a"
granted to the United States for the
duration of the war the right to
construct, control, operate and de
fend airports in Liberia and to as
sist also in the protection and de
fense of any part of the Republic
which might be liable to attack dur
ing the present emergency, it was
announced by the Department of
State.
An agreement was signed at -Mon
rovia on March 31, 1942 by the Lib
erian Secretary of State and Lieut.
Colonel Harry A. McBride, special
representative of the President of
the United States, under the terms
of which the United States was
granted exclusive jurisdiction over
airports fortifications and such oth
er defense areas as may be mutual
ly considered necessary'. The Re
public of Liberia retains sovereign
ty over all such airports and de
fense areas, while the United stat
(continued on PageSW^°21
SLIGHTLY INJURED
Mrs. Marjorie Thompson, 2918 R
street .and Mrs. Anna Ray, 2906 R
street, were injured slightly when,
s. car driven by Mrs. Thompson col
lided at 25th and Erskine streets
with the auto of James Eddens of
1701 North 24th St.
VIOLATES GAS ORDINANCE;
FINED $25.04)
A $25 fine for storing gasoline .n
violation of a city ordinance wa.
imposed upon Joe Allen, of 2409
Hamilton St., by Municipal Judge
Perry Wheeler.
Allen, in whose possession police
found a drum containing 15 gal
lons of the fuel, was charged under
the law which as a fire safety mea -
ure, forhids storage of more than
one gallon. His case was the first
such in Omaha since rationing be
gan.
SOME PLAIN TALK
ABOUT COLOR . . .
(from Collier's Magazine. Nov.
28. 1942)
The Negro Question, solemnly so
called, is adding to some Americans,
worries about the war. Lynchings
are on the upcurve. There are dis
putes and near riots here and there
about colored people moving into
public housing developments Now
and then, a Jap agent is caught try
ing to make medicine among our
Negroes according to the “Why
fight the white man's war?" form
ula. All these things stir up ano
lent hates, fears and prejudices,
and a serious blowup conceivably
could result sometimes.
Here is what we think about it.
We expect extremists of all sorts to
damn us for these remarks, but
we're used to that and we're disap
pointed when, as sometimes hap
pens. our expectations don’t pan
out.
We think, for one thing, that all
sensible Americans should set their
faces sternly against the aforesaid
extremists. We refer mainly to (1)
the domestic Comunists who, while
claiming to be all out for an Allied
victory-, are not above making some
home-grown hay for themselves by
spreading discontent among all the
Negroes they can get at; and (2)
the old fashioned white Negro hat
ers in both North and South.
Neither of these extremist groups
has the workable answer to the col
ored question. What both Americ
an whites and American Negroes
need are those sometimes dreary,
(Continued on page 3)
