Historic Milestones
BY ELVA P. DEJARMON
1937
WILLIAM H. HASTIE confirmed as Judge of Federal
District Court in Virgin Islands, the first Black Federal Judge,
March 26. (A native of Knoxville, Tenn. Judge Hastie has had
a distinguished legal career. He served as Assistant solicitor,
Dept. of Interior; Judge of District Court of Virgin Islands;
Dean of Howard University School of Law; as a Civilian Aide
to the Secy, of War, 194042; as Governor of Virgin Islands;
1946-49; Judge of Third U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals since
1949; Trustee of Amherst College, Phi Beta Kappa; and other
professional affiliations.)
Joe Louis defeated James J. Braddock for heavyweight
championship, June 22.
Death of Ms. Bessie Smith, Clarksdale, Mississippi,
September 26. (Bessie Smith, often called the 4 Blues" singer
of the world. George Hoefer has written that "Her Blues"
"could be funny and boisterous, gentle and angry and bleak,
but underneath all of them ran the raw bitterness of being a
human being who had to think twice about which restroom
she could use. It is said she bled to death in Mississippi,
because she was unfortunate to have an auto accident in: that
state and was unable to receive hospital aid because she was
black.) Her early jazz collection is found in the James Weldon
Johnson Collection donated to Yale University by the late Carl
Van Vechten. Housed in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale
University.
1938
Death of Joe (King) Oliver, pioneer Negro jazz star,
Savannah, Ga. April 10.
First Black woman legislator, Ms. Crystal Bird Fauset of
Philadelphia, elected to Pennsylvania House; of
Representatives, November 8. (She was one of the only
women serving in the legislature at that time. She was formerly
a teacher and social worker and concentrated her political
interests on 1965 in Philadelphia at age 7 1 .).
Supreme Court ruled that State must provide equal
educational facilities for Negroes within its boundaries,
December 12. In the case of "Missouri ex rel. Gaines v.
Canada" (305 U.S. 337 (1938) reasons advanced against
Gaines's claim to be admitted to the University of Missouri
Law School was the limited demand from Negroes in that state
for legal education. In addition to stressing the "personal"
nature of petitioner's right, the opinion made the point; that
the granting of equal opportunity to petitioner Gaines could
not be deferred ' for an indefinite period" to give the state
authorities the time necessary to establish a law department at
the Black university. (The UJS. Supreme Court reversed the
judgment of the Missouri Courts which had rejected
petitioner's mandamus action to compel the curators of the
State University to admit him to the law school. The rejection
was based on the ground that petitioner Gaines had been
offered tuition to study outside the state of Missouri pending
establishment of a Negro Law school in Missouri. The Supreme
Amendment to give petitioner (Gaines) an opportunity equal
to those given white persons to study law, by making available
educational facilities outside of the state.
All doubts in this respect disappeared when the Supreme
Court published its "per curiam opinion in Sipuel v. Board of
Regents (332 U.S. 631 (1948) upholding the Negro
petitioner's right to be admitted to the School of Law of the
University of Oklahoma, the only state institution for Legal
Education-the Court said: "The State must provide (legal
education) for her (Sipuel) in conformity with the equal
protection clause of the 14th Amendment and provide it as
soon as it does for applicants of any other group. (Legal
Aspects of Civil Rights Movement Educaztion pp. 37-38 By
Paul Hartman).
(These sections are particularly important to blacks in
North Carolina as one has witnessed the many attempts to
close the Black Law School within the state and in South
Carolina where the lone Black Law school, located on State
College campus, Orangeburg, was closed; Florida A. & M. Law
School and Lincoln University Law School was closed as well.
(A complete synopsis of these Law School closings will be
given at a later date as the Historic Milestones continue).
Lioyd Gaines, the plaintiff in this historical landmark
case disappeared and has never been located.
1939
Ms. Jane Bolin appointed Judge of Court of Domestic
Relations, New York City, bu Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and
became the first Black Woman Judge in U.S., July 22. (The
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. native was a graduate of Wellesley and
Yale University Law School. Received Honorary LL.D. from
Morgan State College and Western College for Women. Served
on many national Black boards such as NAACP, Urban
League, Harlem Lawyers Association, etc.
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE and EDUCATIONAL FUND
incorporated as a separate organization, October 1 1 . Such a
change afforded it a tax saving as a non profit corporation.
1 - J-L 1 1 "i -""m 1 " "If"
y j
m-immm.imim i i urn .mini m it'T n hi
AWARD RECIPIENT - Velma M. Strode, director of the U.
S. Labor Department's Office of Equal Employment
Opportunity, is the recipient of an award for outstanding work in
the field of public administration from the Conference of
Minority Public Administrators. The award was presented by
Floyd McKissick at a recent ceremony.
March 26, 1875-Birthday of Robert Frost, American poet.
March 27, 1933-Japan resigns from the League of Nations.
March 28, 1797-Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire receives a
patent for a washing machine.
March 29, 1932-Jack Benny makes his radio debut as a guest on
the Ed Sullivan show.
March 30, 1867-Secretary of State William Seward agrees to pur
chase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
March 31, 1870-Thomas Peterson-Mundy. Perth Amboy, New
Jersey, votes in a municipal election and is thus the first Negro to
vote in the United States.
April 1, IMS-American forces began the invasion of Okinawa
during World War II.
SAT., MARCH 27. 1 976 THE CAROLINA TIMES-13
Strategy In
Africa
LONDON, (Hsinhua) -British
papers have denounced
Soviet strategy in Africa as
gunboat diplomacy and
pointed out that the Soviet
involvement in Angola is aimed
at turning that country into a
foothold for subverting other
countries on that continent.
"The Scotsman' in an
article entitled 'Russia's
African Strategy: Gunboat
Diplomacy" said on February
10, "Since the Russians are
hardly likely to declare
publicly their overall strategy
in Africa, it has to be worked
out from the evidence.' "The
record of Soviet activities in
Africa over the past decade is
probably the best guide to
their present aims. It turns but
to be a series of widely
separated initiatives, with
bases.. .as their usual goal," it
adds. ' In almost every case,
the Soviet Union has bought its
influcence in an African state
with lavish supplies of arms,' it
states.
The Russians are seizing
bases in East and West Africa
by arms shipment, the article
declares. 'The idea of a major
Russian naval base in Luanda'
(Angola) worries a lot of
people, it adds.
' Daily Telegraph" said in an
article on February 6 that the
priority aims of Soviet
intervention in Angola are
strategic rather than economic.
Their aim "is to turn that
country into an invulnerable
base for further subversion
against - Southern - Africa.-" In
Angola;' the articlesays,-':Mone
Continued on page 21
Durham City Schools
OPEN HEADING
For
,v it
(Parents, Educators, Students, Citizens)
ON
IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC SCHf 0LS
March 31, 1976 7:30 p.m.
SHEPARD JR. HIGH SCHOOL
Speakers nay call 688-2361 for priority on the program or
register at the door
Ben T. Brooks, Superintendent