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SEVENTEENTH YEAR NO 25 CEdar 0922 ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26. 1951
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INTERNATIONAL PICTURE
A sniping attack continues be
tween McArthur and Homer Bi
gart of the New York Herald Tri
bune. The Generalissimo accuses
the H. T. reporter of inaccurate
reporting. Bigart’s reply in LOOK
Magazine says "the harsh and un
assailable fact ... is that a fine
American Army, powerfully sup
ported by the air force and navy
was defeated by an enemy that
had no navy, virtually no air
force or artillery,” The defeat,
Bigart wrote, “was delivered by
masses of Chinese Communist in-
fantry so lightly equipped that
they could cross the mountains of
North Korea on foot trails and
strike undetected at exposed
flanks of the United Nations
troops.”
Gale's
resented
ra, was
■ss with
sophis-
MacArthur's reply said; "This
same writer has repeatedly writ
ten off the army as lost and by
his biased and inaccurate report
ing held up to universal contempt
the courage and fighting qualities
of the gallant American soldier
and the leadership of his officers.”
What really got MacArthur’s
dander up was Bigart's statement
that General MacArthur was
guilty of "ill-considered decision
to launch the offensive Nov. 24
(which) precipitated and magni
fied swift disaster.”
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NATIONAL SCENE: A photo
in a national weekly of A. Philip
Randolph, Walter White, Lester
Granger and Channing Tobias in
conference received wide favor
able comment. The four together
represent the most powerful or
ganized forces in Negro America
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Marion Anderson:
Portrait of a Great Lady
every
ieepest
e Ellis
(lad to
ifter a
We all know of Marian Ander
son, the first lady of song as a
successful artist; but few of us
know of Marian Fisher, wife of a
prominent Connecticut architect,
who spends her summer months
on their Danberry, Connecticut
farm, raising sheep, chickens and
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vegetables, not to forget the or
chard of which she is so proud.
Mrs. Fisher, known to the pub
lic as Marian Anderson, started
her music career at the age of
six when she joined the children’s
choir of her church in Philadel
phia. Because of her great love
for singing. Miss Anderson put so
much feeling into it that soon her
beautiful voice was recognised as
outstanding throughout her com
munity.
The church to which Miss An
derson belonged, gave concerts
bringing noted singers to its folds.
She was just fifteen when the
church had Roland Hayes as a
guest singer .. . even though
most of his singing was in a
foreign language. Miss Anderson
could interpret his song by his
facial expressions and gestures.
Because of her promising
voice, she was also asked to sing
on this same program . . . her
dear voice captivated Roland
Hayes and he Immediately en
couraged her to go to Boston
and study under a very well
known teacher.
During the years her church
BRIEF
NEWS
SCENE
"High and Lowdown”
BY BAILEE THOMAS
By Georgia Russell Doty
Librarian
3*.orical Soe.
Sinn.
’’.one l
with the possible exception of the
Negro press and church.
The Pennsylvania R. R. had to
pay Mrs. Lillie Belle Perez, 1,500
dollars for forcing her to move
into a Jim Crow car enroute from
New York to Florida . . . Nation
al leaders expect Truman to set
up a national FEPC Commission
by executive order for the dura
tion of the war scare . . . Must
Be Tiring: New Yorkers gave a
mammoth testimonial dinner for
Dr. Ralph Bunche Wednesday
night at the Hotel Comodore.
Former Secretary of War Robert
Patterson was chairman of ar
rangements . . . Edith Campson,
alternate UN delegate from the
U. S. has made a big hit with
members of the United Nations
and the New York population.
In the Big Town (New York)
this week Negro artists are ex
hibiting paintings, water colors
and engravings at the Park
ehester Branch of the Public
Library. Artists Rose Peiper,
Norma Morgan, Theodore Cox
Charles Sebree, Claude Clark,
Beauford Delaney and Charles
White are the artists listed to
exhibit their work.
Twelve southern senators lead
by Senator Spessard L. Holland,
(D) are planning to press a move
to abolish the poll tax in federal
primaries and elections by con
stitutional amendment. Holland
claims the support of the follow
ing southern U. S. Democratic
Senators: Smathers, Fla.; George
of Georgia; O’Connor of Mary
land: Byrd of Virginia; Robertson
of Va.; McClellan of Ark.; Full
bright of Ark.; Ellender of La.;
Long of la.; Hoey of North Caro
lina and Smith of North Carolina.
It is not known what attitude
NAACP and other civil rights
groups will take towards the pro
posal, for most groups feel that
the poll tax should be abolished
on state and federal levels by
vote of the Congress. A constitu
tional amendment would require
(Continued on Page 2)
helped her in music lessons until
she was making food on her own,
giving personal appearances. By
the age of 17 she was well estab
lished on her career as a great
singer. Miss Anderson found it
very fascinating traveling from
city to city, country to country,
giving concerts . . but it wasn’t
Just her captivating voice, it was
her personality which sparkled
through and enchanted her aud
ience wherever she sang ... to
this day . . . Marian Anderson is
the first lady of song. You have
the story of Marion Anderson the
singer, now let me tell you of
Marian Fisher, who spends quiet
summer months on her Connecti
cut farm.
I had the pleasure of meeting
her . . . dressed in a dark green
dress, completely without ac
cessories, except for a pink or
chid corsage pinned to her
shoulder ... I was greeted
very warmly. Speaking in a
very modulated tone she told
me of her life ... of her start
in singing ... of her home and
husband.
I was not talking to just a
singer, but a very gracious wo
man who went out of her way to
put me at ease. Her gestures
while speaking were so graceful
and smooth you could almost pic
ture her life as she told it . . .
Yes. as she talked I could almost
paint her picture ... a portrait
of a great lady.
Photo by Buzz Brown
Paul Robeson Is
Bewildered Man, So
Says Walter White
Chicago, 11l. —Paul Robeson is
a bewildered man who is "more
to be pittied than damned.”
So writes Walter White, execu
tive secretary of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of
Colored People and a distinguish-
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WALTER WHITE
ed Negro leader, in an article,
“The Strange Case of Paul Robe
son,” in the current issue of
EBONY, Negro picture maga
-ine.
In seeking to analyze some of
the reasons for Robeson’s decision
to give up an annual income of
$200,000 from concerts and re
cords in order to “obey Russia's
every command.” White says the
basic factor was the singer’s bit
ter resentment against what he
regarded as personal slights to
him in this country because of his
color. “He became a victim of an
evangelic acceptance of a new
system of society and thought he
was escaping into the dream
world which he Imagined existed
in Russia,” says White.
White rejects as "incredible”
the oft-repeated explanations for
Robeson's leftist turn that Mos
cow had promised to make him
the Soviet boss for the U. S.
when the revolution comes or the
adulation the Communists have
heaped on him, or personal am
bition for power.
Instead, the NAACP secretary,
who has known Robeson for 30
years, is convinced the singer
shifted to Communism because of
what he regarded as personal dis
criminatory events here. “He
seemed more concerned with
finding some oasis in the world
where he personally and his fam
ily would be free from race pre
judice rather than consider fight-
ing the malady itself," says
White cites some of the person
al affronts to Robeson, describes
the singer’s trip to Russia in 1934
would be that it would be wise
for the white world, instead of
querying Negroes on their atti
and his talk for a time of mak
ing Russia his permanent home
White also tells of some of the
contradictions in the Robeson
philosophy, such as the times he
appeared in films and in roles
quite objectionable to Negroes.
"But one of the puzzling as
pects of Robeson's thinking dur
ing recent years is his inability
to see through the opportunism of
Soviet domestic and foreign pol
icy,” says White. “With increas
ing faithfulness to a constantly
shifting Soviet policy, he has ap
peared to have surrendered the
ability he once possessed to ap
praise people and nations with
objectivity.”
White, however, warns that
Robeson is “an ominous portent
to white democracy in the United
States. Europe, the Union of
South Africa and Australia of
what other colored men may turn
to in frustration and despair.”
“If there’s a lesson in the pol
itical career of Paul Robeson, it
would be that it would be wise
for the white world, instead of
querying Negroes on their atti
tude towards Robeson, rather, to
take stock of themselves.
The extraordinary truth is
that the overwhelming majority
of Negroes have been wise
enough to see Russia's faults as
well as those of the United
States and to choose to fight for
freedom in a faulty democracy in
stead of surrendering their fates
to a totalitarion philosophy.”
JUNE CHRISTY TO APPEAR
IN ST. PAUL SUNDAY
June Christy, one of the nations
number one singers and concert
artists, will be presented in a
concert at the St. Paul Auditor
ium Sunday evening. January 28.
at 8:30 p. m.
Accompanying the singer will
be the popular Percy Hughes and
his orchestra.
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!
Mixed National Guard
Won’t Be Disturbed
Army Secretary Says
Washington, D. C., Jan. 19
Integrated National Guard units
will be retained as such when
called to Federal Service, accord
ing to a statement of policy given
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
today.
The statement came in response
to efforts on the part of Senator
Hubert H. Humphrey (D„ Minn.)
and Clarence Mitchell, director of
the NAACP Washington Bureau,
on behalf of the Minnesota Na
tional Guard.
Following action and protest
by the Minneapolis NAACP, Sena
tor Humphrey and Mr. Mitchell
urged Assistant Secretary of the
Army, Earl D. Johnson, to see
that the Minnesota National
Guard, which is integrated,
would not be broken up when it
reached Camp Rucker, Alabama,
where it will undergo training.
Citizens of Minnesota became
alarmed when colored draftees
from the state reported that
they were mistreated at (’amp
Rucker.
Senator Edward Thye (R.,
Minn.) and Governor Luther
Youngdahl (R., Minn.) were also
actively interested in racial dis
crimination which Minnesota citi
zens might encounter at Camp
Rucker. Gov. Youngdahl dis
patched a wire to President Tru
man on the subject.
The statement from the Assis
tant Secretary of the Army is as
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L. Howard Bennett of Charleston, South Carolina, is the new
member of the Hall, Smith and Hedlund law Arm, 311 Produce Bank
Building, Minneapolis. Bennett, a graduate of Fisk University and
the University of Chicago Law school. Joined the Minneapolis law
firm recently. —Buss Brown photo. (Story on page 2).
Young in the AFRO-AMERICAN of Baltimore, Maryland
"With regard to the general
question of integrated National
Guard units ordered into active
Federal service, it is the present
policy of the Department of the
Army to retain, insofar as prac
ticable, individual members of all
such units within the unit in
which they have enlisted and
trained.
"While certain individuals may
be transferred because of special
qualifications and in accord with
military necessity, such trans
fers will be made only under pro
cedures equally applicable to all
enlisted personnel in any Army
unit without regard to race.
The NAACP was also advised
by the Assistant Secretary’s of
fice that specific complaints made
by draftees at Camp Rucker were
being investigated.
"It Is the Intention of the De
partment of the Army that no
racial discrimination of any sort
will be permitted at any Army
camp during the training of any
organization,” the NAACP was
told.
MARRIED 34 YEARS
Mr, and Mrs. Willie Robinson,
251 Rondo Ave., St. Paul, will ob
serve their 34th wedding anni
versary Saturday, Jan. 27.
The couple were married in
1917 in Manchester. England.
Mrs. Robinson Is a native of New
castle on Tyne in England
Attorney
f.ff ***
St. Paul Author
Soos Little Change
Down In Southland
Arthur C. Hill, 418 St. Anthony
Ave., St. Paul, author of a new
book “From Yesterday Thru
Tomorrow” said this week that
there Is little difference between
the South of today and that of
20 years ago.
Mr. HiU has just returned from
several week’s visit through Dix
ie. He went as far south as TyTy,
Ga. Hill said, “As far as I can see
there is Just as much race pre
judice in the south now as there
was 20 years ago.”
The chief Improvement he saw
has been made possible because
the Negro in the south is learning
to use his buying power to bring
about changes in his treatment.
While in Birmingham he
viewed the bombed new 318.000
home of a Negro family which
was partially destroyed by race
haters.
Mr. Hill’s new book is off the
press and will be ready for de
livery and sale on the last of the
month. Publishers are the Van
tage Press, Inc., 230 West 41st
Street, New York City.
Patricia Mallory - Grover
Ingram Nuptials Jan. 27
Saturday, Jan. 27, at 8 p. m. at
St. Thomas Episcopal church,
Miss Patricia Mallory, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mallory,
4053 Clinton Ave. So., will be
come the bride of Mr Grover D.
Ingram, son of Mr. and Mrs. D.
W. Ingram, 3941 Fourth Ave.
So.
Further details of the ceremony
will appear In this paper next
Friday, Feb. 2.
Wants Information
On Missing father
Mrs. Ethel Crawford Peterson,
a former Bt. Paulite during 1013,
now living in New York City, is
anxiously seeking information
about her father, William H.
Crawford, believed to have been
living somewhere in the Twin
Cities.
Crawford is a Mason and a for
mer member of the Perfect Ash
lar Lodge, F. A A. M. Anyone
having additional information
about the whereabouts of Mr.
Crawford, please contact Bis
mark C. Archer. 314 Western Ave.
or call Dale 3498.
Mrs. Sally Gaines, 1012 Fre
mont Ave. No., returned to the
eity Sunday, Jan. 21 from Kansas
City, Kansas, where she attended
the bedside of her mother who Is
Ul.
Mozell Pearson, of Gary, In
diana was visiting her relatives,
Mr. and Mrs. Willie Pearson, 1508
So. Fifth St., Miss Pearson left
the city Saturday night, Jan. 12
for her home in Gary.
Midway 8340 $4.00 Per Year; 10 Cents Per Copy
Study Chides State
For Treatment Meted
Out To Migrant Labor
Some of the 16,000 migrant workers and their families who
came to Minnesota during the last year would have improved
their housing by “swapping places with the animal ‘cash crop'
on some farms,” a church-sponsored study here has found.
The study was made by Dr. David E. Henley of Richmond,
Ind., Quaker sociologist-economist, and Mrs. Henley at the
request of the Minnesota Council
of Churches' migrant committee
and the Horae missions Council of
North America.
Their report however, made It
clear that pralee rather than con
demnation waa due certain em
ployer* and others for their ef
forts In behalf of "foreign” and
"out-of-state" seasonal laborers,
who came to the state to work in
onion, sugar beet and potato fields
and In production of commercial
canning crops like peas, beans and
sweet corn.
Balancing the use of granerles
and chicken and turkey houses as
living quarters for migrant work
ers on some farms, they found at
the other end of the scale "some
few barracks that would do nice
ly for school dormitories.’
"In a few cases, both in the
northern and southern parts of the
state, small but adequate new
houses had been provided, painted,
lighted with electricity, located
convenient to water, with screens
at doors and windows and attrac
tively placed in grass and shade,”
the report said.
"In the Red River Valley, the
worst single case of overcrowding,
fire hazard, lack of water, foul
cellar and Inadequate sanitation
was seen on a large potato farm
just across the state line In North
Dakota.”
On The Defensive
The Henleys said farmers and
representatives of processing in
terests were "courteous, friendly
and helpful, but were quite gen
erally on the defensive about
housing.”
"From appearances," the re
port continued, "local churches
are too much under the control of
the dominant economic interests
to have great influence in improv
ing physical conditions.
Exceptions Are Noted
"There are a few striking ex
ceptions where churches and
church-member growers acknowl
edge and accept their responsibil
ity for ’softening’ community atti
tudes toward migrants and en
courage improvements In housing
and In providing service and wor
ship opportunities for migrant
people.”
Use of migrant child labor in
Minnesota fields was scored In the
report as “a disgraceful anachro
nism.”
"Normal family-farm work with
Its endless variety, incentive and
educational values is far from
the lot of small children seen too
frequently In the long rows of
beets in the irritation dust of
former lake beds spending mon
otonous hours of thinning and
hoeing,” the report said.
No Decent Schooling
The report claimed also that
“the children are denied the op
portunity for even a decent mini
mum education.” “The schools are
AT LABOR TEMPLE TOMORROW NIGHT
JJ a. 4 * * d-
Illinois Jacquet, ace tenor sax man, brings his band hers to
morrow, Jan. 27, at Labor Temple on his first dance engagement.
(Story on page six).
ONf View Of HISTORY
History is the most dangerous pro
duct that the chemistry of the intel
lect has Invented. Its properties are
well known. It engenders dreams, it
Intoxicates the people, it begets
false memories, it exaggerates their
reactions, keeps their old wounds
open, disturbs their sleep, leads
them to delusions of grandeur or of
persecution, and makes nations bit
ter, arrogant, insufferable and vain.
—Paul Valery in ‘Selected Writings.'
operated during the ‘normal’
school year, according to ancient
custom and the calendar, not ac
cording to the needs of children,"
it added.
The report said labor unions
“have been right in opposing
importation of more labor than is
actually needed.”
"But til* unions,” it added "are
on dangerous ground when they
insist that these migrants be al
lowed to do only certain jobs, and
those only the heavy, dirty and
disagreeable tasks that are not
wanted by workers in the North.
Unions ought not be a party of
perpetuating a system that sepa
rates worker* into first and see
ond-class citizens.
Practices used by some employ
ers in recruiting the migrants also
came in for criticism. "Alluring
Inducements to migrants,’’ some
times fail to materialise, the re
port said.
Segregation * Discrimination
The general public was criticis
ed for practices of discrimination
and segregation against the mi
grants. many of whom are Mexi
can, Puerto Ricans, Bahamans
and other non-whites.
Church Programs Urged
As to recommendations, the re
port called on the churches to
build community-wide programs
that would include religious ser
vices and education, elementary
education and nursery schools, so
cial and recreation centers and
social, homemaking and vocation
al services.
Another recommendation called
for public relation and Interpreta
tion of the migrants and estab
lishment of a legal committee to
study legislation pertaining to
migrant needs.
The report warned that "an ef
fort Is being made to turn the
16.000 Indians from Minnesota
reservations Into migrant work
er*.’’
Recommendations baaed on the
report will be presented to the
Minnesota State Legislature, of
ficials of the Minnesota Council
of Churches said.
Leave For Army
Duty At Fort Riley
Monday, Jan. 22 eras another
red letter day for seven St. Paul
young men when they answered
the president’s greetings. On this
day the group entrained for Fort
Riley, Kansas to begin their basic
training in the U. 8. Army. All
seven were drafted.
The group Included Henry
Johnson Jr., 452 Iglehart; John
M. Culver Jr., 308 N. St Albans;
Donald Russell, 491 St. Anthony
Ave.; Paul Ray, 808 St. Anthony
Ave.; R. C. Thomas, 288 N. St.
Albans; Brock Reynolds, 317 N.
Avon; Ronald Bradshaw. 620 St.
Anthony Ave,