xt7vq814r83b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7vq814r83b/data/mets.xml Kentucky Negro Education Association Kentucky Kentucky Negro Education Association 1941 The most complete set of originals are at Kentucky State University Library. Call Number 370.62 K4198k journals English Kentucky Negro Educational Association: Louisville, Kentucky Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky Negro Educational Association Journal African Americans -- Education -- Kentucky -- Periodicals The Kentucky Negro Educational Association (K.N.E.A.) Journal v.11 n.2, January-February, 1941 text The Kentucky Negro Educational Association (K.N.E.A.) Journal v.11 n.2, January-February, 1941 1941 1941 2020 true xt7vq814r83b section xt7vq814r83b

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Vol. XI January-February, 1941 No.

NATIONAL DEFENSE NUMBER

r11 1
“—7

EV
A Defense Class in Auto-Mechanics

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOIFLOUISVELE. KY.
R. J. BROWN, Inst. Z. E. SCOTT, Supt.

"An Equal Educaﬁonu Opportunity for Every Raunchy Child"

The Kentucky State College

Established 1866

Franldort, Kentucky

A Progressive State Supported Institution

COURSES

ARTS and SCIENCES AGRICULTURE
HOME ECONOMICS MECHANIC ARTS

Class A Four-Year College

For All latex-nation, Write To

B. B. Atwood. President

LINCOLN INSTITUTE
Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky
Courses Offered

HIGH scncaL BUILDING TRADES
AGRICULTURE HOME ECONOMICS
APPLIED ELECTRICITY COMMERCE
PLUMBING
STEAM BOILER RADIO

arm-rm" musxc

WORK SCHOLARSHIPS AND N. Y. A.
SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE
For Further lnlornutiun
Write
Director Whitney M. Young. Lincoln Ridge. Ky.

The K. N. E. A. Journal

Ofﬁcial Organ of the Kentucky Negro Education Association

Vol. X1 JanuatyJ‘elbruai-y, 1941 No, 2

Published by the Kentucky Negro Education Association
Editorial Office at 1925 W. Madison Street
Louisville, Kentucky

Atwood S. Wilson, Executive Secretary, Louisville, Managing Editor.
S. L. Barker, Owensboro, President of K N. E. A.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lyle Hawkins, Louisville Whitney M. Young, Lincoln Ridge
E. Fusion, Paducah Victor K. Perry, Louisville-

Pubiished Bimonthiy during the school year: October, December,
February and April
PRICE 50 CENTS PER YEAR 0E 15 CENTS PER COPY
Membership in the K. N . E. A. (One Dollar) includes iubscription.
to the Joumal
Rates for Advertising space mailed on request
Present Circulation, 2,000 Copies. 1940 K. N. E. A. Membership 1460

TABLE OF CONTENTS

K. N. E. A. Committees for 1940-41 .............................. 3

Editorial Comment
The Negro in the Building of America
New President at Hampton Institute. .

The National Defense Conference at Hampton Institute
The Teachers’ Retirement Act. . . ......... . . . . . . . . .15
.17'

Teniaiive Program of 19441 K. -.N E A Convention
N. Y, A. ijects Receive Honorable Mention
Honor Roll 1940-41 ..
K. N. E. A. Kullings.
K. N. E. A, Announcements.
The President’s Letter .....
A Letter from Mrs. Lucy H.311 Smith...
A Letter from Professor H. E. Goodioe
0mm: Spiritual Chaos. A Threat to Civilization—Juanita Battle. .26
Oration: The Present Crisis and Civic myaity—Patsy Lewis ...... .27

Built For Your Protection

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Louisville, Kentucky

INTER-COLLEGIATE PRESS

615 Wyandotte Street
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YEAR BOOKS DIPLOMAS
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W. C. COCHRAN

Kentucky State Supervisor

K. N. E. A. Committees For 1940-1941
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
A. E. Meyzeek, Louisville, Chairman

.1. B. Caulder, Lexington Dr. E. E. Underwood, Frankfort
C E. Cabell, Henderson R. B. Atwood, Frankfort

G W. Adams, Winchester M. H. Griffin, Padncah

J. H. Ingram, Frankfort W H. Humphrey, Maysville

M. J. sleet, Psducah A. L. Garvin, Louisville

W, O. Nuchols, Providence H E. Goodloe, Danville

D. H. Anderson, Paducah w. L. Shobe, Lynch

C. R. Bland, Paris
Rep. C. W. Anderson, Jr., Louisville
S. L. Barker, President of K. N. E. A., Ex-Omcio Member

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
H. C. Russell, Louisville, Chairman

E. W. Glass, Hopkinsville W. S. Wheatley, Owensboro
g.EAII'i‘\i\lykendaxl‘l,1§OWﬁng Green Rev W. H. Ballew, Louisville

omas, oulsvi 2 Benjamin F. Spencer, Frankfort
W N Johnson, Lancaster 0 N Travis, Monticello

C.A Alexander. Cavingiﬁon Rev. G H Jenkins, Louisville
Rev L. R. Stewart, Hopkinsville Rev. Homer Nutter, Lexington

assownous comm-rm:
.l. H. Ingram, Chairman, Frankfort

W. H. Perry, JR, Louisville Carl Walker, Hazard
W. O. Nnchols, Providence P. Moore, Hopkinsville
William Wood, Harlan L. R. Johnson, Princeton

RESEARCH COMMITTEE

Miss Maude Brown, Louisville L. N. Taylor, Frankfort
Dr. H. B. Crouch, Frankfort r. R. Dailey, Frankfort
H. R. Merry, Coving‘ton R. L. Dowery, Columbia

AUDITING COWITTEE
P. L. Guthrie, Lexington, Chairman
J. D. Seward, Frankfort M. .T. sleet. Paducah

NEGROLOGY COWITTEE

Amos Lesley, Hodgenville, Chairman
J. W. Weddell, Elkton Mrs. V. B. Alexander, Louisville

YOUTH COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Miss Bettie L. Whitenhill, Louisville, Chairman

Miss Eunice B. Singleton, Louisville, Advisor
Mrs. Blanche Elliott, Greenville Mrs. Ann J. Heartwell, Frankfort
MissF. YolandaBarnett, Louisville W. J. Christy, Versailles

C. L Harris, Newport Mrs. LucyH Smith, Lexington
Miss Emma Edwards, Owensboro Miss Lillian Carpenter, Lomsville

COWITTEE 0N VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROBLEMS
Frank Orndorﬁ, Russeilville, Chairman

A. J. Pinkney, Lincoln Ridge M. H. Griﬂin, Paducah
Miss L. A. Anderson, Frankfort Miss A. M. Peyton, Louisville

SCHOLARSHIP LOAN FUND COWITTEE
Miss Estella M. Kennedy, Louisville, Chairman

H. s. Osborne, Middleaboio F. L. Baker, Lexington
Miss Alice Nugent, Louisville Mrs. Bettie Davis, Georgetown

Secretary-Treasurer A. S. Wilson, Ex-Ofﬁcio Member

COMWTTEE ON RURAL SCHOOL PROBLEMS
Mrs. M. L. Copeland, Frankfort, Chairman
Mrs. Cornelia Weston, Pembroke Mrs. A L. Simms, Mayslick

W R Cummings, Pikeville M. Smith, Davistown
A L Poole, Bowling Green Polk Griﬁith, Guthrie

COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM OF EOUALITIES IN
HIGHER EDUCATION
Dr. J. T. Williams, Frankfort Chairman
E. Whiteside, Paducah Devan eDavicIA Lane,.l’r, Louis-

T. Buford, Bowling Green
w. VWe Maddox, Paducah

COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES 0P PUNDS ON
EDUCATIONAL TNEQUALITIES

L. W. Gee, Hopkinsville, Chairinan
F. A. Taylor, Louisville Helen Noel, Madisonville
Sadie M. Yancey, Lexington R. B. Atwood, Frankfort

Privileges of Active Membership
in the K. N. 'E. A.

1. The privilege of attending all general sessions of the
Association.

2. The privilege of participating in the departmental
sessions.

3. The privilege of speaking and holding office in the
Kentucky Negro Education Association.

4. The privilege of voting and participating in the busi-
ness affairs of the Association.

5. The privilege of receiving all literature of the Assam—
tion, including the official publication, The
K. N. E. A. Journal.

No Kentucky Teacher Should Fail in Enroll
Send One Dollar

To A. S. WILSON. Secretary»1‘reasurer
1925 W. Madison Skeet, Louisville. Ky.

Editorial Comment

THE NATIONAL DEFENSE PROGRAM

On the outside cover of this issue of the K. N. E. A. Journal is a
picture of one of a vocational defense class in auto-mechanics at the
Central High School in Louisville, the instructor being (Mr. Richard
J. Brown. This is a group of men who are employed as chauﬁeurs,
garage workers, etc., who are supplementing their training so as to
render better service in the national defense. Other classes are on the
retresher basis and include carpentry, concreting, sheet metal work,
welding, and foundry.

A relatively small number of colored schools in Kentucky which
are equipped to offer trades and industrial courses have started new
activities in vocational education which should care for the ﬁrst phase
of the program However, it is especially important for all teachers
and laymen to realize that by improving the quality and quantity of
the total educational program of a community they are also making a
distinct and greatly needed contribution to national defense.

Health and physical strength, understanding of rapensibility, of
citizenship, proper use of leisure, ability to solve everyday problems by
use of local resources—these and other phases of a toml educational
program of any community are most important in today‘s total de-
fense programt There is a responsibility resting upon the school to de-
velop to the highest stage the abilities of its pupils and to create in the
school and community those attitudes which would promote the
ideals of our democracy and bring about a cooperative and patriotic
type of American life.

us-x

ADVANCE ENROLLMENT

Already more than four hundred teachers have sent in their en-
rollment fees for the school year 194041. The K. Ni E. A. Honor Roll
published in this issue of the Journal lists these schools and their ad-
ministrative ofﬁcers To each county superintendent or city principal
there has been sent a Certiﬁcate of Honor. These are generally placed
on school bulletin boards and serve as daily reminders to the teachers
of the appreciation on the pan of K, N E, A. ofﬁcers for their advance
enrollments We are anticipating an enrollment of about 1200 more
teachers and friends of education and have set 1600 for our membership
goal for 1941.

Advance enrollments permit us to plan with more assurance our
program for the 65th Convention in Louisville, April Iii-«19, 1941. This
plan permits each teacher to receive the membership card, prognm,
and badge in advance of the meeting and greatly tacilitates the hand-
ling of records in the secretary’s ofﬁce. Each principal or oﬂicial is

therefore requested to enroll the teachers of his staﬂ in one group and
send the fees to the secretary as soon as possible. Let us make this
March of 1941 the biggest month for advance enrollments in the his-
tory of the K. N E. A. Each teacher is asked to give the principal of
his school or the organizer of his county his dollar membership fee
for 1941.

Those teachers who pay $150 are listed as honor members of the
K. N. E. A. These names appear annually in the proceedings. The
activities of the Kl N. E. A. require the same membership as the K.
E. A, namely $150. Let us have many volunteer memberships of $150.
Many teachers have already done this, The membership fees are the
main source of our income If We are to continue the same high type
programs and continue our efforts toward eliminating inequalities in
the teaching profession and in the Negro schools, a $150 membership
fee is imperative Each teacher is asked to enroll now regardless of his
or her plans to attend the April. 1941, convention.

tact
THE NEGRO NEEDS HELP

(This is an article that is reprinted from a recent Sunday edition
of the Louisville CourierJoutnaL Its contents speak for itself.)

The late Julius Bosenwald made many millions of dollars out of
Sears, Roebuck and spent a lot of them in sensible philanthropy, One
of his best known schemes is the Julius Rosenwald Fund which is in-
terested chieﬂy in Negroes and therefore in the South Last week
ofﬁcers of the Fund reported that there is a need for Federal aid for
primary schools in the rural sections of the South.

The report said this section is the only one “reproducing itself
abundantly" and the young people of the area are going north, east
and west for jobs and homes. They don’t get an adequate primary edu-
cation because Southern States aren’t rich enough to provide good
schools

“One of the surest Ways at preserving a sound and Virile demo-
cracy is to provide adequate opportunity for the education of all of
our children," the report stated. “No single act will transform a great
region, but this plan will basically aﬁect the growth of the Nation’s
reservoir of children and will be another great step toward better op<
pottunities for Negroes.”

The report stated that the attitude of other Americans toward the
“oneetenth of our population made up of Negroes is a threat of the
whole theory and practice of democracy.”

1 o c ,
PERMANENT TENURE

Most of the states in the United States have some sort of teacher
tenure law. In most instances after a teacher has taught three years,
she is considered employed permanently as long as she is in good
health Only in case of proven inetriciency, immorality, or such con—
duct that a special board of inquiry shall deem unworthy, are grounds

for dismissal after a period of probation has been served

The legislative committee of the K. N. E. A. should contact the
oﬂicers of the K. N. E. lA. so that we might jointly sponsor such legis-
lation at the 1.942 Kentucky General Assembly. It is unfair to a teach-
er who has proven his or her worth after a period of several years of
successful teaching, to have to be annually, in doubt, as to the future.
In many cases, teachers are made victims of corrupt politics, or are
dismissed without cause, in Kentucky.

Kentucky now has a teacher retirement act which follows the ex—
ample of other states that are making progress in education. The at-
tainment of a teacher tenure law in Kentucky is the next step in guar-
anteeing to our teachers their just rights and insuring to them that
security they deserve after years of faithful service. Federal em-
ployees, such as letter carriers and clerks have long had such protec-
tiont

Teachers, write your representative and senator in the Kentucky
legislature concerning this matter. and create such a sentiment that it
will insure the enactment oi the teacher tenure law in Kentucky

COMMENCEMENT PROGRAMS

The K. N. E. A. recommends that the various High Schools in Ken—
tuclq feature a theme for the spring commencements along the line of
the theme of our 1941 convention: “Education and the National Crisis."
It is possible that some high schools might Want to modify this theme
and yet carry out the general idea of recognizing our program of Na-
tional Defense

At this time our democracy is on trial and it is necessary that our
boys and girls recognize the true meaning of democracy and the re-
sponsibilities and obligations that it implies

Principals of our schools might plan for the writing of orations and
presentation of panel discussions that will make the public aware of
our present day prdhlem and the part the Negro can play in the pro-
gram of National Defense.

' Elsewhere in this Journal you will ﬁnd some orations used at the
mid-year commencement of Central High School in Louisville. These
are suggestive of the type mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs.
These orations, a panel discussion on “Edueation and the Common
Defense," along with suitable patriotic music constituted the program
of the Central High School commencement.

Having a commencement theme is stimulating and informative to
the public Such programs can bring about a desirable cooperation
between the school and the community.

NOTE: Read the Orations of Miosses Juanita Battle and Patsy
Lew‘s on pages 26 and 27.

The Negro in the Building of America
(i. D. Reddick)
Taken from Negro History Journal

Some day history textbooks
Will be written diﬁerently. Then,
no land will be singled out as
“God’s Coun .” Neither Will
any particular “race“ or class he
gloriﬁed as “the chosen people.”
Instead, the story will be told in
terms of the whole society, in
terms of the interplay of all of
the forces which have made for
the uphuilding, the destruction
and the rebuilding of civilization
and cultures In that day of the
future, written history will look
more like the history that actually
happened. ,

Until the dawn of this histor-
ian's Utopia, it will be necessary
to furnish a corrective to the text‘
books; to place alongside of them,
commentaries and supplements
which include essential elements
left out of the story

One of the most ﬂagrant of the
omissions from the usual History
of the United States is the part
the Negro has played. in the mak-
ing of the Nation. The signiﬁ-
cance of this omission becomes
clear after a moment’s reﬂection
upon the question: “Would
America he the America we lmow
today, if the inﬂuence of the Ne-
gro were subtracted from our
history?” Concretely, W h a i:
would American music he?" The
dance?“ The “Cotton Kingdom?”
The tradition of the long struggle
for human freedom? Would Am-
erican life possess its present var-
iety and richness minus the Ne.
gro?

The posing of these questions

suggests the answers.

1. Discovery and Exploration.

The Negro began his contribu-
tion in the early days when Wes-
tern Europe moved to the “dis-
covery" and exploration of the
New World. Black men were
with Menendez, Balboa, Cortes,
Dﬂieﬂn, DeSoto and others.
Stephen Dorantes, better known
as “Little Stephen," from 1527
to 1539, tramped across a
great part of what is now the
southeastern and southwestern
parts of the United States. In his
search for the fabulous “Seven
Cities of Cihola,” he was the ﬁrst
to explore what have become the
States of Arizona and New Mex-
ico, Jean Point Du Sable was
the ﬁrst permanent resident, the
founder, of the present city of
Chicago. There was one Negro
with the Lewis and Clark expedi-
tion of 1804i Today, Mathew
Henson, assistant of Commodore
Peary, is the only living person
to have stood at the North Pole.

1L Economic Life

Few will deny the role of labor
as the basis of modern civiliza-
tion. The involuntary gift of
some two centuries of slave labor
was a tremendous contribution,
despite the inhumanity of any
human bandages The Atlantic
slave trade furnished a principal
source for the accumulation of
capital in the commercial and in~
dustn'al revolutions Black hands
tended the rice, stripped the to-
bacco, picked the cotton and cut
the cane on which rested so much

at the life of the South and the
commerce of the nation.

Moreover. two details from the
ante—helium picture are general-
ly overlooked. First, all of the
slaves were not unskilled. 'Dhere
were artisans. Professor Marcus
W. Jernegan has shown that as
far back as the Colonial period,
the few industrial establishments
were often manned by Negroes.
Secondly, before the Civil War
all Negroes in this country were
not slaves. There were a quarter
million free Negroes in the North
and an equal number in the South
itself. In cities such as New Or-
leans, these free people of color
dominated the crafts.

One creative function in this
sphere is suggested by the fact
that Negroes hold the titles to over
4,000 new inventions registered
with the United States Patent
Office. The Well-known experi-
ments of such scientists as George
W. Carver have been a boon to
both agriculture and the various
processing industries Today there
are some 6,000,000 gainfully em-
ployed black workers, Twenty-
ﬁve thousand retail merchants in
1930 did a business of $101,000,-
000. There are approximately
800,000 farmers, one-ﬁfth of whom
are owners The great consumers’
market is yet unorganized. The
sharecropper and the tenant~tar—
mer are on the increase.

III. Poliﬁu

Contrary to popular belief, Ne-
groes did. vote prior to the adop-
tion of the 14th and 15th amend-
ments to the Federal Constitution.
Free Negroes in several states
voted for the adoption of the Con-
stitution itself. As late as 1835

there was no color bar in two of
the Southern States, North Caro-
lina and Tennessee One isolated
colony in Louisiana voted as late
as men. By this time anti-Negro
feeling was so strong, even in the
North, that Negroes could vote in
only a half dozen states above the
Mason-Dixon Line.

The golden age of the Negro in
politics came during the Recon-
struction and post-Reconstruction
periods Like the poorer whites
of the South, the freedmen receiv-
ed, for the ﬁrst time, the general
rights of the electorate. Some
served in the State and local gov—
ernments. From 1870 to 1901
twenty-two held seats in the nat-
ional Congress Two of these, Hi-
ram Rl Revels and Blanche K.
Bruce, were senators.

It is often said that the carpet-A
bugger — scalaway - Negro gov—
ernments were ignorant and dis--
honest This is partly truer Some-
of the men did sink to the low-
level of many politi ans of that
day and of this. But the charge-
has =heen exaggerated. More mon-
ey was stolen by the infamous:
Tweed Ring in New York City
than by all of the Reconstruction
governments of. the South corn-
hined. What is more, the improve-
ments made by these bodies are
seldom mentioned, The Constitu~
tions of the reconstructed states
were liberalized> systems of pub.
lic education established and
great strides made in social leg»
islation.

Through legal and extra-legal
devices the Negro was ulhhnately
pushed down and out of politics.
This wholesale distanchisement
left him as a negligible political

factor up to the time of the ﬁrst
World War. At that time Euro-
pean immigration was shut on.
The great trek of Southern to
Notthern cities began. They were
answering to the call of the ex-
panding industries. They found no
racial restrictions on the suﬁrage
in the new regions Accordingly,
today the Negro vote in 16 states
is strategic, if not decisive. There
was and still is a growing toler-
ance in the Border States There
are Negro members of the legis-
lature in a dozen states, includ—
ing Kentucky; one Negro in the
national Congress; and in one
city, New York, there are four
Negro judges.
1V. Social Institutions
It was illegal to teach a slave
to read or write. However, there
are dramatic stories of clever
youths who overleapt this bar-
rier, Nevertheless, at the time of
the Emancipation Proclamation,
_ the vast majority were illiterate.
Even so, there appears to have
been an insatiable thirst for
knowledge, The freedmen ﬂocked
to the schools. It was not unusual
to see a plowman pause at the
turn of his furrow to glance into
his “Blue Back Speller." The
Freedman’s Bureau of the Feder-
al Government, the American
Missionary Association and pri-
vate philanthropy united in set-
ting up such schools as Fisk, How—
ard, Hampton, and Atlanta Uni-
versities. With the aid of the
State of Alabama, Booker T
Washington founded Tuskegee.
Here he was to elaborate a theory
of education—learn by doing—
which has become one comer—
stone in the philosophy of Ameri-

can education

Today illiteracy is less than 17
percent. Notwithstanding the dire
parities, there are today, 2,000,000
Negro pupils in Southern schools
aloneThere have been 43,821 Ne-
gro college graduates; some 200
have been elected to Phi Beta
Kappa and an equal number have
won the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. .

In a broad sense, the Negro
press, which goes back to 1827,
is an educative institution as well
as an agency of communication,
There are 332 Negro newspapers
and magazines in the United
States today, They exert a wide
inﬂuence.

The Negro church has always
been more than purely a “reli-
gious institution." Yesterday and
today the church met and meets
a broad social and recreational
need. Some were stations on the
underground railroad. Others
were the meeting place for plan-
ning as well as the occasion for
festival, Today there are 24 de-
nominations with a total mem—
bership of 5,000,000. The value of
church property is estimated at
$210,000,000.

V. Cultural Contribution

The gift of the Negro to Ameri-
can music is the most known and
accepted of the'cuiturai contribu.
tions. Almost everyone agrees
that it is one of the distinct ele-
ments of what might be called
American culture If the spirituals
are in essence folk melodies, Rag~
time, the Blues and Jazz are, on
the other hand, expressions of
the urban way of life. Their secu-
lar, mocking, otter; sophisticated
moods are characteristic of the

city. Closely related are the free
rhythms of such dances as the
Cakewalk, the Pas Mala, the
Charleston, Trucking and the Sus<
ie Q. Humor, merriment, song and
dance thus serve as a foil against
the dehumanizing eﬂect of the
machine.

The average American can
name scarcely a half dozen Negro
authors. The fact is that special
libraries like the Schom’burg
Collection of the NEW York Pub-
lic Li’brary contains thousands of
volumes by Negro writers. These
works cover almost every ﬁeld:
history, politics, labor, science
and folk—lore This literature ap-
pears in virtually every library
formi

Phillis Wheatley was the sec~
and woman poet of America She
was the ﬁrst Negro woman poet,
but not the ﬁrst Negro poet.

This honor goes to Jupiter Ham-
monr The lung line of biographies,
essays, novels, short stories and
orations reached a high point in
the “Negro Renaissance” of the
1920‘s and continues today. The
painting of Henry 0. Tanner is
best known in Europe. This is al-
so true of the play-acting of Ira
Aldridge and the playwtiLing of
Victor Seiour, an intimate of Na~
poleon 111

v1. Test of Democracy

In one sense, perhaps, the great-
est gift of the Negro to America
has been aside from these more
concrete contributions In one
way or the other he has stood, in
every historic period, as a test of
the sincerity, the real reality of
the preachments of democracy.
In the American Revolution when
the bold Declaration of Indepen-

11'

dance asserted “All men are cre-
ated equal” the quéxtion arose,
“What about the Negro?" Cris-
pus Attucks, a mulatto, had been
the ﬁrst to fall in the Boston Mas-
sacre. Despite the hesitation and
prejudice at ﬁrst some 3,000 No-
groes fought on the American side
in the War for Independence.
George Washington said that thEy
made good soldiers Even more
fulsome praise was accorded the
black soldiers by Andrew Jackson
after the Battle of New Orleans
in 1815.

The great social and political
issue of the second quarter of the
19th century America was the
question of slavery This, with its
pseudo-science of inequality. pro—
ved to he a most stubborn and
flagrant contradiction to the dem-
ocratic ideal, It is not so well
known that Negro newspapers,
such as “Freedom’s Journal" and
“Walker's Appeal," and Negro
leaders, such as Douglass, Garnet,
Pennington and Ward, were in
the forefront of the abolition
movement which brought the na-
tion hack again to its path; the
path moving toward freedom and
equality for all.

The American Civil War began
as a war to save the Union and
ended up, also. in destroying
human slavery. This furnished
another historic ocmsion for
the Negro to participate in push-
ing forward the frontiers of dem-
ocracy, Some two hundred thou-
sand Negroes fought with the
Union forces At ﬁrst these men
had to ﬁght for the “privilege" of
dying for their country; for the
equal treatment accorded the com-

(Continued on page 16, co]. 2)

New President Al Hampton Institute

In a quiet, simple, though im-
pressive ceremony on November
25, 1940, famed Hampton Insti-
tute inaugurated its sixth presi-
denL Dr. Malcolm S. Machean.

Dr. MacLean, a prominent edu-
cator whose work as Dean of the
General College at the Univelsity
of Minnesota and as Director of
the University of Wisconsin’s ex-
tension service has made him na-
tionally famous, pledged himself
to the furthering, not only 0! this
well-known lNegro institution,
but of the race and Nation as well.

Picturing the present status of
the Negro through the eyes of
economists and business men,
psychologists, sociologists and so-
cial workers; artists and music-
ians; political scientists and poli—
ticians;and philosophers, he fore-
told great achievements by the
Negroes in these many ﬁelds.

He ms presented the charter
of the institution, which was
founded in 1868 by General Sam-
uel Chapman Armstrong, by J.
Henry Scattei'good7 chairman of
the Board of Trustees

Following the inauguration, Dr.
MacLean opened the twoday
Conference on the Participation of
the Negro in National Defense
The inauguration and opening
session of the Conference was at-
tended 'by more than 2,000 guests.

Dr. Madtean’s inaugural ad-
dress follows:

“When you asked me to under-
take the presidency of Hampton
Institute, many men and women,
in all ﬁelds of national and local,
public and private service, joined

in picturing vividly the import-
ance of the task

“Economists and business men
said: ‘Hampton is important in
national education and in Ameri-
can life, because the thirteen mil-
lions of Negroes in America are
now buying out or their slender
incomes more than three billion
dollars worth of goods and serv-
ices; further, they are contribut—
ing between ﬁve and seven bil-
lions of dollars to the total na-
tional wealth; and, ﬁnally, if
through college and high school
training they can be further edu-
cated and made skilled and set
‘free by learning to do all of those
tasks of which they are capable,
they will easily double their pur-
chases and more than double their
contribution to our total national
wealth.’

“Psychologists, sociologists, and
social workers said that certainly
Hampton Institute is of ﬁrst im-
portance They told me that ’be-
cause of the long, tough and val-
iant struggle of the Negro race in
America since the days of slavery,
the majority of our American Ne-
gro population has already ac-
quired deepening human under-
standing, sncial insight, and the
powers of family, neighborhood,
and community cooperation that,
once set free through education,
can enrich in untold measure the
social life of the United States
and the whole of our public wel-
fare.
“Artists and musicians said,
certainly Hampton can he one of
the great training and producing
centers of art and music. Among

our American Negroes, they told
me, there is an enormous untap-
ped resource for creation of things
beautiful They have the means
within them which, released
through education and training,
can capture the evanescent and
ﬂeeting beauties of trees and
ﬂowers, sunsets and stars. and
bright water, and of human love
and human suﬁering on canvas
and in stone. And, in their deep
and subtle sense of rhythm and
the universal melody of their
voices, they em set all America
singing.

“Political scientists and politic-
ians said, ‘Surely, in these times
it is self-evident that Democracy
can survive only if our powerful
minorities are educated to throw
their power behind Democracy.
That,‘ they said, ‘is a major job
for Hampton Institute} They told
me that their scholarly studies
showed them that wherever adult
Negroes have thus far been given
their full legal right to vote, these
votes of Negro American citizens
have almost universally been in
support of sound men and mess-
ures leading to total political, so-
cial and economic good.

“The philosopher said: ‘You will
be wise if you do try to serve
Hampton anda fool ifyou don’t.’
These men, setting the whole
things of the past of the world
against the present America, and
peering clear-eyed into the fu-
ture, told me that we in America
have three profound lessons to
learn. First, from the valiant
agonies of the British in our sister
democracy, a democracy which
was reborn on the bloody shores
of Dunkirk and in the bombings

and black-outs of London, Coven-
try and Birmingham; second,
from the ancient wisdom and in-
ﬁnite patience uf the Chinese in
their slow, tempered, irresista‘ble
engulfing of the Japanese assault;
and, third, from the American
Negro, who, in slavery, learned
the glory of freedom and who, in
freedom has developed strength
and tolerance and the ways of
slowly but steadily and powerful-
ly making progress against the
forces of fear, prejudice, super-
stition, and hatred.

“Deeply conscious that all of
these profound reasons are valid,
certain that they all sum up to
equal the essential spirit of a
Democracy on the defense in the
modern world and sharply aware
of a responsibility to you. to the
students, faculty and alumni of
Hampton Institute and to the Ne-
gro race of this country, I accept
on their ‘belief at your hands the
Charter and the presidency of
Hampton Institute for so long as
I can render service to you all.”

New Books

THOMAS Y. CROWEIAL C0.
Lone Star Rising

GINN 8: CO.

People and Places.
We Find Out.

THOMAS NELSON 8: SONS
Working with Words-Grade 2-7
Enjoying English—{Books 1-4.
Democracy in America.

ROW, PETERSON AND CO.
Anything Can Happen.

JOHN C. WINSTON C0.
Stand Fast for E‘reedomr

The Naiional Defense Conference At Hampton
Institute

At the nation—wide Conference
on the Participation of the Negro
in National Defense, which closed
recently at ﬁampton Institute
and for which some 350 Negro
and white leaders assembled, the
United States was told that it
could expect limpet cent loyalty
and responsibility from Negro
Americans in every walk of. life.
A speciﬁc program of action f