'I xwwo^
►AY, JULY 14,
NO. 28.
WHERE IS THE NEGRO HEAVEN?
By DR. KELLY MILLER
Senator John Sherman, of
Ohio, by an incidental remark
on the floor of the Senate, once
referred to Washington as the
Negro’s Heaven. The applica
tion stuck. For a long time the
Capital of the nation enjoyed
tk& celestial designation in the
mind, imagination, and longing
of the Negro race.
After all, Heaven is a state of
mind, and not a location which
can be determined by geo
graphical or astronomical co
ordinates. As the poet Milton
declares:
“The mind is its own place
And, of itself, can make a
Heaven of Hell, and a Hell of
Heaven.”
Where the hopes, the ideals,
the longings of a people are di
rected, that is their Heaven.
Booker T. Washington
pitched his tent in the wilder
ness near a little sleepy Alaba
ma town with an Indian name,
and within a few years made
Tuskegee the center to which
the mind and the imagination
of the whole race was directed.
It became the obviou? purpose
of this Negro leader and of the
white race, who believed in
him, to make Tuskegee the
Capital where should be head
ed up the life activities of the
Negro race. The Negro Heav
en was to be shifted from the
Capital of the nation to the
heart of the South.
Upon the conclusion of the
Civil War, Washington City be
came suddenly aggrandized as
the Capital of the greatest na
tion on the face of the earth.
The wealth, power, and glory
of the nation were drawn unto
her. 4 .
me recently emancipated
slave flocked to the Capital as
oity-trf icfuge. ‘She
War Amendments humanized
the* Constitution and made the
seat of Government dear to the
Negro’s soul. The reconstruc
tion > dignitaries rushed to the
nation’s Capital bringing with
them the new-found dignity
and conceit. Negro Senators,
Congressmen, and high Gov
ernment officials captivated the
imagination of the natives as
^something new under the polit
ical sun. There was a public
school system with equipped
Negro teachers and directors
from top to bottom. Colored
men and women who had been
exposed to educational and cul
tural contact in the Northern
States rushed to the Capital to
take advantage of teaching op
portunities. “A Washington
School Teacher” on one's card
was sufficient entree to polite
colored circles in all parts of
the country. Howard Univer
sity, the center of the higher
education of the race, appealed
to the ambitious colored youth
in all the ends of the land.
For fully a generation Wash
ington not only possessed the
largest Negro population but
enjoyed political, educational,
and social advantages far be
yond those of any other city in
the United States.
But in the course of time
these earlier advantages began
to dwindle. The glory and glam
our of reconstruction days
faded away. The politicians and
tne omce-noiaers witnarew. utn
er cities and communities began
to compete with the National
Capital for population and pres
tige. New York, Chicago, Phil
adelphia and Baltimore have
outstripped the population of
the Capital of the nation in re
cent decades. The title of Ne
gro Heaven was disputed by
other communities. Indeed New
York, the metropolis of the na
tion, with two or three times
the population of Washington,
has stolen Washington’s title
slightly-modified as “The Nig
ger Heaven.’’ The Capital of
the nation still has the only
complete public school system
manned and mannaged from top
to bottom by a Negro staff. The
center of the Negro life has been
shifted from Washington to
Harlem. The capital city still
retains the largest number of
educated Negroes with higher
'■ "> . I
stated salaries and dignified oc
cupations as school teachers
and government employees.
Howard University, the pre
mier Negro institution for the
higher education with the larg
est teaching staff and student
body of Negroes pursuing the
higher levels of collegiate and
special training to be found any
where in the world, is situated
atop a commanding hillside ov
erlooking the National Capital.
There is also located here a
growing body of retirals from,
the government service, publid
schools and from Howard Uni
versity, which constitutes a cul
tivated, leisurely class which
ought to count for much , in the*
social and cultural life of the
race. And yet, notwithstand
ing all of these advantages,
Washington City as the situs of
the Negro Heaven steps aside
and lets Harlem pass. The en
ticing allurements of rag, the
jazz, and the blues, find in Har
lem either their origin or their
home. The Negro fun-makers,
minstrels, theatricals and song
sters thrive nowhere else as in
Harlem. The ephemeral joys of
Nineveh, Tyre, and Babylon, stir
the imagination on the lower
level of fun and devilish excita
tion. While this may not con
stitute a characteristic of our
orthodox Heaven, yet these
things appeal mightily to the
imagination. Harlem is the cen
ter of the Negro dance, cabaret
and night life. Negro art, music
and poetry radiate from this
center. Negro authors and cre
ative writers are rarely found
outside of Harlem, where we
find Claude MacKay, Countee
Cullen, Zora Houston, Jessie
Fauset, W. E. B. DuBois, and
tfre late "James Weldon Johnson.
Our best intellectual c
nSfTocui aTSoward,
Fisk, but in Harlem.
In final analysis, wherever
the highest expression of genius
of any people finds its home,
that will be their heaven. How
long will Washington' be con
tent to endure this reproach ancf
permit Harlem to steal her title
and wear her crown?
►utputdose
Lincoln or
TELLS NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY IT CAN
STOP JIM CROW
Evanston, 111.—July 8.—Offi
cials at Northwestern Univer
sity here have it within their
power to stop discriminatory
practices against colored stu
dents at this school, Walter
White, Secretary of the N. A.
A. C. P., told 2,000 persons at
the First Methodist Church
here July 5.
Mr. White made the state
ment in the course of informal
“conversations” with X- V.
Smith, philosophy professor at
the University of Chicago, in
the second of a series of round
table talks for summer school
students sponsored by North
western University.
The conversations were broad
cast throughout the church’s
auditorium as the university
processor “interviewed” the
Secretary of the N. A. A. C. P.,
while the two sat, at a table on
the platform in front of a micro
phone.
romiing out tnat it was tne
duty of a university to educate
people out of their prejudices,
Mr. White said that dormitory
discrimination against colored
students, discriminatory prac
tices in Northwestern’s medical
school, and the barring of col
ored students from the univer
sity-owned beach property along
the shore of Lake Michigan
here was the result not so
much of inherent racial antag
onism but of the fear and tim
idity expressed by university
officials in facing the problem
honestly.
Afterwards Mr. White was
informed that the university
officials have acted against
some of the discrimination and
will eliminate all of it eventu
ally.
Questioned by Professor
Smith, himself a native South
erner, on whether he believed
W.'*'
the fear of intermarriage be
tween white mid colored people,
on the part of certain whites,
was the result of instinctive
racial antagonism, White re
plied:
“The fact that eighty, per
cent of colored people have an
admixture of white blood shows
one of two things, either that
there is no instinctive antago
nism between the races or that
there has come among us some
latter day immaculate concep
tion.”
The conversation discussion
also dealt with the economic
and political problems of the
Negro and many phases of race
adjustment. Following the two
man panel, persons in the au
dience asked questions for more
than an hour.
Following a discussion period
which lasted more than an hour
after the conversations* s the
N. A. A. C. P. Secretary was
the guest of deans and other
faculty members at a luncheon
held at the University Club.
Here he discussed further the
solution to racial problems.
THE TRAIL OF THE EVAN
GELIST FOR ATLANTIC
AND CATAWBA
By Rev. W. E. Houston, D. D.
In our last letter there were
two things we left out. First,
on our way home from Alexan
dria we had the good pleasure
of stopping at Raleigh, N. C.,
on May 28 and 29. After ar
riving at Raleigh we were in
formed that the Young People’s
League of Cape Fear Presby
tery was meeting at Wake For
est. We therefore hurried back
to Wake Forest. When we ar
rived the meeting was about
over. The only thing left to
be done was the message. The
speaker for this occasion being
absent, we were )ta$$d by Rev.
feans to b0 the l3i«e®^rr“™ch
we accepted. Our address
seemed to have been enjoyed
by all.
vii uuiiuajr^ iTiajr wc were
the preacher at Davie Street
church, Rev. J. W. Smith, pas
tor. At the morning service
we preached to a fine congre
gation, after which four per
sons joined the church—three
on confession of faith. Rev.
Smith is doing a fine piece of
work here. We were highly
entertained by the pastor and
his good wife.
After a few days rest we
went to Hickory, N. C., where
we had a fine time. Our meet
ing at this place was not what
we hoped it would be, because
a big meeting had been going
on at one of the Baptist church
es a week before we went there
and continued while we were
there. But we have nothing but
praise for the members of our
church, who supported us loy
ally.
After leaving Hickory we
went to Lenior, N. C., to be at
Rankin Memorial church, which
has been closed for a few years.
There were no members here
so we had to depend upon the
community. We are glad to
report we had fine cooperation.
We had 20 conversions and
about 10 persons united with
the church. This result can be
attributed to the standing of
Rev. F. D. Battle, who has made
a fine impression upon the peo
ple of Lenoir. We had the
pleasure of preaching at Dula
Town on Sunday as usual. Rev.
and Mrs. Battle treated us roy
ally. '
From Lenoir we went to
Martinsville, Va; This was
the second visit there this year.
We began here June 26. To
say we had a fine meeting and
a good time is putting it mild
ly. We closed out July 3, with
one conversion and four addi
tiohs. We are always delight
ed to be the guest of Dr. and
Mrs. Watkins. They are not
only doing a fine job in the
church butv Dr. Watkins is the
leader in every good work in
this town, honored nad respect
ed by all—white and colored.
The Presbyterian Church
should be proud of this good
man.
Well, the end of the fcraikfor
tttie Evangelist is in sight. On
Sgpt. 30th we come to the end
jdPthe road. The Board has
declined to go further with the
Synods of Atlantic and Cataw
ba in the employment of an
efhngelist. But I wish to in
the brethren that I shall
available for conducting
ngelistic services. I can be
hed at Amelia, Va., Until
iy 24, care of Rev. R. L.
de. I am hoping to re-enter
pastorate^ October 1, 1938.
LEGATION NOT SOLU
ION OF PROBLEM, SAYS
HOWARD PRESIDENT
Columbus, 0., July 5.—Col
ored people, in considering their
r$e in the future of America
iqydst “think Labor,” and “con
clude that there can be no seg
regated solution to our prob
lems,” President Mordecai John
son, of Howard University, told
tee closing mass meeting of the
twenty-ninth annual conference
of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People here July 1.
“Whether the poor white man
thinks it or not,” he said, his
problem is the same as ours. We
must think of raising the eco
nomic level of white and black
ination within
'•*.‘
people.”
Recalling a recent demonstra
tion at Howard University,
when members of a local A. F.
of L. building trades local pick
eted the President’s home be
cause non-union rrien were be
ing employed on construction
wprk, Dr. Johnson said:
“This A. F. of L. union, which
h^d refused membership to col
ored men as carpenters, brick
layers and in other categories,
demanded that we immediately
p^t off men on our project be
cause they were not members of
the union.” The N. A. A. C. P.
must pursue the policy of sit
in the councils of labor to
seri
unions i^cu
Making it clear that he would
support labor, Dr. Johnson nev
ertheless insisted that though
“I will support the A. F. of L.
and the C. I. 0. with all my
might, unless they open
the door to the Negro to full
membership on an equal plane
with all whites in the skilled
and unskilled categories, I am
going to the legislature and
fight to get out an injunction
to deny them the right of ex
clusive bargaining privileges
until they do raise the Negro to
the full labor status of all
whites.”
Pointing to the philosophy of
working out our future within
a segregated sphere as “dan
gerous and illusory,” Dr. John
son said he would support seg
regated institutions just as
long as it was necessary to
keep up the fight for complete
integration of the Negro in
American life.
He praised the fortitude ot
the Negro woman, who, during
the past seventy-three years,
has stood “side by side with her
black man, and swept aside all
the peanut hulls and waste
paper thrown in their paths.”
“If they had stopped to con
sider what was in front of
them,” he went on, “these
black people would have just
sat down and died. But they
didn’t die. They rolled up their
sleeves and fought a glorious
fight.”
Concluding his speech with
praise for the founders of the
N. A. A. C. P., “who insisted
that Negroes, aside from devot
ing their energies to making a
living, needed a type of educa
tion which would give them an
understanding of the type of
world in which we live,” the
Howard University President
added•
“The N. A. A. C. P. has said
to the Negro, ‘even though you
may have to live in segregated
areas, be educated in segregat
ed institutions, don’t allow your
conceptions of what our place
is in America spring from .that
type of ground.’ For we have
lived to overcome the handicap
of being unemployed by under
standing that millions of whites
are suffering from the same
cause. And in this we ,can see
(Continued on Page 8)
.v.
TB SO
JF _
By Rer. William Sample
(Note.—This sermon oh gard
ening was prepared for the Su
pervisor of Adult Education of
Arkansas and was put in pam
phlet form for both the white
and Negro schools. In the light
of the fact that the National
Government in its farm act cut
down the acreage for cotton, it
became necessary for the peo
ple to turn their attention to
more gardens and less > cotton.
To do this a garden and truck
farm propaganda has been
launched and Rev. Sample was
asked for the first sermon on this
subject.)
GARDENING
“Build ye houses and dwell
in them, and plant gardens and
eat the fruit of them.”—Jere
miah 29:5.,
This message of the Prophet
was delivered to a scattered,
weak and powerless nation which
was to stage a come-back. These
people were victims of the Bab
ylonian Captivity. As such they
had lost their government, their
most precious and helpful in
stitutions, and, above this, they
had lost their national spirit.
Somebody must offer a plan ad
equate to pull them Up and out
of this gloomy and discourag
ing situation. So the Prophet
weighs the situation and offers
a remedy for it.
When we study the above
verse we can see the simple
remedy: (1) Build houses and
plant gardens. Since this very
age is so much like the age of
the Prophet, most assuredly we
can use his same remedy—of
building houses and planting
gardens, which in like manner
will deliver usand enableus to
stage a come-back. Because
‘there ia mrh nn nlfimnnr par
cent of homes in our country—
especially in Arkansas—that
are without gardens, we shall
take up the garden-end of this
Scripture for consideration.
Plant ^Gardens
If gardens enabled those an
cient people who were torn
down and up by the captivity
to a much greater extent than
we have been tom down and up
by the depression, to stage a
come-back, then to be sure this
same power if harnessed will
help our country to stage a
come-back much more rapidly
than they did. Our failure can
not be attributed to the failure
of cotton. We have the wrong
idea when we affirm that we
are jobless, moneyless, and are
fast becoming characterless be
cause of the low price of cot
ton ana tne reduction ot its
acreage; we have failed because
we have not done what is im
plicated in our Scripture: Plant
ed gardens. Can a nation of
gardens fail when it raises all
sorts of vegetables and cans
them for home consumption?
The burden imposed upon
cotton was too great.
Again. No, cotton hasn’t
failed. The burden of having
it to furnish money enough to
supply all of our needs was too
heavy, hence there was nothing
left for cotton to do save to
dump this burden. In so many
cases garden planting time and
space were given to cotton; and
canning time given to cotton.
If the garden was planted at
all, such a little time was spent
in it that grass and weeds took
it in such a large way that the
cow was turned into it because
it was the most prolific grazing
spot on the sfarm. When the
Prophet said plant gardens, he
must have meant to work their
also.
Inasmuch as it is clearly be
fore us that gardens are indis
pensable when it comes tc
helping us to stage a come
back; inasmuch as we hav<
called attention to the fact thal
our failure has been because w<
didn’t plant gardens or recog
nize their place in our civiliza
tion, let us see in the light o:
another Scripturex just when
our gardens should be placec
on the farms. This informatioi
is found in I Kings 21:2 whid
reads ns follows: “Give me thy
vineyard that I may have it for
a garden, because it is near my
house.”
Gardens Should Be Near
the Home
The following reasons justi
fy one for saying or thinking
that the gardfeh should be near
the home: (1) So its growth
can be promoted and encourag
ed. (2) So the spare time can
be put into it. Women have
been known to have worked
their gardens between the naps
of their babies dr While their
dinner was cooking, (a) If it is
near its contents will be used
more freely than they would be
if one had to go a distance for
them.
They Should Be Enclosed
Not only should the garden
be near but according to the
Song of Solomon 4:12, it should
be enclosed: “A garden en
closed is my sister, my wife; a
spring shut up and a fountain
sealed.” When Solomon refers
to the garden as our sister, to
be sure he desires us to think
of it as our most close and ten
der relative, for whom we would
risk our lives for her protec
tion. This tender relation is
used to urge us to protect life’s
great.beneficiary, the garden—
by enclosing it. So if we desire
the gardens to be food for us,
money for us, friends for us,
let us enclose them as men of
yore did.
How Gardens Are Missed
If you desire to know just
to what extent gardens are
missed when they are not had
in and about meal time, turn to
Numbers 11:5 and read what
God’s own people had to say be
cause their gardens were not
with them in the wilderness
when they were enroute to the
Promised Land. Yes, the pillar *
of fire by night and the pillar
of cloud by day Were their
leaders. They had manna daily,
"Mt Whetr they thought of then*
gardens with their cucumbers,
onions, garlic and possibly many
other vegetables which, for thq
sake of brevity, could not be
mentioned, it was then that
they cried to return to Egypt.
This said in so many words that
they missed their gardens and
that they were an absolute ne
cessity then and are now. One
must pay the sad consequence
if he fails to have a garden.
Finally
Finally, let us call attention
to what is planted when one
plants a garden. (1) Bones and
tissue; (2) Blood and nerves;
(3) Fats and fuel; (4) Protein
for muscles to hold you in
check; (5) Aid for eyes; (6)
Vitality which causes one to go
at his work with- a bang; (7)
Purgative to enhance elimina
tion, and a thousand or more
other beneficiaries are planted
when we plant the garden.
Prayer: 0 Lord, inspire this
land of ours to hear the voice
of the Prophet and to obey it,
and become a land of gardens
so that all might become pros
perous and happy. Amen.
FOR RACIAL UNDERSTAND
ING
Indian, Mexican, Negro and
Oriental citizens, as leaders of
minority races in the United
States, met this Summer in six
conferences with leaders of the
majority race, for frank discus
sion of their mutual differences
and problems. The conferences
were held in connection with
the June 28-July 3 quadrennial
Council of Religious Education
at Columbus, Ohio, and were
directed by Dr. George E.
Haynesy Executive Secretary
of the department of race rela
tions of the Federal Council of
Churches. Educational pro
jects and Christian attitudes in
were
racial
interracial cooperation
outlined. Removal of
conflicts and tensions, it was
revealed in many addresses and
discussions, can be greatly fur
thered by a Christian coopera
tion in culture elements com
mon to two or more races, such
as agriculture, art, government,
industry and music.
1
Light does not need a witness
—it bears witness unto itself.