The Campus mirror. (Atlanta, Georgia) 1924-19??, December 15, 1933, Image 1

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^•CAMPUS zMIRROR Published During the College Year by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIMIIMIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItllllllllllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIilllllllimilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Volume X December 15, 1933 No. 3 lllllllllllllllllll»IIMIIIIII»IIMIIIMIMIIIIIIIIIII»IIIIMIMMIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIMMIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII»IIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIMIIIIIMMIII|||||||IH|||||||||MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIII 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 (Continued on Page 9) 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- (Continued on Page 9)