North Carolina Newspapers

Editorials M J -- >,. \ .4 Cke Car^^Cim^ PUBMSHED WIUO.T BT THt CAftOUNA TIMSS FUBUfHIMO Ca MAIN OFFICE 117 E. FEABODr ST. _ DUMIAM, M. FHONES N-7I2I. BETWEEN THE LINES BY GOMKW B. HAffCOCK a U E. AUSTIN, FUBUSHEB _ WIUJAM A. TUCK. MMwriM Emttr HERBERT R. TILLERY, BmsIm** INam^ CHARLOTTE OFFICE LdlOY M. WASHINGTCm. E4Hor t 4t0 1-2 EAST SECOND STREET _ SUBSCRIPTION RATES 92.00—Year, |1.36—6 muntha, ^ 76c—3 Montiu. ■A Bt«r«4 M a«cond-clua matter at tba post oSle* at Ourbam, N. C,, under the Act *f MarcA 4ti 1879." SATURDAY. AUG. lOtli. 1940 THE SCHOOL SURVEY A comparative survey the white and Negro tchooJ of Durhalm, : nccBtiy made by two prominent women of the race, will doubtlew op«o the eye* of naany citisens of both groups, as to the deplorable condition exiiting in the Negro schools of this city. The informatioa in the aarvey is not news to the CABOLINA TIMES, and only teinga out more emphak.ically what we have been trying to convey to our readers for nearly fifteen years. — Frankly the CAROLINA TIMERS sees no reason wh^ the Durham Nagro schools in their present condition, should be perniitted to continue in operation, and y^e recommend that the city be asked to keep the Negro schools of Durhhkn closed until conditions in them art such that they will not operate to the detriment of Kegro children. If the city officials will not comply with sucM a request, wa recommend that a restraining order be obtained to prevent them from opening in September. Quit* often it takes draatic action to remedy a drastic situation. We happen to know that conditions in the Negro schools of Dur ham ara much worse than shown in the survey made several weeks ago. Wa happen to know thait th« two women who made the ^survey arc not Ute type to overstate a situation. Both are possesse4 with •oongh equilibrum and training ^ have done the job with only one parpoac iq view*to. mUke Durham Negro schools more in keeping with what real “A” grade schools should be. The present plight of the Negro schools in Durham presents a challenge to all fair-minded white citizens and courageous Negro Icudera. The condition is so serious that Negro leaders who are the cringing type would do better to keep out of the picture entirely. Whita persons who are so possessed with prejudice they do not want Nagroaa to have equal educational facilities should tatce a \r«lk. Wa think there is enough f)Ei.ir pay in Durham among i^ts^hites citiscna, and enough courage among its Negro citisens to meet the Negro school issue without fear or favor, provided such citizens are given the right of way. If the situation is to -be handled by the uaual cringing and double crossing method then there is little hope for a better Negro school system in Durham. NEGRO SOLDIERS Information has come to the CAROLINA TIMERS that the call this week for more than 200 Negro volunteers for the engineers division at Fort iBragg is in reailty a call for Negroes to seirve in the labor battalion. Whether or n,ot the method used by the Uni ted Statea army recruiting service is intended to mislead Negroes into joining the army only to become servants for white soldiers, it is beginning to look so. If Negroes are to be accepted' in the tf^my as labor unita only they ought to be told the truth about it. Any aiitempt to mislead them into joining (the army only to discover later that they are nothing but servants for white soldiers, will do more harm than apacc will permit us to explain here. The CAROUNA TIMES has never understood this rank dis crimination against Negroes in the nation’s defense program. We cannot understand how the United States cain accept into all branch es of the service, foreign born persons, while denying the same privilegOT to American Negroes. The record of the Negro soldier is one that any race should feel proud of. History records no instance in which a Negro bad betray ed bis country. In the time of war, as in the time of peace, he has always proven a loyal a%id patriotic American citizen. In these times of uncerbunty it does seem that the United States Army would be the last place that the Negro would find his skin u badge of humiliation. We trust the information which we have obtained, as reliable as the source appears to be, is erroneous. We trust that instead of the lubor battalion, the Negro youths who answer the call for the engineer division at Fort Bragg will find themselves full fledged Amarican soldiers. TRADITION OR CONDITION? WHEN THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION nominatted Presi dent Roosevelt for a third term last week in Chicago, it did the wisest and most logical thing in the premise. It was a matter of proceeding' from the known to the unknown with Roosevelt as stindaird bearer; while In the case of Willkie, it ia proceeding from the unknown to the un known. —. j ' ■ I ( It is true, no4>ody knows what turn events will take, but Roose velt has proven himself in aifna- tions that were criti(;al and wherf measures haid to be hetx^c. He has brought thus far and in s in so far as ability is concerned, Roosevelt is a known quantity. As much cannot be safid of Mr. Willkia. If this country wishes to trust its destiny in the hands of an unknown, untried leader, it haa perfect right so to do; but comon sense does not so dictate present. There are only two objections that really can be ratsed against Roosevelt and one is political and the other is traditionah^ Politically, Roosevelt Is a demo crat, and of course all Republi- cans^f a certain persuasion will object to him pii general princi ples, which have no place in, criti cal ,times like these. Intelligent men expect the Republicans to quibble and heckle over non- essentials. They expect the op position party tg raise opposition to the 'good and the bad. Nobody expects Republicans to endorse a Democratic nominee and on general principles then the fight that Republicans will make on Rosevelt should first of all be regarded as mere politics in the interest of thte Republican party. Divested then of its political aspects, the coming election should-, evolve around the issues of internal unity and internation al safety. Even more iipportanl than our vaunted liberty and fteedom is the mattar of their security. Liberity without se curity is meraly a psychological f.gment, fringed with fantasy. More important than the solution of oOr internal troubles is this matter of perpetuating “t h e American way of life.” More important than the matter of se curing Negroes their every right is the matter of preserving the mocratic ideal* through which alone the Negro may hope for the future. Totalitarianism holds little of hope for minority groups in general, and Negreos in parti- eular; our fourtunas therefoM, ara bound up with the damocratk idsologies. Roosavelt seems to be «ur baat hope to combat tha facist move ments and ideologies. Ha Hat manifested his interest in tha masses and hu striven to remember “the forgotten man.'* That tha forgretten man hafl gotten a better hand in the Naw Deal cannot be doubted. It Is true that every man’s dinner pail has not been filed; but Roose v^lt has seen to it that the nan with the tull dinner pail phipre something with the man with em pty pail. This, it is true, has irk> ed certain classes, but it has stav- (?d olfg a revolution and kept this nation with even keal, FoUtjcal); there is nothing against Rooaa velt aside from the fact he has tried to keep faith with the for gotten man I As Time Marches On —WITH— WilljamSlrodwick Last Saturday nita tragedy ^ successful ^nd unsuccessful, wt again stalked the whisper lanea find that much has depended up- of Haiti. Tha whirligig flung on the individual’s libility to four natives of the city anroute grow with tha business and the The big fight then will be wag ed around the tradition o| tha term. This should be no great barrier to thinking men through out the nation. Tradition is not something too sacred to be sacri ficed. It is just a pattern of be havior which 1,88 nothing of the sacred in its except insofar as it | per, just one, no more, meets conditions. Different eondi' to New York into hasty oblivion. So swift, so crushingly sudden was the accident, and so devast* atin/ its destruction that it mak es one want to say, ‘Hurry and help that friend you’ve been in tending to help for so long; on on home now and te)l thoW you really care for just how much you do care, and add d little more kindness to the deeds you do each day; for, we neer know when the movinf (incer may ja4) A PERIOD to our little page in this panoramA of nights and days. It should, too, make those who have at various times the lives and safety of pthant in th^ir hands, ba just a littla more care* ful. All tha world it seems these days moves on wheels, awift wheels, unfortunately, there is no room for error, you can only make one mistake at 80 miles tions call for new traditions juit as *‘time makes ancient good un couth.” Breaking down certain traditions is one of the pressing needs of the hour. It was once traditional to lynch Negroes a^ cused of certain crimes' or no crimes at all. Who wajits such tradition perpetuated? It was once traditional that no Negro hss rights any white man has bound to respect. Such was ft hellish tradition a"d complete passing will be a blessing. It is even traditional now in certain quarters that Negroes can live cheaper and therefore should be paid a small wage than white*. This tradition is best seen in double standard of tetl her salar ies throughout the South. Who wants such tradition preserved? It is traditionaf among certain ignorant whites that Negf9 wa- men are utterly without virtue. The lie of this has been proven a hundred times and still persists but Who wa^ts to preserve it? It its traditional among certain Negro religious circles that diet ing and hedring” something is |C part of conversion. A tradition that needs discarding. The Conditions demanding Roosevelt leadership are more important than third term trtWi- tionl TRADITION OF CONDI TION? THIS PIU^AR ADDS 8YM« PATHY HEBE TO ALL THG BGReiAVBD PAMIUES. ••••••«••« REMEMBER Remember me when I am ^•one away, I Gone far into the silent land I When you can no longer hold me by the hand. Nor I half turn to go, yet turn ing, stay. You t«ll me pf o«r future that you pUnnadi Only remember me; you under stand a' It will be late to council or pray. Yet if you ahould forget ipe fgf a littla whlla And ilfterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corrup tion leave A vestige of tha thou|hts that once I had Better by far that you should forget and smile ^ Than that you should remember (Md be sad. —Christina Rosfatt} THESE THEY FEOFLE honest eifort the times. to keep pace with Negro Is Elected President Of Cuba All of the lines that ware . nca exclusively ours liave gained new titles and new aspecta^ith mod ern times: The old barber ahop has become tJ Tonsorial Parlor, with gaggets galore, the old corn doctor ik now Chiropodist; the farmer even ia now a man of science, agriculturist and 10 on. Tl^se fields could not all be kept exclusive it is true but those who were engaged in them could htive kept pace with tha timea. And the value of tha printed page to the merchant men «to is yet to ba reaJijted fully. The i’ltalliganca to laa the necessity of eternally telling the public in every manner possible, “I am in business, 1 am in business, I want your patronafcrel And dokig this periodlally and not spasmodi cly is' indeed often (he differanee betwfen wccafs and fallura, Proprietor personality e a n bring business or sand business away. The sfoility „f tha little or big >bualne«s man to always see something of interest in the lives 0^ thp “peepul” that is in com mon with )|is life is the real per sonality secret. FROM THE SANCTUM God forbid the time ever comes when qitnkind *forg#ta in Ita pll- grimag* back, tha ^urea from which it sprung. Mothers. Any people, any nation, any race is only as strong as its mo therhood. Thes« wh9 often alt alone and pray teti- filled prayeiv for their own) weep for them; rejoice when they rejoice; haunt Hell's Kitchen when their own wallow in Hell’s Kitchen; and shed bitter tears wl>en thejr eftlmes come to a tragic juat end. TO* AN OLD I wonder if^ you FRIEND ever bring BY WILLIAM FICKENS BATISTA, who has just been elected president of Cuba, is SI Negro. If he had been born in South Carolina, he would never have been permitted to get edu cation enough to become |^n army sergeant and ahoot aind bully his way into * dictatorship of Cuba, as he did a few years ago. Now he hais got out of the dictator ship Of Cuba, as he did a few years ago. Now he has got out of the dictatot* class and comes up into a more respectable status as elected chief executive of his native land. MY BROTHER’S KEEFER Within the Negro race there may be found all types of people. You will find the doctor, the lawyer, the preacher, the teacher, the adaeator, the artist, the criminal, the sinner and the tramp. TlMrafore the law of the axionui cannot applied to the social ordar which governs the Negro race or any other race for that Bsatter, and ao that one condition is indeed an unfortunate one. And unfortonatey, aa is the caae with just at»out all of the odnority groupa, the illiterate people are in the majority and are flu>r« active criminally. The law of axioma says: "Thin^ equal to*the same thing are a^Ml to each other.” In our race’s caae, we re^et that we cannot appir thia atatcnsent tmthfuUy. Practically all of the trouble between the races hab come as a. rsawlt of crimca committed or those charged with crimes unjustly wltUa the group. Of course this is not true in all cases, but in the IMM* it is. TboBsaads of innocent race members have suffered bod ily hatra, lost their, homes, property, money and other possessions baeanaa of acta committed by the illiterates of the minority groups. Tharafora, ainea the slightest bit of Negro blood is the common daatfsiaator which reduces e^ery darkakinned American to the ! ^ind therefore, for all practical lawaat tarn, it then becomes necessary that every educated cultur- I purposes, a Negro is not a Negro ad, aMa tight Uiinking and upright Negro citisens should feel that .gy longer. Georgia girls go to -I aasMy Brothers’ Keeper." Cuba, aa “queen of cotton” or Mow an^ then, and too often, a Negro or a few may riae to the .something like that, and of halglitr and writa hia or her or their names high above the lower course they have to be entertain- atxaita, as«ai>«rB of flie race, but aa a group, aa a raea of peo- ^ ed by the secretdry of the in- pla. tha Magro anat either riae together or fall together. | tenor in Cuba, who may be a It ia faMnaritant spon all right tiiinldng, and piMic spirited Ne- dark brown Negro, and they ^ rtiifMf of CbarioCte aifd MecUenburg county, to take a hand cover it up by fiction that ha is la rf]Tif*nf ihia "Qoaan Ci^' as it is caUed, of crime vice and ^ ‘Cuban,! as if ‘Cuban’ were the IparhiHj' ia tha matter of Segroet killing Negroes for athae of a race instead of simply •t aD. a national word. In the same What difference does it make? Vfe would not even mention it if it were not for the idiotic atti tude of Americans toward thei fellow citizens | of Negro blood. We see in the papers ai picture of Hull, of Tenn., in close tete-a- tete with Fulgencio Batista, at a dinner in Havana. What of that, too-? Why, it shows up the hypQcrisy and uncivilisation of theae southerners in ^elr own country. In Cuba it is all right :t a Negro is chief of the army or is president of the governmatit, Thare it- a story of a rich man who literally grasped the world in his hands aind took from it what he wanted. This man stole the love and affection of the his personal friends; ruthlessly he would crush struggling young business man to tha earth and, ruin; he believed in nothing Sut his own strength, his own power, his own wealth. On his made way up to the pinacle of power he really found on that he loved. Even then he found that his life was such a wall o^ iies and de ceit that though he wanted to 1 I I. stop he couldn’t stop then. While simply an “Ameri-V . . ^ n j „ - on )|is honeymoon—^he was called I to the city by a faked telegram Maceo the Great, the George sent by his friend’s wife, a finish Washington ^f Cuba, who battled ed affair for him but not for her. for iU independence, was also a | In the ensuing argument, she Negro, more Negroid than half .shot hint—the husbsind appearing the Negroes of the United Stat-, on the scene takes all the blame. America ia and far more Negro in blood than ia even Batista, Maeeo’s old black mother gaive all her aons to the cause of freedom for Cuba. The Cubans have built great monuments to this Mother and this Son. A few years ago, when Batista first became a dictator and seized power, and killed a few opponents, our American news- patpers mentioned the interesting The rich man was not killed by the shot but paralyzed, unable to use any of his limbs or to speak, doomed to lie in the algony of knowing and see his friend take the blame for something for which he is not responsible, doomed to lie helpless and see the bitter tears of his own wife when revelations are made in court. It was then aind only then that he wa? able to realize just what Old Notions Upset By WPA History Of Tlie Negro centered life—too late. •••••••*•• fact that he was a Cuban Negro, jj^voc he’d created with his self- because then they expected him to fail soon, and that would be a ‘’Negr„ failure.” But as his dictatorship stuck, they gra dually lost track of their anthro pology and forgot his origin, and now that he has become presid ent of Cubai by election of its people, we expect them to forget that he is a Negro permanently in America, a”d never, never, mentipn it again. Batista visited us a little while ago, while he was army head and dictator. That was funny enough. But if he comea again now, ^hile he is “Chief Executive” of one of our “Sister Republics" what a laugh it will be on our idiotic American race prejudice! '4 Rev. and Mrs. T. A. GreUy and . . ^ j t • Julia Barbee attended the i0l|r4M to ia to asak* e*«»piea of the few who deal , j,|,ck man of Miss is a Baptist Conclave Wednesday at CMtfaP* Ber»n I Missiaaippian, and shiy Negro fRaleigh. i When Thomas A. Edison /as ticked what was the most Su able thing in the world he quick ly answered, “Time; for all the money and power in the world can’t buy a second of it.” And ^ is, “The moving fingers writes And having writ, moves on. And all your tears cin't’^alsh out a world of it, NolP all your Piety or Wit lure it back half a line.” •••••*•••« FACING PROGRESS Diogenes, the ancient, cairied 6 lamp arottnd looking for an honest man, some generations ago. The modem Diogenes s looking for Ihe merchant who’ll honestly say, “Businesa ia fine/’ when business is fine. Looking restro»pectively at some of our present btuineiaei, to mind Those dream-filled moments spent alone with me. And in doing so you aver find some remnant of thilt breath less estacy? And do you ever gaze with wist ful eye At lovers hand^in hand along the way? And do you aver stop and wonder why We cast our love aside thdt fate ful day? You have not lacked for love Of that I am sure You have an irresistable tippeal; And you possess a ceratin strange allure That even bored sophisticate! feel. But, when within another’s drms you lie And gaze into some other face I'll wager you’ll recall the nighta That I held you a willing slav^ in by embraea. ' ‘ Surely, a thing so sweet tfe our affair ' * Must linger just a bit in memory Far far, too many raptures we did share To ever from the past be wholly free. —WillilMii W. Stradwiek REVERIES ^ And I too joined a caravanserai of nights and days, and sat ci£m- ly by watching the shadow play upon the darkened walls and I knew I hsU not lost you at all. The night was filled with the hub of a million emotions— shadow dreams flickered to and fro in the firelight and I felt the urge to roll back the pages of endless night but time yelled “No More.” As the ache of the opium dream clings to the edter so does that spirit spall of you cling relentlessly to me and I feel the union „f ““r spirit souls tho* you are still afar. OF PREJUDICE there is one story of a fond mother who work ed and slaved to send her son to College; then, worked and sltj/ed again to send him to Med school. The dear son became ill—the mothsr rushed to the school and moved him home immediately; rushed out and *ent for a bevy of White Medicos to attend her son. He recovered, returned to school ind gradoatad. Lifter, when he returned to hip RICHMOND, Va. —The twenty Africans who were landed at Jemestown durign 161# and thtir succeasora for malay years following were not alaves but indentured servants. William Tucker, baptised at Jamestown in 16i24, was probably the first Negro born in this country. The institution of slavery was not le- gLllly sanctioned in the Old Dominion until 1654. The first recorded revolt against slavery, moreover, waa initifted by ilaves themselves in tha year 1687, and other revolts occurred before the Revolutionary Wsr in 1776. These are some of the many, little known facts which are set forth in “The Negro in Virginia" firat state history of the Negro, produced by the Virginia Writ er's Project of the Work Pro jects Administration. Sponsored by Hampton Insti tute, the prjoect employed fin average of twelve highly quali fied Negro research workers, writers, and other white collar personnel. They worked under the general direction of Mra. Eudora Ramsay Richalrdson, State Supervisor of the Virginia Writers’ Project. Roscoe E- Lewis, of the Depart ment of Chemis^y at Hampton Institute, was primarily reapon- sible for the book. He prepsired the initial draft and later super vised the task of producing a book which upsets various ideas of the Negro in American life and is regtirded as an example of what is possible in interracial cooperation and good will. Throughout every atep leadingi to its production. Sterling Brown former Editor on Negro Affais for the WPA Writers’ Program, gave time, dttention and his prestige in the field of American literature to “The Negro in Virginia. The book is something more than a history. Through neariy 400 pages, it not ©nly delvei deeply into facts little known to the American public aind often neglected by hi»toriin8 but painta a social picture with bold strok es. The colorful folk speech of ex slaves themselves in the pre- Clvll War sections of the book makes it stand out in vivid con- tast to the usuid historial report- liig.« “The N>gro in Virginia” is divided into four «parta. First treated is the period that began with the landing of the first Africans at Jamestown and that ended with the Revolutionary War. Then comes the ante bellum home to pracCce she - couldn’t nudersUnd why certain people gave h>ni and his physics the cold shoulder, Here again we have an ex ample of one who »ees through a glass darkly; persons who rush to the most expensive source for the administration of all of their needs with the illusion of best- nosa. ••*••••••• FROM THE RANKS Of* THE forgottenarevenge Debauchery’s slave you are now, 1 vUa thing, ^ depraved of sfll of the vestiges of refinement j once knew, drenched in all of the vices of time, and yet, I caA still see in your eye and in your demeanor some of those things you must have Teamed on a fond mother’s knee. That wore tip on your battered h»lt—t h e faint indrawn smile as if fearful of being pitied and not wanting pity, an affected aneer with courtly guile. Then, when I turn ed to go you were neither reluct ant nor anxious to part ao; some how I gleamed from your studi ed calm you wanted me to run on because it was truly, hell, the memory lane I started you on. Sights and sounds, facea from the pt^|es of the past rolled by your torrid brain. The qne face that had stood between us through the years, you"won, yes, but look ing at you now I have no regrets, naw—^no sympathy cither, so take off your cotft cause I want ya to die without it. The 88 cracked again and again; the once Dapper gentle man Jim coughed, crumpled/to the floor, smiling, beciiuse even dying he had beaten Jack again. jMst as the smoke cleared tha siren' rang out—-and a stiVtled Jack went on his laat ride. AS TIME MAMHES ON.—William W. Stradwiek. period, ending with the Emanei- pation iproclamation; then the period of Reconstruction; itoid finally the contemporary acene. One chapter deals with tha Underground Railroad, principal means by which many alaves were lilded to Freedom. Rebell ions and other forms of active protest initiated and carried out fcy free Negroes, white persona and the slaves themselves ara described. These protests that spread throughout slsive holding statea ara held largely responsi ble for the freedom of a half million Negroea living livea simi lar to American citizens prior to the Civil War. “The Negro in Virginia” de votes conslderdble space to the Negro as an important factor ia the economic, industrial, civic, and cultural life of the Old Dominion and of tha deeper, South. Employing simple, direct but powerful style, the book analyses the Negro aa a field, hand, a creative artist, a coal miner, a business man, ai muni tions worker, a journalist and a soldier. The Negro’s work in education, in religion and in thia founding of fraternal orgsfilz*- tions is discnsaed. More ban fifty illustrations, including rare prints and photo graphs, -are grouped under four sections of the book entitled “Out of the Past,” ‘City and FiJrm, Education and Mnalc, and A Living to Make. Of cqiMidara- able Interest Ire the photographs originally taken by W. Lincoln Highton, of the Federal Worka Agency’s Photographio Division, and Robert McNeill, young Ne- gio photographer of Washington who served as photographic con sultant for the Virginia Writei^' Project. Several early photo graphs, taken by the celebrated Matthew Bridy, are aho repro duced. j William H. Moses, Jr., arcMtae tifral instructor at Hamp^ In stitute, drew the tailpieces for ttie book and the pictorial map used tl) front and end papera. Sources for otlier pictures publish «d in “The Negro in Virginia** ae the U. S. Army Signal Corps, tfi^ M4tropolitan Museum of^ Art, the Farm Security Adminis tration, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the Scuriock Studio, Washington. “It is Uppopriate,** saya Roacoe £. Lewia in the preface, ‘that the fiipst WPA State book on the Negro be produced in Virginia; for here the first African nativss were brought and ^d in en forced servitude, and here also more than two centuries Islter, freedom for some 6,000,000 of Continued on page Five PROTEST WARREN’S NOMINATION NEW YORK — Congressman LindsUy C. Warren of North Carolina, chairman af the House A,udit Committee on Accounts, who in 1934 declared that “the Houae Restanrant has never aerv- ed colored employeee or visitors nor will it so Iom aa I ht»/e anything to do w^ the reataur- ant," was nominated today by the Senate. A strong protest against Presi dent Roosevelt’s nomination of Mr. Warren, was voiced today by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The proteat, which was contain ed in a telegrsm sent to the Chief Executive and signed by Walter White, executive aacre- tary of the NAACP gave the North Carolina Repreaentative’s “unbroken record of hoatiUty to An^erican Negroes” aa the res^ eon for ui^ing the President to withdraw hia name. The telegram repreaented the third protest launched against Warren’s appointment to the Controller post by the Preeident Proteats made in and 1988 were successful in having hia name passed over by Mr. Bom*'