Newspaper Page Text
63 PUBLIC CONTINUOUS YEARS SERVICE OF
LXIIl
T N ROBERTS DIES
Word has been received of t,h?
death of T. N. Roberts, wihcb
occurred Friday, March 3, at
Washington, D. C., where for
the past year he has been serv¬
ing as special assistant to the
director of of personnel in the
fj. S. Department of Agricul¬
ture.
His funeral will be held Sun-
da at T U bitf e Vho Stl e 'a
Mr R o was na-
tive Savannahian and attend¬
ed the local public, schools, was
a graduate of Voorhees Insti¬
tute, Denmark, S. C., and did
post graduate study at the Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin.
Prior to his appointment to
the personnel department of
U. S. Department of Agricul¬
ture, Mr. Roberts served for a
number of years as director of
the county-wide soil conserva¬
tion and land untilization pro¬
ject at Tuskegee, Ala., which
Continued on Page Eight
“Mill iny" Charge Against Evidence 50 Sea¬
men Not By
fcOURT USED STUDY ONLY 80
mNUTES TO
TRIAL RECORD
Washington, D. C. An ex¬
haustive brief in behalf of the
50 Negro seamen convicted of
“mutiny” in California last
year was filed here March 2 by
the legal department of the
NAACP.
The brief submitted to Ad¬
miral T. L. Gatch, Judge Advo¬
cate General of the United
States Navy, asserted that the
trial did not establish the guilt
of the accused to the crime of
mutiny, that mass trials are ur
fair and generally condemned
by legal authorities, that the
trial court took 80 minutes, in¬
cluding the lunch hour to study
the record and arrive at a de¬
cision, even though th.s record
occupied 1,435 "ingle- spaced
typewritten pages of legal size
paper, and that the verdict
should be set aside as there
could not be any reason for a
mass trial “other that a delib¬
erate attemt to discree t N
gro seamen.”
The brief points jut that
when the trial was started on
September 14, IS44, the Navy
Department released publicity
pointing out that this is the
first mutiny trial of this war
< ConUn uedon page eight) (Continued on page 3'
rtURING a recent USO conference at Wichita, Kansas, delegates were
U taken on a tour of the Boeing Airplane Company where they were
photographed. In the front row, left to right, are. H. F. Brown, works
manager for Boeing; Dunbar Reed, executive secretary of the Hutcher-
»on Branch YMCA, Wichita; Henry W. Pope, national USO director
sf Services to Negroes; J. E. Shacfer, vice-president of Boeing; Chf
Barron, assistant secretary and treasurer of Boeing, and Chandler F.
Jarvis, assistant personnel director of UsO
t The conference was held to discuss.- means improving services
to Negroes. Most of the delegates were USO regional staff members,
ygs u i tant»_and directors from Kamas, Missouri, Oklahoma and T^xas.
She faiwmtah iribwif.
Soldiers St age 2-Day Strike
PROTESTING ALLEGED
ADDITION OF WHITE
ENLISTED MEN IN BAT.
For Ultimate Rating As
Chief Petty Officers
Instead of Their Own
Qualified Men
LOS ANGELES, Cal., Mar. 4
The navy public relations of¬
fice here, has reported that
the two-day hunger strike of
a Negro navy construction bat¬
talion at Port Heuneme, near
Oxnard, Cal., ended today when
the men reported for break¬
fast. The report said the men
"apparently just got good and
hungry and decided to eat.”
There was no known change
as to the conditions of which
the 1000 men complained, that
of adding white enlisted men
to the battalion for eventual
elevation to chief petty officers,
while Negroes, because of their
training and overseas expience
were denied these ratings.
The incident was investigated
by Norman O. Houston, mem¬
ber of the Los Angeles Directo¬
rate of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People who, said:
"Practically the entire person
nel of the 34th Construction Bat
talion, veterans of 21 months’
months service in the South Pa¬
cific participated in the strike.
"Their complaint was against
the alleg e d addition of white
f Continued on Page S>
District
Meets Sat.
ALL DAY SESSION AT W.
BROAD ST.
The Savannah District Pa¬
rent-Teacher association will
hold an all day meeting at the
West Broad Street USO on Sat¬
urday, March 10. The counties
in this district are Chatham,
Effingham, Liberty, Bryan, Cam
den, Long, Glynn and McIn¬
tosh.
The state requests that all re
ports for the annual meeting
be made at district meetings,
such as, Summer round-up,
founder’s day, scrap book mem¬
bership and essay. Each best
essay must be in the hands of
the district presidents not later
than March 10. The district
winners will be announced at
this meeting.
It is requested that all atten¬
dants at the meeting come early
so as to get in a full day’s work.
The registration fee is 25 cents,
and dinner will be free Mrs.
Josephine A. Brinson, is presi¬
dent of the district.
The state’s six-point program
emphasizes: 1, Conduct some
Talladega College Scholarship Offers
All Expense
TO WINNING HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENT
Ciher Awards For The
Runners-Up
TALLADEGA, Ala., March 3—
Dean J. T. Cater has announced
that Talladega college will con¬
tinue its policy of awarding an
all-expense scholarship to the
highest ranking student in a
competitive examination offer¬
ed to the high school seniors
and graduates living in thirteen
southern states. This is the
ninth consecutive year that the
college has given this examina¬
tion.
The highest ranking student
will receive all expensed, renew
able each year, if his achieve¬
ment warrants. Other high
fore March 20.
ranking students will receive
scholarship awards of $100 and
*200. All students interested in
competing for a scholarship
should write to the college be-
Continued on page 3
TAKES OVER
BUSINESS
Al. M. Roberts who has taken
over the Roberts Funeral Home
which for many years has been
operated by his father, Nathan
Roberts.
Mr. Roberts who for a number
Continued on
First Convoy Over the Ledo
Road Led by York,S.C. Negro
WASHINGTON, D. C- Mar 4
According to a report of the
War Department, a Negfo tech¬
nician, 5th grade. —Richard
Barnet of York S. C., drove the
lead vehicle of the lirst convoy
to roll over the completed Ledo
highway which was constructed
in Asia.
The War Department reoort
of the great hazzards attendant
upon the completion of this sup
ply line from India to war
torn China, is graphically de¬
scribed.
In a review of the difficulties
encountered in building this
important 1,044 mile highway,
it emphasized that 65 Der
cent of the soldiers used on the
job were Negro troops who
braved “too much mud, too
much rain and too much mala¬
ria,” and that there is a grave
for every mile of this road that
was considered an impossible
engineering feat. the
Negro engineers of 823rd
General Service Engineer Regi-
j ment, using British and Ameri-
! j can equipment, began work on
the road at Ledo, near Assam.
India, in December. J942. and
p.nmnlrhrri if in fho inrrpriit.ahlv
months.
THE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1945
P ^ Touring
S
Racial group
WASHINGTON, D. C. (NNPA i
—The inclusion of she
in a group of 58 front-line vet¬
erans of the epic battle for Bas-
rogne during the German epun-
ter-offensive last December
admittedly the result of criti
cism In the Negro press of the
exclusion of Negroes from a
similar group a few months
ago. The men were returned to
represent General Dwight
senhower in a speaking pro¬
gram for factory workers on the
- 4 no am dn Suipaads jo XouaSun
put of badly needed military
supplies.
All six of the Negroes includ¬
ed have performed heroically m
the war, and four of them are
wearers of the Bronze Star
Medal for valor.
The six are: First Lt. Walter
J. McDowell, of Charlotte, N.
C.; Sgt. Samuel B. Hendrix, of
Claxton Ga.; Sgt. Frederick
Wheeler, of Charleston, S. C.;
Sgt. Franklin D. Hendricks, of
South Boston, Va.; Sgt. Sandy
Wyatt, of New York city, and
Sgt. Hugh D. Thompson, of Luf¬
kin, Texas.
As was the case when the go¬
ing was tough at the front, no
racial lines will be drawn dur¬
ing the tour of factories In this
country. Two of the six Ne¬
groes will accompany five white
soldier to factories in Illinois,
Michigan and Wisconsin, and
the other four will be accompa¬
nied by three white soldiers to
factories in New Jersey, New
York and Delaware.
The entire group appeared at
a press conference at the War
Department this week.
CONTRIBUTE TO
WILLKIE FUND
NEW YORK — Contributions
toward the $250,000 Wendell
Willkie Memorial Building Fund
are being received in the Na¬
tional Office from NAACP
branches and individual mem¬
bers interested in
the ideals and causes for which
this great American stood.
The site chosen is the former
N. Y. club, a nine story structure
at 20 West Fortieth Street
which the NAACP has been in¬
vited by the Board of
of Freedom House, to
two floors.
ROLAND HAYES TO GIVE RECITAL HERE
MARCH 23RD
The illustrious Negro tenor
Roland Hayes, who sings Fri-
day night, March the 2rd, at
the First First African Baptist,
church, is in demand more than
ever this season.
As the New York Sun so elo¬
quently put it, “Despite the e-
mergence of a new group of
Ngro artists, there remains a
place for the artist who was not
only the first of them, but who
remains one of the greatest of
them. This can only mean,
Roland Hayes, tenor.
The headlines of the past sea¬
son from San Francisco, Port¬
land. Oregon; Springfield,
Mass.; Washington, D. C., and
Los Angeles all bear this out
with insistent repetition.
He contirfifs to conquer now
fields and to add new laurels to
his already many distinctions
In the last two years he has
been heard from Maine to Cal¬
ifornia and from the northern
reaches of Canaria to a tour of
Red Cross Mass Meeting
Fri. Night At F. A. B. Church
The opening rally for the Al
held at the First African Bap¬
tist church Friday evening, Mar.
9, at which time speakers will
tell of the excellent work being
done by the Red Cross, and pic¬
tures will be shown of gener-
eral activities and tedious as¬
signments of the organization
in a'J theatres of the present
conflict. The public is invited
to be present.
The Savannah Chapter fo the
American Red Cross, a unit of
an international organization
for the relief of suffering in war
and peace, is engaged in the
stupendous task of serving on
the war fronts, as well as on the
home front. Recognized and
authorized by military authori¬
ties and enjoying certain privi¬
leges and immunities, such as
no other organization enjoys, it
is definitely In the conflict to
carry on the work of the organ¬
ization, and otherwise serve in
bringing about a lasting peace.
It cannot be gainsaid but
what the Red Cross has made
and is making an impressive
and unmistakable contribution
to the war effort, serving in va-
rious capacities, and is filling t;
need that could not be filled by
any other organization or
source. It has always been in
the vanguard of agencies, or
movements, rendering relief
or other services, when disasters
brought about by war or other
acts have befallen individuals,
J communities or nations. Some
of the peace-war time services
are public .health, and employ¬
ment relief work. A resume of
the purposes for which the A-
merican Red Cross and the Sa¬
vannah chapter were organized
may be taken from the Geneva
** - 1 i
Continued oh page 3
VETERAN KILLED
BY WATCHMAN
CHICAGO, (ANP i A
War 1 veteran was killed here
last week when he ran amuck
and slashed 15 people with a
razor.
The veteran, Moses Bradford,
55 died of bullet wounds inflict¬
ed by a currency exchange
watchman when he attempted
to attack. Bradford,
to authorities, was recently dis¬
charged from Edward Hines, Jr.
Memorial hospital where
was confined as a mental pa¬
tient.
| Mexico, and wherever he sings
|he sweeps his audience off their
feet with immediate overwhelm
ing enthusiasm.
His most recent distinctions
are the conferring of a degree
of doctor of music, bestowed
upon him by the Ohio Wesley¬
an university at Deleware, Ohio
And again it was Hayes who
was chosen as as the first Negro
artist in the field of music to
represent his people in the
Seventy-fifth Anniversary of
the Thirteenth Amendment ‘
celebration on December 21,
1940. in Washington, D. C„ when
he was heard by a distinguished
audience in the concert hall of
the Library of Congress.
The entire public is invited to
hear this great artist. Tickets
are now on sale through any
of the members of the sponsor¬
ing church and at ALnutt'r. Mu¬
sic Store, 240 Broughton St.
West, or they may be ordered by
phoning pr Ralph Mark Gil¬
bert at 2-6597 or 2-6045,
WANTS NEGRO REPRESENTATIVE INCLUDED
CHICAGO, March 4 If the
wishes of 1500 members of the
National Negro Council are car¬
ried out, according to Edgar G.
Brown, director, a Negro will be
included among the represen¬
tatives of the United States to
Eleventh His.
To Meet Here
TO BE YOUTH
NIGHT SPEAKER
' 11 **
Martin G. Haynes principal of
Beach-Cuyler high school, who
will deliver an address on the
"Destiny of Youth—Our Future
Citizens,”—at the Youth Night
service sponsored by the Meth¬
odist Youth Fellowship of As-
bury Methodist church. Tire
service is to be held Sunday at
7 p. m.. The public is invited.
“Color and creed must not
figure in this plan; only in
sincerity, love and truth must
there be solidarity in building
a better land.”
WHITE DRIVER
INDICTED
ATLANTA (ANP) An indict¬
ment charging involuntary man
slaughter was returned Wed¬
nesday by the Fulton grand
jury against James R. Stephens,
white, whose automobile fatal¬
ly injured 12 year old Carlton
Nelson on the night of Feb. 3.
Stephens was nabbed only af¬
ter clever detective work as
I Stephens had failed to stop af-
j ter striking the youngster.
iWhen arrested, Stephens ex-
| plained his failure to stop by
claiming he believed he had
struck a dog,
Atlantians were pointing to
the Stephens indictment as an
example of the double standard
of justice traditional to the
south. In virtually every case
where a Negro driver Is involv¬
ed in a fatal accident, he is in¬
dicted for murder, not involun¬
tary .1 manslaughter.
UT’J FINISH
THI JOB* Mm
buy kxim;
BONDS TODAY!
DELEGATE
DELEGATE Honorable Wal-
lace-Johnson of the Sierra Le¬
one Trades Union congress, Si¬
erra Leone, Africa, who was re¬
garded as the outstanding Afri¬
can delegate to the World Trade
Union congress held in London
last month. Wallace Johnson's
address won widespdread atten¬
tion in. world labor circles—
(ANP»
SESSION WILL BE HELD
10:30 A. M. AT BEACH
HIGH SCHOOL
The teachers, principals and
supervisors of the Eleventh Re¬
gion of the Georgia Teachers
and Educational association will
meet at Beach high school, Sat¬
urday morning, March 10, at
10:30 o’clock. This region in¬
cludes Appling, Atkinson, Ba¬
con, Brantiy, Charlton, Chath¬
am, Clinch Camden, Glynn,
Liberty, Long, Pierce, McIntosh,
Ware and Wayne counties.
Only one of every ten teach¬
ers in these counties will attend
the meeting as delegates as a
lesult of OPA ruling. All Chath¬
am county teachers are asked
to be present.
C. L. Harper, executive sec¬
retary of the state association,
and Robert L. Cousins, director
of Negro education in the state,
will appear on the program.
NAACP MEETS
IN ATLANTA
ATLANTA, GA. In conform¬
ance with the recent ODT di¬
rective restricting unessential
travel, the Atlanta branch of
the NAACP will be host to a
small regional Leadership Train
ing Conference to be held here
March 10-11.
iStaff members from the Na¬
tional Office of the NAACP who
will participate on the program
outlined are Ella J. Baker, di¬
rector of branches; Thurgood
Marshall, special counsel; Lu¬
cille Black, membership secre¬
tary; and Assistant Field Sec¬
retaries, Donald Jones and Mrs.
Irvena Ming. Other discussion
leaders will include Mrs. Grace
Hamilton, executive secretary,
Atlanta Urban League, Emory
O. Jackson, secretary, Birming¬
ham NAACP; and John Hope, Jr
regional FEPC head. All ses
sions of the two-day conference
will be held in the Butler St.
YMCA. Prof. C. L. Harper is
president of the local branch.
CONCERNED
*
ABOUT NEGRO
Northhampton, Mass— “What
Negro Youth Expects in the Post
War World” is one of the many
topics Smith College students
are interested in and to which
Mrs. Ruby Hurley, NAACP
Youth Secretary addressed her
Mr. Roberts, whose home is
here last week.
; Not content with mere dis¬
cussion of the problem present¬
ed, students expressed desire to
formulate specific action in sub
sequent meetings with the ir\—
trrracial group headed by Miss
Joy Pickard; at a dinner meet¬
ing at Lawrence House; and at
the conference of the, Allied
Nations to be held at San Fran¬
cisco on April 25.
This was the gist of a request
of the council made in a reso¬
lution sent to President Roosc-
Powell Names
3 More To
West Point
MAKING TOTAL OF SIX
CHOSEN BY HIM
WASHINGTON, D. C. (NNPAt
—Congressman Adam Clayton
Powell, jr., of the 22nd District
of New York, this week named
three more New York Negroes
to West Point, bringing the to¬
tal to six. They are as follows:
Roland Jones, now located at
Camp Flauehe, New Orleans,
La.; Isaac McGruder, now at
New York university, and An¬
drew Donaldson, now at New
York university.
Of the total nominations of
principals and alternates to
West Point and Annapolis, there
are still some openings for An¬
napolis, the congressman an¬
nounced.
Powell has set up a special
selection committee, of which
the chairman is the Rev. B. C
Robeson, minister of the Mo¬
ther Zion AME church, 155 W
136th street, New York city.
Those interested may apply di¬
rectly to Rev. Robeson imme-
a e y-
WHITE TO SEE
MAC ARTHUR
NEW YORK, N. Y., A confer¬
ence with General Douglas Mac
Arthur was scheduled to be held
March 2 by Walter White, NAA¬
CP secretary, now in the Pacific
as war correspondent for the
New York Post. White cabled
his office from Leyte, P. I. He
is observing the treatment* of
Negro soldiers in the Pacific
and conferring with high arm/
and navy officials on their role
in World War II, and has al¬
ready visited Hawaii, Johnston,
Kwagalein, Guam, Saipan, and
the Pliliippines and Dutch Gui
nea.
A book, just published by
Doubleday Doran, A Rising
i Continued on Page 3k
W. A. Robin¬
son To Be In
City Tues.
W. A. Robinson, director, sec¬
ondary school study of the As¬
sociation of Colleges and Secon¬
dary Schools for Negroes, will be
in the county Tuesday for the
purpose of contacting those
persons who are planning to
participate in the Chatham
County Workshop sponsored by
the Atlanta university at Geor¬
gia State college this summer.
Mr. Robinson w\U spend the
week visiting schools with Miss
Frankie Golden, the Chatham
county supervisor, in an effort
to sec the types of program
now being carried out in the
local schools.
NUMBER 28