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PAGE FOUR Ebf 0 a wittmlt Established 1»75 MRS. WILLA A. JOHNSON-.Editor A Publisher ^JTQlWSO^.^Promotion A Adv. Rep. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 1008 WEST BROAD STREET Dial ADams 4-3432 — ADams 4-3433 Subscription Rates In Advance Blx Months------------------------------$3.08 Hngle Copy .10 ^ -— ~~ -------- — Remittance must be made by Express. Post Office Money Order or Registered Mall. Second Class Mail Privileges Authorized at Savannah, Georgia j EDITORIAL OPINION FROM THE NATION’S PRESS Compiled by Associated Negro Press The sit-down are still the most controversial issue in the South today and their affects are reflected on the editorial pages of the press throughout the nation. Here fire a few samples: THE TRIBUNE, Chicago “It is worth noting that the zealots un¬ intentionally brought about this happy result. A good start toward integration of the schools was made easier in Nash¬ ville because of public indignation over the dynamiting of a sehoolhou.se to which a few Negro children had been admitted to the 1st grade. The integration of the lunch counters was furthered by the bombing of the home of a Negro leader. A clearer example of good springing from evil Would be hard to find.” THE POST. Denver “When a department store enters the food dispensing field it comes within the purview of the historic concept that the inn-keeper and common vietualer are obli¬ ged to provide shelter and food to the wayfarer who is willing and able to pay for them. However, there is no obligation on Mr. Wool worth to furnish this service 24 hours a day, or at all. He may close his food counter at any time, for any reason. But as long as he keeps it open, he may not refuse service to anyone.” THE GAZETTE, Charleston, W. Va. “The best hope of obtaining civil rights Q if A The Daddy of the Sit-downs (in Eiioc I'. Wafers, AX AXI' FEATURE Rare headed arid beamed' 1 » a dressed Ni9K':y, qian' with a case strode, a-Udylically; across the airfifld after alighting from a plane at Washington's rtew Natl ional airport. , M , f , Con fidently he walked..in to sparkling new air terminal, the cafeteria and took a seat at the lunch counter. The white waitress looked at him with alarm in her face, she conferred for a moment with an¬ other waitress, then approached the brown faced man with a mixed gray goatee. “I’m sorry hut I can’t serve you,” she informed him. “Why not,” he asked. “Are you closed ?” “No, we’re not closed, but we don't serve Negroes here.” “What,” the man exploded with emotion. “You mean to tell me that I, an American citizen, can't get a cup of coffee and a couple of doughnuts here!” “No, sir.” she replied somewhat timidly, obviously overcome by the rising indignation of the than. “Who’s in charge here? Where’s the manager?” “He’s not here? “Who’s in charge? “I am.” “What’s your name?” “Why.” She was beginning to resent the aggressive manner of this Negro. “I’m Edgar G. Brown, president of the National Negro Council,” he informed her “and in the name of every one of the 14.000,000 Ne¬ groes in the United States, I’m de¬ manding service.” “Well you won’t get it here,” the girl said. She was angry now. She called a police officer. “You’re creating a distrubance.” the cop said. “I am not. I’m just demand¬ ing sendee like any other Ameri¬ can citizen,” Brown told him in a rasping voice that sounded like it came from a nut grater. “Well, they don’t serve your here,” the cop informed him, you had better go along.” “I'm not moving until I’m ved. Now if that is conduct, you make the most it.” Brown reached down into briefcase, took out a book and gan to read. So started the non violent sit down at a jim crow lunch counter America. The year, 1941 — III years Well aware of the value of licity, Brown passed a note to Negro passing by and had him National Adyertlslng Representatives 65 West 42nd street New York 30, New York 160 W. Washington St. Chicago 2, HI. I J* r - R° bert Whaley Whaley-Simpson Company Los Angeles 28, California Mr. Gordon Simpson Whaley-Simpson Company San JJ® ™K g ?T^li?omla -n i , „ -— •- — wfiV — ■ „...ZL " for Charleston citizens, in our opinion that the chance of achieving this hope can be measured in the interest shown by the city’s chief executive in working with the commission — and his inclination to nudge it occasionally if necessary.” NEWS AN!) COURIER, Charleston, S. C. “The white officers and the colored demonstrators understand one another bear little hostility. The police realize the students are being manipulated by older and shrewder heads. The students know the police are there to protect the public — including the demonstrators — from possible strife.” DAILY NEWS, Jackson, Miss. “One of the biggest falsehoods yet spread is that these “aitdown” strikes by Negroes at lunch counters across the na¬ tion are spontaneous. You have read statements time and again by the professional agitators that the demonstrations were spontaneous. The easily seduced liberals swallow this bunk- rum hookum lineum and sinkerum.” THE CONSTITUTION, Atlanta “At a time whin Georgia is struggling toward a decision on the future of public schools, we trust the students will reco¬ gnize they have established their protest and will refrain from unnecessary and un¬ productive repetitions.” the newspapers. The following day they all blossomed forth with his picture sitting forlornly at the lunch counter reading a book. With a story and picture in the papers, Brown moved on to the second phase of his campaign. He retained Atty. Belford V. I.uwsou and filed suit for $10,000 against the Civil Aeronautics Au¬ thority, the operator of the cafe, the U. S. Department of Com¬ merce, and because no one was quite sure whether the airport was in Washington or the state of Vir¬ ginia, he sued both. Newspapers reported that it was the first civil rights suit filed in Washington since 1808 — 73 years before. Brown didn’t win his lawsuits, but the airport capitulated and as a result of Brown’s sit down the daddy of those today Negroes eat in the National Airport in Wash ington without any difficulty. Brown wasn’t the first sit down¬ er. That distinction goes to a fiery Boston editor and scholar; Monroe Trotter, who in the 1920’s would plump down in a barber’s chair or anywhere and abumantly remain until he was served. Or maybe it was Fred Douglass who 100 years ago steadfastly re¬ fused to give up his seat at a din¬ ner table where he was the only Negro and remained to eat with gusto if not in comfort. The first mass sit downs at jim crow lunch counters occurred in Oklahoma City in 1968. They were staged by the youth council of the NAACP. Though these and others in Wichita., Kans. were suc¬ cessful, the movement died until revived last February in Greens¬ boro, N. C. A similar technique had been successfully employed as early as 1942 in a campaign against jim crow counters, dance halls and skating rinks in Chicago. Often referred to as “God’s an¬ gry man,” Brown who was killed in 1954 in a Chicago accident, was a national tion. From the time that as the Negro tennis champion 1921 was barred from a park tournament in Chicago cause of his race, he mounted soap box and began to He didn’t stop until death him forever. He w r on the with the park board, entered won the tournament, becoming first Negro to win the city championship. From then on it was one sade after another. 'When Brown walked into the port that night, ht had u<5 tion of launching a sit down cam¬ paign. But that was the manner of Brown. He fought injustice as he met it frequently without any plan or forethought. Sometimes he left j one campaign hanging in order to launch another. But he was ef¬ fective because he was always preaching against racial injustice ~ a street corner - in a bar > in a church pulpit, or from the plat¬ form of a national convention. And if ho couldn’t get the pulpit, he would just rise up from his seat in the audience and sound off. As a one man crusade he was a success, perhaps a greater suc¬ cess than any other man as an individual has been. IIis National Negro Council existed only on a letterhead, but it gave him a base for his operations. Over a period of 20 years he 1 "'as arrested in almost every major city of the United States for speaking on street corners with¬ out a permit, for blocking traffic, evciting a riot or creating a dis¬ turbance. He absorbed more beatings from unsympathetic police and white j rabble rousers than any man of his time. He was beaten severely once outside the capitol by a con¬ gressional doorkeeper from Texas for refusing to occupy the seat given him in the visitors’ gallery. Uis campaigns included higher minimum wages for domestics, a drive for higher wages for unskill¬ ed Negro workers in the Interior Department, a drive for a million dimes to finance a campaign against all racial discrimination, a march on Washington bargain for civil rights. “We can’t leave such an important job to a handful of cheap politicians. We’ve got to do it ourselves,” he told an audience at the corner of Broad and South Sts. in Philadelphia. It never came off. He had some bitter personal enemies. One of them was Chi¬ cago’s Negro Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell. In one of his rare speeches on the floor of Congress, Mitchell at¬ tacked Brown whom he described as '“a superconfidence man, be- longing to that group of racket¬ eering so-called race leaders that always go around with their hands out seeking money, prestige, re¬ cognition and power for them¬ selves, only at the same time car¬ ing absolutely nothing about the group.” Later, when Mitchell announced that he would not be a candidate to succeed himself, Brown eulo- TUE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA THE HATE GROUP AND SEGREGAT\ ONIST CONCEPT OF FREEDOM -•-..... --Ar ....... . -it. A ----------■ Letters to the Editor #«© 1886 East 82nd Stret Apartment 49 Cleveland 3, Ohio May 18, 1960 Mrs. Willa A. Johnson The Editor The Savannah Tribune 1009 West Broad Street Savannah, Georgia Dear Mrs. Johnson: It is is appalling that the City Council of Savannah is ■ying to' deny Americans one of their basic freedoms by its pas¬ sage of an ordinance 6n Friday, May 6, 1960 prohibiting mass picketing. Such action is- a flagrant misuse and abuse of legislative authority entrusted to it by the citizens* ? |) 0 <>, The Constitution of the Uiiit- ed States clearly states in >l! Arti- cle IV. Section II, Paragrraph 1: “The citizens of each shall be entitled to all privileg¬ es and immunities of in the several states.” The first Amendment to the Constitu- tion states: “Congress make no law . . . abridging freedom of . . . the people peace- ably to assemble and to tion the government for of grievances:” Amendment XIV of the Constitution states: “No state shall make or en¬ force any law which shall abridge the privileges or immu¬ nities of citizens of the United States. .. .” The Savannah City Council recent ordinance is in conflict with the of the United States and there¬ fore the ordinance is impotent, unrealistic, undemocratic, unconstitutional. Municipal corporations created by the state for primary purpose of peculiar governmental needs gized him in these words: “It is too had you did not your office to advance the franchised, disadvantaged jim crowed American by at least one law passed your eight years in Congress would benefit one of your Goodbye, my friend. You public office unsung, unwept by members of your race. May rest in peace in your $35,000 estate in Virginia, intern- ed forever, we hope, from public view.” Brown was born in Sandoval, and worked as a lobbyist, relations councellor, editor held several government jobs ing the early days of New Deal. Brown is reputed to have ed large sums of money for he accounted to no one. By time he died, he had lost stature even in the community and Negro editors corded his activities sparingly’ with caution. But whether he was a a fanatic or a God-inspired man take your choice — one thing certain: He was a daddy of lunch counter sitdowners. urban areas. They, also, are to serve as local agencies of state administration. Cities obliged to exercise their powers in such a way as not to i lie the provisions of the fional constitution, laws and treaties. Ad of the express ana implied limitations on the tstai.es by (he tion of the United States equally binding on tne munici- pal corfffeUate The Qfjd$tttution of the Unit ed StatSk" Is the broad, j mental, body of law for all the people- of the nation. Each of the'fifty states has ,a constitution, this includes the State of: Georgia. The state constitution must c nform with the Federal Constitution. ~ The 'State Constitution does three basic things: (1) it de¬ fines the rights of the citizens of the State, (2) specifies the j form and structure of the gov- eminent, (3) puts limits on the powers of the official agencies j it establishes since it actually 1 grants no power as does the Federal Constitution, Hence, the new ordinance that was passed by the Savan¬ nah City Council prohibiting mass picketing is, also, in con¬ flict with the' Constitution of the State of Georgia as well as in conflict with the United States Constitution. The pre- amble of the state of Constitution states that its function is videlicet: "To per¬ petuate the principles of free government, insure justice to all, preserve peace, promote the interest and happiness of the j citizen, and transmit to poster¬ ity the enjoyment of liber- | ty. Woman Gets $47,000 U. S, Research Grant TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, Ala. (ANP)—A $4 7,414 research grant to study amino acid nutrition prob¬ lems in adult men and women has i been Watts awarded research to associate 1>r ’ Johnnie at the H ' I - Carver Foundation and P™feMor <lf foods and nutHt, °n at Tuske ‘ !* ee lnstitute ' (Amino acid makes SSC To Graduate 88 (Continued from Page One) tion and music will be furnished by the Choral Society’ under the direction of Dr. Coleridge A. Braithwaite. Other events of the commence ment calendar include senior class day exercises at 12 noon and senior night exercises at 8 P.M , day, May 2b; Junior-Senior Prom, j Georgia’s State Constitution j j guarantees freedom of assem- bly in its Bill of Rights, '< Article 1, Section I, Paragraph xxiV, “The people have the assemble peaceably for I their common good, and to ap- pj y those vested with the powers of government for re- dress of grievances, by petition or remonstrate.” (Article 1, Section XV Paragraph IT “Leg- Lslative acts in violation of this constitution, or the Constitu- tion of the United States, are void, and the judiciary shall so declare them'.” Article X'f, Section I, Paragraph I. “The laws of general operation in the State are—First as the Supreme law: The Constitution of the United States, the laws of the United States in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made under the authority of the United States.” Savannah - s city Council has attempted to disregard one of the basic freedoms that our country was founded upon and established by our forefathers and guaranteed by the State and our National Constitution. How can freedom loving cit¬ izens of the City of Savannah and the state of Georgia allow such an ordinance to go unchal- | lenged? We have fought ma- jor wars and many battles to guarantee democracy, why should the sacrifices of lives and property that have been made to secure our country safe for freedom and freedom loving people be taken away by the City Council of Savannah or any other legislative body? Respectfully yours, William P. McLemore up muscle, tissue in the human body.) The award, to cover a three- year period, was made by the U.S. Department J of Health, Education _ Welfare. Allocation for the first period is $17,338. * .^jJ| $ P.M., Friday, May 27, Wilcox Gy’mnasium; President’s reception for seniors, President’s Residence, 7:30-9:00 P.M., Saturday, May 28 ; Senior Breakfast, 10 A.M., Adams Hall; national alumni meet¬ ing. 5 p.m., Meldrim auditorium; and national alumni banquet, Adams Hall, Saturday, June 4. Speaker for the National Alumni Banquet will be John Lawton, Class ’38, principal of Willow- Hill High School, Statesboro. Mr. Lawton is president of the Geor¬ gia of the Georgia Teachers and | Education Association represent¬ ing more than 10,000 teachers in 1 Georgia. * i 5)o Strops By R. W. Gadsden The consumer cooperative was not • conceived to begin with as a get-rich plan as a boycott scheme. It was designed primarily as a means of helping people with or¬ dinary incomes to stretch their earnings so as to have them meet their needs for consumer goods to the best advantage to them¬ selves. Once a group determines the line of consumer goods it de¬ sires to engage in, certain basic ideas are set up from which there is^no deviation, such as, one mem¬ bership for each, one man, one vote, all purchases cash and carry at prevailing market prices, ev¬ ery member a patron or customer who receives at the end of a pe¬ riod a dividend, called a patron¬ age dividend, arrived at on the basis of the amount of purchases during the period. A feature that is no less a basic necessity is the continuing program of education on the plan, purpose and operation of a consu¬ Between The Lines By Dean Gordon B. Hancock for ANP RUSSIA AT THE BAT Speaking in baseball terms, we can easily say that Russia is at bat. We are face to face with the summit conference and we are going up to the same in a weaken¬ ed position for bargaining. With Russia’s four-ton satellite in orbit and with the spy-plane incident fresh in the mind of the world, we are not prepared to mea¬ sure arms with a nation handled not by master Negrophobes, but by shrewd and crafty statesmen. If we had statesmen the calibre of our Negrophobes in Congress, we would run away with the sum¬ mit conference show. But our emphasis on Negropho¬ bia and lack of emphasis on state¬ craft, is exposing our nation in dangerous ways. Our immatu¬ rity of statesmanship needs no better illustration than the recent blunder of sending a spy over Russian territory on the eve of the summit conference. But spy’s getting shot down was the crowning indignity of a serious blunder. To the Great Ten Commandments handed down on Sinai, has been added another by man, the eleventh command¬ ment, “Thou shalt not get caught! “We were not only clumsy in sending a spy at a time like this, but we sent a clumsy spy who broke the Eleventh Commandment and got caught. It is becoming more and more apparent each day that it is going to take ten-tenths of American genius to foil the Russians instead of the nine- we are trying to use. Whether America knows it or not, ’she needs Negroes at the front in times of peace as well as in times of war. Russia is a dangerous opponent, and her bid for the domination of the present world is a bold one. From decimation of domination is Russia’s dream and we, by our blunders, are about to make that dream come true. Hitler’s legions laid a great part of Russia waste, with her armies and peoples deci¬ mated. But Russia bounced back in tremendous fashion, and is look¬ ing the world over trying to decide what to do with it; while our fal¬ tering statesmanship languishes. Our Congress is too crowded with Negrophobe specialists and has too few honest- to-goodness statesman. America leads the world in giant Negrophobes with Weaver to Keynote NAACP 51st Annual Convention NEW YORK — The NAACP 51st annual convention in Saint Paul, Minn., will open with a key¬ note address by Dr. Robert C. chairman of the Associa¬ tion’s Board of Directors, on June . The closing address to the six- convention will be delivered Executive Secretary Roy W T il- in the Northrup Auditorium the University of Minnesota, Sunday afternoon, June 26. Other convention activities an¬ by John A. Morsell, as¬ to the executive secretary, the annual NAACP break¬ for clergymen to be addressed Dr. Homer A. Jack, associate of the American Commit¬ on Africa June 23. and a series workshop sessions. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1660 mer cooperative. That it is not the conventional stock company is something which has to be driv¬ en home to the thinking of pros¬ pective members, especially in a community where such companies have had unfortunate experiences. A consumer cooperative is a thor¬ oughly democratic organization in which all members share equally; in which there are no “big fish” and no “little fish,” and no highly paid officials; in which only the people who actually do the work are paid. It can be as successful as the members want it to be; however, the rules must be fol¬ lowed strictly. A later development in the con¬ sumer co-operative movement was that of providing a way to offer the benefits of the co-operative to non-members. Where this is per¬ mitted, non-members draw a some¬ what smaller patronage dividend and the co-operative becomes sub¬ ject to higher taxation. a startling scarcity of great states¬ men. What we need is more giant Russophobes and fewer giant Ne¬ grophobes. With Russia launching four-ton satellites into space, and with Rus¬ sia shooting our spies out of her skies, we are in a poor position for summit bargaining. When the nations take a look into space and see our diminutive satellites trailing Russia’s four- ton one, they’re not inclined to be impressed with our space know¬ how. The tragedy of our present embarrassed position resides in the fact that with ordinary ingenuity it could have been avoided. We had the resources, we had the scientists, we had the “jump”' on Russia in that our land had not- beMi struck by the devastating and fist of a decimating and destruc¬ tive war. We muffed a groat op¬ portunity to startle and lead the world; and what have we done with our great advantage ? We are like a careless baseball team that blows a long lead, and must struggle again to take the lead, if indeed we can regain it. By a series of blunders we have succeeded in bring Russia to bat. Our outfield is playing dem against the fence, and well may they, for Russia seems destined to run away with this summit show. The team that blows too great a lead should get itself together if it would win the game of inter¬ national politics and diplomacy. Time is running out on us and whether we know it or not, the time for giant Negrophobes and pygmy statesmanship is past. Statesmanship and not Negro¬ phobia is the hope of our embar¬ rassing position. The fight in America to hold one-tenth of its in subjection has brought Russia to bat at the summit con¬ ference. America’s This South writer great will still let pharaohs believes the Negro that of the go, if V there would be a resurgence of moral strength throughout the world that would disarm Russia in her attempt at world In no other way does it seem to stop Russia. Russia is the bat and Russia is a danger¬ hitter! Workshops will deal with vital aspects, Mr. Morsell said, of the NAACP program “in relation to the slowed pace of desegregation in the South and increasing need for decisive action in the North.” This would include, he asserted, examination of ways to utilize the Negro’s growing economic power. Significance of student protests as indication of the expanded role of “young people in the fight for equality” will be another major concern. Emphasis, be said, will be upon “coordination of these techniques.” The emergence of Africa, the re¬ lation it has to restlessness in the Aniercian South, will be still an¬ other discussion area for the busy conferees, Mr. Morsell announced.