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^•CAMPUS zMIRROR
Published During the College Year by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
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Volume X December 15, 1933 No. 3
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Secretary Frances Perkins
Visits Spelman College
Spelman College was honored recently
by a short visit from the Secretary of the
Department of Labor, Miss Frances Perkins.
So far as we know, this is the first time
any member of a President’s cabinet has
visited Spelman, and the students and fac
ulty were particularly happy to have the
first visit of a Cabinet officer to the cam
pus made by the first woman ever to hold
high governmental office.
Miss Perkins was in Atlanta for two days
holding an Interstate Conference Social Leg
islation at the State Capitol. Her schedule
was very crowded with official interviews,
addresses and inspections, and the fact that
she found time to visit the Community Em
ployment Office on Auburn Avenue, and
to see the Atlanta University development
and the site for the proposed Negro hous
ing project is a matter of congratulation
for us.
Miss Perkins and Miss Head are both
graduates of Mount Holyoke College, and
both have received honorary degrees from
their Alma Mater. Miss Read showed Miss
Perkins the campuses of Spelman, More
house, and Atlanta University, the sites un
der consideration for the proposed housing
project, the Morris Brown campus, and the
Booker Washington High School. She then
brought her to the Atlanta University Li
brary where she conferred with a group of
faculty and students. She was very much
impressed by the buildings and grounds and
by the University development in general.
In the course of the informal meeting in
the University Library exhibition hall, she
stated her lively interest in the situation of
the colored laborer, and asked that she be
furnished specific information on certain
problems that the Federal government is
facing.
In the course of her talk to the Atlanta
University group, Miss Perkins stated that
she regarded as of utmost importance the
building of better homes for colored fami
lies in Atlanta, and expressed her interest
in the proposed housing project for Negro
families in the neighborhood of the Univer
sity.
In emphasizing her desire to learn at first
hand of the status of Negro labor, she asked
for specific data regarding the wages of
domestic servants in the South and inquired
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Christmas
Florrie .Jackson, ’35
Then was— Now is—
A star, Joy,
Wise men Happiness,
Mary and Peace and
The baby Holiness.
The Christmas Carol Concert
Of all the interesting and lovely events
on the campus, the Christmas Carol Con
cert is quite the loveliest. It is our “Christ
mas Star’’. It is well placed, coming enough
before Christmas, to give us the Christmas
spirit, and near enough to it for us to
retain the spirit throughout the season.
This year the concert will be given in
Sisters Chapel on December 21, the
Thursday evening before Christinas. For
weeks the Morehouse-Spelman chorus, the
two college glee clubs, and quartets have
been rehearsing under the direction of Pro
fessor Kemper Harreld, who is assisted this
year by Mr. Willis Lawrence James. On
the program which is now being formulated
will be a number of national carols, and the
Negro spirituals that have come to be as
sociated with Christmas. As usual, the
program will be open to the public, and it
is expected that hundreds of friends of
the college and music-lovers of Atlanta will
take advantage of the opportunity to come
to Spelman campus to celebrate with the
college in the spirit of tin* Christmas time.
Getting The Christmas Spirit
Florence N. Mosley. ’34
Harken! Harken! do you hear?
The Christmas Spirit now is here.
There are several approaches to what
may be regarded as the traditional Christ
mas Spirit. One particular behavior-pat
tern of people has been gradually disap
pearing, though it is still practiced among
some people of all races and of all social
levels. The custom is as old as holiday
celebrations of peasants and serfs in the
great manor houses and castles of Medieval
Europe. Do you know how much the slave
regime had to do with continuing this cus
tom? I have no authoritative information
from which to judge, but in America it was
a rather universal practice for slave owners
to give their slaves what they called a
“ toddy” or “dram” on Christmas Day,
as a part of the evidence of Santa Claus’
visit. The amount of beverage the slave
received depended, a good deal, upon how
lie had behaved during the year. The ef
fects upon slaves was to make them think
of Christmas time as the time “to tank
up and go on a spree.” This was not only
true of slaves, it was true, very largely, of
the master class and of the poor non-slave-
owning white. They were usually ignorant
of the physical harm from intoxication.
This practice grew to be a very serious
hazard to life and limb during the holi
day season. While people were under the
influence of liquor, many crimes were com
mitted and much damage done to property
by all persons victims of this unfortunate
conception of the manner in which Christ
mas should be celebrated. The number of
accidents and fatalities that accompanied
this method of celebrating Christmas is dif
ficult to estimate.
The lifting of the mass culture of the
population, that is, the increase in intelli
gence, in sense of decency, of fair play,
and of honor gave a person freedom from
this crude idea of Christmas. With the
coming of prohibition, there has been a
marked change in the methods of reflecting
the Christmas Spirit. Can we hold the
gain?
Another evidence of the Christmas Spirit
has been characterized by a sort of barter
ing procedure or gift-exchange method. Peo-
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