Newspaper Page Text
February-March, 1943
f
f I
Page Two N THE MAROON TIGER
SEVEflTS SIX YEARS Of PROGRESS
JpOPPlNSI
For seventy-six years, Morehouse College has ably served her constituency and the nation as a
builder of men of character and intellect. Its success has been due to the fact that such men as
Hope, Brawley, Archer, Hubert, Mays and others have struggled hard to lift the college to its
present heights.
It must be made clear, however, that these men didn't do all the lifting that Morehouse
College has received. The college has always had friends, patrons and students who were inter
ested enough to help pave the way for the higher education of Negro men. These many friends,
students and faculty members now congratulate Morehouse on its seventy-six years of progress.
THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY THE FOLLOWING:
Rev. M. K. Curry, Jr.
Rev. W. H. T. Brewster
Mrs. W. O. Reynolds
Mr. W. S. Cannon, Jr.
Mrs. C. M. Pearson
Miss Eleanor Chairs
Mr. R. H. Gassett
Mr. Robt. E. Johnson
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
Dr. C. D. Hubert
Mr. Robert Powers
Mr. F. T. Shop
Mr. Moss Hyles Kendrix
Mr. James R. Holloway
Mrs. E. B. Hawkins
Mrs. Lorraine Hall
Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Alexander
Mr. L. M. Wood
Mr. Sam Jackson
Mr. G. W. BuHs
Mr. and Mrs. Myles G. Amos
Mr. James W. Mack
Dr. B. R. Brazeal
Mr. Archie L. Haynes
Miss T. L. Cunningham
Mr. B. P. Coleman
Dr. M. Washburn, Sr.
Miss Venzola Walker
Mrs. Gaynelle Barksdale
Mr. Wallace V. Jackson
Dr. J. D. Tyms
Dr. L. O. Lewis
Rev. G. D. Kelseyt
Mr. John H.^Uwis/Jp.
Mr. Owen Funderburg
Mr. F. C. Gassett >■
Phylon Better Each
Quarter
The current issue of Phylon, a re
view of race and culture, published by
Atlanta University, carries articles
on little known figures of Negro and
Indian descent, a French speaking
mulatto playwright, and a commen
tary on American living standards by
noted scholars of the country’s col
leges and universities. The magazine
grows more interesting with each
issue.
Prof. T. A. Daley, of Dillard uni
versity, has written a biography of
the late Victor Sejour, one of the
most popular playwrights of the nine
teenth century.
Paper Abandons
Use of “Negro”
The Philadelphia Daily News an
nounced last week that henceforth it-
would nol; use the word Negro in
identifying persons whose names ap
peared in the news except where there
might be some specific reason for
additional data.
The paper suggested to its workers
that a good rule to follow would be
Noble Y. Beall, standing, is shown
delivering the address that climaxed
the celebration of the Seventy-Sixth
Anniversary of Morehouse College.
Seated left to right, Mrs. Clyde W.
John Hope, II, of Spelman College,
offers criticisms on the American
standard of living in an article en
titled “National Floor to Standards
of Living,” and offers suggestions to
assure for everyone some share of
the “good life.”
The story of various Negro Indian
persons of distinction and leadership
is told by Kenneth Porter, of Vassar
college, in a poem sequence.
Other articles deal with race as
pects in federal public relations, and
Greek and Chinese philosophies. Au
thors like Henry Lee Moon, Hans
Lamm, and Myrtle Mae Bowers are
represented in this edition.
to use the word Negro only under
circumstances which would call- for
identification terms such as whites,
Chinese, Indian, Protestant, Catholic,
Jew, etc. The paper made the point
that the use in some cases was justi
fiable. For example, it declared in
the letter to Raymond Pace Alex
ander which announced the new pol
icy, that mention of the fact that the
late Dr. Carver was a Negro added
to his honor.
Lawlah, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, Dr.
Rufus E. Clement, Dr. Clyde W. Law
lah, Mrs. Benjamin E. Mays, Miss
Florence Read, Dr. Willis J. King,
and Mrs. Noble Y. Beall.
Professor Chivers
Contributes Article
To Notional
Yearbook
An informative article on “The
Negro Delinquent” has been published
in the Yearbook of the National Pro
bation Association. It is written by
Walter R. Chivers, professor of so
ciology at Morehouse College and a
former probation officer in Fulton
County Georgia and Jefferson County
Alabama.
Negro children when brought into
the juvenile court, he explains, are
likely to display attitudes of belliger
ency born of a feeling of fatalism as
to their chances of getting justice
when their offenses involve whites.
Continuing along this line, he states
that Negroes may be disenfranchised
openly or under cover, but they learn
very young the full value of white
political influence when they get in
trouble with the law, and they are
past masters at manipulating it for
personal use.
To ameliorate conditions which pro
duce the Negro offender, Mr. Chivers
has made the following suggestions:
(1) An adequate health program;
(2) A Slum Clearance program on
a socialized basis; (3) More humane
peace officers, preferably Negroes for
the Negro areas; (4) The election of
judges and other court officials on
the basis of proven interest in the
community; (5) Removal of barriers
of “railroad tracks” from Negro com
munities; and (6) That Negroes must
be a part of policy ^making bodies
whose actions affect their welfare.
Press Discussion
Climaxes Newspaper
Celebration Here
A round table discussion was con
ducted Friday morning at the regular
chapel hour of Morehouse College,
with V. W. Hodges and Robert M.
Ratcliffe, of the Atlanta Daily World
staff; Robert Johnson, student of
Morehouse and editor of the Maroon
Tiger, and Prof. G. L. Chandler, of
the Morehouse faculty, appearing as
speakers.
The program was staged in con
nection with the annual observance
of National Negro Newspaper Week.
Prof. Chandler presided. Hodges dis
cussed the history of Negro news
papers, Ratcliffe outlined they func
tions of the Negro press and John
son discussed the future of Negro
newspapers.
PROF. KENNEDY SAY&-
Morehouse College Department of History presents Professor M. D.
Kennedy, who will be a regular feature writer for this Column.
The Negro and the American Democracy
Much has been said and is being
said about the fundamental issues of
the war which is now being fought in
almost every corner of the globe by
nearly every people in the world.
Even those peoples not actually fight
ing in this war are in some way or
other very much involved in it. It is,
of course, for each of these peoples
to decide for themselves just what is
their stake in thd war, or if they have
any stake at all. The scope of the
war and the obfuscation of the issues
have even caused some peoples to
consider it a revolution in process.
Perhaps it is a revolution. Perhaps
it is the “great people’s revolution,”
of which we have heard so much re
cently, which will make democracy a
reality; but it certainly is not yet
clearly recognizable eitner as s rev
olution or certainly as the “people’s”
revolution. It may well be but one
more phase, or even only the first
phase actually come, of this vast rev
olution so long awaited and so much
feared by some. Certainly revolutions
and great ones, too, have occurred
before in which much progress toward
their goals was made insensibly, im
perceptible to the participants in
these great dramas. Those who have
made revolutions have frequently
proclaimed very' different, and often
opposite, aims from the ends which
the revolutions actually achieved;
and under the spell of the delusion
of propaganda and complacency, they
have even believed that they were
thwarting or starving off the very
conditions that actually were being
brought into existence. If we are now
witnessing the “people’s” revolution,
it is of incalculable significance to
countless millions of the world’s pop
ulation, and especially to the Amer
ican Negro.
My purpose in this discussion, how
ever, is not with the revolution. Nor
is it to impose upon you any of ten
dentious propaganda, delicately called
“morale building.” Nor even do I by
any means seek to lull Negroes into
a snug or defeated complacence, by
trying to quiet their entirely just ef
forts get as much of what is due them
now, rather than wait until after this
war, and thereby lose an excellent op
portunity to get at least something.
What follows is merely a point of
view concerning the Negro and Amer
ican Democracy which has been crys
tallized and brought into focus by
the present conflict. It is not new,
it is not original, but it is not often
heard in these times. Precisely be
cause of that, and because of a sin
cere belief in its fundamental sound
ness and appropriateness, I am will
ing to take the risks of putting into
print.
There appears to me no really good
reason why it should ever be neces
sary to justify or vindicate to Ne
groes their share in the American
Democracy, and hence their stake in
the wan But, because most of us do
not realize that we do have a share
in that democracy, I think it both
wise and necessary to stop and take
inventory. Such a procedure is always
revealing, and should go a long way
toward clearing up many mysteries.
First of all, what is this American
democracy we speak of; and, for that
matter, what is democracy itself?
We all know or think we know what
they are. Ask anyone. Sure, he can
tell you. “After all, do we not have
it, are we not fighting for it? Are
we not now fighting for its very life,
for the right to enjoy it here, and for
the right to carry to other benighted
peoples throughout the world? Is it
not still one of the most important
items of our export trade, since we
have a surplus of it here? Is it not
for democracy that we have given
up the use of sugar, of gasoline of
oil heat and a thousand of the things
which we have always considered to
be necessities, not conveniences, of
life? Have we not, for democracy’s
sake, readjusted our lives, for the
time being at least, to new and stren
uous patterns? Are we not buying
war bonds and stamps to the limit of
our capacities, and paying taxes al
most beyond the limit of our capac
ities ? And all of this in a cheerful
spirit of sacrifice. Oh, yes, we all
know what democracy is, or how
could we do all of these things?”such
would me typical of the average
American’s reply.
Very good, but please note that
there has been no attempt to define or
to describe that democracy which the
American holds so dear. Such an at
tempt, especially if aimed at finding
a definition or description acceptable
to even most Americans, would be
futile and foredoomed to failure.
That, to me, is much as it should be,
for after all the American “democ
racy” is only the practical applica
tion of an incompletely understood
common faith and a common aspira
tion. Its meaning and its purpose are
bound to be almost all things to all
men, and its creed must be subject
to many interpretations. Yet both
overlying and underlying all of these
differences is a common ideal which
we call in the one case democracy,
and in the other the American de
mocracy, and it is for these that we
fight.
It is not by accident that I use the
expression “we fight,” for that “we”
is the heart and core of my point of
view. And to justify that “we” it is
necessary only to indicate the Negro’s
share in the American democracy. A
complete inventory is, of course, im
possible within all of the pages of
this journal.
Unfortunately, the Negro is himself
unaware of the extent of his share in
this democracy of ours. Too often he
is aware of only one side, the un
pleasant side, which it is certainly not
my purpose to minimize. It is the
American democracy which denies
him the right to make a living ac-
cording to his abilities. The fate of
FEPC seems to assure him once more
that not even this war will bring im
provement in his economic opportuni
ties, even though his abilities are
solely needed in the winning of it
The resignation of Judge Hastie em-
phasized that American democracy is
"?* >' et willing to let him die honor
ably and freely in defense of itself,
the recent crusade in Congress
threatened the few but real gains
which have been made in the last ten
y m S ' ,4 nd * hen there ar e still all
of the old prejudices and proscriptions
operating against him in full vigor,
the very existence and activity of
such an organization as the N. A. A.
' , ? r the Urban League are appar
ently m earnest that his share in the
American democracy if he has one
is denied him.
This catalogue of the sins of the
American democracy against the
American Negro could be expanded
and elaborated upon indefinitely, for
the surface has hardly been scratched.
But we know that the rest of the list
that might have been added. In es
sence, it is now an old story that un-
fortunately has lost but little truth
with increasing age: Comprising one
tenth of the population of this coun
try, the Negro is also the man lowest
down, or he has in many ways been
made to feel that he is the man low
est down; he is also without doubt the
poorest group in the population, made
poorer by the fact he is too often
denied a real opportunity to accumu
late any wealth over and above his
barest needs. To him the principle of
“to every man according to his tal
ents” was never .intended to be ap
plied. Worse than all of this, intol
erance, bigotry, and prejudice, none
of which should have any significance
without our or any democracy, deny
him the right to think, to act or to
develop as an individual.
But there is another side. It does
not appear except infrequently in
school textbooks and in the news
papers or over the radio. This other
side is brighter and, without undue
optimism, it seems to me that it gives
a truer picture, although decidedly
not the whole picture, of the Negro’s
share in our democracy. One of the
very first facts revealed by this other
side that the Negro has from the
very beginning been a large share-
holder in the American democracy
and his investment in it has been a
heavy one. His labor, his business,
his farms, his schools, his churches,
and his newspaper; his professional
men and women, his scientists, his
artists and writers, and his musicians,
all these and much more. Negroes
have contributed heavily to the de
velopment of the American culture
and the American democracy. A
Randolph, a Marian Anderson, a Gen
eral Davis, a Captain Mulzac, mil
lions of nameless farmers and labor
ers all attest to the fact that the
Negro is still contributing heavily in
American democracy, whether his
contributions are acecpted with honor
or unjustifiable contempt.
The point is that whenever the
Negro contributes to the development
of American culture he contributes to
American democracy. Each of his con
tributions increases his share in that
democracy. The illustrious names and
deeds of past should show us that we
need not wait until the opportunity
is given us. We have made opportuni
ties before, and I do see how we can
fairly ask for more opportunity from
someone else, and at the same time
admit that we are not equal to the
occasion—which may that we our
selves create the opportunity.
(Continue on page five)