Newspaper Page Text
PAGE FOUR
£hf fa v cumuli Srihtnf
Established 1*7S
MRS. WXLLA A. JOHNSON--Editor & PublLsher
EZRA JOHNSON.........Promotion & Adv. Rep.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
1009 WEST BROAD STREET
Dial ADams 4-3432 — ADama 4-3433
Subscription Rates In Advance
One Year ............ $4.12
Blx Months ............................... $31) 8
Single Copy __________________________.10
#
Remittance must be made by Express. Post
Office Money Order or Registered Mall.
Second Class Mail Privileges
Authorized at Savannah, Georgia
THE “NEW YORK AGE” IS NO MORE
The.following editorial appeared in the
February 27. 1960 issue of the New York
Age. It was with deep understanding
sympathy that we read this final edi¬
torial of our contemporary newspaper
whose struggles have been the same as
Ours. Only through extreme conserva¬
tism, and “do it yourself” methods of
• the publisher has the Savannah Tribune
avoided a similar fate.
ENDING SO GLORIOUS YEARS OF
PUBLICATION
By Chuck Stone
This is an editorial that T didn’t
think T would ever have to write.
Even as I do it’s so heart-breaking
to .accept the thought which will be
translated into reality with this is¬
sue of the New York AGE.
Because as of this issue—February
27. I960- -the New York AGE is no
lrtore,. We have published for the
last time.
T know this comes as a shock to
many of you who have been loyal to
our. concept of journalism and who
have believed, as did we, that there
is a place in our society for an intel¬
lectually superior, militant, and fun-
loving Negro newspaper.
But economic facts dictated other¬
wise. A majority obviously didn’t
agree with us.
Ever since Mr. S. B. Fuller took
over the AGE back in 1957, it has
been a financially costly proposition.
He sunt an incredible $300,000 fnto
the AGE during his ownership, soar¬
ing no efforts to make it a first-class
newspardu-. black or white.
Circulation and advertising rev¬
enue, however, simply did not keep
pace w*th the financial requirements
. jdlV ■ - f >P
AN ENCOURAGING SIGN FOR THE SOUTH
(From the Carolina Times)
Thh '■'■most encouraging sign that has
cornw of th<> ‘sit-down protests in the F.
W. Wool worth stores and others has been
that uLymuur. white men and women who
bate been willing to endure the humilia¬
tion of arrests, the scorn of many of
their own group and reprisals. That many
of them are from the South, often the
deep south, lends hope that he time if?
not far awnv when this region will pro¬
duce the calibre of leaders that can shed
the inferiority complex which is an ob¬
session of many southerners.
Older citizens of both races need to re¬
alize that whites as well as Negroes
have a stake in the battle now being
waged for freedom and human dignity.
M hile segregation denies Negroes the
freedom of body and mind it enslaves the
souls of southern whites. The abolishment
of slavery not only freed the Negro but the
whites from the burden of an economy
ba-sed on slave labor. Likewise, t he abolish¬
ment of segregation will not only bring a
new birth of freedom to Negroes but it will
free the white South from a segregated
economy that prevents the Negro from
shouldering his share of the tax burden,
the civic and economic responsibility.
The nine white students of Wake For¬
est College, Duke University and other
schools who submitted to arrests in the
sit-down strikes along with the fellow
Negro students will some day be,acclaim¬
ed by history as the champions of liberty
and the birth of a new era. History
Over 30 Cities
Braced by
(Cuntlnuerr from Page O^e)
the modus operandi is to retaliate.
TUSKEGEE, Ala. Site of the
present controversy over the gerry¬
mandering of Negroes outside the
city limits, had some 300 Negro
students parading the street in a
‘‘sympathy” protest tp the action
taken at Alabama State College.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Inactive
Ku Klux Klansmen were said to
be recalled to active membership
to join local and state police to
cope with the sit-dftwners.
BIRMINGHAM — Thirteen Ne¬
groes were arrested, hut not held,
for displaying sign* advocating in¬
tegration in a park for Negroes.
•» iHVILLE—The mass arrest
of 181 students on charges of diz
National Advertising
Associated Publishers
55 West 42nd Street
New York 36. New York
166 W. Washington Bt.
Chicago 2. 111.
Mr. Robert Whaiey
Whaley-Simpson Company
6608 Selma Ave.
Los Angeies 28, California
Mr. Gordon Simpson
Whaley-Simpson Company
700 Montgomery St.
San Francisco 11, California
A
of the paper. During the last few
weeks, it was still costing the pub¬
lisher over $2,000 weekly. That,
you will agree, is a lot of bread.
But post-mortems are like arm¬
chair strategists. They should nev¬
er get an airing.
So, we won’t preside over a fun¬
eral, but rather remind Negroes ev¬
erywhere that our failures must be
turned into successes. Every time
we stumble as a race of people, we’ve
got to pick ourselves up and run
even harder. There’s no stopping
to sit down to mourn the fallen.
We would like to remember the
AGE with a smile. With all of its
lil’ ol’ 80 years, it was still young in
spirit. With all of its beauty, its
prestige as the oldest Negro newspa¬
per of continuous publication in
America, its rib-tickling headlines,
and its sound news analysis, it never
caught fire. (And may the good Lord
ignore that figure of speech).
We’ll miss you. We hope you’ll
miss us. And so from all of us—
John Aigner, Augusta Bolden, Elaine
Holden, Margaret Callender, Rhea
Callawav. Harold Eastman, Anna
Arnold Hodgeman, Al Floslev. Carl
Lawrence. Jimmy Little, Thelma
Minion. Carl Nesfield, Louise Stone,
John Twitty, Stan Zimmerman, and
a grand bunch of guys at Mattia
Press, myself, and our publisher, S.
1>. Fuller — our sincere best wishes
for your continued happiness, Be¬
hove in what is eternally good and
right for our society, then fight
hard for its growth.
God bless you, good friends.
has Her own way of taking the damned
and the doomed and shining them uo for
Ihe adoration and amazement of future
generations.
It takes no philosopher or sage to de¬
termine who in the end is the more in¬
jured; the hater or the hated, the per¬
secutor or the persecuted. The blind¬
ed white southerner must be sympathiz¬
ed with, hut he at the same time, must
somehow be made to understand that it
is no show of strength for him to assume
the attitude that God has given him the
right to look down his nose at another
simply because there is a difference in
skin color. He must be also made to see
that the goal is an economic one as wet!
as one for social justice and a poorly paid
Negro employee, or one who is denied
the opportunity to become employed in
the higher salary 'brackets cannot con¬
sume his portion of the South’s manu¬
factured goods.
The task will not be art easy one. It
must be remembered that there are hun¬
dreds of thousands of southern whites
who are still laboring under the warped
notion that white makes right and that
“a Negro has no rights that a white man
is bound to respect.” Leaders of both
i‘aces will need to use restraint, calmness
and common sense. They must, howev¬
er, keep their eyes on the ultimate goal
which is human dignity for American
citizens of all races, creeds and colors.
orderly conduct has so far
in the conviction of seven — five
Negroes and two whites. The fines
ranged from $10-$50.
CHATTANOOGA — A surface
calm hung over the city after
police, firemen and school offi¬
cials went to great pains to estab¬
lish a security program designed
j to prevent further clashes. All
i -tudents, whether white or Negro,
I ! are barred from the business sec-
tion of town, under pain of severe
i disciplinary action. Students are
j under orders to go directly home
after school and male teachers pa¬
trol the streets to see that no stu-
! dent violates the order.
TAMPA. Fla. A group of 100
Negroes, attempted for the second
time in two days to obtain
ice at nine white iulich counters
and restaurants, hut with no re-
■ uits. Managers of the eateries
.10! iifu.id i», ii c
Similar demonstrations in St.
NEGRO EDITORS- Ninth in A Series
EDUCATE FOR FREEDOM
Widow Publishes Newspaper In The
Spirit of Her Unique Husband - Founder
Petersburg, Sarasota and Daytona
Beach, Fla., failed to win a re¬
versal of policy.
ORANGEBURG, S. C. — Fol¬
lowing an earlier arrest of a white
man and a Negro for fighting
during a sit-down demonstration,
some 100 students, armed with
anti-bias signs, staged slow,
silent march through the streets.
The students, from South Carolina
State and Chaflin Colleges, spoke
to no one during the line of march.
COLUMBIA, S. C. — A “tres¬
pass” hill similar to that passed in
Virginia earlier, was approved by
the House judiciary committee last
week, and would subject violators
j to a fine of up to $100 or 30 days
J in jail.
DENMARK, S. C. — Two white
drugstores were invaded by 14 stu-
i dents front Voorhees Junior Col-
lege, last week, and were refused
service. the owner phoned po-
1 lice, who took the students into
TEE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
ONLY AN EFFECTIVE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW CAN DO THAT
The Kansas City CALL, during
the year 1959, celebrated its 40th
anniversary. Founded in May,
1919, by the late Chester Arthur
Franklin, it was owned and oper¬
ated by him until his death on May
7, 1955.
The present .publisher (a Mrs.
Ada Cragman Franklin, widow of
the paper’s founder. Since the
death of Editor FiaqkUn,, Mrs
Franklin and THE CALL family
of more than 00 employees have
carried on the paper in accordance
with ideals and principles of its
founder. 1 , Ui mio >1
Service to its community is first;
among THE CALL’S objectives.
Primarily ofMts terr/t6¥'y it seryes W the Negro itftf/'joms peo¬
ple it
in all worthwhile project^ of'bene¬
fit to the citizenry as a whole.
In THE CALL’S early years, it
pressed for the right of Negroes to
serve on juries. Today, the ap¬
pearance of Negroes as both petit
and grand jurors is common-place.
During World War II, THE
CALL led in a community fight
to obtain defense and war jobs.
C. A. Franklin was chairman of
a Brown Bomber drive through
which Negro citizens were inspir¬
ed to purchase $285,000 in war
savings bonds to enable the govern¬
ment to buy a bomber for use in
the defense of the country.
Recently THE CALI, has joined
in the campaign for the wider em-
ployment and upgrading of Ne-
groes in business and industry, for
the elimination of segregation in
our public schools and in places
of public accommodation.
One of the most outstanding
characteristics of THE CALL is
custody and turned them over to
school officials.
GREENVILLE, S. C. — A sit-
down in the public library was
staged by 20-25 students accom¬
panied by the Rev. S. E. Kay,
Baptist minister. There was no
disorder, and the group stayed
about 30 minutes.
ROCH KILL, S. C. — While
i Negroes were calling for economic
boycotts and picketing of mer-
chants , who , operated , , segregated , ,
eating facilities, a robed, but un¬
masked KKK parade was staged
through the main streets. Simul¬
taneously, Friendship Junior Col¬
lege received an anonymous tele¬
phone bomb threat, which was dis¬
covered to be a fake.
FEWWNAVOEO, N. C. — A
nine-man advisory committee was
appointed by the mayor to study
the problem of race relations in
this city which launched the sit-
down movement.
DURHAM. N. C.—A white girl
was charged with assault and bat¬
tery for spittiug popcorn into the
face of a Negro student picket at
a lunch counter.
HENDERSON, N. C.—A 14-90
day economic boycott of depart¬
ment stores was launched by the
lot j 1 NAACP branch,
SHELBY, N. C.—An attempt
MRS. C. A. FRANKLIN
it* emphasis upon CLEAN, whole¬
some pews as against crime and
sensational stories. It was one of
Mr. Franklin’s cardinal principles
that the columns of THE CALL
should cafry primarily news which
inspires rather than degrades Ne¬
gro people. “Play up the good and
play down the bad” was Mr.
Franklin’s advice.
Consequently, THE CALL’S
front page does not feature head¬
lines about killings, shootings, sex
offenses and other stories of a sen¬
sational nature. It does not ignore
these items, however, but carries
them on inside pages.
Mrs, Franklin was born in At¬
lanta, Ga., the daughter of Dr.
and Mrs. William Henry Crogman.
Both of her parents were grad¬
to solve the impasse created by the
sit-down strike was made by white
and Negro leaders, but no headway
was made.
WINSTON-SALEM, N. C.—The
protest aginst lunch counter bias
moved from the stores to pulpits,
where Negro ministers urged con¬
gregations to co-operate with an
j NAACP request to boyeot all stores
that have denied them lunch
.
i I counter service,
FAYETTEVILLE, N. C.—Two
dime-store lunch counters were
closed last Week following a re¬
sumption by Negroes of their pro¬
test against biased service.
MONROE. N. C. — Ten high
school students put on a protest
demonstration which forced two
drug stores to close their lunch
counters.
RICHMOND, Va. — Thirty-four
demonstrates were arrested for
refusing to leave Thalhimers de¬
partment store after being refused
lunch counter service.
SUFFOLK, Va.—-The city or¬
dinance requiring permits for pub¬
lic meetings and demonstrations is
“unconstitutional,” according to
the American Civil Liberties union.
The ACLU was referring to the
arrest of two Negroes for sit-
down, in People’., Service Dror
Store and F. W. Woohvorth Com¬
uates of Atlanta University. Dr.
Crogman was professor of Latin
and Greek at Clark University for
37 years and was the first Negro
to become its president, serving in
that capacity for nine years.
Ada Crogman Franklin received
her A-B. deg re from Clark Uni¬
versity am{ .was graduated from
Emerson College in Boston where
she specialized in dramatics, in¬
cluding the production of plays
and work in repertoire.
Before meeting Mr. Franklin,
she taught dramatic art, English
classics and physical education at
the Alabama State College at
Montgomery, Ala., and at the Ten¬
nessee State A & I State Univer¬
sity, in Nashville.
For three years, she served the
Playground and Recreation Asso¬
ciation of America as national dra-
piatic specialist, this position car¬
rying her through many cities
where she worked with large
groups of people.
She met Mr. Franklin, a native
Texan, when she came to Kansas
City as producer of a pageant,
“Milestones of a Race” which she
presented in cities all over the
country.
Miss Crogman and Mr. Frank¬
lin were married in 1925 and for
30 years, Mrs. Franklin stood at
her husband’s side in the publica¬
tion of THE CALL. She has had
no formal training in newspaper
work hut learned much about the
business through her long and
close association with her husband.
Mr. Franklin often attributed
his success to the two women in
his life, his mother, the late Clara
Belle Franklin, and his wife, Ada.
pany store.
PETERSBURG, Va. — The pub¬
lic library, scene of a “sit-down"
protest, may revert to public con¬
trol, if the city council refuses to
integrate it. The library was do¬
nated 35 years ago by a private
individual, who stipulated that
separate facilities must be main¬
tained for-whites and Negroes.
MADISON, Wis. — Thirty Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin students un¬
dertook a march from the campus
to the capital square in protest
of segregation incidents in the
South.
CHICAGO - The downtown F.
W. Woohvorth store was picketed
; by some 200 area collegians in
sympathy for the arrest of stu-
| dents in Nashville, Tenn.
Similar pieketings were carried
on at the University of Colorado,
Boulder, Colo., by the NAACP in
! Cincinnati; by 250 Rutgers Uni¬
versity students in New Brun-
I wick, N. J.
In Knoxville, Tenn., a bi-racial
j group met with the mayor in an
effort to thwart the spreading of
the sitdowns to this city.
Other “sympathy” protests were
being staged in Boston, Philadel¬
phia, Berkeley. Calif., Patterson,
Trenton, Newark, -Tersey City, and
Elizabeth, ail in New Jersey, and
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1960
Letters to
the Editor • ••
Dear Editor:
At times, it becomes necessary j
stop and re-read some of the ;
historic documents that made ;
America great. We have
stop and examine ourselves and!
ask meaning ourselves of do {he we word know the DEMO- red J j
CRACY?
In reality, democracy is people
working for individual freedom in
a representative government. On
behalf of these people, I speak for
the principles for democracy and
their advancement throughout the
world.
And what are these principles?
The principles are of freedom and
they best illustrated by * in¬
are
dividuals: freedom of decision as
the voter marks his ballot and as
the Senator battles for legislation;
freedom of protection, as the po¬
liceman directs traffic and the
judge gives interpretation of law;
freedom of expression, as the radio
commentator analyzes all the news,
and the clergyman tells his reli¬
gion to anyone who will listen.
These are the principles, the con¬
cepts of democracy. The problem
is how to apply these principles
here in our own land.
If we were to reread our Bill
of Rights, we would find that be¬
fore this document was added to
the Constitution, it was like a body
without a soul.
The giant of totallitarian state
slavery moves over the world.
Wherever that shadow fails, this
document is obliterated. That
shadow has fallen over the United
States.
Why do some people fight the
truth and the real meaning of our
historic documents? The fight is
a fruitless one because all of the
basic rights guaranteed by these
documents, are engraved on the
Between The Lines .I.'ilr*
By Dean Gordon B. Hancock for ANP
The Tragedy Of Interracial Understanding ,l '
The Tragedy of Interracial
Understanding
When World War I had been
successfully concluded for the
United States and its allies, it
left the Negroes with high hopes
which were doomed to disappoint¬
ment.
The war had reputedly been
fought to make the world safe for
democracy and with this in mind
the Negroes gave freely and thou-
sands gave all, even their lives.
But when Negroes returned from
Europe they found the doors of
full-fledged citizenship strongly
barred when he sought to enter.
Violence broke out in the South
and Judge Lynch took the bench
and served notice on the returned
Negro soldiers that the democracy
which the war was fought to make
safe, was not meant for him.
In order to shield the Negro
from too severe disillusionment,
interracial committees on inter¬
racial “understanding” were organ¬
ized throughout the South, which
had for their purpose the lessen¬
ing of the impact which the great
disillusionment brought with it.
The committee on interracial co¬
operation which enjoyed such pop¬
ularity for a short spell, function¬
ed very much as the bumper of the
automobile; it does not prevent
the collision but lessens the im¬
pact and the damage.
The extent to which the inter¬
racial movement served to miti¬
gate the impact of the Negro's
disillusionment served a worthy
purpose. But through the subse¬
quent years the committees on in¬
terracial cooperation lost their ap¬
peal; for it became apparent that
they were designed primarily to
keep the Negro illusioned about his
status as an American citizen.
The organization of the Durham
Conference and the Southern Re¬
gional Council which stemmed
from' it, was the first break with
the principle and purpose of the
movement implemented by the or¬
ganization of committees on in¬
terracial cooperation.
The Council faced up to the
fact that the movement of the
Southern Commission on Inter¬
racial cooperation was paternalis¬
tic in its outlook and purpose.
It patently was designed to
camouflage the fact that the
by the U. S. National Student as¬
sociation, which has offered to aid
students engaged in non-violent
protests of unequal conditions
throughout the country.
The final scene of activity is
Oklahoma City where sitdown pro¬
hearts of each of us.
Personal and unlimited power
has destroyed the liberties of many
people in ancient and modern times.
can happen to you, and mai'be,
subtly and unknowingly*© yoO, it
is happening.
The roads of liberty are unob-
sfructed and give us the right to
do as we please in the activities to
which they lead so long
plearse to do right. Freedom
independence, the result of indus¬
triously exercising liberty, are the
jewels we know in our commerce,
industry, agriculture, security, pro¬
fessions and recreations.
In contrast to other ways of life
our American way is dynamic as
it releases the individual personal¬
ity from bondage and encourages
self-expression. In a recent publi¬
cation entitled “Democracy,” Harry
Emerson Fosdick writes, ‘‘Demo¬
cracy is based upon the conviction
that there are extraordinary pos¬
sibilities to ordinary people.”
It is individualistic and person¬
al for it is left up to the choice
of the individual if he is to be-
associated with the Shriners or
the Jewish Alliance or the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. It is his choice ♦
if he is to own his own home or
pay rent to his neighbor. If his
choice is none, then that is hi*,,
own business. -j*
Let us do something about re¬
storing the true meaning and sig¬
nificance of our historic document*. ,
Let us show the people across the
seas that we practice peaceful co¬
existence as well as preach it. Let
us show that we have only one
race here in America, the Human
Race. Let us, above all, practice
equality and justice for ail.
Yours truly,
Leford Tobias, Jr.
South’s “not now” was a smooth,
way of saying “no never.” The,,
stiff opposition the Negro is meet¬
ing in his current effort to attajn
to his full citizenship shows that
what understanding” was once called in “interracial fact in£ej‘-,
was
racial misunderstanding.
Today we have interracial tfrt'U
derstanding with whites showing
that full citizenship for Negroes
| is foreign to their purpose and
program and with Negroes who
are resolved not to be denied.
The situation is tragic but re¬
velatory of the real purpose of the
Negro and the white man. The
current picture of Negro students
protesting against segregation and
the evils thereof and of whites,
sworn to opposition, is a much
truer picture than that of whites
and Negroes sitting around a dis¬
cussion table forty years ago.
Today whites are brutally frank
and brutally frank are the Ne¬
groes. As ugly as the picture cur¬
rently is, it offers a more fruitful
basis of interracial adjustment.
More strength to the younger
generation of Negroes who express
and demonstrate their resentment
for segregation and the limita¬
tions in a way Negroes dared not
forty years ago. What those
Negroes of forty years ago did
makes possible what the young J
Negroes of today are doing. A
Interracial understanding today f
is tragic, but it holds possibilities
of a better tomorrow. There are
some complaints where the pat¬
ient grows worse before he g«$*
better. r
It is fervently to be hoped; tf»e
current interracial situation is but
a prelude to an interracial under¬
standing that will eventuate into
a brotherhood of man.
The current sit-down movement
among the Negro students of the
South us a protest against segre¬
gation and the Supreme Court de¬
cisions have put upon our profer-
ed “interracial understanding” a
strain it could not stand. Now we
have real interracial understand¬
ing.
The white man kr-'ws what the
Negro wants; the Negro knows
how determined the white man is
that he will not get it. But such
is interracial understanding.
tests have been in progress for
more than 18 months, and are still
continuing. However, unlike other
locales, there has been no violence
attending the sitdowns, and many
places have reversed their segre¬
gation policies. .,