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SIT-IN FINDINGS
(From the Louisville Defender)
Eight cities in the South have ended the leaders and official groups appointed by
student sit-in controversy by desegregat¬ mayors.
ing lunch counters, and others have made In Winston-Salem, a mayor’s committee
promising starts toward satisfactory solu¬ was successful in effecting a satisfactory
tions. solution after a period of conflict, while
These cities are those with white and in San Antonio, Austin, and Salisbury, un¬
Negro citizens who are “deeply interested official committees helped bring about the
in the welfare and peace of the community change. Norfh
and willing to work for a just solution to Most of the Carolina cities in¬
Negro aspirations.” volved have interracial committees at work
This is the conclusion of a report, TO¬ on the problem, the report shows. In Flo¬
WARD A SOLUTION OF THE SIT-IN rida, Governor LeRoy Collins has estab¬
CONTROVERSY, prepared for the South¬ lished a state-wide committee and urged
ern Regional Council by Margaret Price. the formation of similar local groups. The
To date, the Price report says, lunch Council reports that at least ”0 Southern
counters have been opened to Negroes in cities have established such community
Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, San An¬ groups. Savannah is the only deep South
tonio, and Galveston, Texas; Nashville, city which has attempted this method of
Tenn.; and Winston-Salem and Salisbury, solution, though without success.
North Carolina. The Council predicted a continuation of
Where settlements have been reached, the protest movement. It said, “the stu¬
“there has been little solace for the South’s dent sit-ins — only one aspect of Negro
prophets of disaster,” the Council reports. discontent — have been too widespread,
On the contrary, the study shows that and indicative of too great impatience for
no anyone to expect they will disappear as
store in the South which has opened its quickly as they began. The movement
lunch counters to Negroes has reported a may die down during summer vacations,
loss in business. but it seems unrealistic to expect that this
The report indicated that the methods dramatic movement will die easily
. . .
used to reach agreement have not followed before it makes widespread new gains for
a precise pattern and “thus do not furnish Negroes in their drive for dignity.
a blueprint available to every community.” “More and communities inevitably
However, methods “do offer suggestions will be confronted more by the sit-in problem.
which might be adaptable to local situa¬ look what has been done in
tions,” the Council said. A at some
In cities may offer other communities guide¬
several communities, merchants “me¬ lines and reassurances.”
rely were waiting for someone to take The Council asserts that an ominous as¬
the lead, but no one had bothered to check pect of the sit-ins is that “scores of South¬
their attitudes.” Fitting this pattern were ern cities . . . are not even making, an
Dallas, San Antonio, Galveston, and Salis¬ effort to solve the sit-in dilemma, present
bury, where only slight pressure was re¬ or potential.”
quired to induce the stores to desegregate “Southern white citizens.” the report
and the community to accept the change. concluded, “will have only themselves to
Generally, however, ‘the best promise blame if they are faced with a new rash
of successful settlement has come from a of time and money consuming law suits.
small interracial committee of outstanding They will have only themselves to blame
citizens who are amenable to change.” if they permit the extremists to lead them
These committees have included both un¬ down the path toward hate and violence
official committees of civic and or church and economic damage.”
ON DEATH OF A NEWSPAPER
(From the St. P«id Recorder)
Two nationally known Negro newspapers a broader diversification of personal in¬
have gone out of business this year. Frank terests and an inherent desire to be free
L. Stanley, publisher of the Louisville of the race problem, all tend to shrink the
DEFENDER and former president of the natural readership of any special medium.
National Newspaper Publishers’ Associa¬ In past days of concentrated racial
tion commented in a recent column on the more
increasing mortality rate of both the daily residency and fewer citizenship privileges,
and weekly newspapers of the U.S.— Negroes in cities like New York and Los
Angeles (and to a degree even those of the
The demise of the Los Angeles Tribune size and character of Louisville) found it
marks the passing of two Negro News¬ more necessary to regularly support their
papers this year. Earlier, the New York newspaper. Actually New York and L.A.,
Age — America’s oldest Negro Weekly supported two or more Negro newspapers
quit publication, for a considerable number of years.
American Journalism is a shrinking The death pattern however is in effect,
field. Major cities like Brooklyn, St. the same for Negro and white newspapers. each.
Louis, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and more There are fewer and fewer of Pure
recently Chicago have witnessed metro¬ economics figure in both. But somehow
politan newspaper consolidations. And the death of any Negro newspaper seems
yet there are more readers of American to be a greater loss. Not in terms of
newspapers today than ever. Seems a dollars and cents or the number of people
contradiction for almost any good news¬ thrown out of work but to the cause
paper to have to go out of business in this of human decency at this midway point
day of high readership. Regardless, com¬ of achieving full freedom.
petition and high publishing costs often For as the competing Los Angeles Sen¬
so dictate. tinel editorialized “The Tribune” was
The problem is even greater for a week¬ a lusty voice for human rights and for the
ly catering mostly to Negroes — a cause liberties that we all have the right to
press that dedicates its very all to the expect. What the Tribune lacked in size,
advancement and freedom of its people. it more than made up feu - in fighting spirit
Irrespective of mission, publishing costs and that is a credit to any newspaper
are no cheaper be it the smallest news¬ “worth its salt.”
paper. The Tribune was perhaps the most pro¬
Newsprint, ink and type setting mach¬ fessionally non-cooperative of ail Negro
ines cost the same regardless of the pur¬ newspapers. Its editors never affiliated
chaser’s race. with Negro Press Associations nor attend¬
ed any conventions. In truth they were
Even if a Negro newspaper has appre¬ strongly critical of most Negro publica¬
ciable circulation it still is shut out from tions so much so that Westbrook Pegler,
the kind of advertising which keeps pub¬ the perrenial anti-Negro columinst once
lications alive. National food accounts, singled out the Tribune editor, Almena
department store copy and new car ad¬ Lomax as the only capable Negro Journa¬
vertisements. to name only a few, have list in America.
yet to appear in Negro newspapers with But in spite of the kind of
any degree of consistency. The metro¬ newspaper
politan dailies that died, had all of these, the Tribune was, 1 for one believe, its
but found need for more income to operate death is a material loss to the total civil
in the black. rights effort. And 1 doubt even if the
legally-integrated peoples of color in Cali¬
It is small wonder then that the Tribune fornia can afford to lose it as they strug¬
and the Age held on as long as they did gle to overcome the barriers of extralegal
even though they circulated in two of segregation and achieve complete accept¬
America's largest and most prosperous ance. Although we have established stra¬
cities — Los Angeles and New York. But tegic beach heads on the periphery of
thereby may be the fuudametital reason full civil rights, the war is yet to be won.
for failure. The competition of living, We need every potent voice like The Tri¬
the hustle and bustle of traffic, cfcfimute bune to continue to point out the shoals
ing from borough^ a^d sundry surburbs. ahead, lest our soldiers be ambushed.
THE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
The Government Must Not Allow Bigo try And Hate To Divide America
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois
A Prophet with Honor
EMANCIPATION COMMISSION of the State of N.-w York in It- ». as formed to oppose discrimi¬
nation by celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the ratification of the fifteenth Amendment. Dr.
DuBois is seated, center.
FART 11
The following is the second in¬
stallment of four articles on Dr.
W. E. DuBois by Judge Hubert
T. Delany, noted New York jurist,
fighter for civil liberties and civil
rights.
IIg Hubert T. Delany
EDITORS NOTE:
'(When Congressman Donald
Jackson, Republican member of
the House Un-American Activi¬
ties Committee, attacked the Na¬
tional Council of Churches of
Christ in America, he produced
| as evidence of its “subversion” a
reading list recommended by the
organization on Negro history.
The list included the works of
Dr. William Edward Burghardt
DuBois. As a prominent editor
was later to remark, to have omit¬
ted Dr. DuBois’s name from such
a list would have been like leav¬
ing George Washington out of a
history of the United States.
Unfortunately and because of
just such attacks on him and the
things for which he stands, Dr.
DuBois is not as well known at
home as he is abroad. To help
fill this gap in the public knowl¬
edge of this great American, we
are publishing this brief four-part
biography. This is the second in
the series. The first
traced Mr. Dubois's story
his birth in 1868, just five
after the Emancipation
tion, through his vast
achievements and his
in the founding of the NAACP.)
DR. DuBOIS disagreed
lently with Booker T.
primarily on the question of
tancy. Washington was
to forego equality for
educational opportunities,
ing that by this route lay
solution to the problems which
set the Negro. DuBois was
ing to forego nothing. He
that right was right and
should be no compromise
right Instead he ca’.ltd a
ing. the first of many, on the
AS EDITOR OF THE CRISIS, official publication of the NAACP,
Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois is shown in the office of the magazine in 1914 .
group of Negro leaders met inter¬
mittently until 1909, when for the
first time membership was opened
to whites interested in Negro
rights and Negro advancement.
That was the beginning of the Na¬
tional Association for the Ad¬
vancement of Colored People. Dr.
DuBois was invited to become the
new organization's first executive,
but he declined, shying away then,
as ever, from the confinements of
“deskmanship.” Instead, Dr. Du¬
Bois began plans for the first is¬
sue of the official NAACP pub¬
lication, “The Crisis.” In the
first issue the following Novem¬
ber, the editor wrote:
“The object of this publication
is to set forth these facts and
arguments which show the dan¬
ger of race prejudice . . . finally
its editorial pages will stand foi
the rights of men, irrespective of
color or race.”
IN HIS struggles to secure
these rights, Dr. DuBois was to
engage the enemy on many and
varied fronts. He had knocked
on doors and climbed tenement
sttiirs in lii^ voutfa to obtain 1113 .-
tenal for his early studies of Ne¬
study, to fight, to educate him¬
self and to learn.' At ninety-two
he has just returned from a world
tour where he was received
with more popular enthusiasm
than that accorded to many offi¬
cial visitors from these shores.
To the world, W. E. B. DuBois
i s one of the most outstanding
figures of our century. Unfor¬
tunately only in America has there
, been a nearly successful attempt
i to conceal his accomplishments.
To Congressman Jackson and
i the Un American Activities Com-
I mitt"!', Dr. DuBois is a danger
I to the community, a man so “sub-
I versive” that the mere inclusion
of his books in a reading list could
, mark a national organization of
Protestant' churches as a sub-
1 versive group.
HISTORY' WILL, no doubt,
I be more accurate in its evaluation
: of what is and what is not “Amer-
| ican.” The youth of tomor-
| row will study the life and works
of the man whom the youth of to¬
day have too often been prohib-
itfid from knowing.
Ihe choice of the word “Col-
the Lettersjo Editor
• ••
Alfred Baker Lewis
23 East 16th Street
New York 3, N. Y.
To the Editor:
Herewith is an article on Civil
Rights and Education which 1
hope you can use either as an
article, a letter to the editor, or, if
you prefer, as your own editorial.
If it is too long, please use it
in installments if possible.
Sincerely,
Alfred Baker Lewis
Fooling the Voters on Civil Rights
and Education
The votes in the House of Re¬
presentatives on Federal Aid to
Education showed how the Re¬
publican leaders in Congress play
fast and loose with both educa¬
tion and civil rights.
We need more funds for educa¬
tion because the school population
is growing and more young peo¬
ple stay in school and college long¬
er than before, making a great¬
er number of classrooms a neces¬
sity. Also, we need higher pay for
teachers to attract and keep good
minds in that, profession. All this
puts a heavy strain on local school
districts, and even on states, to
finance the needed additional edu¬
cational expenditures.
school districts with the
proportion of children have a low
taxable capacity for one reason
other. ‘'The kids are where
cash ain’t,” as one homespun
sociologist put it.
Federal Aid to Education is
necessary answer.
But reactionaries on economic is¬
sues are opposed to Federal
to Education because the Federal
tax system lays stress on
taxes and corporation profits
’s which are paid/ on the
b .V people with the largest
and who therefore are best able
nay. State and school district
venues on the other hand
largely from real estate
vhich bear most heavily on
' aml smal1 home owners,
from sales taxes. Spies taxes,
bear most heavily on people with
iinall incomes. Expenditures
domestu. ... service* for trips
;md for investment, all of Vhich
are expenditures made much
ored in the title of "the organiza-
tion to be known as the National
Association for the
Of Colored People was extremely
deliberate. It crystallized for all
time Dr. DuBois’s broad approach
to the Negro’s problem at home
and the needs and hopes of sub¬
jugated people everywhere. From
the beginning, Dr. DuBois
ized that in a world dominated by
a philosophy of white supremacy,
peoples of color all over the world
were similarly victimized. Not
then and not now was Dr. DuBois
P*ey to the easy reverse prejudice
that has separated many Negro
leaders from the popular move¬
ments of the period. The vastness
of his vision was symbolic of
DuBois’s approach to all of the
struggles with which he became
involved. From the very earliest
days. \V. E. B. DuBois seemed
immune to that political and so¬
cial myopia that mistakes the tree
for the forest.
THIS CAPACITY was no doubt
one of the qualities that led to
his greatness, but it also brought
him many personal disappoint¬
ments. A man far ahead of his
time is a delight to his biogra¬
pher. But to live with head and
heart in the next century is not
an easy accomplishment. DuBois’
vision of real equality between all
races brought him into conflict
with many Negro leaders of the
time. Booker T. Washington, then
at the height of his prestige, dis¬
agreed violently with DuBois’ mil¬
itancy. In so far as Washington
urged improvement of the Negro’s
working conditions, DuBois and the
Niagara movement had supported
him, but when he expressed the
view that Constitutional rights
might be traded for white favors,
Washington began to lose ground.
Now, half a century later, there
is hardly a Negro leader who
would n,ot say that DuBois was
correct in his insistence upon ab¬
solute equality. Still there are
many now, as then, who are re¬
luctant to give Dr. DuBois the
public credit which privately they
canoot refuse to acknowledge. His
continuous militancy together
with his outspoken endorsement of
policies which made common
cause between the Negro and men
everywhere, who were the vic¬
tim of injustice, made DuRoi a
convenient target for the enemies
SATURDAY, JUNE IS, 1960
by people’with small incomes than
by people of wealth, escape the
sales taxes. That is why reaction¬
aries oppose social welfare expen¬
ditures by the Federal Government,
since the wealthy would pay a
heavy proportion of the cost, and
argue instead for state and local
expenditures for social welfare
purposes such as education, since
then the poor will pay most of the
cost.
When the bill for Federal Aid to
Education comes up in Congress
the Powell Amendment is offered
to prohibit any school district which
fails to desegregate its schools
from getting Federal funds.
Congressman Halleck of Indiana,
the Republican floor leader, and
many other Republicans seem to
think they can deceive Negro vot-
ters by voting for the Powell
Amendment, but they really want
to defeat the bill by insuring that
the Southern Congressmen and
Southern Senators, when the bill
j comes before the Senate, will vote
against was with adopted the the help bill. and added of The Congressman amendment to the bill, \
Halleck and other Republicans.
It should be clear that the only
way any Congressman can be
honestly for the Powell Amend¬
ment is to vote for a Federal Aid
to Education bill with the amend¬
ment as part of it. When the bill
came to a vote in the House with
the Powell Amendment included,
Representative Halleck, the Re¬
j publican floor leader, and 75 other
. Republicans WWIWI who had voted vutvu JUI for the
amendment, voted against the bill
with the amendment as part of it.
In accord with the alliance bet¬
ween the reactionary Republicans
and the reactionary Southern De¬
mocrats, 97 Democrats, nearly all
from the South, also voted against
the bill. But this time the re¬
actionary coalition failed in the
| House. 192 Democrats plus 44 Re-
{ publicans voted for it, and the bill
and the Powell. amendment • were
passed
0 f course the bil! mav still J*
| defeated in the Senate, or parsed
"
after conference with the Senate
without the Powell amendment,
' But wise
. voters will remember how
, the Republican leaders and a ma-
j I jority of the Republican congress-
men tried to fool them.
j of change. In that respect the cl
current jibes of the House Un-
14aitIV i American Johnny-Come-Latelv? , A . w *,„ Activities , Committee* v , (rs
a
WHEN DR. DuBOIS first be¬
came editor of the NAACP’ts of¬
ficial publication, THE CRISIS,
his work enjoyed a wave of suc¬
cess far beyond his fondest hopes.
By 1913 when the 50th anniversary
of the Emancipation Proclamation
was celebrated, there was cause
indeed for celebration. The
NAACP was a going organization
to lead the strugg-le for future
progress, and Dr. DuBois had
established a journal to give voice
to that leadership.
Dr. DuBois was, of course, in
the forefront of the anniversary
plans. The movement to’ mark
the Negro’s fiftieth milestone in
his journey from constitutional
slavery to national freedom, began
with an appeal to Congress for an
appropriation. Despite popular
support and although the bill
passed the Senate, it was effec¬
tively blocked by the House Fi¬
nance Committee. Efforts were
then directed to obtain support in
the various state legislatures.
RECORDS of New Y T ork’s par¬
ticipation carry a meaningful
message for today. In 1863 the
Democrats of New York had op-
post , d the North’s position in the
Civil War; had indeed opposed
the war itself. By 1913, however,
it was the Democrats whose voices
were raised the loudest in praise
of the freedom won by the war
they had opposed! In 1863 the
Republicans on the other hand,
had invited the Negroes to join
the war for freedom, hut by 1913
they had reversed their position
and called for the abrogation of
the Fourteenth Amendment. In
50 years New York State Demo¬
crats and Republicans had re¬
versed their positions on civil
rights for Negroes for reasons of
political expediency. One party
had seceded from slavery, the other
had rejected emancipation. Dr.
DuBois, as a member of the Com¬
mission, wrote die Souvenir Jour¬
nal of the New York Commission
celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the Emancipation Proclamation,
In that journal is the .significant
statement: “The Negro Freedman,
in celebrating hi; release from
CocLuuccl on page Seven;