Nebraska Newspapers

    LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CTlT —MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS
~E5S?ph.»°fwl. my1”*' ~ Saturday, January % 1943 OUR 15th YEAR^NtTlS7 City Edition, 5c Copy
A SHINING EXAMPLE OF
A GREAT MAN—HE GAVE TO
ALL MANKIND, THE FRUITS
OF HIS LABOR. ..
.1 ■ .. i.)-ii. ... -
GEORGE WASHINGTON
CARVER
Carver, Great Negro Scientist Dies
Tuskegee ,Ala., Jan. 5—Dr. Geo
rge Washington Carver, the great
and noted Negro scientist, died at
7:30 P- m. Tuesday at his home at
Tuskegee Institute to which he as
a member of the faculty, had been
attached since 1894.
Dr .Carver had been in failing
health for some months and was
confined to his bed for the past 10
days.
Born of slave parents, at Diam
ond Grove, Mo., he was never sure
of his birth date, but once estimated
that it was “about 1864.”
Dr. Carver was recognized as one
of the outstanding scientists in the
field of agricultural research. He
was a guest this summer of Henry
Ford in Detroit, where he went it
was said to discuss the utilizing of
the soy bean. He discovered scores
of uses for the sweet potatoes, pea.
nuts and clay. From the peanut he
has made an oil in which many ca<
es has helped in the cure of infant
ile paralysis. He developed inks
pigments, cosmetics, paper, paint, |
and many other articles from i>ie
South’s red clay.
While Dr. Carver was best known !
for his contributions to southern
agriculture, he also was a noted ai -
tist whose works have hung in a
number of well-known galleries.
He was an humble man who pass- j
ed up worldly gain "to work among
the trees and the ferns and fne
grass of God s good earth.”
They tell of a time when a pecan
blight struck Alabama and Florida
trees in the 1920’s. A grower came
to Dr. Carver with a plea for a cure
offering a large sum of money if
he would undertake research. Di\
Carver developed a cure and h's
price to that grower and all others
was merely the postage stamp nec
essary to mail it- This is just one
of the many things in his work
for which he asked no price tit
monetary reinbursement
When Dr. Carver was quite young
he and his mother were kidnapped
from the Missouri farm where he
was born and taken into Arkansas.
His master, MoSes Carver, ransom
ed him with a fine blooded race
horse, but his mother had disap
peared by the time a messenger j
had reached the kidnapers.
His cherished goal was a college
education and he surmounted many
difficulties to achieve this end. He
was graduated from a Minneapolis.
Kansas high school and then enter
ed Simpson college. Iowa, where he
earned his tuition by working in the
college laundry. The future scien
tist spent the next few years at
Iowa State college, accepting a fac
ulty position there after he had at
ACE WHITE COMMENTATOR HITS BACE
Navy to Investigate Vallejo, Calif. Riots
NAACP URGES PUNISHMENT
OF INSTIGATORS
Vallejo. Calif..—The wounding of
two Negro cooks during the riots
December 26-27 involving some 775
Negro and white sailors and a few
civilians here brought from the NA
ACP in New York the following tel
egram to Secretary of Navy Knox:
“Attack by southern whites on
Negro sailors and civilians to pre
vent latter from continuing as in
past to use places of public accom
modation in Vallejo. California, em
phasizes again necessity for strong
er policy by Navy Department in
summarily punishing those who at
tempt to enforce southern racial
patterns on northern communities.
It is ironic and disheartening te
read press statements that the dis
turbance was quelled when marines
turned machine guns on the Negro
es. It is also significant that only
Negroes were injured, when the
evidence seems to establish that
white southerners were the aggres
sors in attacking Negro patrons of
tavern. Courtmartial and punish
ment to full extent of law in this
and similar cases will do more than
anything else to prevent furtehr out.
break. We respectfully urge such
action-.”
Following the disturbances 1800
Negro sailors were confined to
quarters at Mare Island Navy yard
whlie authorities investigated the
rioting in a town in which before
the wartime influx of workers and
marines and white sailors from
Texas. Oklahoma and Other south
ern states, there was no apparent
prejudice against Negroes, no Se
gregation So far as restaurants and
bars were concerned.
The first fight on Saturday night
December 26. which seemed to crop
out of a false report that a white
marine had been stabbed by a Ne
gro sailor, followed mounting com
plaints of discrimination against
Negroes. Negro sailors had com
plained that they were being bar
red from restaurants, bars and oth
er public places. The injured Ne
groes, Leo Shaw. 18, and George
Carpenter 26, were first taken to
Vallejo Hospital where they told
the attendants they were "innocent
bystanders" and had nothing to do
with the fighting. Later they were
removed to Mare Island Hospital.
OITBREAK EXPECTED;
WILKES'S DECLARES:
New York—The outbreak at Val
lejo. California, was "in the cards"
and its occurrence is "no surprise,"
it was declared here by Roy Wil
kins. assistant secretary 0f the NA
ACP. who returned two weeks ago
from a two months t®Ur of the Pac
ific coast
•'I was in Vallejo on November
9," said Mr. Wilkins, "and Negro
sailors who had been transferred
there from the Great Naval Train
ing Station were already bitterly
complaining about the treatment
they were receiving from citizens
and white sailors. The heavy in
flux of southerners into California
cannot be imagined; it has to be
Charge Jim-Crow Pat
tern Forced on North
by Army, and ISlavy
Washingon. D. C.—Repeated at-5
tempts on the part of southern ar
my and navy personnel to enforce
southern race patterns on non sou
thern areas were assailed again this |
week by Walter White, executive I
secretary to the National Associat- |
ion for the Advancement of Colored
People, who in a letter to the Sec
retary- of War Stimson said:
“We submit again that the War
Department needs to speed up the
formulation of a more clearly de
fined program in accordance with,
the highest standards of democracy
to avert further trouble and to
6erve notice upon bigots that the
decent thoughtful people of the Uni
ted States yvho constitute the over
whelming majority, are going to
j determine the patterns of action of
| the country- as a whole and not the
bigots themselves.”
The NAACP called Stimson's at
tention to a memorandum issued by
order of Major Ralph S, Hardiman
through A. J. Brown, 1st 14- QMC,
Adjutant of Headquarters. Second
Battalion. 47th Quartermasttr Reg
iment at Fort Sill, Okla., in which
were quoted sections 201, 204, 207
and 209 of the Oklahoma Statute
providing for segregation in feder
al carriers with penalty for violat
ion thereof and to which was added
the further note that “the follov
: ing is published for the information
|and guidance of all concerned.”
The NAACP inquired if Secretary
seen. In addition, the fact that
Mare Island Navy Yard is locat'd
there means that large numbers of
white sailors, mostly southerners,
are in and out of town. There had
been several minor clashes before
I arrived and the colored sailor3
with whom I talked were in no
mood to stand much more of the
insults they were receiving on every
hand. Restaurants were asking
them to ‘take out’ sandwiches white j
sailors were openly taunting them
on the streets or beaing them up if
Negroes' were not in a large gri>uo.
“This news is no surprise to me.
The colored lads held a special
meeting with me after the regular
mass meeting was over declared
flatly they were not going to stand
the treatment any longer saying
they thought the organizations and
newspapers ought to get the Wash
ington officials to do something a
‘ bout it and if nothing was done
' they would use their own judge
ment”
I
Stimson believed it to be a proper ,
function of the War Department to !
assist states in the enforcement of
laws enacted to discriminate against
citizens on account o trace or color.
AFL TRANSIT UNION
FLAYS BIAS IN DC.
BUS DISPUTE
Washington. D. C.—The Capital
Transit company agreed this week
to abide by executive order 8802
and consider Negroes for employ
ment as conductors, motormen and
drivers on its street cars and buses.
In officially notifying the Presi
dent's Committee on Fair Employ
ment Practice of its decision, the
company brought to a close a long
struggle of Negroes here for tran
sit jobs.
No obstacle to the employment of
Negroes now remains since W. D.
Alahon .international president of
the union, which holds a contract
r-ithin the transit company orde -ed
J. G. Bigelow .president of local 68ft
here, that there is no bar to Negro
membership in the union.
NO DATE SET
It was not indicated .however, by
the company when it expected to
employ its first Negro workers. Be
cause of the heavy drain of t’ne
company's manpower by the armed
services and other vital war agenc
ies it is expected that varan-res
will occur soon which can be filed
by Negroes
The fight for jobs as mOtOrmt.n
conductors on trolleys and as 4r;v
cis on buses was an old on"* here
as it is m other large cities wher.
Negroes arc barred from these jobs.
No favorable action on the pait
of the cempany was secured, l.ov -
ever, until the FEPC committee
classed it as a war industry .end or.
dered it to comply with Executive
Order 8802 which forbids discrim
ination in the employment of work
ers because of race, creed, color or
national origin.
TK1ES TO STALL
In response, the company asked
that it be allowed a period of time
in which to comply with the order.
It grave as reason the need for pre
liminary work to make the Negro
workers acceptable to the whites.
The FEPC committee, however, in
a brusque note, ordered the com
pany to comply immediately. In
its letter last week .the cOmpahy
signified that it would obey.
Mahon in his letter to head 0f the
Washington local of the union urg
ed Bigelow after stating that the
Union policy was not in comlict
with the committee’s order, to "take
into consideration the fact that we
are now engaged in a war in whicn
the colored man is called upon to
do the same line of duty that the
white man is called upon to do."
He added that other divisions of
the union have Negro members if.d
that as far as he was able to de
termine. “there is no difference in
the accident records of white and
Negro operators.’’
Other cities in which Negroes are
working as bus drivers or trolley
motormen and conductors are De
troit. Tulsa. New York City, and
Cleveland.
NEW YORK ORGANIZES FOR
ALL Ol'T CAMPAIGN TO PASS
ANTI-POLL TAX BILL IN 1943
New York. N. Y.—A city wiila
committee wnich will coordinate the
forces of labor and Negro and
white people's organizations for or
ganized action to fight for passage
of a federal Anti-Poll Tax Bill in
the 7Sth Congress, will be set up
here at a conference called by the
New York People's Committee for
January 9th at the Abyssinian Bap
tist Church.
Councilman A. Clayton Powell Jr.
and Dr. Channing Tobias are co
chairman of the People’s Commit
tee. which includes virtually every
civil, labor, social, youth, fraternal
church and educational group in
the City's five boroughs.
The conference will outline a pro
gram of action for 1943, in conform
ity with the Harlem Charter adopt
ed at a huge Pearl Harbor Anniv
ersary meeting held at the Golden
Gate Ballroom December 7.
MELZAC BRINGS IN LIBERTY
SHIP
New York (C)-The first colored
skipper in American merchant mar
in history, this week reported on.
the maiden voyage of his charge,
the 10.000 ton Liberty ship, Booker
T. Washington.
‘ The men all got along nicely",
said Hugh N. Mulzac. 66. captain
of the ship. “It’s a good crew and
she's a fine ship.” Twenty five ptr
cent of the crew is colored. The
rest of the crew is white and Mexi
can.
PREJUDICE
) PREJUDICE IS ACQUIRED
NOT INHERITED. BAYS
ANN HUNTER
Chicago. 111.. —Now and then, un
heralded and unexpected—like a
bolt erf lightning in a clear, summer
sky—comes a brilliant, vigorous,
protest against the white man’s in
humanity to the Negro; a voice of
disapproval and of censure, expos
ing the inner nature of the white
man' and laying bare his hypocrisy
and deceit in his studied effort to
stifle economically, socially and
Politically .his brown, American
fellow-man whose greatest misfo
tune is but his accident of birth.
But dynamic force and lasting ef
fect are given the protest when
voiced not by a Negro, but by a
white person. Such was the voice
of famed radio commentator. Ann
Hunter, giving her popular broad
cast. “A Woman Views the News,’’
a feature Of Station WAIT. In a
pleasant, well-modulated tone, she
said.
•’The strange thing about racial
prejudice is that we are not BORN
with it: It is* something we AC
QUIRE as we grow up!”
Continuing her excise of race
prejudice. Miss Hunter said:
“Suppose for instan e you were
able to bring up several children—
one black, one white, one brown, one
red, one yellow and so on—let them
all have equal opportunities and
never let them know any of the
prejudices that mankind had de
veloped .... Do you suppose tha»
white child would have any reason
to suppose he was superior to thr
black child, or the brown child su
perior to the yellow? And so on. I
think not. Racial prejudice is a fly
in the ointment of civilization, and'
unless the existing intolerance sucn
as the white people display towards
colored races, gradually die away—
then even this war will not sec Lira
the peace for which we are all hop
ing Don’t you think that if—over
generations of course—the Negro
es in this country were given bet
ter living conditions, better educa
tional facilities, more tolerance and
less social distinctions—they could
become as well bred and clever as
their white cousins? I think they
could!
i
“Tnere nave already been many
distinguished Negro personages in
this country: to mention but a few
-Dr. George Washington Carver,
famous Negro scientist—he is the
founder of the now vital peanut oil
industry. Miss Marian Anderson,
the brilliant singer—for whose sake
Mrs. Roosevelt resigned from the
j Daughters of the American Revolu
tion because the DAR in Washing
ton would not grant a concert hall
for Miss Anderson to sing in. Book
er T. Washington, famous long be
fore our time. Paul Robeson, e
qually well known for his wonder- 1
ful voice. Since Mr. Robeson knew j
of the racial prejudice in this coun
try-, he sent his only son to be ed
ucated in England—where prejud
ice against any coolred race is al
most non-existent
“It is in England right now that
the American forces are having dif
ficulties over racial prejudice. The
Negro Brigadier-General Benjamin
O. Davis recently visited the Brit
ish Isles to investigate the alle.g
(Continued on pagefSJp^)
tained his master’s degree.
In 1894, Dr. Washington asked
him to join the Tuskegee institute
staff and Dr. Carver became the
School’s first director of agriculture
As he grew older, he was released
from his faculty duties to become
the institute's consulting chemist
and director of a United States ag
ricultural experiment station.
He will be buried in Tuskegee
cemetery, where also lies Booker
T. Washington, founder and first
president of the institution.
_ <
EDITORIAL
f OF THE
WEEK
• • •
(from the Des Moines. Ia., Register
December 28, 1942)
The official announcement of fig
ures on Negro draftees and enlist
ments quashes two ugly rumors.
It ends the rumor that Negroes
were not drafted in proportion to
their numbers in the population—
they were, and a little bit more,
though at first the rate was slow
er. For with segregation in the
ranks .they sometimes had to wait
on new facilities and the organiz
ation of new units.
It also ends the rumor that Ne
groes don’t think the country
worth defending. They are justi
biably critical about the way they
are sometimes treated. But this is
THEIR country, too, and 16 percent
of the “volunteers entering the ar
my through selective service” were
Negroes. Moreover, 10.1 percent of
the soldiers “inducted into the army
through Selective service” were Ne
groes, though Negroes make up
only 9.8 percent of the population.
'
SECOND OFFICERS
The War Department announced
in their promotion of Negro officers
of the Women’s Army Auxiliary
Corps, the promotion of two young
women of Nebraska in the persons
of Gertrude Jacaqueline Peebles,
wife of Lt. Wm. Peebles of thi3
city, and Miss Charline Jane May
of Palls City, Nebraska. Both were
promoted to Second Officers.
CONTINUES FIGHT TO BLOCK
-JIM CROW UNION
Portland, Oregon—The Portland
NAACP branch announced this
week that it intended to "stand
Pat” against the proposal of Tom
Ray, business agent, for a Jim crow
auxiliary to the Boilermakers Union
of AF of L. Local No. 72 at the
Henry J. Kaiser shipyards. De
claring that Negro workers as a
whole are against the establishment
of any such auxiliary, regardless of
press reports to the contrary-, the
NAACP said that it will fight to the 1
finish against discrimination in lo
cal unions where workers in war
industries are affected.
CARVER, LOUIS, AND ROOSEVELT
4
DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON
CARVER, JOE LOUIS, AND MR.
K. ROOSEVELT, WHEN THEY
APPEARED ON THE AIR TO
GETHER LAST YEAR.
EISENHOWER PRAISES
NEGRO TROOPS ACTION
IN AFRICA INVASION
IENGLAND—Soundphoto—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, left, shown
[with his deputy, Maj. Gen. Mark W. Clark who is in charge of ad
l^anced front-line headquarters in North Africa. The two officers
i»re shown when they briskly saluted while walking in _London
recently. ~
SHOW GREAT COURAGE AND DARING
IN UNLOADING EXPLOSIVES UNDER
ENEMY FIRE
BRIGGS JUBILEE ENSEMBLE
OVER WOW SUNDAY, JAN. 1(|
The Briggs Jubilee Ensemble
will be heard over station Wo\V
Sunday Januarj- 10. 8:30 a. m. Th, y
will be the guest of Rev. R. it.
Brown and his choir on their Sun
day morning broadcast and will •,].
so appear on their Sunday niglit
services at the Omaha GoSpel Tab
ernacle at 7:15 P M. Henry Wash
ington. Director.
-—
Eight Dead
In South
Africa Riot
Pretoria, South Africa, (C. .Seven
natives were fatally shot and '.0
wounded and a white soldier was
stabbed to death in a riot last week
following a meeting of natives em
ployed by the Pretoria municioal
ity to demand immediate paym nt
of higher wages. Three armored
cars and a detachment of troops
were summoned.
I
Basie to Play for
NAACP Dance
35TH NAACP BIRTHDAY DANCE
TO HAVE BASIE Ml'SIC FEB. 26
New York, N .Y.—As their part
in a gala tribute to be given by the
amusement world to the NAACP
for its successful effort in getting
bus transportation for Negro orch
estras. Count Basie and bis band
will contribute their playing to the
NAACP Birthday Ball commemor
ating its 35th anniversary it was
learned this w-eek. The dance, at
which will be presented many out
standing personalities, Negro ani
white, from the entertainment
world, will be held this year at the
Golden Gate Ballroom on Fridav,
February 26. Proceeds from the
dance will go to the NAACP gener
al fund for continuing the associat
ion’s unrelenting fight against dis
crimination and brutality, against
Negro soldiers and civilians, the
further wiping out of inequalities
in education and the outlawing of
the Democratic white primary in
the south. Admission to the dance
is SI.00 and tickets are now on sale
at the NAACP offices at 69 Fifth
Avenue.
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The Omaha Guide, A Paper with A Purpose. Founded on the Principles of Service to Our Race, to Our City, to Our State, and to Our FTaJ
i '-'Orth "Africa esoier-^Uieat
enant General Dwight D Eisenhow
er, Commander-in-Chief of the Al
lied Forces in North Africa, has
commended the courageous service
of the American Negroes in the
United States Army during action
in North Africa. Among the Amer
ican units in those operations are
several Ordnance ammunition l>at
talions and one Quartermaster
Truck Regiment composed of color
ed troops.
General Eisenhower reported that
Negro soldiers had taken part ef
fectively in the campaign. Amer
cans of the colored race should he
proud of the service of their rep
resentatives in combat, the Gener
al continued. He cited especially
the steadfastness and bravery of
the Ordnance Company which suc
cessfully handled the delivery of
igh explosive bombs at Arzew, con
tinuing to put the bombs ashoro
under heavy fire at this little port
near Oran.
General Eisenhower said that
this demonstration of courage was
a significant indication of what
could be anticipated from American
colored troops in the future.
T AACP QUESTIONS l .S. CENSOR
SHIP OF NEGRO NEWS
Washington, D. C.—Byron Price,
director of the Office of Censorship
here, was asked this week by ihe
National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, if a
rule barring the sending 0ut from
the U S. of any news regarding the
Negro and Negro-white relations in
the United States has been estab
lished, what categories of news
have been barred and wh:ft purpose
does the Office of Censorship ex
pect such censorship to serve.
The NAACP stated that the exis
tence of such a eensorsh;p is evid
enced by the fact that newspapers
and magazines printed in the Uni
ted States and containing such item
are received in other countries
w’ith these items cut out of the is
sues. The Nation for example, re
ports that one of its subscribers in
Mexico received an issue 0f the mag
izine from which an editorial deal
v>n„ me «ume, ua„ attack on
Roland Hayes had been cut.
Tthe XAACP also reported that
no part of the address made by
Wendell 'Willkie at the annual con
ference of the XAACP held in l.os
Angeles. California. July 19, had
been permitted to go Out of the Uni
ted States and that other referenc
es in speeches to the race question
had been similarly barred.