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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1945)
E HEWTOTHEUNEX PHONE HA.0800 ■jf -fg- "Largest Accredited Negro Newspaper West of Chicago and North of KC• ^ ^ ^ ES'riS *«£ o£T!;‘l.0SS s£ SSL^. Saturday. June 9,1945 * 10c Per Copy * Our 18th Year-No. 18 ' New Mayor Makes Statement The assuming of public office regardless of how minor or how great, is an important undertaking Each and every such public ot ficial should recognize that he is not all wise nor all powerful. The office of City Commissioner is tthe most important public office of the city, and whether our city is going to progress to a point of one of the great commerical cen ters of the Middle West is, to a great extent, determined by our City Council. ? In our opinion, a go.,d public official is one who recognizes not oniy the limitations of man. but more especially his own limita tions No ,,ne man could possibly be possessed of full knowledge of any a.id all matters pertaiimng to the various departments of the city, nor even to one department thereof. VVe must surround our selves with competent assistants and continuously seek information from the best sources available. We thank all of the voters of Omaha for their confidence ex pressed by the election, and hum bly enter upon our responsibilities. Our iiterature and our talks previous to the election were n..t just "campaign talk" and propa ganda. We were sincere. We propose to develop a firm policy of law enforcement in the Police Department, but at the same time to use common sense ifn that enforcement, ,We will endeavor to see that all city em ployees are paid a wage compar able to the wage paid by indus try in this locality. It is our plan to inaugurate a program which will compensate our policemen in a sufficient amount in keeping with the increased standards of living and make ft unnecessary' for them to be dependent upon the public for any portion of their support or income. We shall insist on courteous treatment on the part of all city officers and employees It is our duty to see that our policemen extend every courtesy to n. .n-residents, as well as resi dents, the details of which we will not go Into at this time. Before aqy definite action is taken on improvements for our city, they should be well thought out The very best of scientific information assembled and a study made, not -with just the present in mind but anticipating the needs in the years to come. This includes public inprovements, parks, recreation, sewers, streets, boulevards, health, airport and airports, transportation, and fi- I nancing, as well as every other activity. A site should be arrang- j ed for, forthwith, to be used for '■ a new auditorium. This location! should be close to the business center where transportation faei-! lities are ample and wnere suf ficient area for parking can be arranged. We have such a I oca tion in mind. A building should be exacted j wherein there would be a mac hine shop, a garage, and a re ceiving department where all city purchases and equipment, includ-! ing the trucks and the cars of the city, would be housed! excepting the equipment that is being used by the P..lice Department and the Fire Depart met, but that equip ment would all be repaired, checked regularly, and under the jurisdiction of that shop). Statistics show that the cost of providing sufficient recreation for minors is much less than the pro secution and the care of criminals. No department in your city is more important The passage of the ordinance providing for re creation proves the people of our city agree. The activities thereof should be <\irefully planned, all of the ideas adopted insofar as of the ideas and thoughts along that line fill be solicited, and all of the best ideas adopted insofar as possible. In this regard, we ex pect to call upon the clergy, church workers and educators quite heavily. By action of our national and state governments the sale of liquor was legalized. The City Council will endeavor to admin ister the law to the point where such business will be operated ac cording to law without fear or favor. We will not tolerate to any! degree the violation of any of the laws, such as dealing with minors or otherw ise conducting the busi ness in an obnoxious manner. No doubt the public is waiting for some definite statement with reference to the Power contro versv. Y,,ur City Commissioners, notwithstanding wrhat some may believe, will take no action until all questions are very carefullv weighed and digested, so that the interests of the people of Omaha are definitely known and protect ed Regardless of the unfavorable publicity and ill-feeling developed n this controversy in the past, it is the intent and purpose of the present Commissioners to work harmoniously on this undertaking and at all times for the best in terests of the city of Omaha. Your City Commission will operate as a Board of Directors, and while each department will be headed by a Commissioner, that Commissioner will seek and re ceive the counsel and advice of the other Commissioners. Returning veterans should have priority on all city jobs. The of fices and employees of the city should be used in gathering data and plans for utilizing and giving employment to our men and wo men returning from the Armed Forces. We accept our charge humbly and wish to assure the people of Omaha that we are going to en deavor to render the very best service that is humanly possible. We solicit constructive criticism and assure you that it will be ac cepted in good grace. I sincerely pledge to each of you City Commissioners my whole hearted support and hope for a progressive and efficient adminis tration. I am sure that we will all work to that end. PLAIN TALK By Julius J. Adams Editor’s Note: Mr. Julius Adams, associate editor of N. Y. Amster dam News, is the guest editor for this week on a very timely sub ject. When the history of racial achievement and interracial good will in the United States during the four decades of the 20th Cen tury is written, no little of the credit for its success will have to go to the American Negro Theatre (ANT), that once unknown group of men and women who not only brought a new' dignity to the Ne gro actor and actress, but have established a new tradition on Broadway, theatrical center of the world. The theatre, for centuries, has been the instrument by which pat terns have been set, and ways of life charted and maintained. It is as true today as it was in Shake speare’s time, for only recently the Board of Motion Picture Censors of Memphis, Tennessee, banned the picture “Brewsters’ Millions,” claiming that the play presented too much racial mixture. Obvi-1 ously, this brazen action was in tended to prevent the spread of any knowledge that might disturb the status quo of Negro-white re lations in the South. If the officials of Memphis were simply preventing the people of their own city from seeing “Brew sters’ Millions,” with Eddie (Ro chester) Anderson, it would not be a particularly serious matter. The real evil is that the attitude of Memphis and the entire South i controls the policy of the motion j picture and theatrical industry, a j policy which stereotypes the Negro ' as an underling and a buffoon. And since the producers cannot film I one picture for the north and an other for the south, the more lib- j eral people above the Mason and Dixon Line are denied the oppor tunity to enjoy the matchless tal ent of scor,es of Negro stars. It was, therefore, evident that some other outlet would have to be cre ated to balance the current biased condition. The place the ANT and its Di rector, Abe Hill, occupy will con tinue to occupy in the future in offsetting the bigoted policy ac quiesced in by the amusement in dustry to appease the south, can not be overestimated. For while ' Broadway has not been too seri- j ously hampered by the southern* attitude, the fact that so many plays are written with an eye to Hollywood means that playwrights are cautious not to inject into their stories anything they feel might offend the deep and backward south. The result has been that parts written into plays for Ne groes are usually put there to pro vide fun and laughter, and while individual actors and actresses have achieved some prominence, the prestige of the race has suf fered immeasurably. ANT’s ambition is to develop Ne gro actors and actresses to play straight roles in original standard plays and to present established plays with Negro casts. In doing this, ANT could accomplish much in the delineation of the role of the Negro in the United States. The first really successful effort in presenting Negroes in an orig \-E DAY ON OKINAWA—Kan Francisco. Calif -US. Marine Corps Photo (Soundphoto)—This Marinecbserved V-E Day on Okinawa by having his clothing blown from hisback by a Jap mortar shell Shock-? ed and hurt but still on his feet, heig helped toward the rear by a com panion on the line. inal play was when AJ^T present ed Mr. Hill’s story about a Harlem debutante, titled “Striver’s Row” in 1940. This is the play that really produced Fred O’Neal, the laboratory technician, who has be come one of Broadway’s most dis tinguished actors, having first gained attention when he played the father in John Golden’s “Three Is A Family” in April, 1944, and went on to achieve national fame in the principal supporting role in the smash hit, “Anna Lucasta,” now on Broadway. Alice Childress, housewife and mother, also emerged from “Striv er’s Row” with laurels, and scored heavily in “Three Is A Family” and has swept on to Broadway with “Anna Lucasta,” where she was runner-up to O’Neal who won the Charles Derwant cash prize of five hundred dollars for his excellent characterization of “Frank” in “Anna Lucasta,” which a commit tee on judges declared to be the best male acting job in a non-fea tured role on Broadway during the 1944-45 season. Helen Martin, who played Big ger Thomas’ sister in Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” is a pro duct of ANT. A few others are, Virgil Richardson, a teacher, who supplanted Canada Lee in “The Big White Fog”; Clare Leyba, dancer, now an understudy in “Anna Lu casta”; Sadie Brown, federal work er, who had a prominent part in Owen Dodson’s “Garden Of Time”; and handsome William Greaves, engineering student, who played a featured role in “Garden Of Time” and is being seriously considered for the leading role in Mr. Hill’s adaptation of the novel “Walk Hard,” soon to be produced on Broadway. Perhaps ANT’s most illustrious, to say the least, best known pro duct, is Hilda Simms, pretty and youthful star whose portrayal of Anna in "Anna Lucasta” has been characterized as one of the finest performances on the Main Stem in many seasons. “Anna Lucasta” as is well known, is not a play about a Negro family, and could be performed by actors and actresses of any race or color. In the current produc tion, the Negro players are allow ed the full range of emotions, which they prove are the exclusive property of no one group. The wayward Anna, her faithful mother or her incestuous father might be members of a family drawn from any land or from any station of our society. It is a human drama, and thanks to ANT, an all-Negro cast has been allowed to prove it can breathe life into characters to evoke pity and pathos as well as it can make people laugh. It should be noted that ANT disco\ - ered “Anna Lucasta,” and present ed it in Harlem at the 135th Street Library theatre, before it was pro duced on Broadway where it won the distinction of being the most important native American drama in 20 years. In presenting the Golden Play, “Three Is A Family” last year, ANT set a precedent, for in doing so, a Negro cast stepped into the shoes of a white cast to produce with marvelous success a play that had been written about a middle class white American family. The significant feature, which made the event even more remark able is that fact that the Negro cast presented the play is the same theatre on a night the reg ular cast was off. The members of the white cast saw the show, and by their own statements, the Negroes turned in a great perfor mance, and in some roles the ANT players did a much better job than the whites. Director Hill, perhaps, will now know for many years the full ef fect of his handi-work. This rangy, bespectacled, Lincoln University trained playwright, regards his work with singular modesty. Asked what his personal aspirations are, Mr. Hill smilingly admits he would like to spend his time writing and directing plays. Whether he even tually emerges as an established American playwright may be I answered when Broadway sees his | play “Walk Hard.” But regardless of what happens to “Walk Hard,” Mr. Hill has already firmly fixed his name in the theatrical firma ment; his contribution to the cul tural development of his race is solid and beyond dispute. But for the present, Mr. Hill’s fondest ambition is to see estab lished in Harlem a suitable theatre where plays, concerts, recitals and other events may be held. To this end, ANT has initiated a campaign to raise three hundred thousand dollars, the amount the sponsor believes is necessary to accomplish [ the undertaking. Mr. Hill sees in the development' of such an institution in the Har lem community, a program that j will have salutary effect on the cultural life of every other com munity. He regards such an insti tution as being capable of pro viding a wholesome center to lure people outside Harlem to our com munity for some purpose other than to secure “local color” for a mag azine article or a book; or simply to see just how a Negro behaves in his “native environment,” or out of sheer curiosity. What is being done in New York can and should be done in other cities. The accomplishments of ANT have not gone without recognition, although for a long time its activi ties and struggles remained un known because of an almost total blackout due to a lack of first class publicity. Part of this was due to the modesty of the group, which preferred not to “keep too much noise” until it “had really ar rived.” In paying tribute to ANT, this year the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, which annually honors 12 individuals or groups for the most outstanding perform ance in the promotion of inter racial harmony, included ANT on its list. Riverdale Children’s Association committee will give a similar award to the group this month at which time Technical Sergeant Joe Louis also will receive a River dale award. Last year the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Founda tion made a grant of $9,500 for the Theatre’s 1945-1946 season to help continue the development of what has been called the best experi mental theatre in New York and environs. i Dillard University of New Or leans cited ANT as being the pro tagonist of the Negro Theatre Movement, and the history of the group was brilliantly dramatized over Radio Station WMCA last December. So outstanding has been the con tribution of ANT to the theatre that Longman Green Publishing House has arranged to publish an anthology of ANT plays this sum mer, which, when complete will bring another first to the group, since there is no record of such a project ever before having been either contemplated or finished. Throughout its existence ANT has produced seven plays, two of which have been sold to Broadway, “Anna Lucasta” and “Walk Hard.” Now in rehearsal is “Henri ^ristophe” w'hich ANT plans to present soon. And this should place another star in the Company’s golden crown of theatrical achieve ment. The Children’s -COLUMN (BY JOY\ MeCAW) SYMPATHY EOH: CHARLES DICKERSON. SR, “JUNE” June is the month of spring, When all the robins love to sing. It is the month when school is out, And all the children run about. Spring very seldom has a storm But it is sometimes very warm. June is the month of happy cheer, And sometimes the month of a happy year. Valaria Joan McCaw, Editor. “THE CIRCUS” The circus is in town, With many a clown. The lions and tigers are there The trapeze people are in the air, All the people are sitting tight, Waiting for the show with all their might. Gee I like the circus so, But even better I like the show, Valaria Joan McCaw, Editor. VICTORY SWEETHEARTS The Victory Sweethearts enter tained the servicemen from Fair mont, and Kearney, Nebr., camps, Saturday, May 24, 1945, at the home of Elizabeth Slupman and Etteyle Hunter, 2116 Ohio Street. The evening was spent in danc ing. Refreshments were served the boys. Sunday, May 25, 1945, the club held a dinner for the boys. There were fifteen present. The boys were served cocktails before the dinner. The menu consisted of segmented grapefruit with cher ries, fried chicken, rice with gib let gravy, buttered peas, buttered hot rolls, candied sweet potatoes, lettuce and tomato sahid, and cof fee. The evening w'as spent in dancing and playing Po Kena. The t boys departed for their camp at 11 o’clock. An enjoyable time was had by alL Colleen St. Clair, Pres. Ethigl Hunter, Sec. WOMEN CIVILIANS IN BERLIN — Berlin (Radiophoto. Soundphoto) Women civilians in Berlin gather around a vegetable market on Bod dinstrasse to purchase their daily food ration following the capitula tion of German forces Soviet troops held their victory march in Berlin on May 20th during which they carried the victory banner which was first raised over Berlin while the Red Army was still fight ing. FLUSHING A SNIPER— Washing ton D<-' (Okinawa) Marine Corps Photot Soundphoto CF1—After set ting tire to this thatched shack on Okinawa. Marine riflemen watch for the Jap sniper who had been firing from the house Realizing the fut llity of the situation, the enemy sniper killed himself witn a gren ade Isolated pockets of resistance like this did little to stem the leath erneck drve to the northern tip of the island THE LIVING | SOUTH ■ <HY HAROLD PREECE) Q (Copyright, 1945. by New South Features) HAROLD PREECE (Copyright, 1945, by New South Features.) I reckon that my fellow South erner, P. B. Young, Jr., of the Nor folk Journal and Guide, was tes tifying for all the little people of Dixie when he wrote from Sar. Francisco on May 12th: “So far as the little people of the world and the United Nations j Conference here are concerned, it is to America and Russia of the Big Five that they nflust look for whatever deliverance is in store for them.” Now, Brother P. B. Young is sitting up there with other news papermen in the amen corner at San Francisco listening to what the big people, who are the diplo mats, have to say about Russia. Me, I’m sitting up here on a moun tain top in Tennessee, trying to get enough fencing for my five acres, and listening to what the little people who are my neighbors I have to say about Russia. My neighbors say that they’re not going to help filthy little old John Rankin, cuss-hollerin’ old Pappy O’Daniel, and finaglin’ old Bob Taft, who comes from Ohio but who hangs in with the Dixie landlord crowd, build any fences to shut opt Russia.y ' “Wd'ce/-tearing down an awful lot of old fences down here in our part of the country,” said my Scotch-Irish neighbor, Iva Lee Eldridge, when she brought over a jar of home made plum jelly for my baby the other day. “We’re tearing down the fences that kept white folks and colored folks from doing anything together. Fence Out Rankin “The only fencing out I want to do is to fence out John Rankin. I believe that you’ve got to put a , wild man, like a wild bull, inside a pen, and if anybody starts a movement to pen up John Rankin, I’ll help buy the fence. “America and Russia are the only two big countries where the little people have a chance. I reckon that the little people down here in Tennessee will have a bet ter chance when we learn from Russia that you can’t put a bad sign on a colored man without putting a bad sign on your own soul.” Now, I’ve just come back into my house from a talk with old Brother Joe Tucker who used to trade horses and who still rides ’em. Brother Joe came riding up this morning, wanting to sell me some hard locust fence posts to tack that fencing on when I get it. He s got lour boys in the army. He thinks that those boys won’t ever have to go out to fighting again if America and Russia work together to keep peace in this world that the Lord made for folks of all colors. ‘Ensign for the Nations “I’ve quit making sharp horse trades and I’ve got to be a Bible man,” said Brother Joe. “I don’t study no more about turning an old horse into a young one to get five dollars boot come first Mon day. I read in the Lord’s word, | this morning, that ‘He will lift up an ensign to the nations.' Russia saved all of us when Hitler was cutting up worse than a horse thief trying to shoot a sheriff. I believe that Russia may be the ‘ensign’ for all them other nations if they let her alone and let her be.” I’ve got another friend who is a black man and who raises cotton on the shares over in St. Frances County, Arkansas. I won’t give his name because the men who own the land of St. Francis County are like the rest of the Dixie ku klux ers who red-bait the world’s peace at the same time they black-bait i the South’s people. My friend has been reading of the Russian cotton country and of the black Uzbek people of Russia j who raise the cotton. The Uzbeks I grow cotton, not because they are black but because they live in LATIN AMERICAN NEGROES MAKE GOOD CITIZENS By Harold Preece I’d like to be one of the first to welcome into the many-tongued and many-colored family of 130, 000,000 Americans, a Negro from Latin America—Private Mel bourne Owen Smith, who was born down in Panama but who now claims Brooklyn, N. Y., as his home. Maybe, it’s just a coincidence that Private Smith and another Negro serving in the American armed forces, Diata Pierre Cam pine, born in Senegal, should have been naturalized by a Department of Justice Official, Dr. Henry B. Hazard, in old Mother Africa where they shed their blood for human freedom. Negroes every where are proud that the War De partment singled them out for special mention in connection with “I Am An American Day” ob served Sunday, May 20th. We are glad to have with us Melbourne Smith, Diata Campine, whose two boyonet scars are set down as identifying marks on his certificate of naturalization, and a third young Negro soldier, Frank lyn Emanuel Long, native of Trin idad whom Dr. Hazard made an American citizen in the New He brides. Three Negroes from three dif ferent parts of the world—from Latin America, from the West In dies, and from Panama—who join their strength to ours in that long, but inevitably victorious fight, to confer the diginity of man upon all men. All of us are honored be cause three men of the darker peoples were given this special recognition on an important Amer ican holiday. It gives point to something that Paul Robeson said in an interview published in the Modern Thinker Magazine back in 1935: “We must remember that out side North America, there are three other centres of Negro pop (Continued on Page 2, Col 1) warm territory and cotton, the way they produce it, gives them something besides a slab of bacon and a chalico bonnet for a year’s work. ‘‘There’s a lot of talk here among the big white folks about whipping Russia to save our coun try from what they call ‘commu nism.’ But that scare about ‘com munism’ leaves me as cold as a watermelon in a well bucket. You can admire a man’s honesty and courage without wanting to wear his suit of clothes. But you don’t get mad at a man’s suit if you like the man. “I’ve been studying a lot about these Uzbeks. They make me think that there is democracy for black people in Russia, and that gives me hope that we will some day have democracy for black people in Arkansas.” 1 m sending this letter from an Arkansas cotton cropper to one of America’s greatest cotton scien tists who is also one of the South’s native sons. He is John Sutton of San Antonio, Texas, favorite pupil of Dr. George Washington Carver and sent by Dr. Carver who ad mired the folks in Russia to help them develop their farms. I reckon that John Sutton might tell you a whole lot about the folks in Russia. I reckon he might tell you that not in all the thousands of villages in all the eight million square miles of Russia is there any sign reading, “N-r, don’t let the sun go down on your head here.” John Sutton, John Sutton, of San Antonio, Texas. I remember a Mr. Bonnie Sutton working for the Omaha Guide and he took a vacation and went home. Yes it was San Antonio, too, to visit with his home folks. We wonder if John Sutton and Mr. Bonnie Sutton know anything about each other? —QUOTES—1 Of THE WEEK “This is no time for windy platitudes.”—Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “We don’t go tor women ho boes!”—Hoboes of America, Inc., barring them as members. “Government can’t put 60,000, 000 people to work — there wouldn’t be anyone left to pay the bills.” — Warner & Swusey Co., Cleveland. “In this nation and in this State the right of the individual holds the basic priority.”—Gov. Dwight Griswold, Nebraska. “I am for a free press in Cer many, and everywhere else.”— Director Elmer Davis, OWI. “Never did so many wait for so little!”—Spokesman for Washington reporters, awaiting OWI handout.