Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / June 19, 1930, edition 1 / Page 1
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A LETTER TO PRESIDENT MOVER By William Pickens Editor’s Note: The open let ter which follows was written to President Hoover by Mr. Wil liam Pickens in April. The re ply to this letter, made through the War Department, will be re leased by The Associated Negro Press next week. Dear President Hoover: You are the Commander-in Chief of the United States Ar my. But there is often informa tion which would never reach you through official channels. This would be more especially true about Negro soldiers and their situation. Army regula tions forbid subordinates to “go over the heads” of their superi ors with any information.. That is very good for army discipline, perhaps, but is very limiting to the information which the Su perior of all superiors is likely to get. I recently visited Douglass, Arizona, where are stationed about three hundred members of the 25th Infantry, Negro troops of the regular army. They have been there for many years, on the barren plains, be hind the bare hills,—out of touch with civilization as we know it. It was once the cus tom of the War Department to change the locations of Negro regiments about as often as the locations of the white regiments are changed,—and not to leave them to the tedium of one place, especially a dreary place of few colored families for long periods of years. The need for change is demonstrated by the fact that now, although the troops nra. ieft. th^ wMt* ficer&jre changed, ana allowed' to go to other regiments, new white of ficers taking their places. Thus the sanity of the officers is pre served, but the troops are left to weariness. Formerly it was the custom for officers to have to stay with their regiments, a rule; and that was better for the Negro troops, for then the white officers used their influ ence to get the whole regiments moved to new posts, so that the officers could also get a change. But the new practice of chang ing officers and sending new of ficers to the Negro troops for a period, deprives the colored sol diers of even this indirect influ ence for getting a needed “change.” I also visited Fort Huachuca, in Arizona, where are stationed six or seven hundred soldiers of the Tenth Cavalry and two 01 three hundred men of one of the infantry regiments,—all colored soldiers with their white officers and attaches. There are, of course, Negro non-com missioned officers and one Ne gro commissioned officer who is the Chaplain. While this high and well-appointed army post, high in the mountains, is a much more delightful place than dreary Camp Jones at Douglas, there is the same misfortune that the colored soldiers must remain here for long periods of years, while white officers come and go, because of the human need of change. And for some strange reason, just as in our policy toward Hai ti, we are continually sending to these Negroes in the army a great majority of white officers from the very section of the country which has demonstrat ed by three hundred years of history that it knows least about how to treat colored peo ple as human beings. Why we continue to infer that the very States which exhibit the great est failures in the matter of in terracial adjustments, can yet produce the men best fitted to handle and live with Negro peo ple, is something that passess all logical understanding. This does not dispute the exceptions: that there is an occasional man from those States highly com petent, in spite of his early en vironment, to live, humanly with colored folk; while some men from some of the other States often show the saddest unfitness for any kind of contacts with colored people. But in our offi cial pre-arrangements for hand ling Negroes in the army (as in Haiti), we seem to think that chis is the rule rather than the exception. At Fort Huachuca, unless z Negro soldier is ah officer above a certain rapk, he is required to agree that his wife shall be the servant of the wives of white officers, before he is granted the privilege of bringing his family to live on the reserva tion. if this is a regulation for white soldiers anywhere in the army nobody seems to have heard of it; bpt even if so, it is an injustice and a violation of soldierly and citizenship digni ty. It is always possible that a private in t&e army may be mar ried to a woman who not only does not wish to be a servant, but who does not in any sehse need or deserve to be a servant for anybody,—who even may be financially and socially the equals if not the superiors of the wives of the officers,—ciut side of the army reservation grounds. We know soldiers whose wives are business wom en, in their own right, and who; therefore, cannot come to live with their husbands within the government reservation because they are not of the servant class and will not sign themselves up as servants. Those and other such things are such as would never reach the ears of the President of the United Sattes, even if he Visited the President came everything would be |aij ‘fdl^ess parade,” exhibiting its best externality, and no common soldier would dare approach the President or dare to complain to him if he were stationed near him. At Fort Huachuca, where there are nearly 1,000 Negro soldiers and many with their families, there is not a single Negro dentist or physician or Negro nurse. All the medical staff, from the Medical Major down, are white doctors and nurses,—as if anybody any where in the world could be made to believe that white Americans are more capable of orivinor svmnathetic. as well as scientific treatment and atten tion to the Negro’s body and health. The man at the head of the medical force at Fort Hua chuca is especially unsympathet ic and even impolite to the Ne gro officers and their families, some of whom I observed to ap proach him. Some of them send members of their families many miles across the dry Arizona plains to private physicians in the far-away cities rather than to encounter the coldness and the inciviity of this officer. No .ni»v»n bob' r can have the con fidence that he will get proper medical attention from another human being when that other human being shows a lack of respect for the personality or even the humanity of the pa tient. There ought to be some Negro doctors on the staffs that look after Negro health. That would be healthier for army dis cipline,—and much healthier for the Negro soldiers and their families. The Commander-in-Ghief of the Army doubtless knows that we have four Negro regiments in the regular army, and only four Negro commissioned offi cers. And three of these Negro officers are chaplains,—in other words, only technically army officers, but really religious of ficers. In pur hour of need, dur ing the World War, we .had many actual Negro army offi cers, commissioned and in ser vice. It r was necessary for the morale of Negro troops. Our peace time ' army procedure should be a preparation in moiV ale. The morale of civilized pen pie, is not made in a day, but ih I the process of education. If the co-operation of Negro officers helps to support morale in the! hour of war, it would help to build up morale in the days of peace. The Philippines are not Amer icans, and yet among our Phil ippine troops we have many more real and commissioned of ficers of that race. The Ameri can Negro will always be an American; our island peoples will not always even be subject to America. Philippines are wel comed at West Point and pro moted in the army. I suppose I am not giving any information to the Commander-in-Chief, when I say that the 4 Negro reg iments of the regular army did more than any other four regi ments of the entire army to conquer and “pacify” the Phil ippine Islands. As an American citizen (which, constitutionally speak ing at least, is something even more permanent and important than being an American soldier) I am calling the attention of our highest army officer, who is also our highest civil officer, to the situation of our Negro troops,—who can hardly say for themselves what I may say for them. Respectfully submitted, Very truly yours, WILLIAM PICKENS. CATAWBA SCHOOL OF METHODS NOTES By Rev. F. C. Shirley Our plans are all set and our1 faces are turned toward beau tiful Albion Academy in Frank lintoiv-N. C* where,-during the Week of August 25-31, we will assemble for our annual Synod ical Convention and School of Methods. The Executive Staff, under the leadership of the acting President, Dr. H. C. Miller, of Greensboro, is hopeful of mak ing this the best year in the his tory of the organization. Our genial, generous host, Dr., J. A. Savage, began prepa ration ior our coming ■ some weeks ago. Early in May when I was there he showed me a fine field of corn and beans, and a large patch of potatoes and to matoes, several fine shoats, over two hundred young chick ens, with other accessories. He said in his characteristic man ner, “Boy, we are getting ready for you in August/’ Those who were there last year know what these words mean. In face of the fact that old “Dr. Hard Times” seems to have us all in his grip, I do not think there has been any year when the pre-Convention interest has been keener. Inquiries have come in from several sources already. One minister writes: “I am planning to come and bring my wife and several children. Can T get accommodations?” Of course, we said, yes. From St. James, Greensboro, comes a let ter stating: “We have a young people's choir of 24 members. Mrs. Sarah Barber, the leader, wants the entire group to at tend the School of Methods. What about it?” Well, we can’t say no to that fine bunch of youngsters. The letter further states that this 24 is aside from the regular delegation. I may add that St. James has been having from 18 to 20 delegates. Then here and there on the field I hear of this Woman’s Missionary Society planning to send a delegate; that Young People’s Society raising money to send their own delegate, and Sunday school after Sunday school getting ready. So we are much encouraged at the present outlook. The registration book is al ready open and we will follow our time-honored custom of making room assignments in (Continued on page 3) r (Concluded from last week) l! - Need of Education “We desire education for our idren that they may be made re useful in all the relations life. We most earnestly de re to have the disability un which we formerly labored oved and to have all the ^ >ressive laws which make un jf&t discrimination on account of race or color wiped from the statutes of the Stat$. We invoke your protection for the sanc tity of our family relations. We mOst respectfully and earnest tray that some provision may made for the care of the t number of orphan chfl and the helpless and in who. by the new order of i; will be thrown upon the world without protection; also that you will favor, by some timely and wise measures, the reilfltion of families which have lodg been broken up by the war or by the operations of slavery. ^Though associated with memories of suffering as as enjoyment, we have al loved our homes, and ed as the worst of evils iration from them. Now that freedom and a new career arsfbefore us we love this land amf people more than ever be fore. Here we have toiled and suffered, our parents, wives and children are buried here and in fhisj&nd we will remain until forclivMdriven away. praying for such en courjgfeaftient of our ' hours of labor and the provid mg oi uie means oi protection against rapacious and cruel em ployers, and for the collection of just claims, we commit our cause into your hands, invoking Heaven's choicest bossings up on your deliberations and upon the State!” The document was signed by James H. Harris, chairman, John P. Goode, George A. Rue, Isham Sweet and John Ran dolph, Jr., Commtitee. Greeley’s Address An address of Horace Greeley, editor of The New York Tri bune, “To the Colored People of North Carolina,” was read. He had been asked to be present and speak, but had another en gagement and sent a letter^JJe urged the. Negroes to be hope ful, saying that for 30 years he had ardently wished for a free country, and now saw it. He said: “Be hopeful. Great reforms are seldom completed in a mo ment. But for Northern subser viency, so enormous that they were justified in expecting to be aided by it in the field as well as in the cabinet, the slave holders would never have re volted. But for the imbecility in high places and incapacity, if not treason also, in the direc tion of our armies, the rebel non would have been speedily suppressed without \ seriously affecting your condition—pos sibly with new concessions and j guarantees to slavery. “Be patient. You may not win full recognition of your rights directly, but the effort will never be abondoned until its success is assured. And we are no longer resisted by a vast tenacious, pecuniary interest; an all but omnipotent ‘vested right.’ Slavery, the tree where of Negro hate and white prej udice of color are branches, has been cut down. There is still vi tality in the roots, but the branches are bound to wither and decay. Yet this is not the work of a day and we must learn to labor, and, if need be, to wait. Peaceful and Diligent . “Be peaceful. Do not be se duced or provoked to resist law ful authority with lawless vio lence. Better suiter wrong in silence than be worsted in in voking the protection of the laws. Y6u see whet the slave holders have incurred by resist ing authority, and force.'' Let nothing swerve or tempt you fijoni the ways of peace. If you are oppressed and/abused, ap peal to Congress, which will soon have been clothed by the the impending constitutional amendment (to abolish slavery) with power . to redress your more flagrant wrongs. Whoever among you resists laws gives a signal advantage to your ene mies. Better suffer and trust. “Be diligent. I am exhorting you to steadfast industry. You have had effotigh of that. Not being fools, you know you have to work haro for all you get,, slid probably for something more. There can not be a hun dred of youtwjP*bt know that you |re to work put your( own pecuniary situation or mis-; erably perish. But you must be feqtfallyV dtktlent |tn ^educating yourselves and your children, and must hot grudge working an extra hopr & day, if needed, to provide yourselves With teachers and books. It is indis pensable that all of you, or near ly all, acquire the rudiments of tion, at the now (ate df the - chief- priests for denying you the right of suf frage. Seek SelfiRespect “Respect yourselves. Refuse to minister to the vicious appe tites of others ho matter what is the temptation. Stand quietly and respectfully alOof from all whites who see fit to regard you as inferior merely because of your color. Keep away, or get away, from all cities, unless you are sure of making money rap idly and virtuously therein;* Hold no volut&ry relations to Negro haters and bestow no patronage on them, though this compels you to go without com forts you might otherwise en joy. Tratfe With and patronize your own, friends, Do not fail to encourage your brethren who embark iq trade or other fruit ful industry; keep out of debt; work if possible for men you esteem and trust; and all of you beconie land-owners as soon as you can without running into debt. Few know how much land there is in an acre, and North Carolinians understand this less than most others. If you each had a cabin and four acres of land, you would need never more after next harvest to look *for work; while those who want help (workers) would come looking1 for you, offering you fair wages, living wages. “Finally, stay, where you. be long It may by and by be well to emigrate, but not now. North Carolina is a noble State^ with her resources mainly unde veloped. Her clitrtate is Admira ble, her soil better than is sup posed; her inland navigation, water powers, timber, minerals, etc., sontses of unsuspected wealth. Work for the best wag offered by good men until you can save the means of employ ing yourselves; strive to win the respect and esteem of the bet ter whites and keep clear of the worst ones, and be sure that, when you shall, by yourthrift, have made yourselves inffapen dent and desirable customers of merchants and' others, your righteous demands for enfran chisement can, If not already 1 (Continued,, on page 2) THE ATLANTIC SYN ODICAL AND SCHOOL OF METHODS Augusta, Ga., August 18-24, 1930 Back to Haines Institute, Au gusta, Ga., August 18th, com rades in the ministry, laymen, matrons and maidens, boys and girls, for a rendezvous of old friends and the meeting of new ohes. If you want inspiration, you will find it there. If you crave for more knowledge and power that you may be of larg er usefulness and service in Christian work, they will be at your command. If you wish for recreation, it awaits you. A carefully selected faculty will instruct you in various lines of church work. Able speakers will deliver inspirational addresses. “Big” Miller, Long, dark, Wood, Mitchell, Shirley, Fran cis, Ulmer and Scott, and cheer leaders' of note from the fairer sex will be there to give you thrills in clashes between the Reds and Blues. Prbf. I.ewis will see that the dye is cast for renewal of bat tle between the Reds and the Blues, e Haines Institute, Augusta, Ga., is the ideal and central spot for our Convention of one week’s duration. There will be a reasonable price for board and lodging, where we will work while we work, play while we play, eat while we eat, and sleep while we sledp. Come, friends; let us go back; bring others and we will do each oth er good. been ohe of the most interest ing features of the Convention work for the last two sessions, under the supervision of Rev. W. C. Jones, will be intact. Aside from the Boy Scouts, pro vision will be made for the chil dren who may come. Some good lady will have charge of this group and keep the little ones busily engaged in some line of work that will be profitable and noteworthy. Dr. W. L. Metz (Uncle Billy), our honored President, the sage and bishop of Edisto Island, will be there to match you Tyith bis wit, and lead the Convention to higher heights with his key note annual message. Dr. G. W. Long, the Registrar, will be a fa miliar figure of the Convention. Dean H. M. Scott will take care of his side of the work. Miss Lucy Laney will meet you with a smile and feed you. Miss Trotty will be on the job to min ister every possible comfort to the ladies. Rev. Mitchell will make you lift up your voices like trumpets. Dr. McCoy, our Director, will see that every thing goes well, so that parents may feel safe to know that their sons and daughters will be safe guarded in every particular. We look with pleasure to the return of Mrs. A. G. Smvely, of the Board of National Missions, whose presence and personality charm the Convention. Of course, Mr. J. M. Somern dike, our Superintendent of Sun day School Missions, will be there to help in every way pos sible and give us the benefit of his rich store of knowledge. The writer has had the pleas ure of being intimately connect ed with the Synodical Conven tion and Schofil of Methods since its set up in Jacksonville, Fla., [some years ago. He has served the Convention in various capac ities. He is in position to say that the Schools of Methods es tablished in the four Synods are great agencies in the line of re ligious education. Each year these Conventions have made progress, adding new features and widening their scope of work to meet the demands and needs of consecrated leadership (Continued on page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 19, 1930, edition 1
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