1 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
W. E. B. DuBois * Great Scholar * Prophet * Reformer
* Alpha Man
SPECIAL THIS ISSUE BLACKS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
I
FEBRUARY 1969 Vol. 55
No. 5
ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 4432 DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING DRIVE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Directory for 1968-1969 Jewel
Henry
A. Callis
2306
E Street,
N.E., Washington,
DC.
General President — Ernest N. Morial 1821 Orleans Avenue, New Orleans, La. General Treasurer — Leven C. Weiss 4676 West Outer Drive, Detroit, Michigan Comptroller — Isidor J . LaMothe, Jr 1407 University Avenue, Marshall, Texas General Counsel — Morris M. Hatchett 1456 E. Adelaide, St. Louis, Missouri Editor, " T h e S p h i n x " — J . Herbert King 4728 Drexel Boulevard, Chicago Illinois Executive Secretary — Laurence T. Young. . 4 4 3 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Chicago, Illinois
70116 48235 75670 63107 10615 60653
Officers
Contributing Editors Malvin R. Goode, Martin L. Harvey, L. W. Jeffries, Eddie L. Madison, Frank L. Stanley, Sr., Art Sears, Jr., L. H. Stanton, Charles Wesley, Randolph White, O. Wilson Winters, Laurence T. Young, George M. Daniels. Editorial Advisory Committee Frank Ellis, Malvin R. Goode, Marshall Harris, John H. Johnson, Moss H. Kendrix, Belford V. Lawson, Samuel A. Madden, J. E. Martin, Lionel H. Newsom, Gus T. Ridgel.
Vice Presidents Eastern — W Decker Clarke Midwestern — G u s T. Ridgel Southern — Luke H. Chatman Southwestern — Lillard G. Ashley, Sr Western — C. Paul Johnson
66 Dry Hill Road, Norwalk, Conn. 312 Cold Harbor Drive, Frankfort, Kentucky P.O. Box No. 1311, Greenville, S C. P.O. Box No. 247, Boley, Oklahoma 17823 88th, N.E., Bothell, Washington
06851 40601 29602 74829 98011
Assistant Vice Presidents E a s t e r n — Craig C. Foster 3253 Yale Station, New Haven, Conn. Midwestern — William Paris 6623-b S. Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, Illinois Southern — M a c k B. Thompson, III Eliabeth City State College, Elizabeth City, N. C. Southwestern — Napoleon L. Forte..308 Fuller Hall, Prairie View A & M College Prairie View, Tex. Western — Clifford S. Webb 2183 W. 27th Street, Los Angeles, California
06520 60637 27909 77445 90018
REGIONAL DIRECTORS Staff Photographer Henry Crawford The Sphinx is the official magazine of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 4432 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., Chicago, 111., with editorial offices at 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, III. 60615. Published four times a year: February, May, October and December. Address all editorial mail to 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, III. 60615. Change of Address: Send both addresses to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, 4432 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, III. Manuscripts or art submitted to The Sphinx should be accompanied by addressed envelopes and return postage. Editor assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts of art. Opinions expressed in columns and articles do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and use of any person's name in fiction, semi-fiction articles or humorous features is to be regarded as a coincidence and not as the responsibility of The Sphinx. It is never done knowingly. Copyright 1968 by The Sphinx, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of the editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited. The Sphinx has been published continuously since 1914. Organizing Editor: Bro. Raymond W. Cannon. Organizing General President: Bro. Henry Lake Dickason. Second class postage paid at Chicago, III. Postmaster: Send form 3579 and all correspondence, 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, III. 60615.
Eastern Region Massachusetts — Bro. James Howard Rhode Island — B r o . Ralph Allen Connecticut — B r o . W. Decker Clark New York, Northern New Jersey — Bro. Albert Holland Pennsylvania, Delaware, Southern N. J . — Bro. Frank Devine Maryland-Washington — Bro. Thomas Hunt Virginia — B r o . Talmage Tabb
105 Greenwood St., Boston, Mass. 179 Doyle Ave., Providence, R. I. 66 Dry Hill Road, Norwalk, Conn. 31 Hickory Hill Rd., Tappan, N. Y. 6202 Washington Ave., Phila., Pa. 911 Spa Dd., Annapolis, M d . 324 Greenbriar Ave., Hampton, Va.
M i d w e s t e r n Region Northern Indiana — Bro. William J . Bolden 3157 West 19th Avenue, Gary, Indiana Northwest Ohio — Bro. Robert Stubbleford 1340 West Woodruff, Toledo, Ohio Northeastern Ohio — Bro. Curtis Washington 889 Hartford, Akron, Ohio Central Ohio — Bro. Oliver Sumlin 2427 Hoover Avenue, Dayton, Ohio West Missouri-Kansas — Bro. Jimmie L. Buford 2645 Lorkridge Avenue, Kansas Ciity, Mo. Eastern Missouri — Bro. Clifton Bailey 3338A Aubert Avenue, St. Louis 15, Mo. Northern Michigan — Bro. W. Wilberforce Plummer... 654 Wealthy Street, N. E., Grand Rapids, Mich. West Michigan — Bro. William Boards, Jr 680 W. Van Buren Street, Battle Creek, M i c h . Southern Michigan — Bro. Robert J . Chillison, II 16155 Normandy, Detroit, Michigan Southwest Ohio — Bro. Holloway Sells 699 N. Crescent Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio l0wa Bro Everett A Mays 701 Hull Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50316 Southern Illinois — Bro. Harold Thomas 1731 Gaty Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois Northern Illinois — Bro. J . Herbert King 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, Illinois 60615 Kentucky — Bro. Waverly B. Johnson 1306 Cecil Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky Wisconsin — Bro. Hoyt Harper .5344 N 64th, Milwaukee, Wis Central Missouri — Bro. Nathaniel R. Goldston, III Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Mo. 65101 West Virginia — Bro. J . A. Shelton Post Office Box, 314 Welch, West Va. Southern Indiana — Bro. Theodore Randall 3810 Rockwood Avenue, Indianapolis Indiana Nebraska — Bro. Thomas A. Phillips 3116 North 16th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68110 Regional Secretary — Bro. Cramon Myers 404 West 44th Street, Indianapolis Indiana Regional Counsel — Bro. James R. Willians 978 Dover, Akron, Ohio 44320 Southwestern Region Southwest District — B r o . Floyd Plymouth O k l a h o m a — B r o . Vernon L. Foshee Louisiana — B r o . Elliot J . Keyes Arkansas — Bro. T. E. Patterson Texas — B r o . Reby Cary Southern District — Bro. Payton Cook
1940 Leona, Las Vegas Nevada 725 Terrace Blvd., Muskogee, Oklahoma 7462 Benjamin St., New Orleans, Louisiana 1624 W. 21st St., Little Rock, Arkansas 1804 Bunche Dr., Ft. Worth, Texas 5139 Palin St., San Diego, Calif. Southern Region
Alabama — B r o . Kirkwood Balton Florida — B r o . Oral A. Allen Georgia — B r o . Henry Collier, M.D Mississippi — B r o . T. J . Ranee North C a r o l i n a — B r o . A. J . H. Clement, South Carolina — B r o . W. J . Davis Tennessee — Bro. Charles Tarpley
III
1303 Main St., Birmingham 1471 N.W. 179th St., Miami, Fla. 1527 Mills B. Lane Ave., Savannah. 407 Washington Street, Brookhaven, Raleigh, 4509 Williamsburg Drive, Columbia, Columbia,
Ala 33169 Be... Miss. N. C. b. u . S. o .
Official
Organ
ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. Volume 56
Number 5
THERE GOES AN ALPHA MAN There goes a man of high impulse Of princely mien and grace There goes a man of humble faith A credit to his race There goes a man of conscience vast with will to reach his goal There goes a man of lordly rank Of heroes' stock and soul— There goes a man of noble caste Whom hardship cannot break There goes a man in merit clad Whom duty won't forsake There goes a man in cultured verse Who holds a sportsman's creed There goes a man too vigilant To bow to lust or greed There goes a man whose life is spent in service not in scorn There goes a man whose majesty Shines like a May time
There goes a man who is a friend To love and duty truth There goes a man to help uplift The lives of wholesome youth There goes a man with industry and faith at his command. There goes the best man in and out For he is an Alpha Man.
February 1969
J. HERBERT KING Editor-in-Chief 4728 DREXEL BOULEVARD CHICAGO,
ILLINOIS
60615
CONTENTS General President Speaks
2
Militant Blacks In History
3
Chapter Activities
4
Alpha In Sports
5
Alpha Historian
6
Going With the Wind
7
Demand An Open Society
8
Tell I Like It Is
10
Slave Ships
11
Slave Market
12
Sojourner Truth
13
Frederick Douglass
14
Petitions
15
Blacks In the Military
IS
W. E. B. DuBois
22
Booker T. Washington
24
Marcus Garvey
27
Langston Hughes
31
Black Medics
33
Brothers On The Move
35
Alpha Workshop
38
Blacks In Politics
39
Omega Chapter
40 Supplement Photo Credits: Johnson Publishing Company Library
BACK C O V E R — "The Wall of Respect," Chicago, combination of paintings and photographs honoring Black heroes such as Brother DuBois, Brother King Black landmark is the work of the Writer's Workshop Black Art and Culture, Chicago, Illinois.
Illinois. The wall is a the achievements of and Malcolm X. The of the Organization of
Alpha Scholarship Award
THE GENERAL 1PRESIDENT SPEAKS • • • General President Ernest N. Morial APPOINTMENTS The General President announces through this media the following appointments for the year 1969 — effective January 1, 1969 with the exception of the Comptroller which is effective February 1, 1969: General Counsel Brother Morris M. Hatchett Historian Brother Charles H. Wesley Comptroller Brother Isidore J. Lamothe, Jr. Director of General Conventions Brother Kermit J. Hall Director of Educational Activities Brother Thomas D. Pawley, III Publicity and Public Relations Brother Marcus Neustadter. Jr. Representative to the National Pan Hellenic Council . Brother Walter Washington Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Brother Belford V. Lawson, Jr. Kossouth Snyder
kossouth Snyder, a freshman engineer from Battle Creek, Michigan, is the recipient of this year's Alpha Phi Alpha scholarship at Cornell University. The four year scholarship is awarded annually to a needy Cornell student who meets the high academic and character standards of the University. Kossouth came to Cornell with an outstanding high school of 584 students, was president of the Student Council, and a middle guard on the football team. He was a semi-finalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program and was selected by the local Jaycees as "student of the month." During the summers Kossouth has worked as a caddy on a local golf course and as a stock boy in Battle Creek. This past summer he attended a special summer program at Cornell which helped him prepare for the rigorous engineering math program. At Cornell he is studying in the Division of Basic Studies of the College of Engineering and hopes to earn his bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. In his spare time Kossouth has joined the freshman fencing team, specializing in the foil. After graduation the 19-year-old engineering student wants to work with black people. "My people need engineers" he said, "to develop industries within the black community." As an industrial engineer Kossouth feels this is the best way he can help.
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BUDGET A N D FINANCE Brother Isidore J. Lamothe, Jr., Chairman Brother James W. Hewitt Brother Leven C. Weiss Brother Herbert N. Watkins Brother W. D. Hawkins, Jr. Brothed Edward M. Lindsey Brother Oliver B. Simpson Brother F. B. Clarke Brother A. J. H. Clement, III It is suggested that three members of this Committee be appointed to serve as an Investment Sub-Committee. Brother Brother Brother Brother Brother Brother
COMMITTEE ON John D. Buckner, Chairman Marshall E. Williams, Vice Chrm. Marshall E. Williams, Vice Chrm. Bennie J. Harris Richard E. Ball Ivan Cottman
CONSTITUTION Brother John G. Bynoe Brother Charles H. Finley Brother Henry G. Gillem Brother Belford V. Lawson, III Brother J. Mason Davis
Brother Brother Brother Brother
COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS Jerry L. Martin, Chairman Brother Floyd A. Plymouth Clifton E. Bailey, Vice Chairman Brother Eddie L. Madison James D. Lites Brother Emmett W. Bashful Vernon L. Foshee Brother O. C. Bobby Daniels
COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS A N D EXTENSION Brother Wayne C. Chandler, Chairman Brother James Race, Jr. Brother Leonard R. Ballou Brother Ronald K. Creighton Brother Hugh A. Porter Brother Frank Devine Brother Brother Brother Brother
COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS Moses G. Miles, Chairman Brother Frank L. Stanley L. H. Stanton Brother Frank J. Ellis Carl E. Drake Brother Lawrence Goosby Jesse Goodwin Brother J. Herbert King, Editor — "The Sphinx"
COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL Brother Bennett H. Stewart, Chairman Brother Albert Holland, Jr. Brother James E. Huger Brother Waverly B. Johnson Brother Donald T. Moss Brother Anthony Rachal, Jr. COMMITTEE ON HOUSING Brother William M. Alexander, Chrm. Brother M. G. Ferguson — Vice Chrm. Specifically this Committee should promptly seek applicants for the position of Assistant Executive Secretary and report to the Board of Directors without any unnecessary delay.
Negro History Has to Cover
Helping Hand of an Alpha-Man
ilitant Black Heroes Also Bro.
Whitney M. Young, Jr.
February 9-15 is Negro History Week, and many schools around the country will be marking this annual event with special programs on the history of black Americans. At one time such programs revolved around just a few figures, usually considered safe. Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and other perennials were rarely joined in the programs by such freedom fighters as Frederick Douglas or W.E.B. Du Bois. In many places this attitude is changing, and prominent historical figures no longer have to go through the kind of screening process that sifts out aggressive men who fought against the evils of their times. Perhaps some schools will give a prime role in their observance of Negro History Week to John Russworm, the first black college graduate. In 1827, with Samuel Cornish, he founded "Freedom's Journal," the first Negro newspaper in America. "We wish to plead our own cause," stated their first editorial. "Too long have others spoken for us." One of the agents for Russworm's paper was a Boston clothing dealer named David Walker, in 1829, he issued "David Walker's Appeal"—a forthright call for black men to strike for freedom. He appealed to white Americans not to "wait until we shall, under God, obtain our liberty by the crushing arm o fpower." Of course, those who listened condemned him, and the slave system had to be toppled by Civil War. There were many articulate black men like Russworm and Walker, men who braved the terrible discrimination of the North and the immoral slave system of the South. They were courageous and outspoken in the face of great danger .To them, we owe much of what we are today. There were also black men who challenged the racist assumptions of their society in other ways. Next time you put sugar in your coffee thing of Norbert Rillieux, a black man, whose invention of the vacuum cup in 1946 cut refinding costs in half, making large scale use of sugar a realty. Next time you put on shoes ,think of Jan Matzeliger, a black man who invented a shoe lasting machine which he refined to the point where it could put a shoe together in a minute. Thanks to Matzelinger, the cost of shoes was cut in half and Lynn, Mass. became the shoe capital of the world. Black doctors pioneered too. At a time when heart transplants are making sensational headlines all over the world, it is good to remember that the first successful heart operation was performed in 1893 by a young black doctor, Daniel Hale Williams. And countless lives have been saved through the development of the first blood bank in 1941 by Dr. Charles Drew, a Negro who was such an expert on blood plasma that the British government, and then the American Red Cross, sought his services during World War II.
Bro. Hunler during an interview . . .
At one time, not too long ago, Bro. Jehu Hunter was a very busy NIH biologist. Now, he may very well look back on those days and describe them as almost pastoral. For Bro. Hunter does a chameleon-like switch from a scientist administrator with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to a program official who recruits qualified minority group college students for NIH. The recruiting is a seasonal thing, and this is the season. It starts when the first leaf turns russet in October, and ends in March when a new leaf is budding into spring green. NIH has seven program officials, who, along with their regular work, are recruiting in universities and colleges with the distince emphasis of interesting minority group students to come and work for NIH. Visits Southern Schools Bro. Hunter has visited Tuskegee Institute, Fisk University, and Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial University .Soon he will be recruiting at Howard University, his Alma Mater. "I talk about the mission of NIH, and the kind of students we are interested in. Not too many students in the black universities that I have visited know about NIH. They didn't know what it was all about, they thought it was private industry. Bro. Hunter is a nephew of Bro. Jewel Henry A. Callis and editor the "IMAGE OF ALPHA." Theta Rho Lambda Chapter.
Inventors, freedom fighters, frontiersmen, nessmen, scholars — you name the field and black man who contributed to it. The past — may be stained by oppression, but there is glory in.
pioneers, busithere's been a and present — also much to
It's important that Negroes and other Americans be aware of the great men of the past so that, by emulating them, we can have great men in the future too. 3
Chapter Activities WT
The honored Brothers, received congratulations
left to right: Thompson and from Chapter officers.
Edwards
Brother Robert D. Edwards is a native of Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Masten Park High School in 1930 and from there went to Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from the College in 1934. During his high school and college years, he was very active in sports, mainly basketball and track. He was also active in dramatics and music. Brother Edwards returned to Buffalo in the late 1930's and was supervisor of a group in the Federal Theater Project which presented historical marionettes in schools and various organizations. In 1939, he began his career in civil service, starting out as a case worker. He went to the Post Office Department in 1942 as a sub-clerk. He was promoted to seven positions, ending with his present position as Superintendent of the Ellicott Station. This position is the highest supervisory level of minority group member in the region outside Metropolitan New York City. In this position, he supervises a station complement of 70 - 80 employees, with receipts totaling more than $2 million annually. Brother Edwards was initiated into the Rho Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1936. Since that time, he has held all offices in the Chapter, as well as serving as a member of the National Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary Convention in Buffalo. He is married to the former Lorraine V. Jarrett. They have two children, Donald Edwards and Lois Edwards Johnson. Brother Edwards, we of Rho Lambda congratulate you on your professional advancement and we are deeply grateful to you for the many contributions you've made to Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
4
Honors Brothers Thompson and Edwards Brother Alonzo W. Thompson was born in the State of North Carolina and grew up in the Town of North Braddock, Penna., near Pittsburgh. He came to Buffalo to visit and upon seeing the City, he fell in love with it and decided to stay. He obtained a job at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. working the 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. shift and simultaneously enrolled at the University of Buffalo where he graduated in 1953. During this time, he was also a member of the University of Buffalo's varsity football team. He began teaching in the Buffalo Public Schools in 1954. In 1957. while teaching in the school system, he matriculated at canisus College until he earned his master's degree in 1960. In 1965 he became assistant principal of School 31 and in January, 1967, was made assistant principal of Woodlawn Junior High School. From there, he was promoted to his present position as Principal of Clinton Junior High School, making him the first Negro to be named principal of a secondary school in Buffalo, and the only Negro principal in the Buffalo school system at present. Brother Thompson was initiated into the Delta Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1951. While in this Chapter he served as president and sergeant-at-arms. He then joined the Rho Lambda Chapter where he served as Education Chairman. Brother Thompson has three children, Alonzo, Jr. who is a senior at the Nichols School and twin girls, Charlotte and Charlene, who attend School 81. Brother Thompson, we of Rho Lambda congratulate you on your professional advancement and we are deeply grateful to you for the many contributions you've made to Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. ALPHAS IN THE ARMED SERVICES Many Alpha Brothers are stationed in Viet Nam and other countries abroad. If you are serving in Viet Nam or elsewhere, or know of an Alpha Brother who is, please send the following information to Editor of the SPHINX, 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, III. 60615. Photos and news items will also be appreciated. Serving in Viet Nam is:~ Name Serial number
Branch of service
Military mailing address Submitted by: (your name/relationship) Address
Rank Chapter
Alpha in Sports
Epsilon Tau Highlights
Ron Johnson Drafted by Cleveland Browns
Bro. Ron Johnson Sees Himself As Kelly Partner Ron Johnson, the University of Michigan's all-time halfback, says he thinks he has a "good chance" to start for the Cleveland Browns next season. Johnson, who broke or tied eight Big Ten records and obliterated Tom Harmon's Wolverine career and single-season rushing marks, was the 20th player to go in the pro draft.
Brother George R. Woolfolk
Brother Jack W. Echols
Prairie View, Texas — Epsilon Tau Lambda Chapter salutes Brother George R. Woolfolk for his outstanding achievements as an educator, author and leader.
Prairie View, Texas — Brother Jack W. Echols is a native Texan with early educational experiences gained from Woodland Elementary and High School of Mexia, Texas.
Brother Woolfolk received his A.B. (History) from the Univesrity of Louisville, and his PHD from the Univesrity of Wisconsin. He is a member of the following organizations: (1) The Association fo rthe Study of Negro Life and History, (2) Board of Editors of the Journal of Negro History, (3) The Southern Historical Association (4) Teachers State Association of Texas. He has been the director of Co-Director of nineteen (19) Institutional Research Studies.
"This is a good opportunity for me," Johnson says. "I had a long talk recently with Blanton Collier and Cleveland's backfield coach (Nick Skorich).
Woolfolk has written numerous articles detaling with the evolution of the Negro, Reconstruction and other related subjects. He is the author of two books which are presently in circulation—"The Cotton Regency" and "Prairie View, A Study in Public Conscience." His third book—"The Free Negro in Texas"—is presently in production.
"I'll be close to home and yet away from home. I'm very happy to be picked by Cleveland. I've got a good chance of playing."
The brothers of Epsilon Tau Lambda are extremely proud of Brother Woolfolk and wish him much success in all his future endeavors.
SEND CHAPTER NEWS GLOSSY PRINT PHOTOS
His formal education has included the B. S. and M. S. degrees from Prairie View A&M College and the Doctorate degree from the University of Denver. Professional works and services are inclusive of having been awarded a Kellogg Foundation Scholarship for doctoral study and research with The Cooperative Program in Educational Administration; three years of public school teaching; College Professor of Educational Administration; several years as Head of the Department of Education and Director of Teacher Education, Prairie View A&M College; served as participant, advisor and consultant for state, regional and national level professional meetings, conferences and organizations, and recently completed an eighteen months tour of duty as Educational Advisor and Consultant to South Vietnam Ministry of Education and as an official of the U. S. Department of State and Agency for International Development (AID). For this assignment he has recently received a commendation award. As of September 1, 1968 duties have been assumed as Director of the Division of Graduate Studies, Prairie View A&M College.
ALPHA PHI ALPHA HISTORIAN Brother
Most Notable Black Historian
Charles H. Wesley by Bro. C. Anderson Davis Bro. Charles H. Wesley is possibly one of the most beloved brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He is one of America's outstanding historians and a scholar of the first magnitude. One would have to write a book to tell of the many deeds performed by Bro. Wesley for the good of mankind. One of his outstanding achievements was the establishment of Central State College and leading it through many difficulties to become one of America's outstanding institutions of higher learning. This great scholar, poet, author, historian, writer, spokesman for his people, educator, minister, statesman, college president, and brother will long be remembered for the impact he has made on the American scene. Bro. Wesley was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha at Zeta Chapter, Yale, 1913. He has been a member of Beta, Mu Lambda (Chapter President) and Chi Lambda, 1913-1965. He was general president of Alpha Phi Alpha from 19311941, and has been the Fraternity's historian since 1941. Alpha is a great organization because of the leadership and high example set before the brothers, undergraduate and graduate, by Bro. Wesley. Bro. Wesley retired as president of Central State College in 1965. Bro. Wesley was born in Louisville, Ky., the son of Charles Summer and Matilda (Harris) Wesley. He was educated at Fisk, B. A.; Yale, M. A.; Harvard, Ph.D. with honorary degrees from several universities, Phi Beta Kappa and Distinguished Alumni Award, Fisk University. Bro. Wesley began his professional career as University Scholar at Yale, Austin Scholar at Harvard, and Guggenheim Fellow, London, England. He 6
became successively Instructor of History, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of History, Director of the Summer School, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dean of the Graduate School at Howard Univesrity; President of Wilberforce University and President of Central State College at Wilberforce, Ohio. He served as Educational Secretary of the Army YMCA and with the International Committee of the YMCA, as Overseas Secretary. He is President of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; Membership in the American Historical Association; Society for the Advancement of Education; American Association of School Administrators; Fellow of the American Geographical Society; Member of the Advisory Committee, Ohio Congress of Parents and Teachers; Past President, Inter-University Council of the State of Ohio; Past President, of the Associaton of the Ohio College Presidents and Deans; Past President, Ohio College Association and currently is serving a record term on the Executive Committee of the Ohio College Association; Member of the State Committee on Community Colleges. Bro. Wesley is the author of the following books: Negro Labor in the United States; The History of Alpha Phi Alpha; A Development in College Life, Ten editions revised and enlarged, Washington, D. C , 1929-1961; Richard Aliens Apostle of Freedom; The Collapse of the Confederacy; The Negro in America; A manual of Research and Theisis Writing for Graduate Students; The History of Sigma Pi Phi: First of the Greek Letter Fraternities for Negro Americans, 19401954; A History of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks of the World, 1898-1954; History of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio, 1849-1960; The Changing African Historical Tradition; over one hun-
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, wrote 16 books on the Black man and edited the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY until his death.
dred articles in scholarly periodicals; Author with Carter G. Woodson of gro Makers of History; The Story of Negro Retold and The Negro in History.
CoNethe Our
Bro. Wesley has received numerous awards for educational achievements. Among these are: The Achievement of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity "in recognition of Outstanding Achievements in the field of ducational LeadeErship"; The Diamond Jubilee Citation of the Kentucky Educational Association for "the devotion of a life to the promotion and preservation of democratic ideals through the means of an education that makes men free to think unfettered"; The Certificate of Award and Placement on the Honor Roll of the John Brown Galley of Fame of the Improved, Benevolent, Protective Order of Elks of the World, "for distinguished and meritorious performance of Public Service in fostering .promoting and developing American Ideals"; and the Anniversary Founders Award of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in recognition of "His Outstanding Contributions to its History and for Significant Achievements in the Field of Education"; The Gold Medal Award of the United Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Masonry, 33rd Degree, Prince Hall Affiliation, Southern Jurisdiction.
GOING WITH THE WIND ...
'
(Excellence, Poverty and the Value of Self-Help Involvement) "You Can Keep a Good Man Down" By Bro. Harold R. Sims
Bro. Harold Ft. Sims Never before in the history of this country have men of intrepidity, vision and humane commitment been in greater demand, faced greater peril, nor offered greater opportunity. Never before in the history of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has the poet's plea for nobility in manly deeds, truth in scholarly pursuit and courage in the love of all mankind, been more desperately demanded nor more desperately received. During the last twenty years this nation has experienced an awakening in social consciousness and social justice unparalleled in the history of mankind. From the moment President Truman signed his executive order number 9981 in 1948 — which directed the implementation of a policy of equal treatment and opportunity for all members in the U.S. Armed Forces without regard to race, color, religion or national origin — this great score of years had begun. In the accelerated days that followed, the supreme court, and finally the congress, merged in concert with the executive and through a series of unprecedented civil struggles, lead by an impressive array of citizens and organizations, completed the road map of Harry Truman's Jeffersonian purchase through the pioneering sgkill of the Kennedy-Johnson expedition — an expedition which opened up the "New Frontier" and introduced "the Great Society." In the short span of this score of years, America has moved— in legal terms — from a racially structured society to an interracially structured nation. A child born today can reasonably look forward to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" in every facet of American life, on the basis of his competitive equality rather than the non-completitive and unavoidable cir-
cumstance of his birth. Alpha men and Alpha groups have bse nthe pricipal prime movers of the spirit and the mechanisms that have made this possible. Nowhere in the legacy of this nation has there been a fraternity, social or service, racial or interracial, national or internation, which has so indelibly altered the landmarks, the direction and the destiny of the American dream. As a group, we were the first to create a social fraternity for service aims, to open fraternity life to men of color and to open fraternity life to men without regard to color, to advance the cause of universal education, to champion and lead the causes of civil liberty, to make possible the commioning of Negro officers through the R.O.T.C, to unearth and acknowledge the contributions of black military men, to use a social publication for the advancement of social service objectives, and to pioneer in the fields of mass education, tenant farm organization, rural migration and urban reconstruction. As individuals, Alpha men were leaders in the formation of every major, social action group from the founding of the NAACP through the birth of S.C.L.C. and the student nonviolent revolution, and in every 20th century judicial, legislative and executive act in the field of civil rights. The names of our brothers stretch cohesively throughout every core of America's post civil war social history — from Brother Frederick Douglass to Brother Martin Luther King. Today. Alpha men sit in key positions in every branch of the federal government — including the office of the president, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the Supreme Court. In OEO, for example, by coincidence and ability alone — the few key positions which black men are privileged to occupy — all belong to men who wear the Alpha pin. If things continue as the convention trends seem to indicate, an Alpha man may become the next president of these United States. I'm even told also that Brother Senator Ed Brooke has an excellent chance at being the first Negro republican vice presidential nominee because with him as the vice president —
no one (especially if the assassin-to-be were white) would dare even attempt to take the president's life . . . for obvious reasons of complexion (smiles). Yet, despite these unprecedented achievements of the last two decades, the state of the nation is not well. The destruction of Jericho's Wall hsas exposed the enemy, eliminated most of hiis field fortifications, breeched his obstacles, permitted the occupation, if not the pacification, of the promised land, but it has not enabled us to conquer the guerrillla. Despair and proverty have negated much of the gains from the Cicil Rights victories and the freedom to buy and Hive has tended to accentuate the inability to buy and the powerlessness of the poor. The discipline of segregation has been replaced by the anarchy of breadlessness. The elimination of unjust laws has not permitted the destruction of the unjust system they created. The poor, black and white, brown and red, catholic and protestant, gentile and jew, have been united in the things they oppose but they have not effectively altered or changed the system which mutually traps them all. In the violence of raised hopes and deferred dreams, the agony of backlash, planned revolution, undisciplined armed citiizenry, political assassination and unquenched looting seem to have become the fads of the day. The anti-hero boogey man looms across the american scene and the agonizing pursuit of excellence seems replacel by the quick solution and the over-simplified reason. People talk of law and order without reference to justice and environment. Others plead for social rights and source improvement without due consideration for community safety and security. "Hanky" and "Nigger" have become household words while "White Racism' 'and "Black Power" have become almost universal, editorialized symbols which represent the extremes of our alleged polarization. The "Great score of progress from '48 to 68' "seems to have been in vain and the nation which revalutionized the economic possibilities of man's industrial might appears only willing to regress in the war for human might. (Continued on page 34)
7
DEMAND
AN OPEN SOCIETY Bro. Louis Martin Bro. Martin Our brave, young, black civil rights leaders have suddenly discoverd black capitalism. It is a pity that I cannot take them back 40 years ago to West Broad st. in my home town of Savannah, Ga. On that lovely street in the half-sleepy, softtalking society of less than 40,000 souls, black businessmen owned two thriving little banks, two movie houses, small grocery stores, a four-store drug chain, two weekly newspapers, two insurance companies and any number of barber shops, beauty parlors, funeral homes, restaurants and pool parlors. McKelvey ave. in my town was named for a black man who built every house on the street with black carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers and electricians. The blacks who bought the houses got their mortgages from the black banks. I will never forget old man Harper, the black cashier of the Wage Earners Bank, who took my nickel and dime deposits and congratulated me on being thrifty every time. The Wage Earners Bank was the first black financial institution in America to amass assets of $l-million. The president of the bank was Lucius Williams and all the little kids said he was a black millionaire. The little black business gaints of my town lived wonderfully well as long as they remained within the well-defined boundaries of their closed society. The color line was as rigid as the French Maginot Line. All those black dollars might as well have been counterfeit when a black capitalist tried to cross the color line. One of the black insurance companies invested some of its assets in the bonds of a railroad line but when the black president of the company bought a ticket on the very train in which he had invested and partially owned, he had to sit in a little jim crow coach and smile when the white conductor punched his ticket. Incidentally, I was told that one of the insurance commissioners of Georgia worked a neat racket on the small insurance companies. In order to keep your license and keep the state auditors off your back, you were asked to buy stock in a jewelry company that the commission headed. No one ever knew what would happen if you failed to buy the stock because none of the insurance companies took any chances. They shelled out the money for the stock gladly. The flourishing black capitalism in Savannah provided a few good jobs and the black entrepreneurs lived in big houses and wore fine clothes. For a handful of blacks at the top who knew how to keep their places in their own black world, life was sweet. For the black masses who worked in the kitchens and little factories, for the yardmen and the dock workers, life was a penny-pinching hell. The black enterpreneurs could send their kids North to get an education. The black children of 8
the dock workers and the railroad section hands, of the domestics and the manual workers, had to go to clap-trap jim crow schools and learn all about the virtues and wisdom of the white Christians to whom God had somehow given everything on earth worth having. I think of these things when I hear young militants talk about black capitalism and owning your own neighborhoods. When we were young we used to wonder why no black men owned or ran the railroads, the telephone company, the electric company or the shipping lines. We dreamed about black tycoons for whom whites as well as blacks would work. We dreamed of an open society where a little black boy could do anything any other boy could do and black men could go hand-in-hand with white men could run everything in America. We already owned our little neighborhoods. Somehow I cannot shake off that dream. I cannot see capitalism limited somehow to a color line, to a neighborhood, to a chain of penny-ante enterprises. Perhaps what really makes me sad is that so much of the talk about black capitalism seems to ignore the fact that there are black men today who are fully capable of running anything a white man can run. I do not want handouts to aspiring young black entrepeneurs to a be a substitute for nor an excuse for delaying the opening of the doors of American business and industry to any black boy who wants to and is qualified to enter to them. I firmly believe that we should do everything to encourage young blacks to build any business they wish to build. Nevertheless the color bar in the executive suites of American business has got to. Robert Weaver handled a multi-billion dollar budget as Secretary of HUD in the cabinet of President Johnson. Andrew Brimmer of the federal Reserve Board, Emmett Rice of the World Bank and a number of brilliant blacks have been given opportunities by government because they could qualify. Are those blacks who have such abilities going to be limited forever by racism in the private sector? We must demand a truly open society and we should not wait for another round of jim crow tail-chasing to get it.
The Wall of Respect
(See back cover)
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'Black Power: A Creative Force in America's Complete Development'
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"Tell It Like It Is"
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trade. The Committee, of which Thomas Jefferson was the leading member, wanted Congress to say of the king that "he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating the most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither." It was a ringing indictment of slavery and the slave trade. It was very much in keeping with the views set forth by some of the patriots, not the least eloquent of whom was Mrs. John Adams who had said two years earlier, "It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have."
John Hope 'UNTENABLE POSITION'
Franklin
Bro. John Hope Franklin, Professor of History at the University of Chicago, is one of the leading Negro historians of our time. His article, excerpted from a talk before a group of California college students, examines the roles to which minority groups have been relegated in most history books and classrooms in the U.S. in the past.
But the members of the Continental Congress, particularly the large slaveholders, would not have it so. What if the indictment were included, and what if the colonists won in their war against the king? Their position would be untenable if they did not end the slave trade and set their slaves free. No, they had no intention of doing that; and, consequently, they decided not to arraign the king for his role in slavery and the slave trade. Thus, the Declaration of Independence was adopted and proclaimed to the world without retaining the consistency that Mrs. Adams desired.
BY BRO. JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN Professor of American History, University of Chicago
Thus, also, the United States became the only country in the New World, except Brazil, that fought for political independence and, at the same time, failed to move significantly toward equality for all its people. In this regard Haiti, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and the other Latin American countries — not the United States — led the new world toward human freedom.
I believe that one of the principal reasons why views of racial inequality persist in America and why the move toward achieving equality for all Americans is so slow is that we who teach have not assumed our full responsibility for teaching the truth about ourselves and our history. We do al ltoo little to dispel the distortions, the misunderstandings, and the misrepresentations that make it impossible for us to have a clear picture of our social order and how it evolved.
I submit that no discussion of the Revolution movement and the writing of the Declaration of Independence is complete without a discussion of the conclusion that the patriots reached that they could fight for political freedom without carrying on a simultaneous struggle for human freedom. For herein lies the historical origin of the ambivalence that has characterized our position on human relations from that day to this.
We have too little to say in our classrooms about these matters; and we do not expose the roadblocks that prevent the fulfillment of the promise of equality.
TEXTBOOKS AND SLAVERY
I believe that the classroom is the place to discuss the issues and to focus on the roadblocks that prevent the fullment of the American dream. How can our young people see the problems that confront them and how can they become responsible citizens who seek the fulfillment if they do not know that there are roadblocks? They should know, for example, that the obstacle course for equality has been running for the past century and a half was produced early in our history. The course itself—has the institutions that are a part of the course—has become so hallowed that it is virtually impossible for us to see the roadblocks, that have been set up along the way. Let me illustrate. When the Committee of Independence made its in 1776, it recommended sured for instituting and
10
appointed to draft the Declaration report to the Continental Congress that the King of England be cenperpetuating slavery and the slave
There are other examples of areas of controversy that should be discussed in the classroom, if we are to move toward the fulfillment of the American dream. I have had the opportunity in recent months to examine with some care a great number of textbooks in American history that are used widely in our schools. Many of them, in their discussions of slavery, assume that Negroes are a docile, tractable, irresponsible, childlike race. This assumption does not permit a discussion of the thousands of slaves who committed suicide rather than submit to the barbarism of slavery. It makes no allowance for the resistance to the institution by thousands of slaves who ran away, poisoned their master's food, murdered their masters, and revolted in order to get away from the institution. It is not a pleasant thought; but slavery was not a tea party, but a ruthless, brutal, inhuman institution. It was maintained by force; and many Negroes used force in their effort to escape. (Continued next page)
SLAVE SHIPS
Rowing slaves ashore from a sailing
A cargo ol slaves suffering
vessel.
in the hold of a
slave vessel.
John Hope Franklin, "Tell It Like It Is" — Continued from page 10 'BRUTAL, UNAMERICAN' The underlying assumptions about slavery make no allowance for the wide variety of talents and training that one sees among the slaves themselves. Here and there one sees pictures of slaves picking cotton, but one never sees pictures of slaves as carpenters, ship pilots, wheelwrights, and cobblers .One learns nothing about the thousands of slaves and free Negroes who were literate and who had groups and organizations that gave them experience in responsibility and leadership. One learns nothing of Negro abolitionists; of how Frederick Douglass and a score of other Negroes took the message of the American slave to Europe and raised money for the cause of abolition; how Harriet Tubman worked as an agent of the underground railroad and led more than 200 Negroes from slavery to freedom. One hears nothing of the half million Negroes who were not slaves before the Civil War and of their roles in the complicated political and social picture both in the North and the South. If we are to discuss slavery at all—and we cannot deal with American history in the classroom without discussing it— it must be considered as the brutal, unAmerican institution that it was. Many texts make no mention of slavery at all
until they begin to discuss the Civil War, while denying that slavery caused the War—they sentimentalize over it as though it was not barbarism unbridled. It must be considered as the instrumentality by which Americans rationalized and defended the denial of equality. It must be regarded as a profoundly significant roadblock that prevented Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century from realizing the dream of equality and whose residue, in the form of segregation and discrimination, provide such roadblocks, even at the present time. There is little hesitation on the part of any of us to dwell at considerable length, in our courses in American history, on the Civil War. It is most frequently described as the War between the States—a most unfortunate, even a tragic conflict in which brother was arrayed against brother and one in which gallant heroes went down to defeat in a glorious, if lost cause. But the Civil War was more than that. It was a fight for the life of the nation, one in which the forces arrayed against equality sought to destroy once and for all the American dream of equality. But it was even more than that. It was also a fight for HUMAN FREEDOM, in which black and white alike gave their all to secure the blessings of liberty and equality. 11
Preamble of the Free African Society Philadelphia. (12th, 4th mo., 1778.)— WHEREAS, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the African race, who, for their religious life and conversation have obtained a good report among men, these persons, from a love to the people of their complexion whom they beheld with sorrow, because of their religious and uncivilized state, often communed together upon this painful and important subject in order to form some kind of religious society, but there being too few to be found under the like concern, and those who were, differed in their religious sentiments; with these circumstances they labored fo rsome time, till it was proposed, after a serious communication of sentiments, that a society should be formed, without regard to religious tents, provided, the persons lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children. ARTICLES (17th, 5th mo., 1787.) — W e , the free Africans and their descendants, of the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, or elsewhere, do unanimously agree, for the benefit of each other, to advance one shilling in silver Pennsylvania currency a month; and after one year's subscription fro mthe date hereof, then to hand forth to the needy of this Society, if any should require, the sum of three shillings and nine pence per week of the said money; provided, this necessity is not brought on them by their own imprudence. And it is further agreed, that no drunkard nor disorderly person be admitted as a member, and if any should prove disorderly after having been received, the said disorderly person shall be disjointed from us if there is not an amendment, by being informed by two of the members, without having any of his subscription money returned. And if any should neglect paying his monthly subscription for three months, and after having been informed of the same by two of the members, and no sufficient reason appearing for such neglect, if he do not pay the whole the next ensuing meeting, he shall be disjointed from us, by being informed by
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SLAVE MARKET
A Slave Auction of a Family
two of the members as an offender, without having any of his subscription money returned. Also, if any person neglect meeting every month, for every omission he shall pay three pence, except in case of sickness or any other complaint that should require the assistance of the Society, then, and in such a case, he shall be exempt from the fines and subscription during the said sickness. Also, we apprehend it to be just and reasonable, that the surviving widow of a deceased member should enjoy the benefit of this Society as long as she remains his widow, complying with the rules thereof, excepting the subscriptions. And we apprehend it to be necessary, that the children of our deceased members be under the care of the Society, so far as to pay for the education of their children, if they cannot attend the free school; also to put the most apprentices to suitable trades or places, if required. Also, that no member shall convene the Society together; but, it shall be the sole business of the committee, and that
only on special occasions, and to dispose of the money in hand to the best advantage for the use of the Society, after they are granted the liberty at a monthly meeting, and to transact all other business whatsoever, except that of Clerk and Treasurer. And we unanimously agree to choose Joseph Clarke to be our Clerk and Treasurer; and whenever another should succeed him, it is always understood, that one of the people called Quakers, belonging to one of the three monthly meetings in Philadelphia, is to be chosen to act as Clerk and Treasurer of this useful Institution. The following persons met, viz., Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Baston, Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Caesar Cranchell, and James Potter, also William White, whose early assistance and useful remarks we found truly profitable. This evening the articles were read, and after some beneficial remarks were made, they were agreed unto.
John Brown's Last Statement to Court, November 2, 1859 John Brown's Last Written Statement* I, John Brown, am not quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done. I HAVE, MAY it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted,— the design on my part of free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case),—had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends,—either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class,—and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment. This Court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that man should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done—as I have always freely admitted I have done—in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. (Continued on page 29)
SOJOURNER TRUTH
Sojourner Truth was born a slave in Ulster County, New York, around 1800. She traveled in the North speaking against slavery and for women's rights. She died in 1883 in Battle Creek, Mich. WHILE SOJOURNER WAS engaged in the hospital, she often had occasion to procure articles from various parts of the city for the sick soldiers, and would sometime be obliged to walk a long distance, carrying her burdens upon her arm. She would gladly have availed herself of the street cars; but, although there was on each track one car called the Jim Crow car, nominally for the accommodation of colored people, yet should they succeed in getting on at all they would seldom have more than the privilege of standing, as the seats were usually filled with white folks. Unwilling to submit to this state of things, she complained to the president of the street raliroad, who ordered the Jim Crow car to be taken off. A law was now passed giving the colored people equal car privileges with the white. Not long after this, Sojourner, having occasion to ride, signaled the car, but neither conductor no rdriver noticed her. Soon another followed, and she raised her hand again, but they also turned away. She then gave three tremendous yelps, "I want to ride! I want to ride!!
I WANT TO RIDE!!!" Consternation seized the passing crowd—people, carriages, gocarts of every description stood still. The car was effectually blocked up, and before it could move on, Sojourner had jumped aboard. Then theer arose a great shout from the crowd, "Ha! ha! ha!! She has beaten him," &c. The angry conductor told her to go forward where the horses were, or he would put her out. Quietly seating herself, she informed him that she was a passenger. "Go forward where the horses are, or I will throw you out," said he in a menacing voice. She told him that she was neither a Marylander nor a Virginian to fear his threats; but was from the Empire State of New York, and knew the laws as well as he did. Several soldiers were in the ear, and when other passengers came in, they related the circumstance and said, "You ought to have heard that old woman talk to the conductor." Sojourner rode farther than she needed to go; for a ride was so rare a privilege that she determined to make the most of it. She left the car feeling very happy, and said, "Bless God! I have had a ride." Returning one day from the Orphan's Home at Georgetown, she hastened to reach a car; but they paid no attention to her signal, and kept ringing a bell that they might not hear her. She ran after it, and when it stopped to take other passengers, she succeeded in overtaking it and, getting in, said to the conductor, "It is a shame to make a lady run so." He told her if she said another word, he would put her off the car, and came forward as if to execute his threat. She replied, "If you attempt that, it will cost you more than your car and horses are worth." A gentleman of dignified and commanding manner, wearing a general's uniform, interfered in her behalf, and the conductor gave her no further trouble. At another time, she was sent to Georgetown to obtain a nurse for the hospital, which being accomplished, they went to the station and took seats in an empty car, but had not proceeded far before two ladies came in, and seating themselves opposite the colored woman began a whispered conversation, frequently casting scornful glances at the latter. The nurse, for the first time in her life finding herself in one sense on a level with white folks and being much (Continued on page 32) 13
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Men of Color, to Arms! By Frederick Douglass
Born a slave, Douglass escaped to freedom and became the leading Black abolitionist and orator of his time. Later in life he became the marshall of the District of Columbia and minister to Haiti.
When first the rebel cannon shattered the walls of Sumter and drove away its starving garrison, I predicted that the war then and there inaugurated would not be fought out entirely by white men. Every month's experience during these dreary years has confirmed that opinion. A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual enslavement of colored men, calls logically and loudly for colored men to help suppress it. Only a moderate share of sagacity was needed to see that the arm of the slave was the best defense against the arm of the slaveholder. Hence, with every reverse to the national arms, with every exulting shout of victory raised by the slaveholding rebels, I have implored the imperiled nation to unchain against her foes her powerful black hand. Slowly and reluctantly that appeal is beginning to be heeded. Stop not now to complain that it was not heeded sooner. That is should not may or may not have been best. This is not the time to discuss that ques-
14
tion. Leave it to the future. When the war is over, the country saved, peace established and the black man's rights are secured, as they will be, history with an impartial hand will dispose of that and sundry other questions. Action! action! not criticism, is the plain duty of this hour. Words are now useful only as they stimulate to blows. The office of speech now is only to point out when, where, and how to strike to the best advantage. There is no time to delay. The tide is at its flood that leads' on to fortune. From East to West, from North to South, the sky is written all over, 'Now or never.' Liberty won by white men would lose half its luster. 'Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.' 'Better even die free, than to live slaves.' This is the sentiment of every brave colored man amongst us. There are weak and cowardly men in all nations. We have them amongst us. They tell you this is the 'white man's war'; that you 'will be no better of after than before the war'; that the getting of you into the army is to 'sacrifice you on the first opportunity.' Believe them not; cowards themselves, they do not wish to have their cowardice shamed by your brave example. Leave them to their timidity, or to whatever motive may hold them back. I have not thought lightly of the words I am now addressing you. The counsel I give comes of close observation of the great struggle now in progress, and of the deep conviction that this is your hour and mine. In good earnest, then, and after the best deliberation, I now, for the first time during this war, feel at liberty to call and counsel you to arms. By every consideration which binds you to your enslaved fellow-countrymen and to the peace and welfare of your country; by every aspiration which you cherish for the freedom and equality of yourselves and your children; by all the ties of blood and identity which make us one with the brave black men now fighting our battles in Louisiana and in South Carolina, I urge you to fly to arms, and smite with death the power that would bury the Government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave. I wish I could tell you that the State of New York calls you to this high honor.
For the moment her constituted authorities are silent on the subject. They will speak by and by, and doubtless on the right side; but we are not compelled to wait for her. We can get at the throat of treason and slavery through the State of Massachusetts. She was first in the War of Independence; first to break the chains of her slaves; first to make the black man equal before the law; first to admit colored children to her common schools, and she was first to answer with her blood the alarm-cry of the nation, when its capital was menaced by rebels. You know her patriotic governor, and you know Charles Sumner. I need not add more. Massachusetts now welcomes you to arms as soldiers. She has but a small colored population from which to recruit. She has full leave of the general government to send one regiment to the war, and she has undertaken to do it. Go quickly and help fill up the first colored regiment from the North. I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the samei wages, the same rations, the same equipment, the same protection, the same treattment, and the same bounty, secured to white soldiers. You will be led by able and skillful officers, men who will take special pride in your efficiency and success. They will be quick to accord to you all the honor you shall merit by your valor, and to see that your rights and feelings are respected by other soldiers: I have assured myself on these points, and can speak with authority. More than twenty years of unswering devotion to our common cause may give me some humble claim to be trusted at this comentous crisis. I will not argue. To do so implies hesitation and doubt, and you do not hesitate. You do not doubt. The day dawns; the morning star is bright upon the horizon! The iron gate of our prison stands half open. One gallant rush from the North will fling it wide open, while four millions of our brothers and sisters shall march out into liberty. The chance is now given you to end in a day the bondage of centuries, and to rise in one bound from social degradation to the place of common equality with all other varieties of men. Remember Denmark Vessey (sic) of Charleston; remember Nathaniel Turner of South Hampton; remember Shields Green and Copeland, who followed noble John Brown, and fell as glorious martyrs for the cause of the slave. Re(Continued on page 29)
P e t i t i o n to Congress Against Violence TO THE SENATE and house of Representatives in Congress assembled: We the Colored Citizens of Frankfort and vicinity do this day memorialize your honorable bodies upon the condition of affairs now existing in this the state of Kentucky. U.S. Senate, 42nd Congress, 1st Session. We would respectfully state that life, liberty and property are unprotected among the colored race of this state. Organized Bands of desperate and lawless men mainly composed of soldiers of the late Rebel Armies, Armed disciplined and disguised and bound by Oath and secret obligations, have by force terror and violence subverted all civil society among Colored people, thus utterly rendering insecure the safety of persons and property overthrowing all those rights which are the primary basis and objects of the Government which are expressly guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States as amended; We believe you are not familiar with the description of the Ku Klux Klans riding nightly over the country going from County to County and in the County towns spreading terror wherever they go, by robbing, whipping, ravishing and killing our people without provocation, compelling Colored people to brake the ice and bathe in the Chilly waters of the Kentucky River. The Legislature has adjourned they refused to enact any laws to suppress Ku Klux disorder. We regard them as now being licensed to continue their dark and bloody deeds under cover of the dark night. They refuse to allow us to testify in the state Courts where a white man is concerned. We find their deeds are perpetrated only upon Colored men and white Republicans. We also find that for our services to the Government and our race we have become the special object ofi hatred and persecution at the hands of the Democratic party. Our people are driven from their homes in great numbers having no redress only the U.S. Courts1 which is in many cases unable to reach them. We would state that we have been law abiding citizens, pay our tax and in many parts of the state our people have been driven from the poles (sic), refused the right to vote.
Many have been slaughtered while attempting to vote, we ask how long is this state of things to last. We appeal to you as law abiding citizens to enact some laws that will protect us. And that will enable us to exercise the rights of citizens. We see that the senator from this state denies there being organized Bands of desperaders in the state, for information we lay before you any number of violent acts occurred during his Administration. Although he Stevenson * says half Dozen instances of violence did occur these are not more than one half the acts that have occurred. The Democratic party has here a political organization composed only of Democrats not a single Republican can join them where many of these acts have been committed it has proven that they were the men, don with Armies from the State Arsenal. We pray you will take steps to remedy these evils. Done by a Committee of Grievances appointed at a meeting of all the Colored Citizens of Frankfort and vicinity. March 25th, 1871 Henry Marrs, Teacher colored school Henry Lynn, Livery stable keeper N. N. Trumbo, Grocer Samuel Damsey, B. Smith (Blacksmith) B. T. Crampton, Barber Committee 1. A mob visited Harrodsburg in Mercer County to take from jail a man name Robertson, Nov. 14, 1867. 2. Smith attacked and whipped by regulation in Zelun County Nov. 1867. 3. Colored school house burned by incendiaries in Breckinridge Dec. 24, 1867. 4. A Negro Jim Macklin taken from jail in Frankfort and hung by mob January 28, 1868. 5. Sam Davis hung by mob in Harrodsburg May 28, 1868. 6. Wm. Pierce hung by a mob in Christian July 12, 1868. 7. Geo. Roger hung by a Bradsfordsville Martin County 1868. 8. Colored school Exhibition way attacked by a mob July 31,
mob in July 1, at Mid1868.
9. Seven persons ordered to leave their homes at Standford, Ky. Aug. 7, 1868. 10. Silas Woodford age sixty badly
beaten by disguised mob. Mary Smith Curtis and Margaret Mosby also badly beaten, near Keene Jessemine County Aug. 1868. 11. Cabe Fields shot—and killed by disguise men near Keene Jessamine County Aug. 3, 1868. 12. James Gaines expelled from Anderson by Ku Klux Aug. 1868. 13. James Parker killed by Ku Klux Pulaski, Aug. 1868. 15. Negroes attacked, robbed and driven from Summerville in Green County Aug. 21, 1868. 16. William Gibson and John Gibson hung by a mob in Washington County Aug. 28, 1868. 17. F. H. Montford hung by an mob in Warren County Sept. 5, 1868. 19. Negro hung by a mob Sept. 1868. 20. Two Negroes beaten by Ku Klux in Anderson County Sept. 11, 1868. 21. Mob attacked house of Oliver Stone in Rayette County Sept. 11, 1868. 22. Mob attacked Cumins house in Pulaski County, Cumins his dauhgter and a man name Adams killed in the attack Sept. 18, 1868. 23. U.S. Marshall Meriwether attacked, captured and beatened to death in Larue County by mob Sept. 1868. 24. Richardson house attacked in Conishville by mob and Crasban killed Sept. 28, 1868. 25. Mob attacks Negro cabin at hanging forks in Lincoln County, John Mosteran killed and Cash and Coffey killed Sept. 1869. 26. Terry Laws and James Ryan hung by mob at Nicholasville Oct. 26, 1868. 27. Attack on Negro cabin in Spencer County — a woman outraged Dec. 1868. 28. Two Negroes shot by Ku Klux at Sulphur Springs in Union County Dec. 1868. 29. Negro shot at Morganfield Union County, Dec. 1868. 30. Mob visited Edwin Burris house in Mercer County, January, 1869. 31. William Parker whipped by Ku Klux in Lincoln County Jan. 20, 1869. 32. Mob attacked and fired into house of Jesse Davises in Lincoln County Jan. 20, 1868. (Continued on page 32)
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Petition to Congress for Civil Rights MEMORIAL of the NATIONAL CONVENTION OF COLORED PERSONS Praying To be protected in their civil rights December 19, 1873—Ordered to lie on the table and be printed. National Civil-Rights Convention Washington, D.C., December, 1873 Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: U.S. Senate, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, Mis. Doc. No. 21 We regret the necessity which compels us to again come before you and say "we are aggrieved." We are authorized to say to those in authority, to Congress, to the people whom it represents, that there are nearly five millions of American citizens who are shamefully outraged; who are thus treated without cause. The recognitions made within a few years respecting in part our rights, make us more sensitive as to the denial of the rest. Late declarations recognizing our entitlement to all of our rights, with essential ones withheld, render the grievances even more intolerable. Our grievances are many; our inconveniences through the denial of rights are great; but we shall refer only to those that may be affected through the action of Congress, by statutes forbidding them under penalties. We shall take it for granted that action will be had by Congress, protecting us from invidious distinctions in the enjoyment of common carriers, hotels and other public places of convenience and refreshment, in public places of amusement, and in enjoying other civil rights; but there are indications that there may be some objection made to Federal action against discrimination as to race and color in the management of public instruction, and in impaneling juries, the objectors alleging that it is unconstitutional for Congress to legislate to affect these cases. We propose to notice these objections briefly .They come from lawyers, who, like men in other callings, have their thoughts circumscribed by
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their training and habits of reflection. We do not feel bound, in a matter involving rights, to be circuscribed thereby. Language should be used, whenever it may without outraging it, to best subserve equity and justice. A decision of the supreme judiciary is binding and irrevocable, as affecting the particular case adjudicated, but is to be regarded only as a light which may be used, may, should be, in any other case before that judiciary, to assist in finding a proper solution of the case. It has no imperative binding force upon any subsequent case. The force of recorded decisions as to the powers of Congress is somewhat impaired, because they were rendered under a bias or influence differing from the present. The interest of slavery, a state institution, was so great and overshadowing as to subjugate church as well as state, morality as well as the laws of the land; decisions were rendered in its interests; it was ever keen, active, resolute, extremely suspicious. The State-rights theory, one essential to slavery, was persistently urged. How it was adhered to may be seen in its producing the late rebellion, its grave-yard. Therefore the leanings of legal minds, through decisions and opinions made popular by this State-rights theory, must not be permitted to have the controlling sway some lawyers are disposed to give them; hence we are emboldened to take exceptions to the theory that Congress may not interpose except in the United States courts to secure unto a citizen an impartial jury. We affirm there is no prohibitory clause of the Constitution denying this right. On the other hand, we affirm that it ranges itself among the powers delegated to Congress, at least by implication; that it is a power inherent in the Government from its character, one supported by the principles of common law. It is in maintenance of a national right. We are at a loss to find the part of the Constiution which admits Congress to go as far as it has gone in protecting the civil rights of citizens in the several States, assented to by objecting Senators, but which forbids its going far enough to effectually protect the civil rights of a citizen wherever the stars and stripes have sway.
If Congress may throw the protecting arm of the law around any citizen of the United States, in every State, so as to forbit any denial or discrimination in hotels and in public conveyances on account of race and color, it certainly may do so in protecting him from invidious rules impairing the right of property ;it may say the common school, paid for and owned by all citizens in common, shall not be made to serve to the degradation and humiliation of any class thereof; that a branch of the Government, maintained to train the child as to his proper relation to his Government and his fellow-citizens, must not therein be trained in opposition to the Government's fundamental principles.. . . This same argument applies to the constituting of juries, and we shall apply it in considering whether Congress has the right to secure to any citizen the benefit of an impartial jury o fhis peers. Article 1st, section 8th, of the Constitution, says: "Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States." The Constiution further says: "The Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, are the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby." The Constitution, by implication as well as by direct words, affirms an impartial jury to be a constitutional right, of course to be maintained as such, to be a supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding; which amounts to a prohiibtion on a State from refusing an impartial jury. From all of which it is evident, as well as from the binding force of the common law in securing an impartial jury, that Congress has power to protect, by law, the citizen in this great national and common right under civilized government. The fact that Federal legislation has been had and acquiesced in, and judicial decisions have enforced the same, establishing the theory that the National (Continued next page)
PETITION TO CONGRESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
Blacks in the 41st and 42nd Congress
(Continued from page 16) Government may interpose and regulate the judiciary of the States, restraining them from proscribing citizens because of their race or color, as, for instance, actions had under the present existing civilrights laws, which regulate the receiving of testimony in the several States, shows that the power exists to protect us from the injustice of which we complain. . . . It is not complete liberty and exact equality to be compelled to go to a proscribed school; to be tried by a jury from which every individual of the class to which the party tried belongs is excluded because he is of that class. The republican party, now in power, said there should be efficient and appropriate State and Federal legislation against the same. It is quite significant that the opponents of the republicans in the presidential canvass went into it with a platform which, as to civil rights, was not opposed to this position of the republicans; and in all subsequent elections, in which the democrats have alluded to everything they could think of to represent the republican party in the most odious light, referring to Credit Mobilier, back pay, and other things, they did not think it would be politic and effectual in arousing indignation against the party to make the platform of the party as to civil rights, committing it to Federal action, a subject of condemnation. In making this appeal, we confidently expect at the hands of our own party a favorable response, which expectation is increased by manifestations exhibited by parties who have hithetro bitterly opposed us. May we not beseech such to fully fraternize with our friends? Very respectfully, your memorialists, &c, GEO T. DOWNING, Acting President
WRITERS AND A R T I S T S . . . send us m a t e r i a l . . .
Black Representatives and Senators of the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States. Seated, left to right: Sen. M. R. Revels of Mississippi, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina; Robert C. DeLarge of South Carolina; Benj. S. Turner of Alamaba; Jefferson M. Long of Georgia; R. B. Elliot of South Carolina and J. T. Walls of Florida.
Copy of resolutions unanimously adopted by the convention Whereas a large class of citizens of the United States of America, numbering nearly five million of souls, are still labori gnunder certain disabilities on account of color, as is generally admitted throughout the country, namely, a nonrecogognition of their equal rights to all the public privileges properly attaching to American citizenship, among which we number the right to enjoy upon equal terms with other citizens the benefits of the public schools, common carriers, public places of amusement or resort; and Whereas these disabilities under which we labor can only be removed effectually by national law, to be made as farreaching as the jurisdiction of the National Government itself; and Whereas the whole people of the country, more than a year since, speaking through the conventions of both great political parties, made solemn declaration, at Philadelphia, that "complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout the Union by efficient and appropriate State and Federal legislation"; and that "neither law nor its admiinstration should admit of any discrimination in respect to the citizen by reason of race, creed, color, or previous condition of servitude"; and, at Cincinnati and Baltimore, "that we recognize
the equality of all men before the law, and hold that the Government in its dealings with the people should meet out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color or persuasion, religious or political"; Therefore, Resolved, That the protection of civil rights in the persons of every inhabitant of thes country is the first and most imperative duty of the Government, in order that freedom in this country and American citizenship may be made valuable to us. Resolved, That no people can aid in sustaining and upholding either themselves or the nation unless they are fully protected in their pursuit of happiness. Resolved, That we earnestly petition the Congress of the United States, representing, as it does, the two great political parties above referred to, being committed, as they are, to the doctrine of civil rights, to pass at the earliest practical moment, in the interest of justice and humanity, the civil-rights bill now pending in the United States Senate, and known as Senate bill No. 1, or some equally comprehensive and just measure. GEORGE T. DOWNING, Chairman Attest: A. M. Green, Secretary of the Convention.
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Historical Events During The 18th and 19th Century
Gustavus Vassa
March 21, 1788 — Gustavus Vassa, self-educated former slave in the British West Indies, petitioned Parliament to abolish slavery in the British-held islands. Vassa was captured in Guinea by a slaver and sold into slavery. After several owners, he was sold to a Quaker in Boston who permitted him to earn extra money to purchase his freedom. In 1785 after settling in England, Vassa was appointed to a post with the Crown, which was in the process of trying to return Africans to their native land. After being discharged, Vassa continued to work for the emancipation of his fellow Africans and made his appeal to Queen Charlotte. In 1789, Vassa published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiana Or Gustavus Vassa. It was the first account of a free Negro during this period.
G. W. Gayles
Jan. 29, 1844 — Rev. G. W. Gayles, minister and legislator, was born in Wilkinson County, Miss. The Rev. Gayles was elected to the Mississippi legislature for four years; in 1877 he became a state senator, representing the 28th district which comprised the counties of Bolivar, Coahoma and Quitman. The all-Negro town of Mound Bayou is in Bolivar County. Gayles was the last Negro state senator in Mississippi, after serving two terms. He was also appointed a Justice of the Peace by Gov. J. L. Alcorn.
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Nat Turner led the greatest slave revolt o fthe
century.
P.B.S. Pinchback Nat Turner
Aug. 21, 1831 — Nat Turner, a slave and gifted Baptist minister of Southhampton County, Va., led a revolt against slaveholders and slavebreeders. Seven men, including Turner, were armed with one hatchet and a broadaxe. At the end of 24 hours at least 70 others joined them and 57 whites were killed. Soldiers were dispatched to the scene of action from different parts of the state as well as North Caroline, when it became known that the blacks were up in arms against their owners. Nat, noting that they were overpowered, retired to Cabin Pond and awaited the regroupingof his disciples. About 3000 soldiers poured in to put down the insurrection. The Richmond Whig reported that men were tortured to death, burned, maimed. and subjected to nameless atrocities. The overseers were called upon to point out any slaves whom they distrusted; and if any tried to escape they were shot down. Nat eluded capture for two months. When captured, he was taken to Jerusalem in chains and on the 11th of November hanged. Nat Turner's revolt was a landmark in the history of slavery. It was instrumental in bringing about the great slavery debates, which resulted in the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Dec. 12, 1872—\J. S. Atty General George H. Williams telegraphed "Acting Gov. Pinchback" that he was recognized by the President (Ulysses S. Grant) as ths lawful executive of Louisiana following the impeachment of Gov. Warmouth. For 43 days following, Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback served as governor of Louisiana. In 1873 he was elected to the U. S. Senate, but he was not permitted to take his seat.
Richard Harvey Cain
April 12, 1825 — Richard Harvey Cain, Reconstruction congressman from South Carolina, was born in Greenbrier County, Va. Cain was elected to the 43rd and 45th Congress and was appointed a bishop of the AME church in 1880.
MILITARY CONTRIBUTIONS .
THE BOSTON MASSACRE
1770 - 1969 CIVIL WAR HEROES
Major Martin Ft. Delany, a graduate of Harvard became a major in the Union Army during the Civil War,
MEDAL OF HONOR
Crispus Attucks is shown
as he was shot by a British Militia-Man March 5, 1770. Seageant William H. Carney won a Medal of Honor for bravery in the Battle to recapture Fort Sumpter.
SURGEON
Fierce Fighting
During Civil War.
Dr. A. T. Augusta, was a surgeon in the Union Army.
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1st Black I). S. Regiment
BLACKS FOUGHT
IN
The issue of having black men serve in the armed service is a matter of fact today but in the early stages of the development of the U.S. militaary establishment it prompted violent controversy. History shows that General George Washington used black scouts in the Revolutionary War and Andrew Jackson gave them even greater duties in the War of 1812. But by the time the Union was challenged by the Confederacy an dthe Civil War had burst upon the hemisphere black men had been relegated to positions of inferiority to the extent that their manhood and courage was ignored. But it was on the courage of Black Americans that the destiny of the Union eventually came to rest. While the North flatly refused to bring men of color into the military ranks eccept as cooks and treamsters at the outset of the Civil War the South bolstered its combat forces with slaves. The result was a staggering show of manpower on the battlefield by the South and an endless supply of laborers for the farms which fed The Confederacy. The events which led to the change of attitudes on the part of the North were costly in terms of lives and property to both sides. The North entered the Civil War assuming that they would reduce the Southern armies to dust within a few months. After the First Battle of Bull Run where they met white masters and slaves fighting side by side they realized the strength of their enemies couldn't be taken for granted.
A Black Regiment of the Union Army.
tive Guards Corps was formed under the Corps d'Afrique. But it wasn't until late 1862 that General Edward A. Wild formed two columns of calvary troops and an artillery battery that the U.S. government decided that black troops could definitely do the job as well or better than whites. None of the brigades or companies of black troops formed before then had the sanction of the President or the Congress. When Wild's men returned from raids in North Carolina they had burned and destroyed four guerilla camps. Taken dozens of armed homesteads on the enemy's flanks, captured several prisoners and lured 700 black fighting men from the Southern forces.
8 Big Battles for Black Soldiers • The Battle of Port Hudson • The Battle of Miliken's Bend • The Battle of Fort Wagner • The Battle of Olustee • The Battle of Port Pilow • The Battle of The Crater • The Battle of Nashville • The Battle of Petersburg
Field generals were aware of the additional advantage the slaves gave the South long before Congress decided to debate the issue of bringing black troops into the service in 1861.
The Congress immediately decided to organize four black regiments. The first of the regiments. The first of the regiments was the 54th Massachusett Regiment.
Ohio was the first state to concede. In 1862 when they faced an invasion by John Morgan from the South the State of Ohio formed a brigade of black troops to defend the state's forts.
The 54th was commanded by Colonel Robert G. Shaw. It was the beginning of the Black Americans illustrious history of bravery in defense of the United States.
their color, more bitter than they had left behind. There was no Moses to lead, nor plan in their exodus. The decision in the instinct or unlettered reason brought them to us. They felt that their interests were identical with the object of our armies.
Other all black troops followed, each with white officers. In Louisiana the Na-
Their coming was like the arrival of cities. Often they met prejudices against
JOHN EATON— Chaplain 27th Ohio Infantry
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BLACK MEN OF VA L O R . . . and SON
Col. Frederic E. Davison, 50, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general after 27 years' service. Davison, deputy commander of the 199th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam, thus became the third Armed Forces' black general, and he is now the highest ranking black officer in command of troops.
The first Negro commander of a U.S. warship, Comdr. Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., was promoted to captain by the Navy, becoming the first Negro selected for captain as a line officer. Gravely is commander of a destroyer. He was born and educated in Richmond, Va., and served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean conflict. Later he was temporary commander of a destroyer.
A company of Black soldiers photographed during the Civil War.
Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., was the first Black man to reach that rank in the armed services. Little Known Facts About . . .
WEST POINT U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY
Lieutenant General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was chief of Staff of the United Nations Command in South Korea.
J. W. Smith was the first Black man to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point. Cadet Smith was subjected to humiliating ill treatment by white cadets. He was court martialed for breaking a cocoanut dipper over the head of a white cadet. He was dismissed from the academy for the offense. Henry O. Flipper was the next Black cadet, graduating in 1877. He was assigned to the 10th Cavalry.
CRISPUS ATTUCKS
Crispus Attucks, run-away slave was killed in the Boston Massacre March 5, 1770. Attucks was the first man of any race to give his life for American freedom.
Air Force Major Robt. H. Lawrence, Jr., the nation's first Black Astronaut Major Lawrence died when his F-104D Starfighter jet crashed in a California desert six months after his appointment to the program.
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BRO W. E. B. DU BOIS Great Black Scholar, Essayist, Reformer and Prophet By Bro. Eugene C. Holmes There was a very deep loss in the "souls of black folk" as millions heard the news, August 27, 1963, on the eve of the March on Washington. Yes, this was the knell of the oldest freedom fighter on earth. His life and his scholarly career encompassed nearly a century of unexampled accomplishments, which were centered upon the herculean task of the emancipation of the unfree, the colonial and oppressed peoples of the world. This was but a chronological end for one of America's greatest sons, who had set new standards in scholarship, new pathways in historical research, pioneering in sociology an danthropology and above all, a giant in belle letters. Dr. DuBois has been cited variously as the architect of Negro protest, the father of the New Negro, the patron saint of Pan Africans, and, by the Ghanaians, Kenyans and Nigerians, "the evangel of African Freedom," simply because he was the motivating force behind the drive fo rthe independence of the former African colonies. As a Negro, remembering the songs of his Bantu grandmother, he felt always that the African identity could be recovered, and he disagreed with those sociologists who thought that American slavery had completely severed the Negro from his African past. How significant it was that DuBois should have done so much of the spade work at the great Races Congress of 1911 in Europe, which dealt with the scientific bases of race and with the social and ethnical relations of various cultural groups. It was the breath of his scholarship which led to his leadership of the militant wing of the American protest movement. He prepared himself for this messianic work at Fisk, Harvard and Berlin. As a nineteen year old Fisk undergraduate, his first important essay was entitled "An Open Letter to the Southern People." At Harvard, where his teachers wanted him to go into philosophy, he was under the great scholars of that age, James in psychology, Palmer, Cantayana and Royce in philosophy, Shaler in geology, Albert Bushnell Hart in history and Barrett Wendell in English. His own ne wsociological approach to history under Hart led to the publication in 1896 of his doctoral dissertation, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States, 1638—1870, Harvard Historical Series, No. 1. He spent the years 1893-1895 at Berlin under Schmoller, Wagner and other economist. He vowed from then on to search for the truth as a scientist and "to work for the use of the Negro people" since "their best development means the best development o fthe world, to make a name in science to make a name in literature and thus to raise my race." Never before in human history had any man set before himself such a titanic task. Here was work to be done, and for the next seventy years, DuBois sought to accomplish this task. While an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, he wrote a distinguished monograph, The Philadelphia Negro (1899), a pioneering work, the first scientific sociological study done in the U. S., because
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it showed the Negro group as a symptom and not as a cause and as a striving ambitious human group. To this historical, biographical, sociological group belong the Atlanta University Publication Series (1899—1912), the first scholarly group of social science studies to appear in America, dealing with every type of Negro group, the church, Negro crime, the Negro artisan, Negro health and the Negro American family.
The great biographical prose — poem John Brown (1909), long out of print, was republished in 1962 as a book for the John Brown Centennial. Dr. DuBois contributed a new preface and conclusion (at the age of 92), in which he makes several suggestions as to whether the Civil War had to be fought. His work on Reconstruction consisted of the most distinguished historical research. He began this work when he was forty after reading a paper "Reconstruction and Its Benefi ts"before the American Historical Association, culminating in his monumental Black Reconstruction in America, 18601880, (1935). While at Atlanta ,he had initiated a project which was to issue into an encyclopedia on Negroes to commemorate the fifieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 300th annivesrary of the landing of the first Negro slaves. The project for the Encyclopedia of the Negro, sponsored by the Phelps-Stokes Fund, edited by DuBois culminated in the completed work in 1945, under the joint editorship of DuBois and Guy B. Johnson. In the field of Negro history, he was equally prolific on the American Negro as well as in African history. His second book after his doctoral dissertation was The Negro, 1915, a volume in the Home University Series. To those, there must be added the organized publication of the results of the six Pan-African Congresses from 1909 until 1945. Dr. DuBois was known to the American public chiefly through his participation in the Niagara movement and the subsequent founding of the N.A.A.C.P., his editorship of the Crisis (1910-34) and his great literary output, the most notable of which was The Souls of Black Folk (1903). In addition to his editorship of Crisis, he founded and edited The Moon (1906), The Horizon (1907-1910) and Phylon. The Souls of Black Folk, called by James Weldon Joshnon the most effective work and most powerful book since Uncle Tom's Cabin, and by J. Saunders Redding, "more history making than history," has gone through twenty-six editions, the last under the editorship of Henry Steele Commander, with a preface by Redding. It is this work which contianed DuBois most eloguent and powerful poem A Litany at Atlanta about the awful Atlanta riot of 1906 and the beautiful Credo of 1904. (Continued on page 30)
The Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles 1905. Statement drafted by Bro. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of the Niagara Movement. PROGRESS: The Members of the conference, known as the Niagara Movement, assembled in annual meeting at Buffalo, July 11th, 12th and 13th, 1905, congratulate the Negro-Americans on certain undoubted evidences of progress in the last decade, particularly the increase of intelligence, the buying of property, checking of crime, the uplift in home life, the advance in literature and art, and the demonstration of constructive executive ability in the conduct of great religious, economic and educational institutions. Suffrage: At the same time, we believe that this class of American citizens should protest emphatically and continually against the curtailment of their political rights. We believe in manhood suffrage; we believe that no man is so good, intelligent or wealthy as to be entrusted wholly with the welfare of his neighbor. Civil Liberty: We believe also in protest against the curtailment of our civil rights. All American citizens have the right to equal treatment in places of public entertainment according to their behavior and deserts. Economic Opportunity: We especially complain against the denial of equal opportunities to us in economic life; in the rural districts of the South this amounts to peonage and virtual slavery ;all over the South it tends to crush labor and small business enterprises; and everywhere American prejudice, helped often by iniquitous laws, is making it more difficult for Negro-Americans to earn a decent living. Education: Common school education should be free to all American children and compulsory. High school training should be adequately provided for all, and college training should be the monopoly of no class or race in any section of our common country. We believe that, in defense of our own institutions, the United States should aid common school education, particularly in the South, and we especially recommend concerted agitation to this end. We urge an increase in public high school facilities in the South, where the Negro-Americans are
almost wholly without such provisions. We favor well-equipped trade and technical schools for the training of artisans, and the need of adequate and liberal endowment for a few institutions of higher education must be patent to sincere wellwishers of the race. Courts: We demand upright judges in courts, juries selected without discrimination on account of color and the same measure of punishment and the same efforts at reformation for blacks as for white offenders. We need orphanages and farm schools for dependent children, juvenile reformatories for delinquents, and the abolition of the dehumanizing convict-lease system. Public Opinion: We note with alarm the evident retrogression in this land of sound public opinion on the subject of manhood rights, republican government and human brotherhood, and we pray God that this nation will not degenerate into a mob of boasters and oppressors, but rather will return to the faith of the fathers, that all men were created free and equal, with certain unalienable rights. Health: We plead for health—for an opportunity to live in decent houses and localities, for a chance to rear our childen in physical and moral cleanliness. Employers and Labor Unions: We hold up for public execration the conduct of two opposite classes of men: The practice among employers of importing ignorant Negro-American laborers in emergencies, and then affording them neither protection nor permanent employment; and the practice of labor unions in proscribing and boycotting and oppressing thousands of their fellow-toilers, simply because they are black. These methods have accentuated and will accentuate the war of labor and capital, and they are disgraceful to both sides. Protest: We refuse to allow the impression to remain that the Negro-American assents to inferiority, is submissive under oppression and apologetic before insults. Through helplessness we may submit, but the voice of protest of ten million Americans must never cease to assail the ears of their fellows, so long as America is unjust.
Color-Line: Any discrimination based simply on race or color is barbarous, we care not how hallowed it be by custom, expediency or prejudice. Differences, made on account of ignorance, immorality, or disease are legitimate methods of fighting evil, and against them we have no word of protest; but discriminations based simply and solely on physical peculiarities, place of birth, color of skin, are relics of that unreasoning human savagery of which the world is and ought to be thoroughly ashamed. "Jim Crow" Cars: We protest against the "Jim Crow" car, since its effect is and must be to make us pay first-class fare for third-class accommodations, render us open to insults and discomfort and to cricify want on your manhodo, womanhood and self-respect. Soldiers: We regret that this nation has never seen fit adequately to reward the black soldiers who, in its five wars, have defended their country with their blood, and yet have been systematically denied the promotions which their abilities deserve. And we regard as unjust, the exclusion of black boys from the military and naval training schools. War Amendments: We urge upon Congress the enactment of appropriate legislation for securing the proper enforcement of those articles of freedom, the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the Constitution of the United States. Oppression: We repudiate the monstrous doctrine that the oppressor should be the sole authority as to the rights of the oppressed. The Negro race in America stolen, ravished and degraded, struggling up through difficulties and oppression, needs sympathny and receives criticism; needs help and is given hindrance, needs protection and is given mob-violence, needs justice and is given charity, needs leadership and is given cowardice and apology, needs bread and is given a stone. This nation will never stand justified before God until these tgnhis arechangede The Church: Especially are we surprised and astonished at the recent attitude of the church of Christ—of an increase of a desire to bow to racial prejudice, to narrow the bounds of human brotherhood, and to segregate black men to some outer sanctuary. This is wrong, unchristian and disgraceful to the twentieth century civilization. (Continued on page 32)
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Essence of History Is to View Negro As a Person, Not As a Problem BY T H E ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE AND HISTORY, INC., CHARLES H. WESLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRCTOR. Negro History Week is a period in the year during which emphasis is placed upon the consideration of the Negro in history. It is not the treatment of the Negro as a problem but as a person in our history. It is not the thought of the Negro as a foreign person in the midst of native whites, but of him as a native American. It is to show this fact and reveal him as a citizen from historical treatment and reference. It is to change the image of the Black Americans through history.
VnLfa to . . . BOOKER T. W A S H I N G T O N National monument at birthplace in Rocky Mount, Va. Home. "The Oaks," and bronze monument at Tuskegee National Park in Chattanooga, Tenn. New York Univ. Hall of Fame has plaque dedicated to him; only Negro so honored
The current consideration of the advancement made by Negroes in political life and in civic activities should be paralleled by the view of his experiences in our past. FREEMAN, TOO He will be seen not only as a slave but also as a freed man. Each census will show his increase in numbers from the first census in 1790 when his number was listed as 59,000 to the census of 1860 when this number was nearly a half million free persons.
Booker J. Washington Commemorative Half-Dollar. First coin to be designed for a Negro. (1947)
When these facts are seen and heard there will be no evidence of a natural inferiority based upon color but of those who with other Americans are also entitled to the pursuit of happiness and whose general welfare is the concern of the Federal Government under the Constitution and of the States under the same impact. gro" are and and
There have been so many misrepresentations of "the Neand the efforts to refute them, that a period, when facts presented and dramatized showing the genius, capacity development of the black American to places of honor credit, becomes an important week in American education.
NEEDED EDUCATION For it is this type of education which can reach the youth and the adult who has often exclaimed, "Why I didn't know that?" The eradication of ignorance and its replacement with knowledge is one of the purposes of our school system. We should learn not only of "things" but also of "persons." This is the great need of American life in rural and urban situations. With the concentration in cities of Negroes and the movement to suburbs of white Americans the division in thought and life can be widened between white and black. Negroes are now 6 3 % of the population of Washington, D.C., 4 1 % in New Orleans, 40% in Birmingham, 39% in Detroit, and large percentages are in most urban centers. SCHOOL PROBLEMS These people constitute a challenge to these urban communities, as well as to the schools, many of which are predominantly Negro. There eighth-graders read at the sixth grade level, while 67.5% of all Negro inductees in the armed services fail military tests as against 18.8% for whites. Many thousands have been discouraged and are frustrated as they face the future.
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Other thousands have kept their ambitions, and have been motivated and influenced by Negro History achievements and have then made contributions to their communities. Their homes and schools have joined in this effort. This is the basis for Negro History Week. Through the years the American Teachers Association and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and iHstory have cooperated in the sponsorship of Negro History Week. Since the historic merger of the American Teachers Association and the National Education Association in Miami in July 1966, the NEA-Center for Human Relations has assumed the ATA's role in helping ASNLH promote the observance of Negro History Week. Each person ordering our 1969 Negro History Study Kit will receive the Coca-Cola Company's "Black Treasures" material. The Kit sells for $7.50 each from the Associated Publishers, 1538 9th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. However, the material furnished is useful not only for Negro History Week—1969, but for use throughout the year, in class discussion, from the pulpit and the rostrum and in community organizations. Parent-teacher Association could spend a profitable period on the historical-background of Negro life and history in their own communities.
BOOKER T. W A S H I N G T O N . . . 1856-1915 "He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and found the way to progress through education and industry.*' (Monument of Tuskegee Institute) Atlanta Exposition Address
President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington.
Separatism vs. Alliance Booker T. Washington Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of Directors and Citizens: One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. No enterprise seeking the material, civil, or moral welfare of this section can disregard this element of our population and reach the highest success. I but convey to you, Mr. President and Directors, the sentiment of the masses of my race when I say that in no way have the value and manhood of the American Negro been more fittingly and generously recognized than by the managers of thiis magnificent Exposition at every stage of its progress. It is a recognitiion that will do more to cement the friendship of the two races than any occurrence since the dawn of our freedom. Not only this, but the opportunity here afforded will awaken among us a new era of industrial progress. Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; that a seat iin Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill; that the political convention or stump speaking had more attractions than starting a dairy farm or truck garden. A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal, "Water, water; we die of thirst!" The answer from the frienlly vessel at once came back, "Cast down your bucket where you are." A second time the siignal,
"Water, water; send us water!" ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered, "Cast down your bucket where you are." And a third and fourth signal for water was answered, "Cast down your bucket where you are." The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: "Cast down your bucket where you are"—cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called to bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance. Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities. To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted
I would repeat what I say to my own race, "Cast down your bucket where you are." Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, where fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people who have, without strikes and labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, and helped make posible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South. Casting down your bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, and so education of head, hand, and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories. While doing this, you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defence of yours, interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. There is no defence or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there are efforts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making him the most useful and intelligent citizen. Effort or means so invested will pay a thousand per cent interest. These efforts will be twice blessed—"blessing him that gives and him that takes."
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The Struggle for Equal Education Began in 1787 Petition for Equal Education, 1787
SEPTEMBER 1957
TO THE HONORABLE the Senate and House of Representatives of the oCmmonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, in General Court assembled. The petition of a great number of blacks, freemen of this Commonwealth, humbly sheweth, that your petitioners are held in common with other freemen of this town and Commonwealth and have never been backward in paying our proportionate part of the burdens under which they have, or may labor under; and as we are willing to pay our equal part of these burdens, we are of the humble opinion that we have the right to enjoy the privileges of free men .But that we do not will appear in many instances, and we beg leave to mention one out of many, and that is of the education of our children which now receive no benefit from the free schools in the town of Boston, which we think is a great grievance, as by woeful experience we now feel the want of a common education. We, therefore, must fear for our rising offspring to see them in ignorance in a land of gospel light when there is provision made for them as well as others and yet can't enjoy them, and for no other reason can be given this they are black . . . We therefore pray your Honors that you would in your wisdom make some provision . . . for the education of our dear children. And in duty bound shall ever pray.
Bro. CLEVE McDOWELL was the first known Negro to enter the University of Mississippi.
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The 101st Airborne Rock, Arkansas.
Division
escorts Negro students into Central High School In Little
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Mary Church
Terrell
BRO. HERMAN W. SWEATT — Graduate of Wiley college and Atlanta University with additional studies at the U. of Michigan. Bro. Sweatt was a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Sweatt vs. Painter, which opened the University of Texas to Negro students in 1950 and which was the first test case of the constitutionality of segregation per se in education in the United States.
July 24, 1954—Dr. Mary Church Terrell, pioneer woman advocate of civil rights and first president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, died, in Annapolis, Md. at age 90. Mrs. Terrell was the first Negro women to serve on the Washington, D.C. Board of Education, serving from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1811. In 1946 she decided to renew her membership in the Washington Chapter of the Aemrican Association of University Women. She had been a member when there had been no racial discrimination but dropped her membership in 1900 because of public and private duties. Her application was rejected and a three-year fight resulted with the national organization taking the matter to court to affirm its non-discriminatory policy and the local chapter finally splitting over the issue, with the group opposing Mrs. Terrell's admission forming the University Women's club. At the age of 87 she led a campaign that ended segregation in all Washington eating places by the Supreme Court and at age 90 she won another victory by ending discrimination in most Washington movie theaters. Her autobiography was A Colored Woman in a White World.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON (Continued from page 25) There is no escape through law of man or God from the inevitable:— The laws of changeless justice bind Oppressor with oppressed; And close as sin and suffering joined we march to fate abreast.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARCUS GARVEY BACK TO AFRICA ADVOCATE
THE FUTURE AS I SEE IT Marcus Garvey It comes to the individual, the race. the nation, once in a life time to decide upon the course to be pursued as a career. The house has now struck for the individual Negro as well as the entire race to decide the course that will be pursued in the interest of our own liberty.
Nearly siixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the loal upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the body politic. Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect overmuch. Starting thirty years ago with ownership here and there in a few quilts and pumpkins and chickens (gathered from miscellaneous sources), remember the path that has led from these to the inventions and production of agricultural implements, buggies, steam-engines, newspapers, books, statuary, carving, paintings, the management of drugstores and banks, has not been trodden without contact with thorns and thistles. While we take pride in what we exhibit as a result of our independent efforts, we do not for a moment forget that our part in this exhibition would fall far short of your expectations but for the constant help that has come to our educational life, not only from the Southern states, but especially from Northern philanthropists, who have made their gifts a constant stream of blessing and encouragement. The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth in-
We who make up the Universal Negro Improvement Association have decided that we shall go forward, upward and onward toward the great goal of human liberty. We have determined among ourselves that all barriers placed in the way of our progress must be removed, must be cleared away for we desire to see the light of a brighter day. The Negro Is Ready Marcus Garvey
finitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house. In conclusion, may I repeat that nothing in thirty years has given us more hope and encouragement, and drawn us so near to you of the white race, as this opportunity offered by the Exposition; and here bending, as it were, over the altar that represents the results of the struggles of your race and mine, both starting practically empty-handed three decades ago, I pledge that in your effort to work out the great and intricate problems which God has laid at the door of the South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of my race; only let this be constantly inmind, that, while from representations in these buildings of the product of field, of forest, of mine, of factory, letters, and art, much good will come, yet far above and beyond material benefits will be that higher good, that, let us pray God, will come, in a blotting our of sectional differences and racial animosities and suspicions, in a determination to administer absolute justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to the mandates of law. This, coupled with material prosperity, will bring into our beloved South a new heaven and a new earth.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association for five years has been proclaiming to the world the readiness of the Negro to carve out a pathway for himself in the course of life. Men of other races and nations have become alarmed at this attitude of the Negro in his desire to do things for himself and by himself. This alarm has become so universal that organizations have been brought into being here, there and everywhere for the purpose of deterring and obstructing this forward move of our race. Propaganda has been waged here, there and everywhere for the purpose of misinterpreting the intention of this organization; some have said that this organization seeks to create discord and discontent among the races; some say we are organized for the purpose of hating other people. Every sensible, sane and honest-minded person knows that the Universal Negro Improvement Association has no such intention. We are organized for the absolute purpose of bettering our condition, industrially, commercially, socially, religiously and politically. We are organized not to hate other men, but to lift ourselves, and to demand respect of all humanity. We have a program that we believe to be righteous; we believe it to be just, and we have made up our minds to lay down ourselves on the altar of sacrifice for the realization of this great hope of ours, based upon the foundation of righteousness. We de(Continued on next page)
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BACK TO AFRICA ADVOCATE (Continued from page 27) clare to the world that Africa must be free, that the entire Negro race must be emancipated from industrial bondage, peonage and serfdom; we make no compromise, we make no apology in this our declaration. We do not desire to create offense on the part of other races, but we are determined that we shall be heard, that we shall be given the rights to which we are entitled. . . . "Crocodiles" As Friends Men of the Negro race, let me say to you that a greater future is in store for us; we have no cause to lose hope, to become faint-hearted. We must realize that upon ourselves depend our destiny, our future; we must carve out that future, that destiny, and we who make up the Universal Negro Improvement Association have pledged ourselves that nothing in the world shall stand in our way, nothing in the world shall discourage us, but opposition shall make us work harder, shall bring us closer together so that as one man the millions of us will march on toward that goal that we have set for ourselves. The new Negro shall not be deceived. The new Negro refuses to take advice from anyone who has not felt with him, and suffered with him. We have suffered for three hundred years, therefore we feel that the time has come when only those who have suffered with us can interpret our feelings and our spirit. It takes the slave to interpret the feelings of the slave; it takes the unfortunate man to interpret the spirit of his unfortunate brother; and so it takes the suffering Negro to interpret the spirit of his comrade. It is strange that so many people are interested in the Negro now, willing to advise him how to act, and what organizations he should join, yet nobody was interested in the Negro to the extent of not making him a slave fo rtwo hundred and fifty years, reducing him to industrial peonage and serfdom after he was freed; it it is strange that the same people can be so interested in the Negro now, as to tell him what organization he should follow and what leader he should support. Whilst we are bordering on a future of brighter things, we are also at our danger period, when we must either accept the right philosophy, or go down by following deceptive propaganda which has hemmed us in for many centuries.
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Deceiving The People There is many a leader of our race who tells us that everything is well, and that all things will work out themselves and that a better day is coming. Yes, all of us know that a better day is coming; we all know that one day we will go home to Paradise; but whilst we are hoping by our Christian virtues to have an entry into Paradise we also realize tha twe are living on earth, and that the things that are practised in Paradise are not practiced here. You have to treat this world as the world treats you; we are living in a temporal, material age, an age of activity, an age of racial, national selfishness. What else can you expect but to give back to the world what the world gives you, and we are calling upon the four hundred million Negroes of the world to take a decided stand, a determined stand, that we shall occupy a firm position; that position shall be an emancipated race and a free nation of our own. We re determined that we shall have a free country; we are determined that we shall have a flag; we are determined that we shall have a government, second to none in the world. An Eye For An Eye Men may spurn the idea, they may scoff at it; the metropolitan press of this country may deride us; yes, white men may laugh at the idea of Negroes talking about government; but let me tell you there is going to be a government, and let me say to you also that whatsoever you give, in like measure it shall be returned to you. The world is sinful, and therefore man believes in the doctrine of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Everybody believes that revenge is God's, but at the same time we are men, and revenge sometimes springs up, even in the most Christian heart. Why should man write down a history that will react against him? Why should man perpetrate deeds of wickedness upon his brother which will return to him in like measure? Yes, the Germans maltreated the French in the FrancoPrussion war of 1870, but the French got even with the Germans in 1918. It is history, and history will repeat itself. Beat the Negro, brutalize the Negro, kill the Negro, burn the Negro, imprison the Negro, scoff at the Negro, deride the Negro, it may come back to you one of these fine days, because the supreme destiny of man is in the hands of God.
God is no respecter of persons, whether that person be white, yellow or black. Today the one race is up, tomorrow it has fallen; today the Negro seems to be the footstool of the other races and nations of the world; tomorrow the Negro may occupy the highest rung of the great human ladder. But, when we come to consider the history of man, was not the Negro a power, was he not great once? Yes, honest students of history can recall the day when Egypt, Ethiopia and Timbuctoo towered in their civilizations, towered above Europe, towered above Asia. When Europe was inhabited by a race of cannibals, a race of savages, naked men, heathens and pagans, Africa was peopled with a race of cultured black men, who were masters in art, science and literature; men who were cultured and refined; men who, it was said, were like the gods. Even the great poets of old sang in companionship with the Ethiopians. Why, then, should we lose hope? Black men, you were once great; you shall be great again. Lose not courage, lose not faith, go forward. The thing to do is to get organized; keep separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized, and you will compel the world to respect you. If the world fails to give you consideration because you are black men, because you are Negroes, four hundred millions of you shall, through organization, shake the pillars of the universe and bring down creation, even as Samson brought down the temple upon his head and upon the heads of the Philistines. An Inspiring Vision So Negroes, I say, through the Universal Negro Improvement Assoication, that there is much to live for. I have a vision of the future, and I see before me a picture of a redeemed Africa, with her dotted cities, with her beautiful civilization, with her millions of happy children, going to and fro. Why should I lose hope, why should I give u pand take a back place in this age of progress? Remember that you are men, that God created you Lords of this creation. Lift up yourselves, men, take yourselves out of the mire and hitch your hopes to the stars; yes, rise as high as the very stars themselves. Let no man pull you down, let no man destroy your ambition, be(Continued next page)
The Last Reconstruction Black Congressman
Invented First American Clock
John Brown (Continued from page 13) Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments,—I submit; so let it be done!
Benjamin G. H. White
Dec. 28, 1918—George Henry White, the last Negro Reconstruction congressman (from North Carolina) died in Philadelphia at the age of 66. White became famous for his speech to Congress in which he stated that though the Negro had been disfranchised and forced out of national politics that "Phoenix-like" he would return because of his potential strength.
Bro. A. Wayman Ward Jan. 29, 1889—Bro. A. Wayman Ward, minister of the A M E Church, was born in Garnett, Kan. Rev. Ward was presiding elder of the North Chicago District of the A M E from 1949 until his death in 1965. He was the first Negro to graduate from Denver ( Colo.) University and the first to be appointed by the mayor of Chicago to serve as chairman of the Chicago Race Relations Commission.
Banneker
Jan. 22, 1791 — President George Washington and the commissioners selected the site for the "Federal City" later Washington, D.C., selecting Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant to plan the city. Because of a disagreement, L'Enfant was dismissed and replaced by Major Andrew Ellicott, assisted by Benjamin Banneker, a free-born mathematician and astronomer. In 1761 Banneker whittled from wood the first clock made in America and in 1792 published an almanac for which he constructed his own tables. The Benjamin Banneker's Almanac was published for ten years, receiving such wide acclaim that Banneker became known in Europe as the "African Astronomer."
Alabama Tax Collector
BACK TO AFRICA
Let me say one word further. I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have reecived on my trial. Conesidering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, and what was not, I never had any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind. Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one o fthem but joined me of his ow naccord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they came to me; and that was fo rthe purpose I have stated.
(Continued from page 28) cause man is but your companion, your equal; man is your brother; he is not your lord; he is not your sovereign master. We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association feel happy; we are cheerful. Let them connive to destroy us; let them organize to destroy us; we shall fight the more. Ask me personally the cause of my success, and I say opposition; oppose me, and I fight the more, and if you want to find out the sterling wotrh of the Negro, oppose him, and under the leadership of the Universal Negro Improvement Assoication he shall fight his way to victory, and in the days to come, and I believe not far distant Africa shall reflect a splendid demonstration o fthe worth of the Negro, of the determination of the Negro, to set himself free and establish a government of his own.
Now I have done. B. S. Turner
March 17, 1825 — Benjamin Sterling Turner, U. S. congressman from Alabama, was born in Weldon, N . C. Turner was born in slavery, was moved to Ala-bama in 1830 and by clandestine study received an education. In 1867 he was elected tax collector of Dallas County, Ala., and in 1869 he became a councilman of the city of Selma. He was elected as a Republican to the 42nd Congress (March 4, 1871-March 3, but was unsuccessful in his bid for a second term. In 1880 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. He became a farmer in Selma until his death in 1894.
MEN OF COLOR, TO ARMS! (Continued from page 14) member that in a contest with oppression, the Almighty has no attribute which can take sides with oppressors. The case is before you. This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it, and forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies. Let us win for ourselves the gratitude of our country, and the best blessings of our posterity through all time. The nucleus of this first regiment is now in camp at Readville, a short distance from Boston. I will undertake to forward to Boston all persons adjudged fit to be mustered into the regiment, who shall apply to me at any time within the next two weeks. Rochester, March 2, 1863. 29
BRO. w. E. B. DUBOIS (Continued from page 22) Not all of the literary-political works can be mentioned, nor all of his magnificent poetry, but his novels and other literary work to deserve this mention. He was the author of Tthe Black Man Brings His Gifts for the book The New Negro (1925) edited by Alain Locke. Before this was his moving novel, The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) and his Gift of Black Folks (1924) Dark water, which contained the Litany appeared in 1920. Perhaps onl yhis friend, James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man exceeded DuBois' beautifully written Dusk of Dawn, The Autobiography of a Race Concept, (1940). Another novel, Dark Princess had appeared in 1928. H ereturned to autobiography in 1952 with his In Battle for Peace, the Story of My 83rd Birthday. His Black Flame trilogy written from 1957 through 1961, when he was in his late eighties and early nineties, covered in a fictional way the story of the Negro people and of Negro-white relations from the Reconstruction period to the middle 1950's. He once wrote of novels in Dusk of Dawn, "I like a good novel and in healthful length of days, there is an infinite joy in seeing the World, the most interesting of continued stories unfold, even though one misses the End." At the Carnegie Memorial, February 23, 1964, Ossie Davis said that "he was a tall leader who cast a shadow so long that you will have to run hard and fast to avoid it." Nearing his 90th birthday, he could write, "I do not apologize for living long. High on the ramparts o fthis blistering hell of life, I sit and see the Truth. I look it full in the face and I will not lie about it neither to myself or to theworld." And from his "Last Testament to the World (1963), he wrote, "One thing alone 1 charge you. As you live, believe in life. Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long."
February 8, 1906—Internationally-famous poet Paul Laurence Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio at the age of 36.
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Locations of Negro Monuments 1. Crispus Attacks Tomb in Boston and plaque at site of Boston Massacre 2. John Brown House in Akron, Ohio, operated as a museum ;also monument in Perkins Park Todd House headquarters, 1854-56, in Tabor, Iowa Memorial Park and cabin in Osawatomie, Kan. 3. George Washington Carver National Memorial at Diamond, Mo., bitrhplace; first national monument in honor of a Negro Marker locates site of Beeler, Kan., homestead Museum at Tuskegee Institute, Ala., houses his scientific materials 4. Frederick Douglass Home in Washington, D.C., recently made a national monument Statue on Morgan College Campus in Baltimore, Md. Memorial in Anacostia, Md. Memorial at Tuckahoe, Md., birthplace Memorial at Staten Island, N.Y. 5. Paul Laurence Dunbar Home of poet in Dayton, Ohio 6. Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable Plaque in Chicago marks homesite of man who founded city 7. Prince Hall Grave in Boston of Revolutionary War soldier and founder of Negro Masons 8. Harpers Ferry National Monument Site of John Brown's raid located at junction of Potomac ahnSdneandoah rivers 9. W. C. Handy Statue of Father of the Blues in Memphis, Tenn., park named after him 10. Matthew Henson Plaque in state house at Annapolis, Md., honors man who accompanied adm. Peary to the North Pole 11. James Weldon Johnson Workshop-cabin in Great Barrington, Mass., maintained as memorial to poet and first NAACP field secretary 12. Negro soldiers monuments in Chicago and Philadelphia 13. Nicodemus, Kas. Site of now-ghost town where Negro freedmen sought to start a new life 14. Shaw monument Group statue in Boston of Col. Robert Gould Shaw and his gallant Negro regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, which won Civil War fame 15. Robert Smalls Statue in Beaufort, S.C., to first Negro captain in American Navy; later a Reconstruction congressman 16. Sojourner Truth Home of ex-slave who became an abolitionist now in Battle Creek, Mich., with grave. She is also memorialized on Soldiers and Sailors monument in Detroit's Cadillac Square 17. Harriet Tubman Auburn, N.Y., home of woman who led 300 slaves to freedom was restored in 1953
Who's Passing for W h o by Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes, noted poet, author, playwright and journalist. Hughes once worked as a youth with Dr. Carter G. Woodson. One of the great difficulties about being a member of a minority race is that so many kind-hearted well-meaning bores gather around to help us. Often, to tell the truth, they really have nothing to help us with, except their company— which may be appallingly dull. Some members of our race seem very well able to put up with it, though. Such was brown-skin Caleb Johnson, social worker, who was always dragging around with him some nondescript white person or two, inviting them to dinner, showing them Harlem, ending up at Small's or the Savoy — much to the displeasure of whatever friends of his might be there that evening for fun, not sociology. Friends are friends and, unfortunately, uplifters are uplifters — not matter what color they may be. If it were the white race that was ground down instead of us, Caleb would be one of the first to offer them the sympathy of his utterly inane society, under the impression that somehow he would be doing them a great deal of good. You see, Caleb and his white friends, too. were all bores — so we psuedosophisticated gentry who lived on the edge of literary Bohemia in the early 1930's thought. We literary ones considered ourselves too broadminded to be bothered with questions of color. We liked people of any race who smoked incessantly, drank liberally, wore both complexion and morality as loose garments, and made fun of anybody who
didin't do likewise. We snubbed and high-hatted any Negro or white luckless enough not to understand Gertrude Stein, Ulysses, Man Ray, the theremin, Dali, or George Antheil. Caleb was just catching up to Hemingway! To tell the truth, he hadn't really gotten quite that far. He thought H. G. Wells was good. We met Caleb one night in a bar .He had three assorted white folks in tow. We would have passed him by with but a nod had he not hailed us enthusiastically, risen, and introduced as with great acclaim to his friends who turned out to be school teachers from Iowa, a women and two men. They appeared amazed and delighted to meet two Negro writers and one black painter in the flesh. They invited us to have a drink with them. Money being scarce with us, we deigned to sit down at their table . The white lady said, "I never met a Negro writer before." The two men added, "Neither have we." "Why, we know any numbers of white writers," we three dark Bohemians declared with bored nonchalance. "But Negro writers are more rare," said the lady. "There are plenty in Harlem," we said. "But not in Iowa," said one of the men, shaking his mop of red hair. "There are no white writers in Iowa, either, are there?" we asked supercilliously. "O, yes, Ruth Suckow came there."
from
Whereupon we proceeded to night in upon Ruth Suckow and annihilate her in favor of Kay Boyle. The way we flung names around seemed to impress both Caleb and his white guests which, of course, delighted us, though we were too young and too proud to admit it, even subconsciously. The drinks came and everything was going well, all of us drinking, and we three showing off in a highbrow manner before those three, when suddenly at the table just behind us a man got up and knocked down a woman .He was
a dark brownskin man and the woman was white and shapely. As she rose he knocked her down again. Then the red haired man from Iowa got up and knocked the colored man down. He yelled, "Keep your hands off that white woman." The colored man got up and said, "She's not a white woman. She's my wife." One of the waiters added, "She's not white, sir, she's colored." Whereupon the white man from Iowa looked puzzled, dropped his fists, and said, I'm sorry." The colored man said, "What are you doing up here in Harlem anyway interfering in my family affairs?" The white man said, "I thought she was a white woman." The woman who had been on the floor rose and said, "Well, I'm not a white woman, I'm colored, and you leave my husband alone." Then they both lit in on the gentleman from Iowa. It took all of us and three waiters, too, to separate them. When it was over the manager requested us to kindly pay our bill and get out. He said we were disturbing the peace. So we all left. We went to a fish restaurant a few doors down the street. Caleb was terribly apologetic to his white friends. We artists were both mad and amused. "Say." said the colored painter to the chivalrous white, "why did you say you were sorry after you'd hit that man — and then found out it wasn't a white woman you were defending, but merely a light colored woman who looked white?" "Well," answered the red haired lowan, "I didn't mean to be butting in if they were all the same race." "Don't you think a woman needs defending from a brute, no matter what race she may be?" "Yes, but I think it's up to you colored men to defend your own women." (Continued on page 33)
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SOJOURNER TRUTH
NIAGARA MOVEMENT . . .
PETITION TO CONGRESS
(Continued from page 13)
(Continued from page 23)
(Continued from page 15)
abashed, hung her poor old head nearly down to her lap; but Sojourner, nothing daunted, looked fearlessly about. At length one of the ladies called out, in a weak, faint voice, "Conductor, conductor, does niggers ride in these cars?" He hesitatingly answered, "Ye yea-yes," to which she responded, " T i s a shame and a disgrace. They ought to have a nigger car on the track." Sojourner remarked, "Of course colored people ride in the cars. Street cars are degisned, for poor white, and colored, folks, and will take them 2 or 3 miles for sixpence. Then ask for a nigger car!! Carriages are for ladies and gentlemen." Promptly acting upon this hint, they arose to leave. "Ah!" said Sojourner, "now they are going to take a carriage. Good by, ladies."
Agitation: Of the above grievances we do not hesitate to complain, and to complain loudly and insistently. To ignore, overlook, or apologize for these wrongs is to prove ourselves unworthy of freedom. Persistent manly agitation is the way to liberty, and toward this goal the Niagara Movement has started and asks the cooperation of all men of all races. Help: At the same time we want to acknowledge with deep thankfulness the help of our fellowmen from the abolitionist down to those who today still stand for equal opportunity and who have given and will give of their wealth and of their poverty for our advancement.
33. Spears taken from his room at Harrodsburg by disguised men Jan. 19, 1869. 34. Albert Bradford killed by disguised men in Scott County, Jan. 20, 1869. 35. Ku Klux whipped boy at Standford March 12, 1869. 36. Mob attacked Frank Bournes house in Jessamine County. Roberts killed March 1869. 37. Geo. Bratcher hung by mob on sugar creek in Garrard County March 30, 1869. 38. John Penny hung by a mob at Nevada Mercer County May 29, 1869. 39. Ku Klux whipped Lucien Green in Lincoln County June 1869. 40. Miller whipped by Ku Klux in Madison County July 2nd, 1869. 41. Chas. Henderson shot and his wife killed by mob on silver creek Madison County July 1869. 42. Mob decoy from Harrodsburg and hangs Geo. Boiling July 17, 1869. 43. Disguised band visited home of I. C. Vanarsdall and T. J. Vanarsdall in Mercer County July 18, 1869. 44. Mob attack Ronsey's house in Casey County three men and one woman killed July 1869. 45. James Crowders hung by mob near Lebanon Merion County Aug. 9, 1869. 46. Mob tar and feather a citizen of Cynthiana in Harrison County Aug. 1869. 47. Mob whipped and bruised a Negro in Davis County Sept. 1869. 48. Ku Klux burn colored meetinghouse in Carrol County Sept. 1869. 49. Ku Klux whipped a Negro at John Carmins's farm in Fayette County Sept. 1869. 50. Wiley Gevens killed by Ku Klux at Dixon Webster County Oct. 1869. 51. Geo. Rose killed by Ku Klux near Kirkville in Madison County Oct. 18, 1869. 52. Ku Klux ordered Wallace Sinkhorn to leave his home near Parkville Boyle County Oct. 1869. 53. Man named Shepherd shot by mob near Parksville Oct. 1869. 54. Regulator killed Geo. Tanhely in Lincoln County Nov. 2nd, 1869.
Mrs. Laura Haviland, a widely known philanthropist, spent several months in the same hospital and sometimes went about the city with Sojourner to procure necessaries for the invalids. Returning one day, being much fatigued, Mrs. Haviland proposed to take a car although she was well aware that a white person was seldom allowed to ride if accompanied by a blac kone. "As Mrs. Haviland signaled the car," says Sojourner, "I stepped one side as if to continue my walk and when it stopped I ran and jumped aboard. The conductor pushed me back, saying, 'Get out of the way and let this lady come in.' Whoop said I, I am a lady too. We met with no further opposition till we were obliged to change cars. A man coming out as we were going into the next car, asked the conductor if 'niggers were allowed to ride.' The conductor grabbed me by the shoulder and jerking me around, ordered me to get out. I told him I would not. Mrs. Haviland took hold of my other arm and and said, 'Don't put her out.' The conductor asked if I belonged to her. 'No,' replied Mrs. Haviland, 'She belongs to humanity.' 'Then take her and go,' said he, and giving me another push slammed me against the door. I told him I would let him know whether he could shove me about like a dog, and said to Mrs. Haviland, Take the number of this car. "At this, the man looked alarmed, and gave us no more trouble. When we arrived at the hospital, the surgeons were called in to examine my shoulder and
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Duties: And while we are demanding, and ought to demand, and will continue to demand the rights enumerated above, God forbid that we should ever forget to urge corresponding duties upon our people: The duty to vote.
The duty to respect the rights of others. The duty to work. The duty to obey the laws. The duty to be clean and orderly. The duty to send our children to school. The duty to respect ourselves, even as we respect others. This statement, complaint and prayer we submit to the American people, and Almgihty God.
found that a bone was misplaced. I complained to the president of the road, who advised me to arrest the man for assault and battery. The Bureau furnished me a lawyer, and the fellow lost his situation. It created a great sensation, and before the trial was ended, the inside of the cars looked like pepper and salt; and I felt, like, Poll Parrot, 'Jack, I am riding.' A little circumstance will show how great a change a few weeks had produced: A lady saw some colored women looking wistfully toward a car, when the conductor, halting, said, "Walk in, ladies.' Now they who had so lately cursed me for wanting to ride, could stop for black as well as white, and could even condescend to say, "Walk in, ladies'."
Editor Note: Further acts of violence were listed. Mobs and KKK were involved in the beatings and killings through November and December 1869.
WHO'S PASSING FOR WHO (Continued from page 31) "Oh, so you'd divide up a brawl according to races — no matter who was right?" "Well, I wouldn't say that." "You mean you wouldn't defend a colored woman whose husband was knocking her down?" asked the poet. But before he had time to answer, the poet answered for him. "No! You just got mad because you thought a black man was hitting a white woman." . . "Maybe she was just passing for colored," I said. "Like some Negroes pass for white," Caleb interposed.
We all ordered fish and settled down comfortably to shocking our white friends with tales about how many Negroes there are passing for white all over America. We were all set to apater le bourgeois real good via this white couple, when the lady leaned over the table and whispered to us, "Listen, gentlemen, you needn't spread the word, but me and my husband here aren't white either. We've just been passing for white for the last fifteen years. "Hugh?" "We're colored, too, just like you," said the husband. "But it's better passing for white because we make more money."
"Anyhow, I don't like it," said the artist, "the way you stopped defending her when you found out she wasn't white."
Well that took the wind out of us. It took all the wind out of Caleb, too. He thought all the time he was showing some fine white folks Harlem — and here these two were colored.
"No, we don't like it," we all agreed except Caleb.
Caleb almost never cursed, but this time he said, "Well, I'll be damned!"
Caleb said in extenuation, "But Mr. Stubblefield is new to Harlem."
Then everybody laughed and laughed. We almost had hysterics. At once we all dropped our professional manners, got natural, ate fish, and talked and kidded freely like colored folks do when there're no white folks around. We really had fun joking about that red haired guy who mistook a fair colored woman for white. After the fish, we went to two or three more night spots and drank and talked till five o'clock in the morning.
The red haired man said, "Yes, it's my first time here." "Maybe Mr. Stubblefield out to stay out of Harlem," we observed. "I agree," "Goodnight."
Mr.
Stubblefield
said.
He got up then and there and left the cafe. He stalked as he walked. His red head disappeared into the night. "Oh, that's too bad," said the white couple. "Stubby's temper just got the best of him. But explain to us, are many colored folks really as fair as that woman?" z "Sure, lots of them have more white blood than colored, and plenty pass for white." "Do they?" said the lady and gentleman from Iowa. "You never read Nella Larsen?" we asked. "She writes novels," Caleb explained. "She's part white herself." "Read her," we advised. "Also read AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EN-COLORED MAN." Not that we had read it ourselves — because we paid but little attention to the older colored writers — but we knew it was about passing for white.
Finally we put the light-colored couple in a taxi. They turned to shout a last goodbye. The cab was just about to move off, when the woman called to the driver to stop. She leaned out of the window and said with a grin, "Say listen, boys! I hate to confuse you again. But to tell the truth, my husband and I aren't really colored at all. We're white. We just thought we'd kid you by passing for colored a little while — just as you say Negroes sometimes pass for white." She laughed as they sped off, waving "Goodbye!" We didn't say a thing. We stood dumfounded — not knowing now which way we'd been fooled. Were those two really white — passing for colored? Or colored — passing for white? Whatever they were, they had had too much fun at our expense — even if they did pay for the drinks.
Black Medic Students are Victims of Subtle Racism Many medical schools are guilty of subtle racism in their training of black students, a health educator charged at an American Medical Assn. meeting. poor quality medicine." "Teaching institutions have an obligation to inform students of the ghetto's complex health problems," said Dr. M. Alfred Haynes, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "This obligation cannot be met by accepting a few black students and hoping they will practice only in the ghetto. Black Physician "Black medical students are the objects of a subtle form of racism," Dr. Haynes told a meeting at the AMA's Congress on Medical Education at the Palmer House. "Many institutions are willing to train black students for the ghetto, but other students are expected to enjoy a free choice." Once a Negro graduates from a predominately white medical school, Dr. Haynes said, he faces other dilemmas. "If the black physician establishes practice in the suburbs, he obviously lacks social consciousness and his white colleagues wonder why so few black physicians practice in the ghetto. If he practices in the ghetto, they assume he is incompetent, for why would a competent physician practice in the ghetto? Competitive Market "If he practices in the ghetto, he may have to see more patients than optimal because thre are so few physicians there. As a result, he is charged with practicing poor quality medicine." The prospective black medical student, Dr. Haynes said, is not limtied today to mainly black schools such as Howard University and Meharry Medical College in Nashville ,Tenn. "If he is a brilliant student, he may be courted, seduced, bought, and before he knows it, actually auctioned to the highest bidder in a fierce, competitive market of predominantly white schools looking for black students. "For most black students, however, this is not the case. . . The many years of educational disadvantage may have reduced academically his chances of selection to medical school to one-tenth or less that of the average white student." (Continued on page 37)
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GOING WITH THE WIND (Continued on page 7) Sargent Shriver spoke of this wave of negativism at the University of California last October and challenged the gloom of those would be pessimists and ingrates among us—those who proclaim that "things are so bad they could hardly get worse." After cataloging the condiiitions of church irrelevance, education's impersonalization, government's remoteness, violences spiritual and physical domination, bureaucracies' pompousness, businesses' emptiness, societies' suicidalness and the nihilistic, anarchic, absurd signs of our time, sarge reasoned Yet the very words 'things are bad' automatically separates the speaker— the onlooker—from the world at whiich he looks. When a man says 'things are bad' he has almost stopped looking. He sees so much that's repulsive, he can hardly keep his eyes open. And the worst part of the badness, he sees, is himself—the cop-out, the quitter, the fugitive. Yet even in these times—our times—unprecedented bursts—explosions of empathy— have occured. The war against poverty is such an explosion and for all of its well publicized and much distorted shortcomings, it is still one of the finest hours of the 1960's. For all of the cries against it, both from friends and from foes, the fact that such an entity could be born among us for whatever the variety of reasons, pro and con, is the great hope of our possibilities as a nation. Nothing outside the armed forces has done so much to transform the attitudes and aspirations of people, black and white, poor and rich, north and south, from an unthinking, nonsensiical separation to a restrained, but consistent sharing of mutual needs. Head start has created racial cooperation, adult enlightenment and child growth where neither existed before. Job corps has literally transformed and renewed thousand of kids whom society had given up on or forsaken. Community action has inspired neighborhood after neighborhood to begin lifting itself out of poverty through its own self-help. Vista has spurned a greater voluntary involvement of Americans in the development of their own people than any similar organization of its kind in the known history of the world.
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All this—so little, so inadequate—yet so very much more than before. Growing pangs, system resistance, misunderstanding, mistakes, experimentation—all these have hurt—and helped, have hindered and motivated—but still the antipoverty beat goes on. In a sense, properly understood, oeo is an attempt to achieve excellence in performance by giving the disadvantaged and the inopportune an equal or better chance to achieve excellence in preparation. Our theme is, in short, a hand up—not a hand out. Through allowing the less fortunate access to the highest social tools and values of the society, We hope to bring about real progress through social chance rather than upheaval. Our modus opperandi have been innovation and coordination. Our target has been the poor —the paradox of poverty in the most affluent land on earth—about 30 million in all, two-thirds of which are white anl that doesn't include the indians, oriental and Spanish americans—who are now included among the non-white. Still, as you have gathered from all sorts of news media all across this land, the war on poverty is allegedly in trouble — though it might be hard to prove when it was not. Conceived at a time of expanded commitment abroad and urban unrest at home, it is understandable that it would become a convenient scapegoat for ills it did not conceive nor could prevent. As the first federal program which by-passed city hall to put money into the hands of those directly affected by it, it had to—of necessity—cause considerable alarm. As the first comprehensiive advocate for the poor, irrespectiive of origin, it had to also of necessity, disturb the well organized relationships that had denied the poor their just place at the captain's table. Research oriented, it invested in people as total beings rather than disected specimens or guinea pigs. Then there was the mythology surrounding the protestant work ethis and the welfare state as quoted continually out of context by many who misunderstand. Reads proverbs, 6th chapter, 6th verse, "Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her way and be wise" and answers Leviticus, 25th chapter, verse 35, "And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, thou shalt relieve him. Yea though he be a stranger or a sojourner so that we may live with thee."
Between these two opposites has OEO grown and in spite of the narrow, tightrope connecting them—has maintained its shaky balance while constructing its own platform. I'm happy to report tonight that in spitee of the agony of budgetary debate, congressional criticism and pubic recriimination, over 2.4 million americans (1.7 million white and 700,000 non-white) have moved out of poverty each year since oeo was conceived in 1964. In 1967 alone, almost three million people—1.9 million whites and one million non-whites—made the exodus from poverty—the largest known number in at least ten years or more, incidentally, the number of non-whites leaving poverty last year exceeded the total number of Americans doing the same during the entire five year period prior to the launching of the war on poverty program. As such we can conclude that there appears to be a direct relationship between the anti-poverty throust of the past four years and the lessening of poverty in the nation. But as we all know, this is far from satisfactory—and we at OEO are painfully aware of this, too many poor remain. Moreover, some leaders proclaim we are not relevant to the needs of poor people. Others claim we are not tight enough in our management or resources. A partially successful research and demonstration program in Chicago drums more national attention and blanket condemnation than the crashing of four, multi-million dollar experimental TFX fighter planes—which were developed in considerable more questionablenessJand far in excess of a billion dollars in cost. Yet, despite these seemingly perpetual difficulties, I can say to each of you tonight that the current head of this agency —firmly believes in its program—and is tenaciously pursuing its aims and its objectives as a unit, with all his energy and vigor—and the complete support of the president. It is an underlying assumption of the theme which moves this convention this week that without the spiritual and physical enrichment and opportunity to prepare, one's self, it is almost ludicrous—except for supermen—to seek excellence in preparation. And dare you dream of performance? Did not aristotle proclaim that "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime." (Continued next issue)
Brother R. F. Jacox Joins IIMfiL Urban Studies Center St. Louis, Mo. . . Robert F. Jacox, an experienced urban researchs pecialist and education administrator, has joined the staff of the Univesrity of MissouriSt. Louis Center of Community and Metropolitan Studies. A native of Maury City, Tennessee, Jacox previously served as a consultant in the development of a compresensive Black Studies Program, begun last September at Princeton Univesrity. He is also experienced in the development of "compensatory" educational programs for academically talented, but culturally and economically deprived youth, having participated in the development of remedial educational programs at both Columbia and Louisville Universities. Jacox holds two master's degrees ,in sociology and in education administration, both from Tennessee State University. He also holds a bachelor of arts degree from Lane College (Tennessee). He resides at 4739 South Spring Avenue, St. Louis. A former curriculum consultant to the Indianapolis School Board, Jacox was on the faculty of Coahoma State college (Mississippi) from 1963 to 1965. From 1950 to 1963 he was supervising principal at a Henning (Tennessee) junior high school. He is the author of two articles, "Task of Educational Institutions of Higher Learning" (in relation to social problems,, and "Quality Education for Minority Groups." The works appeared, respectively, in the publications "Mississippi Educational Journal" and "Tennessee Broadcaster Magazine." Listed in "Who's Who in American Education" and a life member of the National Education Association, Jacox is also a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He belongs to the National Secondary, the Missouri State and the Suburban principals associations and the Missouri State Teachers Association.
Brother Haskell
Cleveland Schools Appoint
Heads Wilmington
BROTHER TANNER
Model Cities Program A native of this city, and Army veteran, and a graduate from both Lincoln and Howard University, has been named by Mayor Harry G. Haskell, Jr., as director of Wilmington's Model Cities Program. Appointed to the post, mendation of the West Neighborhood Council, has T. Myers, 44, of 801 West
upon recomSide Model been William st.
The "major appointment' 'made by Haskell will carry the salary of $16,000 per annum. He announced at the time of his appointment that he (Myers) will name for himself a deputy director in the near future. THE FEDERAL government on Sept. 6, under the Model Cities Program, granted Wilmington $117,000 for the program. The City of Wilmington has added another $29,000 in cash and services to get the program under way. The announcement was made at a West Side Council meeting recently held iny a small room of the West Presbyterian Church, 8th and Washington sts. eastern summit of the area frequently referred to as "The Valley" since the civil disturbance of nearly last year. Meyers, a Howard High School graduate, received his bachelor's degree from Lincoln, and the master's degree from Howard University. He spent two years in the Army during World War II. He is married and the father of five children. THE NEW Haskell appointee's professional career includes work as a psychiatric social worker at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Pennsylvania, including work as a supervisor. He also has been a social worker in the Veterans Administration Hospital system, and supervised student social work at Bryn Mawr College. He is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the Academy of Certified Social Workers, president of the West Center Neighborhood Association, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
CLEVELAND — Bro. James R. Tanner has been named assistant superintendent for curriculum of Cleveland school. He is a fervent believer in the idea that non-whites can achieve equality within the American system. Bro. Tanner, 47, admits that he believes wholeheartily in the American dream. "I do not believe we can improve the system be destroying it." he says. * * * A Cum Laude graduate of Wilberforce University, Bro. Tanner, also holds a master's degree in guidance from Teachers' College, Columbia Univesrity. At first he was rejected by the Cleveland school system when he applied to be a counselor in 1960. But he was later hired as a home-school visitor for the High Community Project, financed by the Ford Foundation. The reason given for not hiring him for counselling post was that he was unfamiliar with the school system. Since joining the school admiinstration, Bro. Tanner has become a frequent consultant to the U. S. Office of Education on all phases of urban schools systems, including teacher preparation.
*
*
*
At 10, Bro. Tanner, the fifth of eight children of a Portsmouth barber, was a shoeshine boy. He was the first in his family to finish high school and to win a college degree. At Wilberforce, he joined others in picketing restaurants and theaters in that public accommodations.
35
Brother K. H. Berthoud, Jr. of Mu Lambda Chapter
Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth H. Berthoud, Jr., USMC Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth H. Barthoud, Jr. assumed his current assignment as Special Advisor for Negro Officer Procurement, G-l Division, Headquarters Marine Corps., in July 1957. Kenneth Herman Berthoud, Jr. was born December 28, 1928, in New York, New York, and attended grammar and high schools there, graduating from Evander Childs High School in 1946. He attended Lincoln University for two years prior to entering Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York, where he was graduated with an A.B. degree in October 1952. A member of the U.S. Naval Reserve from July 1947 until August 1952, he was discharged to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on August 11, 1952. He entered the Platoon Leaders Unit, 5th Marine Corps Reserve and Recruitment District, in Arlington, Virginia. In September, he was transferred to the 4th Training Battalion, The Basic School, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia. After completing the course, he was commissioned a Marine Corps Reserve second lieutenant on December 13, 1952. He accepted permanent appointment in the Regular Marine Corps on July 13, 1953. After completing the 20th Special Basic Course, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, Lieutenant Berthoud served as an Instructor's Assistant, Operations and Training Group at The Basic School until September 1953.
36
From September 1953 until March 1954, he saw duty as Company Commander, First Provisional Casual Battalion, F M F , Pacific Troops; Platoon Company "A", 3rd AmTrac Battalion, FMF; and Platoon Comamnder, 325 Company, 4th Replacement Battalion, Staging Regiment, respectively, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California. He then served for five months as Patoon Leader wih Company "D", 3rd Tank Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, FMF. He was promoted to first lieutenant in August 1954. Lieutenant Berthoud's next tour of duty was as S-2 Officer, and, later, Company Executive Officer/Company Commander, Company "A", 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Rein), F M F . During this assignment, he completed the Associate Armored Company Officers Course at the Armored School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, in September 195, and the Supply Officers Course, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in April 1957. He was promoted to captain in July 1956. Transferred to the Marine Corps Supply Activity, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in July 1957, Captain Berthoud was assigned duties as Assistant Head, and, later, Head, Warehousing Branch, Material Division, until August 1958, when he became Assistant Head, Supply Branch, Support Division there, serving in the latter capacity until July 1960. Following that assignment, he returned to Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, to become Officer in Charge, Budget and Requirements Branch, Base Material Battalion, 1st Force Service Regiment Center, Barstow, California, he served as Data Processing Planning Officer until June 1966. He was promoted to major in November 1963. In July 1966, Major Berthoud became Battalion Operations Officer, Supply Battalion, 1st Force Service Regiment, Force Logistics Command, in the Republic of Vietnam, and served in that capacity until June 1967. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in October 1967. A complete list of his medals and decorations includes: the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V", the National Defense Service Medal with one bronze star, the Korean Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Corner A BLACK SOLDIER'S PRAYER "DEAR GOD" I'm asking you tonight To think of me each day, I'd like to feel that as I fight, You're with me all the way. The call to arms I followed Because I thought it right, The cause itself seems hallowed In all my people's sight. Perhaps I'm just a fool To risk my life again, Maybe I'm just a tool For bigger craftier men . Am I just cannon fodder? Some people say 'tis so, They say, why do you bother? Your glory will be woe. But I've a strong conviction This is Our fight And contrary to some fiction— Two wrongs don't make a right. Freedom will never be ours If we stand idle by, This is no time to cower It's a case of do or die. And when this was is over For myself I'll ask no glory , But Great God; I pray with fervor That we'll have a different story. That my people in that day may stand In our great united land And know a new day's begun. That's why I fight, Dear God; I know that I'm not wrong; And before I rest beneath the sod. May we all sing freedom's song. By Mrs. Anne M. Harper
(7-Jroiher oLloud
_^r. ^rralt.
. .
Pioneered in Food Engineering
An ex-slave who became one of the leading scientists of this nation. He experimented with the peanut at Tuskegee Institute, and is responsible for the many by-products that business has produced over the years. He was also an expert artist, painting with oils made from peanuts.
George Washington Carver Commemorative Coin. (1951) NEW YORK — Letters of George Washington Carver, Negro scientist born of slave parentage, were sold to collectors Thursday night at an auction in the Waldorf Astoria. It was one of the first times the letters of a Negro brought substantial amounts. Three letters brought $250, another three $140 and several individual letters $80 each. Carver devised 300 products from peanuts.
* Dr. Lloyd A. Hall
While at Griffith Laboratories, Brother Hall was instrumental in developing such innovations as hydrolyzed vegetable proteins fo renhancing the flavor of foods, prague powder for curing meats, arterial pumping for curing hams faster, sterilization procedures for controlling bacteria and anti-oxident chemicals for preventing rancidity. In addition, Brother Hall gained fame as president and general manager of the Chemical Products Corporation of Chicago. Thousands of black men and women have contributed significantly to the development of the meat processing industry. Their influence is felt at many levels of the industry, from the development of new methods and ingredients to the manufacture and sale of finished products. Among the most noteworthy contributions to the industry has been the research of Brother Lloyd Augustus Hall, who for more than 30 years was the chief chemist and research director
for Griffith Laboratories in Chicago, a major supplier of spices and other ingredients for food processors, including Oscar Mayer & Co. Now 75 years old and retired, Brother Hall has left a legacy of 25 patents and numerous reserach findings which helped modernize and advance the meat processing industry. In addition, he has left an outstanding record as a research chemist and chief assistant inspector for the U. S. Army during World War I. Our nation,
Black Medics (Continued from page 33) Dr. Lloyd C. Elam, president of Meharry Medical College, answered critics of mainly black colleges such as Meharry, which was established in 1876. "The Negro medical school grew out of a culture which America would like to forget — they were brought about becuase other schools would not admit Negroes. Because these schools remind us of things which black and white Americans would like to forget, it is easy to blame these schools for the ills which they set about to cure." —Chicago Sun Times industry and company are indeed indebted to Brother Hall, and the many other Black Americans like him ,for their outstanding contributions to the growth and development of our country.
37
m
HENRY TANNER Ljreat r\eiiqiou5
ALPHA WORKSHOP
J-^ainter
Tanner, the son of Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner, of the American Methodist Church, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., received his early art training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, here in Philadelphia where he fell under the influence of the great Thomas Eakins. Believing benefactors sent him to study under Laurens and Benjamin Constant at the Academie Julian in Paris. An increasing interest in and success with religious subjects brought about a trip to the Holy Land, sponsored by Rodman Wanamaker in 1898. WON GOLD MEDAL Not many people remembered or even knew that in 1897 a painting called "The Raising of Lazarus" painted by this American Negro, won a gold medal at the Paris Salon, and was purchased by the Luxembourg. In 1899 his "Annunciation" was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and bought for the Wilstack Collection in Fairmount Park and now hangs in the galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the Parkway. That same year his painting "Judah" was bought for the Carnegie Institute .The following year his "Nicodemus" won the Lippincott prize and was accorded a silver medal at the Paris Exposition. More medals and prizes followed in rapid succession, both here and abroad and he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in France. America began recognizing the greatness of Tanner. He was made an Associate of the National Academy, in 1909 and became a full academician in 1930. Pittsburgh named him one of her "Twenty Immortals."
Laurence
T. Young,
General
Secretary
63rd ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION COMMITTEE Kermit J. Hall, Director Brother A. C. Herald, Jr., Chairman Lillard G. Ashley Brother Horace A. Williams F. B. McWilliams Brother Napoleon L. Forte Leven C. Weiss Brother Isidore J. Lamothe, Jr. Richard Davidson Brother James A. Green Hoyt H. Harper Brother W. Decker Clarke Brother James W. Hewitt The 64th Anniversary Convention will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Accordingly, the Eastern Vice President, Brothers R. Allan Durrant and James W. Hewitt have been placed on the 63rd Anniversary Committee. A O A Note: ARTICLE II, Section 5, sub-section 5.2 states: "Convention Committees and such other special committees as may become necessary shall be appointed by the General President from amongst members registered at the General Conventoin." 5.1 The following shall be Committees of the General Convention: (a) Committee on Rules and Credentials (b) Committee on Recommendations (c) Committee on Awards and Achievements (d) Committee on Grievances and Discipline (e) Committee on Resolutions" ARTICLE II, Section 6, sub-section 6.1 states: "The General President shall appoint the Officials of the General Convention, who shall include, but shall not necessarily be limited to the following: Parliamentarian, Chaplain, Seageant at Arms." REGIONAL CONVENTIONS Eastern Regional Convention Baltimore, Maryland May 9, 10 , 1 1, 1969 April 11', :12, 13, 1969 Midwestern Regional Convention St. Louis, Missouri Southern Regional Convention Jacksonville, Florida April 4, 5. 6, 1969 Southwestern Reg. Convention April 4, 5, 6, 1969 Dallas, Texas Western Regional Convention April 4, 5. •6. 1969 Las Vegas, Nevada 63rd ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION The 63rd Anniversary Convention will be held August 2 - 7 , 1969 at Houston. Texas with headquarters at the Shamrock-Hilton Hotel. The Convention theme is: "BLACK POWER: A CREATIVE FORCE IN AMERICA'S COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT." This theme will be implemented via seminars and discussions on the contributions black Americans have made to the arts, science, history, industry and business. Out of these seminars and discussions we hope to develop an affirmative program to identify and make Alpha Phi Alpha relevant to the crucial problems confronting black Americans today. Brother Brother Brother Brother Brother Brother
MOVED OR CHANGED ADDRESS WORK WAS IGNORED Tanner died at his home in Normandy in 1937 — full of years and honors, internationally famous for his religious paintings which were represented in the major museums ow two continents. For reasons of racial discrimination, a oneman show of his work had not been held in an important American art institution since 1890, until the Philadelphia Art Alliance presented a memorial exhibition of his paintings in 1957. resent historical
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If so, please fill in the information (type or print) requested below and return to the Editor, Alpha Phi Alpha General Headquarters, 4432 Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60653 Name Chapter New Address City
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Zip
Old Address City State Zip Send $1.00 if you want the Memorial issue. Changes of address received from the Post Office are expensive and sometimes inaccurate. The return of this coupon will enable us to up-date your master membership records and assure delivery of T H E SPHINX.
Blacks on the M o v e in Politics... Nine Black U. S. Congressmen Marks an Ail-Time High On the national level, black political representation reached an all time high, exceeding even the previous high water mark of seven congressmen reached during the Reconstruction year of 1873-74. There are currently nine black members of Congress and one U. S. Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, the sole Republican in the "top ten." SHIRLEY CHISOLM The 91st Congress made history even before it began when Mrs. Shirley Chisolm of New York's 12th District (the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn) beat out ex-Core leader James Farmer for the trip to Washington, becoming the first black woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. Two other black freshmen were elected in 1968. They are Louis Stokes, Carl's brother, and militant young William Clay of St. Louis. They have now joined Representatives Augustus Hnwkins of Los Angeles, John Conyers of Detroit, Charles Diggs of Detroit, 82-year-old William Dawson of Chicago, the returned prodigal from Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell, and Philadelphia's Robert N. C. Nix. MAY REACH 25 Based on redistricting ordered by the Supreme Court in 1964 (Mrs. Chisolm was elected in a newly created district) many observers freely predict that the number of Negro representatives will swell to at least 25. Others of a more historical bent cast a baleful eye back to Reconstruction and see a number of ominous parallels. The brilliant and much maligned (by Whites) Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania led the fight in Congress to insure fair treatment for the newly freed slaves. Stevens and his band of followers in Congress forced the president and Army to protect the fragile voting rights of the new citizens by the point of a bayonet if necessary.
FIRST NEGROES Due to Steven's power in Congress and Union guns in the South, the first black senators and congressmen made their appearances. Southern state legislatures saw the emergence of the so-called "black and tan" sessions. Despite vicious distortions by southern or southern oriented historians, these legislatures, composed of blacks and proUnion whites, wrote almost all of the progressive legislation now on the books in the South. Many well meaning persons thought the milennium was just around the corner. Instead, it ended with a dull thud after less than 10 years. The old lion, Stevens, was dead— buried at his own request in a black cemetery in Lancaster. Pa. White America was "sick to death of the infernal niggers." Their black dependents had become a political liability to the more conservative Republican Party. In 1877, they betrayed blacks to gain the presidency. Protecting Federal troops were withdrawn from the South. The old slaving oligarchy was returned to power and a reign of terror and any white who dared speak against it. BOND'S F U T U R E The brilliant, charistmatic Julian Bond, who is rumored to be on the verge of running for Congress himself from Atlanta, has warned black people repeatedly that the horrors of postReconstruction may be upon us again with the election of Richard Nixon, a conserative Republican, to the White House. Others have pointed out that the gains made during the Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson years could be compared, in the proper context, with the frantic pace of Reconstruction. The warning is printed in large letters carved into the wall of the Archives of the United States — "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." —Philadelphia Tribune
Black Mayors of Metropolitan Communities
Mayor Hatcher
Mayor Stokes
With Carl Stokes of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher of Gary, leading the way, black mayors and city managers are no longer "political freaks."
39
A FRIEND PASSES
McGill
By Hugh M. Gloster President Morehouse College "I do not know that I have ever experienced grief and shock to match that which I felt the evening when my wife called upstairs and said, "Hugh, a report has just come over the radio that Ralph McGill has died of a heart attack." "Upon hearing this sad and startling news, I was first speechless and stunned. Then tears filled my eyes and grief filled my heart as I thought of the inestimable loss that his passing would mean to Atlanta, to Georgia, to the South, to the United States, and to the world. "Ralph McGill was, first of all, a world citizen — a lover of humanity. He overleaps the barriers of nationality, race, creed, and class, and extended the hand of brotherhood to all men. In my travels through Europe, Asia, and Africa I frequently heard people of other lands refer to the compassionate publisher of the Atlanta Constitution. "He was a man who was not a stranger among foreigners. He had a rare empathy which enabled him to love and understand people who came from different lands and cultures. "But Ralph McGill's status as a world citizen did not diminish his love and concern for his nation, his state, and his city. "On the national scene Ralph McGill was a prominent figure who spoke with logic an dlearning on the foreign and domestic problems that beset this country. As a columnist and as a lecturer, he kept before us our national heritage, never letting the American people forget their religious and political ideals. He never forget the Golden Rule, which is the foundation of Christian teaching, or our democratic dream, which guarantees freedom, justice and equality for all citizens.
40
"But perhaps dearest of all to Ralph McGill was his Southland, which embraces his Georgia and his Atlanta. Because he loved the South deeply, he criticized her severely. "The South prefers silence about her sins, but Ralph McGill exposed these sins to the world because he knew that throwing the spotlight of truth upon them would weaken and eventually destroy them. Prejudiced men reviled and threatened Ralph McGill, but he ignored their vilification and menacing words and used his brilliant tongue and pen to tell the terrible truths about Dixie. Demagogues called Ralph McGill an enemy of the South, but he was in fact the South's best friend. He castigated Dixie because he cherished her. "Because Ralph McGill was a lover of all mankind, he was a friend of Negroes who have endured three and a half centures of slavery and a century of segregation in this country. Being well acquainted with the shackles that hold the Negro in an inferior position, he did everything in his power to lessen and break these bonds. American black men, like other oppressed and exploited people throughout the world, knew that Ralph was their friend. "Many people do not know that Ralph McGill was a Morehouse man, having received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at Morehouse College in 1962. As a Morehouse man, he was loyal and true. He frequently attended college programs and gave liberally toschool financial campaigns. "Moreover he was always available for counsel and cooperation; and only a fortnight ago I talked with him in his office for two hours about some of the problems that I am facing as President of Morehouse College. "I shudder to think of a future in which I shall not have the benefit of th advice and assistance of one of the finest and best spirits among the alumni of Morehouse College. "Ralph McGill is gone. Like millions who have preceded him, he has passed from life into history. But all of us who survive him know that he has made the world a better place as a result of his good works and that he has left us a shining example of what a worthy life can be.
Bro. Edwin
T. Pratt
Bro. Edwin T. Pratt, executive director of the Seattle Urban League, was assassinated by gunmen who ambushed him at his home, Jan. 26. The brutal act followed threats on his life. A team of League officials, headed by regional director Henry Talbert and Field Services director Sterling Tucker, rushed to Seattle to investigate. Whitney M. Young, Jr., who joined them, hailed Pratt as "one of our most highly regarded executives, an aggressive, committed fighter for equality." He was a pioneer in combating housing discrimination. Bro. Pratt had been execeutive director in Seattle since 1961, and held many professional and community posts and honors. The Seattle UL has established an Edwin T. Pratt Memorial Fund. More information is available from Jerome W. Page, acting director, Seattle Urban League, 6210 Smith Tower, 506 Second St., Seattle, Washington. Brother Pratt was a member of Zeta Pi Lambda Chapter. We regretfully announce the transfer to OMEGA CHAPTER of the following Brothers: William M. Martin. Livingston. Ala. Orlando S. Moss, New Orleans, L a . ' Perry D. G. Pennington, Baltimore. Md. Harry G. Bragg, New York, N. Y. W. G. Ewell, Chicago. III. Charles P. Howard, New York, N. Y. Dan R. Miller, Helena. Ark.
THE HOUSE OF ALPHA GOODWILL is the monarch of this house. Men, unacquainted, enter, shake hands, exchange greetings and depart friends. Cordiality exists among all who abide within. HERE IS the eminent expression of friendship. Character and temperament change under its dominant power. Lives once touched within become tuned and are thereafter amiable, kindly, fraternal. The musician is inspired to play noble sentiments and the chemist is helped to convert ungenerous personalities into individuals of great worth. Ignoble impulses are destroyed and, in their stead, are born exalted principles which make for common brotherhood whose impulses resound in all communities and princely men are thereby recognized. EDUCATION, health, music, laughter, encouragement, sympathy—all of these are species of interest given on self-invested capital. Tired moments find it a delightful retreat; hours of sorrow, a shrine of understanding. At all times it is faithful to the creed of companionship. TO A FEW, this is a castle of dreams—ambitious, hopeful, successful dreams. To many, it is a poetic palace where human feeling is rhymed to celestial motives. To the great majority, it is a treasury of good fellowship. THE SCHOOL of friendship; the college of brotherly love; the university for the better making of the man,
This Is Alpha Phi Alpha! —By Sydney P. Brown, Xi Lambda
The Sphinx 4432 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Chicago, Illinois 60653
Second Class Postage Paid Chicago, Illinois
Return Requested
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