Page Two
MARCH 8, 1947
The Hartford Chronicle
HEAVEN MOVES
TO CORNELL
New York: Unless Dr. Shel
don, brother of the late Mrs.
Mary Sheldon Lyon can break
her will in the courts of New
York, it looks very much as
though Father Divine, in spi
rit at least will have a part of
his "Heaven" at Cornell Uni
versity. Ikseems as though Mrs. Lyon
left $500,000 to Father Divine
to carry on his spiritual pro
gram. Part of this trust in
cludes a dormitory at Cornell
that was named after Mrs. Ly
on's father.
Dr. Sheldon is contesting the
terms of the will on the grounds
that his sister who was 85 year9
old at the time of her death,
lacked testamentary capacity,
and that the will was therefore
secured through' fraud.
CLEMENCY ASKED FOR
VICTIM OF ARMY PLOT
New York, N. Y. Pointing
out that Maurice E. Goens was
acting under orders .from a
superior officer when he vio
lated the 94 th Article of War
as a nrivate in a Truck Com
pany in Italy in 1945, the
NAACP, on February 25th,
petitioned the War Department
a remission of his court-martial
sentence of five years at hard
labor. '
Court-martialled 'for alleged
larceny of government proper
ty and misappropriation of 3
government vehicles, Goens ap
pears to have been the victim
of a conspiracy of his superior
officers to use government ve
hicles from the company motor
xpool in? order to obtain Army
rations from a distant depot
for the purpose of sale.
Franklin H. Williams, assist
ant special counsel, NAACP,
emphasized, in his letter to the
War Department, that Goens
did not go along with these
men in their unlawful project
of acquiring rations, and had
no connection with their crime,
beyond issuing the dispatch
tickets allowing them to use
trucks from the motor pool
,over which he had responsibili
ty. It was urged that though
the order given to Goens was
obviously illegal and one which
he was under no obligation . to
obey, even greater clemency
ought to be given him since he
was under an even greater risk
should he have refused to obey
his superior s orders.
Asking that the confinement
experienced by Goens to date
constitute sufficient punishment
mitted by him, the NAACP
urged that the unexecuted por
tion of his sentence be entirely
remitted, and that he be given
an opportunity to earn an hon
orable discharge from the
Army.
ALL GEORGIA DIVIDES
INTO TWO PARTS
Atlanta There is a new or
ganization in these parts these
days that Is known as . the
"Aroused Citizens of Georgia.'
Originally they had registered
themselves with the Secretary
of State's office as the Demo
cratic Party, Inc.
The prime objective of this
new development is to wrest the
State government from the
hands of Herman Talmadge and
his machine, and to read out
of the party all those folks who
have helped and sustained him
in his present efforts.
It is the belief of many ob
servers in this section that this
is the beginning of t wo rival
democratic parties in the State.
And that if this kind of contest
develops, in any general elec
tion the registered Negro vot
ers will form the balace of pow
er. That of course provides that
the election is conducted legally
and all qualified voters are per
mitted to vote, irrespective of
color.
When this movement ' was
brought tao the attention of
Herman Talmadge, his ' only
comment was, "Let's not antici
pate, what time the moon will
rise April 25th."
DIXIE TOO MICH
FOR HIS NERVEES.
Beaufort, S. CY Mr. John
Chisolm a prominent, successful
undertaker m this city went
temporarily insane the other
day in the Beaufort county jail.
It is alleged that while he was
on the rampage he ripped up a
radiator, smashed several win
dows, struck the sheriff with
a bottle and injured two jani
tors who attempted to subdue
him.
It all came out of the fact that
several weeks ago a civil court
rendered a judgment of $8,000
in a $10,000 suit against him.
The suit was filed by a local
white woman whom he is al
leged to have hit with his car
and injured a year ago.
Friends and organizations are
now in the process of investigat
ing the circumstances that were
responsible for his having been
arrested within such a short
period after the judgement had
been rendered.
Mr. Chisolm was taken to the
state asylum at State Park,
where authorities claim he is
now recovering.
FATHER DUNNE RECEIVES
COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT
Los Angeles, 3al. In recog
nition of his efforts in behalf
of minority groups, Rev. Geo
H. Dunne, S. J., author and
playwright, has been appointed
a member of the Committee on
Human Relations by the Los
Angeles County Board of Su
pervisors. Well known as a
protagonist of interracial jus
tice, Father Dunne is a pro
fessor of political science at
Loyola University.
NAACP URGES
GOV. DEWEY SUPPORT
AUSTIN-MAHONEY BILL
New York The Board of Di
rectors of the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of
Colored People at its regular
February meeting voted to sup
port the Austin-Mahoney bill,
now pending in the New York
state legislature. In announc
ing its support of the bill, the
NAACP board issued the fol
lowing resolution:
"All doubt has been dispelled
by the reports of the fact find
ing committees about the extent
of discrimination against Ne
groes and all other minority
groups in admission to educa
tional institutions in this state.
New York State has led the
nation in adopting a bill insur
ing equal opportunity to' secure
employment without discrimi
nation, but that act alone can
not be effective if members of
minority groups are not permit
ted to fit themselves by educa
tion for skilled job opportuni
ties which' are . now open to
them. Because the limitation
upon the right of citizens of
this state to obtain an educa
tion results in a tragic loss to
the state of the valued services
which they might otherwise
render, we urge Governor Dew
ey and the New York State
legislature immediately to pass
the Austin-Mahoney bill to put
an "end to the denial of educa
tional opportunities to New
York citizens because of racial
or religious discrimination."
Prospects for passage of the
important bill to combat racial
and religious discrimination in
education seemed bright early
this week until the surprise
announcement on Thursday
that the Roman Catholic Church
was officially opposed to the
measure. Supporters of the
bill today began mobilizing
their forces in a last ditch ef
fort to secure its passage. Roy
Wilkins, NAACP assistant sec
retary, immediately wired Gov.
Dewey, strongly urging pass
age of the bill, which vitally
affects the educational welfare
of Negro residents of the state,
and recommending that the
governor direct a message to
the legislature requesting its
enactment.
BILL TO OUTLAW
RACE COVENANTS
Albany New York Assem
blyman, William T. Andrews,
has just introduced a bill in
the legislature that will outlaw
restrictive covenants against ra
cial groups. ,
The amendment provides that
all covenants or restrictions in
instruments affecting property
are void if they "limit", re
strain, prohibit' or otherwise
provide against the sale, grant,
gift, devise, transfer, assign
ment, conveyance, ownership,
Lease rental use or occupancy
or real property to or by any
person because of race, creed,
color, national origin, or an-
I cestry.
FUNCTIONAL EQUALITY
NEGROES DESIRE
New York Attorney Pauli
Murray, member of the staff of
the Commission on Law and So
cial action of the America Jew
ish Congress, said in her Broth
erhood speech before the Jamai
ca, L. I.,. Y.W.C.A., "the term
social equality is a misnomer.
When used as an argument
against equality of opportun
ity, it is confined to its narrow
est meaning personal and in
timate associatoin. "
" What the Negro or any oth
er underprivileged minority
wants is functional equality.
There is no desire to force per
sonal relationships or intimate
associations. These delicate
matters must be left to individ
ual adjustments and cannot be
the subject of social or legisla
tive action. '
' ' By functional equality is
meant the, right to sit anywhere
on a bus or other public convey
ance without running the
gauntlet from the collection box
to the rear seat. It is the right
to sit in a theatre without be
ing sent to the gallery or to a
ghettoized area marked off for
"colored" patrons; it is the
right to be served in a restaur
ant, to belong to a labor organ
ization or a professional asso
ciation without differentiation
from other members.
"Segregation, no matter how
"equal' the facilities may be, is
exclusion. I, for one would be
willing to accept the penalty of I
exclusion from public places or
community groups, if such pen
alty rests upon impartial stand
ards such as behavior, cleanli
ness, individuals qualification,
or personal restraint.
."To protect the institution of
segregation, with its noncom
itans of legal and social infer
ior status, these racketeers for
race hate, must block the anti
lynching legislation, FEPC
laws, civil rights laws, in short
every piece of progressive so
cial legislation, which will ben
efit all the people without dis
tinction. '
Att. Murray was the guest
speaker of the National Coun
cil of . . egro women and the
Women's Division of the Am
erican Jewish Congress.
TEXANS CONDEMN
SCHOOL SEGREGATION
AT HUGE NAACP
MEMBERSHIP RALLY
Houston, Tex. Condemning
separate schools and calling for
the end of segregation in Texas
public schools, the Houston
NAACP branch's '"kick-off"
meeting for its 1947 member
ship campaign got off to a rous
ing start, on February 23rd.
The resolution, presented to a
packed house, was greeted by
enthusiastic cheers. The group
also adopted resolutions calling
for an anti-lynching bill and
opposing both state and federal
anti-labor legislation.
F.EP.C. GROUP TO MEET
On next Tuesday, Harch 11,
at 2 :00 p. m. at the State Capi
tol a group of individuals and
organizations who are interest
ed in seeing that Fair Employ
ment Practice Legislation is
enacted will meet to discuss
ways and means of furthering
the bill most favorable to the
minority groups. Among those
expected to appear are Alder
man Fauliso, author of an F. E.
P. C. bill for the City of Hart
ford and State Senator Alfred
Wechsler, who authorized a bill
for the state. ' . "
NON-SECTARIAN
SCHOOLS CARRY '
RACIAL BIAS
New York A survey that
was recently made of 171 non
sectarian schools and colleges
with enrollments of more than
500 are still asking questions
about race, religion and nation
al origin in the questionnaires
that all applicants for admis
sion must fill out for accept
ance. - -
Some of the questionnaires
carried questions that dealt
with all nf the f ollowinsr : race.
color, religion, church, descent,
or ancestry, nationality, birth
place, mother tongue, language
spoken at home, mother's maid
en, name and date of parents
arrival in the United States.
The study was conducted by
Dr. David Petegorsky, execu
tive director of the American
Jewish Congress, who had the
following to say about these
findings: '
"This survey clearly shows
the necessity for the immediate
passage of state laws outlawing
discrimination in education,
such as the Austin-Mahoney bill
in New York and the Reiffin bill
in New Jersey."
Thurgood Marshall,-' chief
counsel. NAACP, described to
group tne TM.aaiJ.t-cs intenxion
to break down the wall of dis
crimination facing Negroes at
the University of Texas, and
told of his part in the NAACP 'a
battle to gain admittance in its
law school for Heman -Marion
.1 -fc T A A JT - 1
Sweatt, whose application for
admission was refused on the
basis of his color. The courts
have ordered Texas to provide
a "separate but equal" law
school for Negroes or admit
them to the University's exist
ing facilities.
The Houston branch, under
the leadership of Mrs. Lulu B.
White, State Conference Direc
tor of Branches, and Rev. A.
A. Lucas, president f the
branch, presented NAACP life
membership medals to four
Texans: Dr. Thomas Fletcher,
Arthur Mandell, Percy Fore
man and Herman Wright. The
three latter are white attorneys
in Houston. Life members in
the NAACP are those who have
paid in $500.