SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE A Colored Woman in a White World (13) Harriet Beecher Stowe Centenary. [* She effort I made to work up ? a labor of love *] In May 1910 I issued a call for the appropriate celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. The Washington Evening Star and the Washington Post came out in striking headlines announcing it the colored newspapers featured it, and colored people all over the country approved most heartily of the idea. Since there was a year in which to prepare for the Cantenary I hoped it would be generally celebrated thruout the country. But there were comparitively few observances of the occasion. In Washington, however, Mrs. Stowe's Centenary was most appropriately and most delightfully celebrated June 14, 1911. I invited her grandson, Lyman Beecher Stowe to deliver the principal address on the life of h is famous grandmother and he accepted. His reference to Uncle Tom's Cabin were replete with informatio to and interest to the large audience which gathered in the Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church to participate in the celebration. There was not a foot of standing room when the exercises began. Among the other speakers who addressed the meeting were the Honorable J.C Napier, Register of the Treasury. Brigadier General Burt, U.S.A who had commanded colored soldiers for a number of years. Bishop Alexander Walters of the A.M.E. Zion Church, Mr. L.M. Hershaw a clerk in the departments and myself. A violin solo was rendered by Joseph Douglass , grandson of the great Frederick Douglass who numbered Mrs. Stowe among his stauchest friends. I felt it was my duty to do everything in my power to call the attention of the American people on general principles and of my own group in particular to the marvellous contribution made by Harriet Beecher Stowe to the emancipation of slavery. In recounting the incidents and stating the reasons which led to the abolition of slavery it would be difficult to exaggerate the role played by Uncle Tom's Cabin. [*After writing this book] When Mrs. Stowe call en on President Lincoln at the White House one day he seized her hand and exclaimed “Are you the little woman who made the Great War?” Many of the men who fought in the Union Army had either read Uncle Tom’s cabin themselves eleven years previously when they were boys or had heard it read aloud by their mothers to the family group, so that they not only waged war to preserve the union The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Incorporated John R. Hawkins, President S.W. Rutherford, Secretary-Treasurer Executive Council John R. Hawkins, Washington, D.C S.W. Rutherford, Washington, D.C Carter G. Woodson, Washington, D.C Julius Rosenwald, Chicago, ILL. James H. Dillard, Charlottesville, VA. William G. Person, Durham, N.C Franz Boas, Columbia University Carl R. Fish, University of Wisconsin E. A. Hooton, Harvard University The Journal of Negro History Carter G. Woodson Director and Editor 1538 Ninth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. Executive Council John Hope, Morehouse College William E. Dodd, University of Chicago Bishop R.A. Carter, Chicago, ILL. Bishop John Hurst, Baltimore, MD Alexander L. Jackson, Chicago, ILL. Bishop R.E. Jones, New Orleans, LA. T.R. Davis, Samuel Huston College John E. Nail, New York City December 3, 1927 Mrs. Mary C. Terrell, 1615 S St., N.W. Washington, D.C Dear Coworker: Dr. A.L Locke will speak on Recent Discoveries in African Art at our regular monthly meeting next Tuesday evening. It will be a rare privilege to hear this recent word from a long neglected field. Tell your friends and bring as many as you can to the Y.W.C.A. Tuesday December 6th at 7:30 P.M. Kindly remember that the hour is not 8 P.M. The Program Committee has arranged to present Dr. E.E. Just and several other distinguished scholars in the near future. Every monthly meeting will be conducted in this fashion. I take this occasion to say that the celebration of Negro History Week will soon be at hand. It takes place the second week of February. The Association earnestly desires Washington to take an active part. The literature is now ready for distribution. Kindly come to the meeting with a suggestion as to what can be done to aid the movement. Yours very sincerely, W.M Brewer W.M Brewer, President 2 but to deliver the slaves from the cruel bondage which Harriet Beecher Stowe had so graphically described. [*See Page 30*] t[T]hat celebration of her Centenary [*in the Nat Capital*] would have especially rejoiced the heart of the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, because it was under the auspices of the College Alumnae Club which was composed of 22 colored women who held diplomas from some of the largest and best institution in the land. There were several from Cornell, one of whom wore a Phi Beta Kappa key, together with representatives from Ann Arbor Michigan, the University of Vermont, the Ohio State University, Smith, Wellesley, Oberlin, and such splendid institutions for the higher education of colored your as Fish University of Nashville, Tenn and Howard University of Washington, D.C. [It does not] [*If Mrs. Howe had been alive on that occasion*] In less than sixty years after her book appeared describing the evils and horrors of slavery [Mrs. Stowe] [*she*] might have seen descendants of the bondmen for whom she had made such an effective plea standing on an educational equality with their former masters. On March 5, 1910 [two sisters, Sarah] [*two sisters, the Misses Sarah*] and Fairfax Brown, each of whom [*had*] graduated from Cornell University and Miss Mary Cromwell, who had received her degree at Ann Arbor, came to [*my residence*] to ask me to help them form a College Woman's Club and [*requested*] [asked] me to be president. [*I agreed to do so.*] Shortly after that the constitution was adopted and plans for work which such an association might do here were formed. In order to [*that*] interest a large number of [*school*] children [who] [*(O*] [o]ne of the teachers declared [*) (*] went to the moving picture[*s*] show every night [*) so*] she decided to form a dramatic club [in order] [so as] to interest them in something else. One of the members [*conducted*] [said she would] form reading clubs for the High School pupils. Another member promised to ascertain what had become of the [*colored*] boys and girls who had graduated [*from the High Schools of the District*] the previous year and another [*agreed*] [volunteered to gath gather certain statistics bearing on matters pertaining to the race of which she felt our group was in great need. [And] [*S*] [s]till another [*member*] felt it was the duty of the Club to let the High School girls know we were interested in them and she appointed herself a Committee of One to take that inforamtion to them. And as a result of the suggestion the College Alumnae DEBS MEMORIAL RADIO FUND 31 UNION SQUARE ROOM 1504 NEW YORK TELEPHONE ALGONQUIN 7669 Trustees Norman Thomas, Chairman Morris Hillquit, Treasurer G. August Gerber Roger Baldwin Abraham Baroff Joseph Baskin Victor L. Berger Harriot Stanton Blatch Abraham Cahan Albert F. Coyle Theodore Debs Elizabeth G. Evans Elisabeth Gilman Max S. Hayes Sidney Hillman John Haynes Holmes Cameron King Robert Morse Lovett William Mahoney James H. Maurer Mary E. McDowell William Mitch A. Philip Randolph Upton Sinclair A.M. Todd B.C. Vladeck Harry F. Ward John Whitlock December 3, 1927 Dear Friend: You have been recommended as one who is interested in establishing and maintaining a radio broadcast station free from control that is biased and unfriendly to peace, liberal, progressive, and labor causes. Censorship over minority opinion is being openly and covertly practices by the privately operated stations. Particularly is it difficult for peace speakers to get a radio hearing. As an instance that comes to mind, Frederick J. Libby, of the National Council for Prevention of War, has been refused permission to speak over two New York radio stations. Such censorship makes imperative that the members of minority groups and persons of dissident opinion band together to maintain a broadcast station of their own control. It is fitting that this most modern medium for the interchange of ideas should be dedicated to the cause of all forward looking and progressive movements. The Debs Memorial Radio Fund has acquired its own 500 watt radio broadcast station; it is franchised under the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. patents; it is licensed to operate as WEVD by the Federal Radio Commission on a wave length of 245.8 meters, at a radio frequency of 1220 kilocycles. The Debs Memorial Radio Fund is operating Station WEVD in memory of Eugene V. Debs, who was imprisoned because he believed in peace and opposed war. WEVD, however, will not be devoted to any particular or partisan "ism". It is our intention to make this station a forum for Labor, Peace, and Progress. It is to you who are identified with and a part of this great movement that we must come for assistance; particularly in view of the fact that we are operating WEVD on a non-commercial basis and cannot depend upon a commercial income. Please send us your contribution so that we shall not be obliged to curtail our work and eventually suspend operations outright. Very truly yours, G. August Gerber G. AUGUST GERBER Secretary BS&U 12646 3 Club gave a reception to the graduating classes of the M. St High School the Armstrong Manual Training School, the Normal School and the college classes of Howard University. [*X*] From that small club of colored college women has grown a large National organization which has a membership of at least [In order To make if possible for] [*O*] During the celebration of the Centenary I thought I would be rendering a great service if I wrote a short appreciation of Harriet Beecher Stowe [recounting the principal events in her life and especially emphasizing the prodigious amount of work she did for the abolition of slavery] [emancipation of the slave] [*so that it might be available to as many as possible*]. I did this and made a little paper-bound book 5x7 1/2 inches consisting of 23 pages. I also intended to write a child's life of Mrs. Stowe and consulted several authorities concerning the advisability of doing so. Mrs. Charles Dudley Warner of Hartford Conn. was very much interested in my plan and after talking with me about it she gave me Rev. Charles Stowe's Life of his mother. Dr. Edward Hooker, Mrs. Stowe's nephew also was encouraged me to write the book. While calling on him at his residence in Hartford Conn he showed me two beautiful paintings of flowers made by Mrs. Stowe and told me how fond she was of children, flowers, and music. [It was] [*Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mrs. Stowe's half sister invited me always to pay her a visit whenever I*] [while visiting Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker at Hartford that I met Mrs. Stowe's twin daughters] had engagements in New England, and I often [*among*] accepted her invitation. On one of these visits I met Mrs. Stowe's twin daughters who had come to visit their aut. [*+*] [+X and then when I issued a call for the appropriate celebration of the centenary of HB Stowe, this club volunteered to assist me making the Washington meeting a success. [?Palonesses Mos Hay? Insert letter I sent out.*] Progressive World Organization Worldwide Reduction of Armaments by International Agreement Worldwide Education for Peace ------ National Council for Prevention of War (Endorsed by the National Information Bureau, Inc.) 532 SEVENTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST WASHINGTON, D.C. CHAIRMAN GEORGE M. LAMONTE VICE-CHAIRMEN JANE ADDAMS MRS. LOUIS D. BRANDEIS JAMES R. HOWARD WILL IRWIN JOHN A. LAPP JULIA C. LATHROP KATHARINE LUDDINGTON BISHOP FRANCIS J. McCONNELL JAMES G. McDONALD HUGH S. MAGILL MRS. LUCIA AMES MEAD BISHOP G. ASHTON OLDHAM WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE EXECUTIVE BOARD CLEMENT M. BIDDLE T. JANNEY BROWN WILLIAM F. COCHRAN ELIZABETH EASTMAN MRS. J. MALCOMB FORBES ELISABETH GILMAN MRS. J. BORDEN HARRIMAN J.M. HENRY ARTHUR E. HOLDER GEORGE M. LAMONTE FREDERICK J. LIBBY JOSEPH R. SIZOO MRS. ANNA GARLIN SPENCER RICHARD R. WOOD PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS American Association of University Women American Farm Bureau Federation American Federation of Teachers American School Citizenship League Association to Abolish War Church of the Brethren, Welfare Board Fellowship of Reconciliation Fellowship of Youth for Peace Foreign Policy Association General Conference of the Religious Society of Friends International New Thought Alliance National Association of Ex-Military Reconstruction Aides National Board Y.W.C.A. National Council of Jewish Juniors National Council of Jewish Women National Education Association National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods National Kindergarten Association National Reform Association National Women's Trade Union League Peace Association of Friends in America Society to Eliminate Economic Causes of War Woman's Missionary Union of Friends in America Women's International League for Peace and Freedom CO-OPERATING ORGANIZATIONS Central Conference of American Rabbis Council of Women for Home Missions National Consumers' League National Woman's Christian Temperance Union United Society of Christian Endeavor United Synagogue of America Women's League of the United Synagogue of America World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches World Brotherhood Federation EXECUTIVE STAFF Executive Secretary FREDERICK J. LIBBY Associate Secretaries MRS. FLORENCE BOECKEL MRS. LAURA PUFFER MORGAN ARTHUR CHARLES WATKINS MARY PHILLIPS WEBSTER PAUL HARRIS, JR. JOSEPH H. BAIRD Office Secretary GLADYS K. GOULD MACKENZIE Treasurer T. JANNEY BROWN CABLE ADDRESS, Limarms Telephon, MAIN 8010 Western Secretary LOYAL LINCOLN WIRT 449 Phelan Building San Francisco, Calif. November 23, 1927 Dear Reader, Now of all times, should those who are interested in peace keep in close touch with developments in the international field! For it seems to many of us who study daily the ebb and flow of popular opinion, and of opinion in high places, that the next few moths may contain important advances toward conciliation, disarmament, pease! "Why?" you may ask. We point to the unequivocal pronouncements of President Coolidge, of Briand, of Lord Cecil and Lord George, of the British Liberals and the British press; to a very recent and astonishing "about face" by portions of our own press - all confessing to the basic inanity of war, to the supreme need of safeguards against another international calamity! On the other hand we see signs of an approaching dangerous and unwarranted naval competition between the United States and England. We hear some derisive jeers at arbitration proposals. We see our Latin-American policy under fire at home and abroad. So we conclude that the next few months may witness far-reaching challenges - for better or worse! And as usual, the News Bulletin will record these developments clearly and fully. In view of these facts, you will want to renew your subscription to the News Bulletin. There, as always, you will find an interpretive editorial on the outstanding issue of the month, four pages of news notes about the progress of the peace movement at home and abroad, and two pages of intimate information about the political situation in Washington. Merely inserting 25 cents in the enclosed coin-card, fill it out and mail it to us, and the Bulletin will visit you regularly during the next twelve months. Mail the card today! FJL.OS Faithfully yours, Frederick J. Libby Executive Secretary. My Experience as a Clerk in the Government Department. During the World War almost everybody was who knew how to write and spell taking an examination of some kind, so as to secure a position in one of the government departments. The officials were calling for help, as the volume of business incident to the war continued to increase and were urging citizens all over the country to take an examination of for the various clerkships, so that they might have the extra help required to do the work. Accordingly I decided to take an examination as a typist and presented myself with my machine at the building designated for that date. I know I passed, but [since] I took it for granted [thought] it would be a long time before I would be called, if ever I received an appointment, so I thought very little about it. [About ten days] [Shortly] Ten days after[ward] I took the exam our door bell jangled one morning [about] between two & three o'clock and [a] the following telegram signed by Genl Crozier [signed by Genl Crozier] for Mrs. Mary Church Terrell was handed to me: "Come Immediately to the Aetna Building, Room 305 it read." [It was signed by General Crozier.] At first I was speechless with surprise, for I did not connect the examination with this telegram at all. Since it came at such an unearthly hour in the morning, I felt that it must be [very] so urgent [indeed]. [If] I asked my husband therefore whether it was not my duty to answer the summons immediately, as I was requested to do, but he laughed heartily at the idea, saying that even if I went to the Aetna Building at three o'clock in the morning, nobody would be there to receive me. About nine o'clock that morning I presented myself at room 305 and handed the telegram to [the young woman] General Crozier's secretary. [I was soon] The young woman soon ushered me into his presence and found him reading [the answers] [my questionnaire] a paper. It was my questionnaire, for everybody taking an examination was required to answer certain questions showing what his preparation and record were. (When General Crozier first saw me, he greeted me quite cordially. "You have very fine training indeed," he said. He merely glanced at me. His eyes were fastened upon my questionnaire which [The questionnaire] showed I had received my A.B. and A.M. degree from Oberlin College, that I had travelled abroad, had taught in a college and a High School and that I could speak, read and write and write both German and French. After the General had carefully read my record, he laid it on the table and looked at me squarely [had raised his eyes from the paper and had fastened them upon me for a while,] for the first time. We are greatly in need of the services of those who [a queer expression began to appear. The longer he looked at me, the less pleased he seemed to be.] and said you have had very fine training indeed. I-7 INTERCOLLEGIATE PEACE ASSOCIATION Founded [1906] Approx.Membership Antioch College, Yellow Springs, O. Chairman- Prof. S.F. Weston Organization - Representatives in about 100 colleges 15 states. Purpose - To arouse interest in the cause of peace in the student body of today, since today's students will guide the world politics of tomorrow. Activities - Promotes oratorical contests on peace subjects amoung the colleges. In 1923 contests planned in 12 states. Prizes of $1600 to be distributed. National prize for the best orations judged on thought and composition. Plans to send lecturers on peace topics to colleges when funds are available. INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION (Amer. Branch) Founded [1900?] Approx.Membership [175 U.S.A] Office of Chairman or Sec'y. Chairman - Senator Wm. B. McKinley Exec. Sec'y - Arthur Deerin Call., Colorado Bldg., Wash. ,D.C. Organization - Membership composed of members of national parliaments and ex-members previously members of Union. Supported - In part by Carnegie Endowment. Congress has appropriated $4,000 for Union in 1924. Purpose - "To unite in common action members of all parliaments in order to secure cooperation of their respective states in the establishment and democratic development of the work of international peace and cooperation by means of a universal organization of all nations." Activities - Holds annual conferences. At 20th conference in Vienna 1922, 24 nations represented. U.S.A., Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Dutch Indies, Italy, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey. Resolutions called fro League of Nations to press question of international reduction of armaments and economic reconstruction through international cancelling of debts and issue of loans to be carried out through an international organization to be created on initiative of League. [3] and French. Had I been a white woman there is no doubt I would have secured a responsible and lucrative position in the government at that time. A short while after that I was summoned to the War Risk Insurance Bureau an was given a clerkship. The man who "gave men the once over", before I was apointed, did not consume enough time to examine an [physiological] peculiarity in my complexion which would lead him to believe I was "different from the rest. " Undoubtedly that accounts for the fact that I was placed in a room with white women, I learned as soon as I was given this job [immediately that the only colored women who had] been appointed up to that time had been placed in a room to themselves. [The clerks with whom I worked were very cordial and pleasant. One of them] send in records of the soldiers who were ill or insane, ad one of them was [showed me how to make them out] gave the necessary instructions cheerfully [assigned] to show me how to make out certain forms and [?] [duties with enthusiasm + [?]] and all the clerk in the room were very cordial and pleasant. I had been working about two months in this section when Suddenly like a thunder clap out of a clear sky I received a letter saying I had been suspended from duty from Oct., 15th up to and and including Oct., 20, during which time I was requested to prepare my defence in answer to the following charges preferred against me: It has been reported that you have take action upon cases contrary to the rules and regulations of the Bureau and contrary to the regulations of the chief medical adviser. It is found that you made numerous mistakes, and when these mistakes have been called to your attention, you cause considerable disturbance and tend to deny responsibility, You do not want to understand or cannot understand the requests of your superiors in the matter of properly performing duties assigned to you." If I had really "taken action upon cases contrary to the rules and regulations of the Chief Medical Adviser," those responsible for the proper conduct of the office would have called me to account, as soon as they ascertained that I was guilty of an infraction of the rules. If they allowed me to persist in it, they themselves were derelict in their duty and deserved to be punished as well as the guilty clerk. But I had never seen any rules or regulations in print nor had anybody stated any to me which I had violated in any way, sh ape or form. I do not claim that I made no mistakes, but, if I made any, they were very few, I realized that I was treading on thin ice all the time, and I was 2 understand German and French" . He was studying me intently[.] and A .shadow passed over his countenance. He [seemed] began to appear puzzled and displeased, as he looked me [There followd] The longer he looked at any of of the more puzzled & [displeased?] a short silenece followed was a bit embarrassing and painful to [?] A light of some kind seemed to be dawning upon him. The General picked up the questionnaire and looked at it again. I see you have taught in [the] a High School here" , he said, eyeing me closely. "Which one was it?" he inquired. "I taught in the M. St. High School," I replied, after hesitating a second. Instantly an expression of positive displeasure swept over the General's face and I knew my doom was sealed. He tossed the paper aside immediately. "Mrs. Terrell," he asked, a bit of hostility creeping into his voice, "have you ever had any office experience?" "I have had none, General, "Iireplied. "I have so stated in my questionnaire." "Well, I am sorry you haven't had any office experience," he said, finality written all over his face. "I hoped you had." he said as he tossed my questionnaire testily aside. "But, General," I replied, "I do not see how you could have hoped I had had any office experience, when you summoned me here, unless you thought I would tell a falsehood, for in answer to this question, "Have you had any experience in office , I stated on my questionnaire, "Absolutely none. [So I do not see how you could have hoped I had had any experience in office, unless you thought I would tell a falsehood.] "So you have" replied the general picking up my questionnaire again--Good morning - and I knew that I would certainly not be called by the General I have been reliably informed that at that time, college graduates were being eagerly sought, especially those who could speak and translate both German over 4 very careful to do the work exactly as I was instructed. Several times I observed that a change in the manner of making out certain forms has been [made] ordered without notifying me at all. As soon as I was aware of this I would ask a young woman who was [always] very cordial to show me how to do the work and she always complied with my request cheerfully. On several occasions she slipped me papers showing the new way of filling outcertain records as soon as she had been instructed, for she knew that I would not be notified. The charge that a colored woman who was in a room with white women in one of the government departments in Washington "would cause considerable disturbance" when mistakes were called to her attention is too ridiculous to discuss. No colored woman who was sane and wished to keep her job would think for a second of making herself consicuous, or objectionable either to her fellow clerks or to her superior officers. The very few colored women who were placed in rooms with white women were constantly in a state of suspense and apprehension, not knowing the day or the hour when the awful summons would come. [as soon that of creating a disturbance?] [*they would have ?????*] They understood perfectly that they were there either by mistake or by sufferance. and they [?] the idea [?] they [wd?] no more of dared to create a [?] [?] [?] placed in a room with white women during the All was to be left alone and allowed to do their work in peace. [?] asked Young white women with only a high school education [Young women who had not even completed] were able to do the work in the [office] room to which I was assigned. It could scarcely be possible therefore that a woman who had graduated from college , had studied all her life and had taught school could not master difficulties which these girls could do with ease. If any woman known to be colored had been unable or unwilling"to understand the requests of her superior officers" , she would not have been allowed to retain her job a single week. A very interesting episode happened once when I was told to change the wording of a slip during the absence of the women who had charge of the room. I thanked the substitute for telling me what to do but informed her that I had been taught by the [director] regular director to make the slip out as I had done [by the director for whom [?] was substituting]. The clerk who sat next to me heard the conversation and corroborated what I said. Each and every clerk in the room did the same thing Very much irritated the substitute went for the [head?] doctor in charge of the section and returned saying she was right. When the regular director of the [*?*] GROUP IV. ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING PEACE MOVEMENT BY RESOLUTION, AFFILIATION, ETC. *AMERICAN ASS'N. OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN Founded Approx. Membership 1634 Eye St., N.W., Wash., D.C. 1882 16,000 Chairman - Miss Ada Comstock Exec. Sec'y. - Miss Ruth French Organization - Individual membership. Branches in 13 countries. Purpose - To develop personal intercourse among university women in the interest of greater world friendliness, to foster understanding and tolerance and to encourage all agencies of education to contribute to improving international understanding. World Peace program adopted April 1922 supports all practical steps toward effective world organization, world court, outlawry of war, progressive reduction of world armaments, economic conference for reconstruction of Europe. "All agencies of education should contribute toward improving international understanding. Publication - "The Journal" (quarterly) AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION Founded Approx. Membership 5 Nassau St. New York City President - John H. Puclicher REsolution formed by 1922 convention. 11,000 members present: "We believe that the time has come for the government of our country to formulate the principles on which it will be able to cooperate with the other nations to bring the needed rehabilitation of European countries and peace in the world." *AMERICAN PARK BUREAU FEDERATION Founded Approx. Membership 58 East Washington St., Chicago, Ill. 1919 1,500,000 1500 counties organized President - O.W. Bradfute Washington Rep. - Gray Silver Petition in connection with Limitation of Arms Conference signed by 600,000 farmers, urged the United States to "take the lead in disarmament and the establishment of peace on the face of the earth forever." Publication - "The News" (weekly) Annual Convention - December *Affiliated with National Council. 5 room returned, she calmly remarked that so many changes in methods of doing the work were constantly being made that nobody could tell one day what would be done the next. My relations both with my superior officer in the room and with the clerks were most cordial and they treated me exactly as they did each other. For instance Whenever the clerks had candy, they always passed me some , and insisted upon my taking a piece. [On one occasion] One afternoon just before I left the building my superior officer asked me if I would help her inspect some of the files the next day, because she had a great deal to do and there was no one to assist her. I told her I would be glad to do so. But the next morning she asked some one else to help her. Undoubtedly she had been warned by somebody higher up not to allow me to assist her, but she would never have requested me to [assist] help her [in] to inspect[ing] the files in the first place, if hse had not thought I understood the work very well The plain truth of the matter is that when some of the "Higher Ups" were informed that a colored woman had been placed by mistake in a room with white women they then and there decided to remove her. The only way the colored woman could be removed was to prefer charges of some kind against her and they decided to resort to that method [*of getting rid of me*] [Col. Wainer [who had charge of [sent me the letter] containing the charges was a Jew, but I received no assistance from him at all.] I am certain I knew by whom the agitation to remove me was started. A Southern doctor in charge of the section in which I worked came into the room one day and saw me at my deskk. He stood looking at me intently several seconds and then left abruptly evidently without transacting the business to which he came to attend. Either he had been informed that a colored woman was in a room with white women or he came on business and observed that was the case. It was shortly after this doctor's visit that I received the notice that charges had been preferred against me. The Colonel who wrote the letter containing these charges was a Jew. When I [appealed to] urged him to give me a square deal [deal justly and] [and] presented facts to show that the ch arges against me were trumped up and requested [urged] him to get my record from my superior officer, heturned a deaf ear to my appeal. Shortly after I had this experience I was appointed in the Census Bureau. Here I was placed in a section, one portion of which was set aside exclusively for colored clerks, althe white clerks sat in another part of the room. I - 12 * WOMEN'S COMMITTEE FOR WORLD DISARMAMENT 719 Southern Bldg., Washington, D. C. Founded 1921 Approx. Membership 500 *WORLD ALLIANCE FOR PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP THROUGH THE CHURCHES 70 Fifth Ave., N.Y. City Founded 1914 Approx. Membership 10, 000 U. S. President - The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Exec. Sec'y. - (Amer. Branch) Dr. Henry A. Atkinson. Organization - Branches in 28 countries. Organized by Church Peace Union and supported in part by Union's Carnegie Endowment, Representatives in all Evangelical denominations. Local committees. Purpose - To organize the religious forces of the world so that the weight of all churches and Christians can be brought to bear upon the relations of governments and peoples to the end that peace may prevail and that arbitration may be substituted for war in the settlement of international disputes. Legislative Policy - Supports League of Nations or some sort of an association of nations. Supports reduction of armaments. Resolutions passed at the International meeting in Copenhagen, Aug., 1922, included: 1. Demand for world conference to consider need for reduction of armaments, economic situation and other obstacles to peace. 2. Request that League of Nations secure opportunity for religious minorities to present grievances before an international committee. Activities - Forms interdenominational committees in all countries; holds annual conference of international committee representing national committees, promotes interchange of speakers, preachers, among all churches; prepares and distributes material for religious and secular press; carries on international correspondence, arranges visits of commissions between countries fosters friendly relations between U.S.A. and other countries, especially China and Japan. Publication - News letter. From that building [with all] on Pennsylvania Ave. all of the [clerks] [*6*] of the colored clerks were transferred to one of the temprary structures erected in another section of the National Capital during the World War. Here all the colored clerks were herded together in one large room with a colored man as director who was very capable, [agreeable] and [with] whom it was a pleasure to assist. [work.] One day a clerk sitting near me wrote me a note telling me to [ly look] stop work for a minute [ahead of us for] and look ahead. Then I saw a young woman who I knew had been working in another section of the Bureau come into the room with her hat in her hand, her umbrella and purse. The white [The colored] man who had directed her to the room then left and she was given a seat by the colored director of our division. In a few minutes another woman was ushered into our division and assigned a seat. And the[i]s was repeated at least half a dozen times. Then it suddenly dawned upon me what the advent of these newcomers signified. They were colored women so fair that they had been assigned to sections set apart exclusively for white women. By fair means or foul their racil identity had been disclosed to somebody Higher Up who was opposed [disposed] to allowing colored and white women to sit in the same room together and then suddenly on this beautiful spring afternoon somebody pounced upon these fair colored women and snatched them and removed them to the room in which "they belonged." It was undoubtedly a very depressing [humiliating experience] to these [for the] victims of this race prejudice- to be [not] forced to leave the desks at which they had been doing their duties and marched like culprits into a large strange room surrounding [the] full of people staring at them [cynesure] of all eyes. They themselves had done nothing to justify this humiliation to which they were thus subjected They had not tried to deceive [decieve] anybody. They had simply neglected to put a placard on their backs notifying the world that they belonged to a[n ostracized] race. socially ostracized in the United States. [They] One of the young women who had to "walk the plank", so to speak, come from Florida. She told me that she was summoned [being ordered] to the office of the man in charge of her section to leave her desk and subjected to a very searching examination concerning the racial affiliation of her parents[age]. "As a matter of fact, probed [questioned] the inquisitor, "Aren't you a colored woman." "Yes, I am," replied the young woman. "I have never denied it. It was thru no fault of mine that I was placed in the section with white women. I [had nothing] did not request that I should be assigned there, but I have been very happy attending to my duty where. the regular constituted authorities have placed me. When III - 6 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Founded 347 Madison Ave., New York City Gen. Secretary - John R. Mott Promotion of International goodwill through Student-Friendship Fund and constant study of international relations in study groups. *YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (National Board) 600 Lexington Ave., N.Y. City President - Mrs. Robert E. Speer Resolution 1922 Convention - "Resolved, that it is our conviction that the further use of war as instrument for the settlement of disputes should be abolished, and that war between nations should be declared to be a public crime and should be outlawed." Cooperates in national peace demonstrations, promotes better international understanding through study groups. FOREIGN SOCIETIES IN U.S.A. DESIGNED TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOP FRIENDLY RELATIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES. FEDERATION de l'ALLIANCE FRANCAISE, 32 Nassau St., New York City FRIENDS OF BELGIUM, 32 Broadway, N.Y. City THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION, 25 West 45th St., New York CIty ITALY-AMERICA SOCIETY, 26 West 44th St., N.Y. City CHINA SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 19 West 44th St., N.Y. City NETHERLANDS-AMERICAN FOUNDATION 311 Sixth Ave., N.Y. City ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION OF U.S., 345 Madison Ave., N.Y. City POLAND-AMERICA SOCIETY 40 WEST 40th St., N.Y. City JAPAN SOCIETY, INC. 25 West 43rd St., New York City SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF ROUMANIA 450 Madison Ave., N. Y. City JAPANESE SOCIETY OF BOSTON, 200 Devonshire St., Boston, Mass. THE TRANSATLANTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA 911 Liberty Bldg., Phila., Pa. ARMENIAN-AMERICA SOCIETY, 289 Fourth Ave., N.Y. City SULGRAVE INSTITUTION, 3903 Woolworth Bldg., N.Y.C. FRANCE-AMERICA SOCIETY, 40 Wall St., N.Y. City 7 ["Didn't you know that white and] [When I came to Washington colored people] "Didn't you know that it is customary to put white and colored people int the same room? in the departments here in Washington?" she was asked. No, I [did] was not aware that was the case she replied. I had heard that the two [seen the two] races sat together [were] in some of the departments before I came here, so I did not know that placing me in the room to which I was assigned violated any of the rules." Now that I know there is a new rule [that are] in force, I shall be much happier working in a room set aside exclusively for colored people than I would be working where they are [colored] excluded. But I am sorry I had to go thru such a painful ordeal as I did to learn that fact." A short while after this had occurred one of the young women came to me to tell me that an order had just been promulgated whereby the colored women clerks in our section would no longer be allowed to enter the lavatory which they had [set aside for th] used up to that time, because it had first been set aside exclusively for the white women. Then and there I made up my mind I would do everything in my [not submit to such] power to prevent this order from being executed. I knew it was just another device to humiliate colored women. There was no earthly reason for suddenly excluding colored women from a room which they had been using ever since they had been working in that building. After a painstaking investigation I learned that the colored clerks had doe nothing to cause them to [be subjected] [banished from] be embarrassed by being discriminated against in this way. In the first place I went to the colored supervisor [director] of our section. He stated that the order advising him to notify [that the colored] his women [in his section] clerks not to use the lavatory to which they had been accustomed to go [going] had been sent him, but, since it was not signed, he did not intend to pay any attention to it. Soon after I had that conversation with him, however, he told me that the order had been signed by one of the Higher Ups, and that he had decided to talk with him about it before issuing it. Then the next day some of the women [the colored supervisor] came to me to ask me if I would not go to see the men who were responsible for issuing the order, saying that our own director had been unsuccessful in persuading them to withdraw it. Even if I could give a verbatim interview with two of the men I [di] tried to induce not to subject [the] colored women to this unnecessary humiliation, I should not do so. Altho [But] one of the men was very reasonable and courteous, he gave me no assurance that the objectionable order would be withdrawn. Then I decided that I would resign and sent in my resignation III - 3 NATIONAL STUDENT VOLUNTEER UNION Founded Approx. Membership Address for reference - 2184 So. Milwaukee St., Denver, Colo. President - Colorado-Wyoming Branch, member National Council, Russell R. Morris. Resolution - "Believing that students have a definite responsiblity for facing the issues of their time, and that they should help to build for ideal world relationships, and that we who are looking forward to missionary service have a particular responsibility for developing world friendship: we recommend that Student Volunteers frankly and fearlessly study, in the light of Jesus' teaching, the whole question of war in its military, racial, social, and economic forms in order that we may help to establish a world of Good Will. We also recommend that this subject be included in the questions that go to the student for study in preparation for the forums at the Quadsennial Convention." NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON AMERICAN JAPANESE RELATIONS Founded Approx. Membership 175 287 Fourth Ave., New York City Chairman - George W. Wickersham Purpose - Cultivation of an informed rational public opinion in the United States in regard to Japan, inspired by sympathetic understanding of her problems. Activities - Preparation and distribution of information in article, pamphlet and book form. PAN AMERICAN UNION Washington, D.C. Founded 1890 Approx. Membership Director General - L.S. Rowe Building provided by Andrew Carnegie "A voluntary organization. Twenty-American republics controlled by governing board composed of diplomatic representatives in Washington and the Secretary of State of the U.S. Devoted to the development and conservation of peace, friendship and commerce between them all." 8 immediately. [I assigned as my] I assigned as my reason that I was unwilling to be subjected to the indignity to which the colored women in our section had been subjected. In a few minutes after the director [of the whole section] received it, he sent for me to come to see him immediately. "Why are you resigning?" he asked. I told him frankly that [I was not willing to be subjected to the indignity which the Bureau had decided to inflict upon colored women.] the reason given in my resignation was the [correct one] and that under the circumstances there was only one thing for me to do to maintain my self respect. After a long conference I agreed to change the reason given in my resignation, if he would promise to revoke the order which had been issued. Instead, therefore, of saying that I was resigning [The director urged me to remain] because of the objectionable order, as I had originally done, I stated that on account of duties both duties in and out of my home, I felt obliged to give up my position at the Census Bureau. There have been few situations in my life in which it was more difficult to decide which was the wiser course to pursue than the one in which I found myself on that occasion. The Man Higher [I refused] Up who sent [with whom I was] for me to explain the reason of my resignation was determined not to accept it as it was worded. [that I should] [as I framed it] After a long conference with as much deliberation as it was possible for me to have I decided it would be foolish to insist upon under the circumstances sticking to the original statement, when by making a compromise I could accomplish the object for which I was contending. Altho my superior officer tried hard to persuade me to remain in the Bureau I thought it the better part of wisdom for me to resign. "He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day Of course I enjoyed the work and the salary was most acceptable, but the idea of remaining in a section over which were placed white men who has so little regard for the feelings of colored women as to subject them to unnecessary humiliation was abhorrent to me. During the World War when so many were taking examinations for positions under the Government, it was very hard for colored women who showed plainly [thei] what race they belonged [racial affiliation] to to secure the positions to which they were entitled by the records they had made. Some of the teachers in our public school who had made high marks failed to [were not] receive an appointment. Several told me they had been marked as high as 95% [more than 90-] but had never been given [were never] jobs. On the other hand young colored women who were fair enough to "Pass for white" secured position without any difficulty whatever, even tho their [they received low marks] examination papers were marked comparatively [quite] low. Several of these fair women came to ask my advice as to what they *NATIONAL ASS'N. OF EX-MILITARY Founded Approx. Membership RECOMMISSION AIDES [2720] K St., N.W. Washington D.C. Chairman - Miss Bolva Cuzzort [ in] national peace demonstrations. Publication - "Ro-Aides Post" (quarterly) *NATIONAL BOARD OF FARM REGULATIONS Founded Approx. Membership 1731 Eye St, N.W., Washington, D.C. Chairman - C.S. Barrett Secretary - C.A. Lyman Resolution - Convention 1921 - "We recognize that limitation of armaments will confer enormous benefits upon the human race, with the abolition of war at the end of the road. Accordingly, we pledge to the Government of our country our unfaltering support in its efforts to limit the creation of now means and materials for war on land and sea, to the great end that armed conflict between the nations may finally cease." *NATIONAL CONSUMERS'LEAGUE Founded Approx.Membership 44 E. 23rd St, New York City Exec Sec'y - Mrs. Florence Kelley *NATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUSINESS AND Founded Approx.Membership PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S CLUBS 276 Fifth Ave., New York City President - Mrs. Lena Lake Forrest Secretary - Miss Lena M. Phillips Cooperates in national peace demonstrations through local branches. Publication - "Independent Woman" (monthly) *NATIONAL FEDERATION OF TEMPLE SISTERHOODS (See next page) 9 should do- whether they should accept the position offered them, knowing that they would never have received them, if the appointing power had been aware that they were colored. I could see no good reason why these young women should refuse to take good positions for which they would be well paid, because those in authority did not know they had a few drops of African blood in the veins. Some of them worked for or five years who thus received good positions "under false pretenses" so to speak, and a few are still employed even unto this day. Real Issues and Great Choices - #4 Taking Off the Shine When a man in some high hour of inspiration falls in love with ideals of beauty and truth and love and goodness that seem to him worth living and dying for, and then remembers that perhaps all ideals are only the permutations and combinations of physical atoms, that like steam from a boiling kettle they are due to physical perturbations and will perish when the boiling stops, how that does take the shine out of existence! When a man is making a brave fight for a good cause and is hard put to it to succeed or, it may be, has to fail, and then remembers that in a mechanical universe, where brute forces are the ultimate arbiters of all decisions, his good cause probably was never meant to win and never will win, it does take the shine out of existence. Chesterton used to say the test of any idea was the ability of men to use it as an oath; that the great realities of life were those which men could swear by; and with characteristic whimsicality he added what the trouble with ethical culture minus God is what the only oath which it can swear by is "Oh, my goodness!" Well, that's a weak oath. To go out to face what we must face in this generation with nothing more upon our lips than that -- "Oh, my goodness!" - is an uninspiring prospect. It is very different from going out into life with the words of a psalmist on one's lips : "O God, thou art my God." The more a man cares about the struggle for goodness, the more does a Godless philosophy take the shine out of his existence. And when a man comes to die, or to watch another die when he wishes that he were dying in his stead, and when he tries to think that we are only physical creatures, the spawn of mindless, soulless forces that never purposed us and never cared, and that the thoughtless world is tossing us nonchalantly back into oblivion and nothingness again, it does take the shine out of existence. The Real Issue The living God revealed in Christ, or a materialistic philosophy of life -- that is a real issue. As a man faces it he understands the meaning of Dr. George A. Gordon's words: "All the controversies between rival sects of believers are almost petty, are certainly incidental, compared with the great and solemn battle which all believers wage with a ll unbelievers." When I think of this I feel a great tolerance and brotherhood for all people who believe in God and are making earnest with it for their thought and life. I will not excommunicate from any church anybody who takes Christ's side on that great issue. I know how wide the lesser differences are between Christians, but if they are finding God in Christ the things that separate them from one another are as nothing compared with the things that separate them from everybody who lacks that faith. I am a long sea-mile from being a Roman Catholic, but the other night I wandered into St. Patrick's cathedral and heard a wholesome Christian sermon and worshipped their Father and mine. And I am not a Quaker, but I went into a Quaker meeting- house and in the quiet of that silent room with God's people I worshipped him. Now, Catholics and Quakers are at the opposite extremes of the Christian line and yet the things that separate them are as nothing compared with the things that separate them both from those who do not find God in Christ. This central faith of the Christian soul is like the air. It comes to us in many flavors but it still is air and it gives life. Sometimes the wind blows on our faces fragrant with the saltness of the sea. Sometimes it comes balmy with the balsam of Maine woods. Sometimes it comes cold and clear from snowy mountaintops. Sometimes it is damp and heavy with the breath of marshes. Sometimes it is per- President Taft Suspects Order dismissing Colored soldiers at My Request. One morning the telephone rang about 10 o'clock, It had just been installed after we had urged the Relephone Company several months to give us service. It startled me, for I did not know the workmen had finished installing it. and this was the first call I had. "Is this Mary Church Terrell," a voice [said a] inquired. "Yes," I said. "Well this is John Milhollamd of New York City. The colored soldiers in Brownsville, Texas have just been dismissed and I want you to go to Secretary [President] Taft right away and ask him to suspend the order till an investigation can be made." I could not believe my ears, "Is this Mr. Milholland of New York City?" I inquired dubiously. "Certainly it is," he replied impatiently," and I want you to go to the War Department just as soon as you can." as a representative of the Constitutional League. I could scarcely speak above a whisper for [I had] my throat had gone on a strike on account of a cold I had contracted, but I decided to obey orders from so courageous and so fine a chief. as John Milholland. When I reached the Stole War and myself Mr. Taft's secretary told me The secretary of the it would be utterly impossible for me to see [the] [Secretary of War] him. He had just returned from an inspection of the posts out West, he said, and [was about to] would leave tomorrow the next day for the East. A man who was about to sail for Spain had tried [in vain] to see the Secretary of War on some important business,I was told, but he had been obliged to leave without doing so [seeing him], because Mr, Taft was so busy."What do you want to see [the] Secretary Taft about?" inquired his secretary. I knew if I explained my mission, I would have no chance of seeing Mr. Taft at all. I knew also that if I did not give some reason for insisting upon having an interview with him , my chance of getting one would be equally slim. "I want to say a few words to Secretary Taft about the colored soldiers who have just been dismissed," I finally mustered up courage enough to say." A look which plainly showed he [that] he felt spread over the secretary's face. He went to report to Mr. Taft, [he] The Secretary is still too busy to see you," he told me, "and he [does not] doesn't ever, and returned after considerable time had elapsed. I had alrady been [know whether] that he can see you at all to day." "I'll wait here just the same". I replied. waiting several hours in the office of the Secretary of War. I had definitely made up my mind, however, that I would not budget from the office [sit right there, if necessary, til the office closed.] I had seen Secy Taft. About an hour [after] later, I was told the Secretary SUPPORTERS FISK UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION D. C. Headquarters: 1232 U Street N.W., Washington May 14, 1927 If you could cast a rope to a boat in serious danger of sinking with 700 young colored men and women on board, we do not need to ask whether or not you would cast a rope. Fisk University is such a boat. For 60 years Fisk has been taking aboard raw young Negrow men and women, training them for usefulness and graduating thousands. Today this school is in serious danger of closing its doors. Here is the story as told by President Thomas Elsa Jones: "If $100,000 in cash is in the University treasury on July first One Million Dollars for endowment and Two Hundred and Fourteen Thousand Dollars for indebtedness and repairs will be turned over to the school by the General Education Board of New York City and other white donors. "If the $100,000 is not raised Fisk University must relinquish the place it has held for more than a half century as a loading institution for the higher education of Negroes. It will be taken over by its creditors and will become one of the tragic stories in the annals of the American Negro. "Since January first, when this situation developed, nearly four thousand persons have given in cash and pledges $80,000, of which $40,000 has already been paid in cash. $60,000 cash must be received by July first. Fisk University has given to the world: ROLAND HAYES, one of the greatest tenors of all times, W.E.B.DUBOIS, the moving spirit in the great work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, AUGUSTUS LAWSON, premier pianist ranking among the great artists, MARGARET MURRAY WASHINGTON, who helped Booker Washington make Tuskegee, W.N.DEBERRY, whose welfare institution at Springfield, Mass., is of national importance, FISK JUBILEE SINGERS, who discovered to the world the wonders of Negro spiritual music, HUNDREDS OF MEN AND WOMEN who have made marked achievements. An association of Fisk University supporters, authorized by President Jones, is now in the making and we wish you to be an active participant. All donors of $5, more or less, become members WILL YOU GIVE $5 TO HELP SAVE FISK? 700 young men and women now at Fisk and others to follow are at stake. Sincerely, Fisk University Supporters Association. Make checks to "Fisk University" 2 of WWar was willing to see me."What do you want to say to me?" Mr. Taft [He] asked, when I entered his office. "Mr. Secretary," I replied, "I have come to see you about the colored sol diers who have been dismissed without honor in Brownsville, Texas. "What do you want me to do?"he inquired [asked]. "President Roosevelt has dismissed them, and he has gone to Panama. There's nothing I can do [What can I do] about it?" "All I want you to do, Mr. Secretary, " I said "is to suspend the order [to dismiss] dismissing the soldiers without honor until an investigation can be made." "Is that all you want me to do?" inquired Secretary Taft, with good-natured sarcasm, as he [prolonged] emphasized the word all and then smiled. "All you want me to do is to suspend an order issued by the President of the United States suring his absence from the country." continued Sec Taft prolonged and emphasizing the word all of air "But Mr. Secretary," I plead," as colored people we take great pride in our soldiers. They have always had an unblemished record and they have fought bravely in every war which this country has waged. It seems more than we can bear to have three companies of our soldiers summarily suspended without honor, at least until a thorough investigation has been made." The smile left Mr. Taft's face [and] He became serious & remained silent for several minutes, Then he said, "I'll see what I can do about it. I'll cable the president,to day." Words could not express my gratitude to the Secretary for even that feeblepromise on which to hope, When I left Mr. Taft, that memorable Saturday afternoon Nov. 18, 1906, I was morally certain thathe would do everything in his power to give the coldered soldiers a chance. And, be it said to his credit, he did. The next morning under the headlines "Appeal for Black Troops- Mrs Mary Church Terrell Asks Suspension of Order. Secretary Taft, at Her request Cables President for Authority to Stop Soldiers8 Dismissal- the Washington Post contained the following account- Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, a colored member of the Board of Education, saw Secretary of War Taft yesterday, as the representative of the Constitution al League of New York of which she is a member, in the interest of the negro soldiers of Companies B,C, and D, Twenty-fifth Infantry, recently dismissed without honor by order of the President, She asked that the Secretary 2. 3. If a graduate of the Normal School marries following graduation, but preceding her appointment to a position in the public schools, should her marriage make her ineligible for such appointment? What are the reasons against such appointment? 4. Should a married woman be declared ineligible to enter the open competitive examinations conducted for qualifying teachers for appointment in the elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, normal schools and all other public schools of Washington? If so, what are the reasons? 5. If a woman teacher marries subsequent to her appointment, should she be required to resign from service? If so, what are the reasons? 6. If a woman teacher who has resigned from public school service has married and requests reinstatement, should the Board of Education refuse to reinstate her on the grounds of her marriage? If so, why? 7. If a woman teacher on leave of absence should marry while on leave, should the Board of Education refuse to reinstate her? If so, why? 8. Should a married woman now on maternity leave be reinstated as provided for under the present rules of the Board of Education? If not, for what reasons? 9. If regulations are adopted by the Board of Education hereafter disqualifying married women for appointment in the public schools of Washington, should married women now be allowed to continue in service, or be required to resign? 3 Secretary suspend the operation of the order until representatives of the leagu and other interested in the colored soldiers could have an opportunity to see the President upon his return from Panama, and ask for a rehearing of the case. At her request Secretary Taft last night cabled the President in regard to the matter." The Washington Evening Star had practically the same account, adding however, that "Mrs. Terrell stated her case with precision and effect, pleading that the colored troops be given another opportunity to defend themselves and asserting that they had not yet had their side of the case properly presented. Secretary Taft listened with consideration and interest to Mrs. Terrell's plea. He pointed out that the action complained of was not his own, having been taken in his absece from Washington, and also that it was a presidential order." Practically all the newspapers in the United States had an account of my plea for the colored soldiers and every one of them gave me credit for persuading the Secretary of War to suspend the order which had been issued by the President of the United States. The St. Louis Globe Democrat featured the story with the headline Taft Intervenes for Woman in Dismissal of Negro Troops. The suspension of that order for a few days enabled Gilchrist Stewart of New York City to go to Brownsville, Texas, before some of the soldiers had [been and have them] left so that they cd tell him their own story of the affair in their own way. [this] If [they] all of them had been scattered, before they had had a chance to relate the events which [lead up] preceded and immediately followed the violent outbreak, many facts in their favor which greatly helped their case would in all probabil ity never have been brought to light. When President Roosevelt returned from Panama Mr. Stewart and I went to see him as representatives of the Constitutional League formally to pre The President simply stated that the evidence would be sent to the War Department sent the case of the colored soldiers. They [were] wd be allowed to reenlist, [after] and receive due consideratoin. soldiers were afterward he promised when they had furnished evidence [of their innocence] sufficient to convince the War Department of their innocence. The case of Mingo Sauders appealed to me strongly. [He had been in the army for mer] The reason for my attitude toward him is so clearly stated [?] PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Franklin Administration Building Washington, D. C. MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION AT CONFERENCE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND CITIZENS, May 23, 1927. Subject: Employment of Married Women as Teachers in Washington, D. C. Purpose of the Conference The question of the employment of married women as teachers in the public schools of Washington was not raised by the Board of Education or by the officers of the Board; it was raised by citizens' organizations. It is the present policy of the Board of Education to employ married women as teachers. It is the purpose at this conference to place the question, raised by citizens, before the representative citizenry of the District of Columbia, to recommend it to the thoughtful consideration of the organizations of citizens, and to invite reports on the results of their consideration of it. The Board of Education contemplates making no change in its policy, or taking any other action on the matter until public opinion on the subject has been organized and has expressed itself to the Board. Questions for Consideration The following questions are submitted for consideration. They are not intended even to suggest a possible policy. They do relate to the possible scope and to the various administrative aspects of the question. 1. Should married women be admitted to the Normal Schools as students? If not, what are the reasons against their admission? 2. If a girl student enrolled in the Normal School marries during her course, should she be permitted to complete her course and graduate from the school? If not, what are the reasons against it? 4 than twenty [years had served his country in both Cuba and the Philippines would soon have been eligible to retire from the army Nobody could have talked with either Sergeant Mingo,Saunders and Private Brown, both of whom came to see me without being convinced of their innocence.] an interview which appeared in the Washington Evening STar [so clear ly states the facts that] I shall quote it. "Sert. Mingo Saunders and Private [in Brownsville after the trouble they replied that it was an easy matter] Brown, two of the colored soldiers recently discharged by order of [the] President [for cartridges belonging to the military stores to be procured by outsider] Roosevelt called upon Mrs. Mary Church Terrell recently and talked of the circumstances relative to their dismissal from the army. Both declared they did not know who of their battalion "shot up " Brownsville, Texas. Speaking of the matter to a Star reporter Mrs. Terrell declared both of the former soldiers stated to her they did not believe any members of the battalion were connected with the disorder at Brownsville. She also cited the fact that Sanders had been in the army for more than twenty years and had served his country in both Cuba and the Philippines. "During that long service", said Mrs. Terrell,"his record was a good one, and now he is dismissed summarily while declaring his innocence and his belief that the other members of the battalion are not guilty as charged." Mrs. Terrell said she was much impressed with the demeanor of both the men and during the conversation asked them to explain why empty cartridges such as are used in the army were found in Brownsville after the trouble. To this both Sanders and Brown replied that it was an easy matter for cartridges bel longing to the military stores to be procured by outsiders. Mrs. Terrell said she assured Sanders and Brown that the Constitutional League of New York, of which she is a member, will do all in its power to see that they are given a hearing in an effort to secure reinstatement. Mrs. Terrell commented on the fact that the men seemed to harbor no resentment toward any one who had been connected in any way with the investigation which led to their summary dismissal from the army. On the contrary, th they said they hoped and believed in the end they would be given justice. It is possible Mrs. Terrell will communicate with other members of the Constitutional League within a few days with a view of aiding the former soldiers." Mrs. H. Moffatt Bradley President Dr. George Fisk Dudley First Vice-President Major General Anton Stephan Treasurer The Washington Bible School Association, Inc. Room 223 Mills Building, 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. Telephone Main 3471 June 14/27. My dear Mrs. Terrell:- Yesterday when I talked to you over the phone I promised to mail you some literature. I am arranging for a school in the neighborhood of 12 [?] and [?] for about fifty little colored children each one invited to the Summer Bible School. Mr. Droop has given us a piano so they can sing the Bible songs and so it is that we must raise a small sum for other little experiences. Many thanks for your kinds contribution whihc will help to make possible a great mark unto little children. Many thanks, I am Sincerely yours, Mrs. H. Moffatt Bradley 5 Nothing happened during President Roosevelt's entire administration which stirred up the War Department to such a pitch as did the dismissal without honor of three companies of colored soldiers. Protests were received from every part of the country against the injustice of the punishment of innocen men and soldiers with splendid records for the misdeeds of a few,[if indeed] and no misdeeds had [the few] been proved even against the few. Many army officers who dared not express their opinions openly for fear of being court-martialed did not hesitate to say in private conversation that President Roosevelt's impetuosity had caused him to commit a serious blunder. People talked about the evidently unconstitutional part of the sentence of dismissal which carried with it the prohibition of right to hold civil office under the United States, which meant that none of these soldiers could become messengers, letter carriers or hold any office under the federal government, in spite of the fact that cicil service rules give an honorably-discharged soldier of sailor many preferences over civilians. President Roosevelt made the wholesale discharge of three companies of colored men, privates and noncommisioned officers, some of whome had served the United States for more than a quarter of a century and were nearly eligible for retirement, absolutely without consulting the Secretary of War who is charged with personal supervision of the army. Secretary Taft at the time the t was in the West engaged in the campaign. The order was issued in his absence without waiting for his return, although the soldiers had been removed to Fort Reno and there was plenty of time for further investigation into their conduct, if such a thing were necessary. President Roosevelt probably consulted Assistant Secretary Oliver, who was in charge of the war department during Secretary Taft's absence. The old heads about the departmentthen and many elder army officers themselves said that ti was unprecedented for such a radical order to be issued merely upon the advice of an under secretary and with out full consultation with the chief of the department. [Altho] Every effort was made to have it appear that the race question had [not crept into this manner of treating colored soldiers,] nothing to do with the terrible punishment meted out to the colored soldiers LINCOLN MEMORIAL CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE 11th & R Streets N.W. Washington, D. C. Mrs. M.C. Terrell, 1615 S St. N.W., City. Dear Member: This greatfully acknowledges your Easter Offering of $5.00 We highly appreciate your donation at this time as we are badly in need of funds to defray the current expenses. If the amount set forth is not correct, notify Chas. H. Flagg, 1338 R St. NW., at once, so that the correction can be made before publication. Very truly yours, Thomas Walker, Chairman of the Trustee Board. 6 But those who tried to accept that point of view could not help remembering that it was Lieut Col.Garlington, [who was] a native of South Carolina, who had been sent to investigate and who recommended the summary dismissal of all three companies to which President Roosevelt subscribed. It was the consensus of opinion certainly among a large number of people that Co. Garlington's service in the army had not relieved him of his sectional prejudice against colored people. The great majority of the three companies was in barracks when the dis turbance occurred and had no knowledge at first hand who the participants were even if they were soldiers, because there was always a squad loose in town. Some of the men were in the hospital, one was sick on leave in Washington, several were at their hpmes on furloughs, and yet they were all punished alike by President Roosevelt's order of dismissal without h onor. Many of the men thrown out were too old to go into any business and their training as soldiers had unfitted them for ordinary work. A number had medals of honor granted them by the war department, but this did not protect them in any way from the harsh sentence. A wave of public sentiment swept over the country as a result of it and the war department was simply swamped with protests atainst the idea of punishing innocent men for the deeds of a guilty few. in what was [A similar] known as the Wala Wala case in 1891 the Court of Inquiry recommended [an effort was made to] that [disband] four troops of the Fourth Calvary should be disbanded, the men discharged if the officers and men did not turn over the soldiers [men] who had been guilty of taking the guns from the barracks, But President Harrison declined to take such action. No innocent men were then punished and the army didn't seem to be any worse, because of the lenient action of the President. If the soldiers in the Brownsville affair had been white, it is hardly pos sible that they would have been dismissed by President Roosevelt. Even if he had insisted upon such drastic action himself, the people of the country would have raised such a storm of protest that [even] he would have respected their wishes and rescinded. I had fairly worshipped at Roosevelt's shrine, until he issued that ESTABLISHED 1872 BY A. MONTGOMERY WARD AND GEO. R. THORNE THE OLDEST MAIL ORDER HOUSE IS TO-DAY THE MOST PROGRESSIVE ORIGINATORS OF THE CATALOGUE BUSINESS CHICAGO KANSAS CITY ST. PAUL BALTIMORE PORTLAND, ORE. OAKLAND, CALIF. FORT WORTH Montgomery Ward & Co. Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back BALTIMORE July 5, 1927 Mary Church Terrill 1615 S St. N. W. Washington, D. C. Dear Madam: We are glad to have you take advantage of our easy payment plan, and will give the order you sent us careful attention. This plan provides a sensible, convenient method of buying goods that will give satisfactory service, the kind of goods that always proves the most economical in the long run. You will be more than pleased with the selection you have made. As soon as we have received replies to our credit inquiries we will give your order careful consideration. Ordinarily these replies are received within a week or ten days. Yours very truly, MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. TP:DCI AV [*Grand Union Hotel*] Travelling Under Difficulties. On several occasions white friends have told me that they would like to write the story of my life, but that it had been so full of blessings and so free from unpleasant experiences, [that] they feared it would not be as interesting it might otherwise be. Mrs. Van Renssalaer Cruger, who was a writer of note at the time,was the first to make hissstatement to me. I assured her that if I could relate to her all the disagreeable ordeals thru which I had passed on account of my race, she would have an entirely different opinion. It is impossible for any colored woman who has reached middle age to remember and enumerate the thousand and one [episodes] humiliations of various kinds to which she has been subjected solely because she was not white. Among these none is more nerve-racking, perhaps, than the experiences thru which she passes in trying to secure Pullman reservations while travelling in the South and [when] to find hotel accomodations while travelling in some parts of the North. I have already related The first experience which I had ontthe railroad when I was only five? years old. An amusing one occurred when I was about 12. My father was taking me to Hot Springs, Ark.from Memphis during a summer vacation. Instead of keeping close beside him, as he had always instructed me to do, Ilagged behind a few minutes to look at something which interested me. As I was hurrying to catch up with him, a very tall brakeman stopped me and told me to turn around and go the other way . "That's the car for you"said he, as he pointed inthe [to one] opposite direc tion. "But I want to go with my father who is in front of me," I insisted, as I tried to get away from him. But he had a tight hold upon me and I could not loosen his grip. Seeing that I could not pull [get] away from him. I began to belabor him with my parasol with all my might and continued to until It was broken. I had called my father several times, who had gone ahead into the car for white people, thinking I was di rectly behind him. Then he discovered I was not with him, he came running back to find me. The brakeman saw him coming, and [knowing] beat a hasty retreat. I had another taste of the Jim Crow arrangement, When I was about sixteen years old I was coming from Oberlin to spend my vacation in Memphis. I had to change cars in Bowling Green Ky. and when I descended from the train I asked a porter whom I saw standing on the platform which car I should take for Memphis. As soon as I entered the one to whic h Real Issues and Great Choices - #3 racial isolation for racial differences, barriers crumble, distances are conquered, the long-sundered and far-separated races of the world are brought once more together. And this is the issue presented to us: can we so far undo the work of tens of thousands of years in creating variety, can we so reach down to the radical truth about humanity's unity, as to weave the racial differences together into a new web of human brotherhood? That is the issue and it lies close to the heart of the gospel. Indeed, if any one protests that what we here are speaking is not religion, but international politics, the enquiry rises: If to believe that all men are God's sons and can be made into one family is not involved in Christianity, then what do we mean by Christianity? Surely, human brotherhood was close to the heart of Jesus. When he came back to preach in his boyhood synagogue in Nazareth, one would suppose that he would take a subject to discourse upon close to the center of his faith. When he entered the sanctuary where in his childhood he had gone with Mary, and saw the upturned faces of his boyhood's playmates, surely he would wish to speak of something vital to his gospel. What was it then on which he spoke on that great day when he came home to preach? that first sermon was directed against racial prejudice. He told them that there was plenty of windows in Israel in the days of Elijah and that Elijah helped none of them except a widow of sidon, from a hated race. He told me that there were plenty of lepers in the days of Elisha and that Elisha healed none of them save only Naaman the Syrian, from a despised race. The Master's first sermon was an attack on racial prejudice. Do you suppose that if he should come today and speak to us as once he spoke to Nazareth, he would be likely to choose another subject? He could hardly find one more vital. No! If by "religion" you mean what Jesus meant, then close to its heart lies the thought of mankind as one family under God. Indeed, here lies one of the troubles with our popular religion. So often these great questions are thrust into the background while the foreground fills up with the spindling, mediocre appendices and corollaries or religion. The most startling charge that can be levelled against the church is that religion deflects men's attention from real issues. How strange that sounds to some of us to whom the gospel of God's grace in Christ seems the central, crucial, pivotal concern of humankind. Yet those who launch that charge have their arguments. When I stop to think of it, I was brought up in a church where in arguing about the quantity of water necessary to make a proper baptism enough energy has been expended almost to save the world. One wonders jealously what might have happened if all that consecrated thoughtfulness had been expended on something that really mattered. Nor in this regard can any denomination cast stones at another; they all live in glass houses; each one of them has made a specialty out of some irrelevant affair. And more and more the real people of the generation stand afar off and look on all such things with mingled indifference and scorn. "See," they say, "religion once more deflecting men's attention from real issues!" Yet all the while, at the center of our faith is a Personality who never stressed a small issue in his life. He said then, and is saying yet, "Ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith." Belief in God Consider a second issue which lies close to the heart of the gospel; on the one side the living and eternal God revealed in Jesus 2 he had directed me, I observed that it was different from any coach which I had ever seen. It was a regular day coach divided into two parts,and the front I was part of it being used for a smoker for white men as well as colored, and the rear half serving as passenger coach fo colored women and men who did not want to smoke. Instantly I knew that this was the Jim Crow Car about which I had heard but had never seen. I felt as though I had been trapped, but I resolved that I would not remain in it. I tried to leave it and go into the car ahead of me, but the conductor barred the way. When he came thru the Jim Crow Car to collect the tickets, I told him I did not want to remain in the coach to which the porter had diected me, but that I wanted to sit in the coach ahead of me. The conductor informed me that I was in the coach in which I belonged. "But I have a first class ticket" I protested, and this is not a first class coach." "This is first class enough for you," he replied sarcastically. Then I tried to compose myself and make up my mind to remain where I was. I kept telling myself that changing cars wasn't worth the fight for it I'd undoubtedly have to make. I had entered the car in the afternoon, and it was well filled for several hours, but as evening came on the number of the passengers [began to leave] dwindled until I was the only one left. I had to travel all night, and when I thought [of the pos] that during the whole night or even a part of then night I might [would] be in that car alone [with white men] I was horrified and frightened , I decided to implore the conductor once more to allow me to go into the car ahead. But he was obdurate. When I told him how frightened I would be to be with nobody in the car but myself,he assured me that he would keep me company and remain in there with me. "I should much rather be left to myself." I said "than to have you stay with me." Shortly after this conversation I heard him announce that [at a certain time] the train would soon reach Erie, where passengers going to certain destinations would change cars . Then I made up my mind to do what to me seemed a very desperate deed at that time. I decided to leave the train at Erie, wire my father of my plight and wait for instructions from him. I knew full well that I any col girl [was running] wd run a great risk of having an unpleasant experience or of falling into danger of some kind by getting off at night in a strange town, where she [I] was IV - 4 NATIONAL GRANGE Fredonia, N.Y. Founded 1866 Approx. Membership Master - S. J. Lowell Organization - Local, country and state granges Resolution (1921) - "The Grange favors the creation of a tribunal with power to discuss all questions looking towards the settlement of international disputes and to enforce its findings.....We are opposed to militarism, universal military training and a large standing army. We deplore any effort to develop in America a caste of authority which has its sole excuse in a shoulder-strap, and any tendency in thought which would substitute armed force for moral ideals. We favor the preparedness of right." *NATIONAL MILK PRODUCERS' FEDERATION Founded Approx.Membership 1731 Eye St., N.W., Washington, D.C. *NATIONAL FEDERATION OF TEMPLE SISTERHOODS Founded Approx.Membership Merchants Bldg., Cincinnati, Ohio Pres.-Mrs. Joseph Wiesenfeld Exec. Sec'y. - Rabbi George Zepin *SOUTHERN COOPERATIVE LEAGUE Founded Approx. Membership Woodward Bldg., Washington, D.C. Exec. Sec'y. - J. McCulloch U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Founded Approx. Membership Mills Bldg., Washington, D.C. 1912 750,000 Pres. - Julius H. Barnes Sec'y. - D.A. Skinner Resolution (1921) - "The business men of the U.S. have declared repeatedly through the National Chamber by resolution and referendum their sentiments concerning reduction of armaments and constructive stops by which governments will unite in the establishment of methods for the prevention of war, and maintenance of real peace in the world. "We earnestly desire that the conference for limitation of armaments will formulate and agree upon plans which will not only reduce the great burdens which the people of the world now bear in supporting armies and navies, but will result in the substitution of arbitration and law in the settlement of disputes between nations and the removal of the menace of war." Adopted by the Board of Directors, Nov. 17, 1921. Urge economic conference to be called by U.S. Publication - "Nation's Business" 3 acquainted with nobody and where she might have difficulty in finding a decent place to stay. But of the two evils I decided that leaving the train was the less. When the train reached Erie, therefore, I took my valise and started toward the door. But the conductor was there before me and refused to let me pass. "What are you doing?", he asked. I am [going] getting off here," I replied "and I'll wire m y father that you are [forcing] compelling me to ride all night in a Jim Crow Car. He will sue the road for forcing his daughter who has a first class ticket to ride in a second class car." "You don't know what you "Do you know where you are going to stop?" he in quired? "DO you ask all the passengers who leave the train to tell you their business?" I countered. When the conductor saw I was determined not to remain on the train. his manner toward me changed completely . He tried to wrench my valise from my hand, but I held on to it with a vic-like grip. Seeing he was attract ing the attention of some of the passengers, he [cided to let me] let go of my valise and said "You can go into that car, if you want to." By the time I found a seat in the center of the coach I was on the verge of collapse, but I possessed sufficient self control to conceal my feelings. When we reached Memphis the next morning my father was walking up and down the platform waiting for the train. I saw the conductor speak to him and Father told me he said "Are you waiting for your daughter, sir? Shes is right in there," pointing to the first class coach At that time Jim Crow Cars had not been legalized in the State of Tenn essee and it was possible for colored people who bought first class tickets who insisted upon having first class accommodations to secure them. without violating the State Law. At present, however, when colored people holding first class tickets are thrust into the dirty, stuffy, coaches [set aside for colored people], which lack that proper accommodations for the two sexes, colored people are obliged to stay in them, because they are told that these are first class for them. The first time I realized the ordeal thru which colored women pass who are stranded, [so to speak,] at night in a strnge city, was when I was trav elling [between] from Shreveport Louisiana [and] to Paris,Texas. I had boarded the coach for white people at Shreveport, when I started early in the morning, because I knew I would have to ride all day and not The [ticket] agent told me that the train I - 5 FEDERAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA 105 E. 22nd St., N.Y.City. Founded 1908 Approx.Membership 25,000,000 (30 Protestant churches Chairman - Dr. Robert E. Speer General Secretaries - Rev. Chas. S. McFarland Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert Organization - Central Council of 400 members elected by denominational assemblies, meets every four years. Executive Committee meets annually. Administrative Committee meets monthly. Local committees. Branch offices Washington and Chicago. Purpose - To bring Christian bodies of U.S.S. into united service for Christ and the world. "Committed to unremitting activity until peace system takes the place of competitive armament and war." Legislative Policy - Participation by U.S. in League or effective association of nations and World Court. Urges international conference to consider economic and political situation in Europe, to be called by U.S.; international disarmament. Activities - Issues information service to ministers, editors, etc. prepares and distributes literature; encourages special peace days; promotes courses on international problems in Theological schools; promotes friendly relations with churches of other nations. Has special commission on relations with the Orient. Joined with other church bodies in international program for U.S.A.'s. entrance world association. FIDAC (Federation Interalliée des Anciens Combattants) American Branch Founded Approx.Membershi 1920? Burlington, Vermont Vice-President - H. Nelson Jackson Purpose - Declaration of principles of eight points 1922 - including demand for international court to outlaw war and that upon its creation, except for the means of enforcing the decisions of the Court and minimum police forces that the nations "disarm, disband land sea and air forces and destroy the implements of warfare". The American Legion approved this declaration without a dissenting vote. Activities - Works to secure adoption of its program by all governments. Proposes to establish a news bureau with representatives in every member country to offset distorted political reports and propaganda. Organized in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Roumania, Serbia, Czecho Slovakia and U.S.A. 4 on which he sold my ticket would go straight thru from Sheveport to Paris and that I would reach my destination that night. When I learned that I would be on the road all day, I remembered what had happened to me on a previous occasion [once] when I left Hot prings, Ark one morning about five o'clock to go to Fort Smith. When I boarded the train I had eaten nothing since I had my dinner the night before. I had gone into the Jim Crow Car at Host Springs, and had been unable to get a morsel of food all day long. When I reached Fort Smith that night, therefore, I had not eaten for twenty four hours. For that reason I decided that in the future, if I knew I would be travelling all day in the South I would board a first class coach, when I started my journey, so that it would be possible for me to get the service and necessaries which passengers need. This trip I had to Paris proved the wisdom of that course. A short while before the train reached Texarkana, Ark. the conductor who had talked to me several times en route, came to tell me that the train would not go thru to Paris, as the agent in Shreveport had stated, but that it would be cut off in the city which we would soon reach. I was terribly upset by this new "What shall I do?" I said in bewilderment. "I am acquainted with nobody here. Where can I stop to night?" The conductor treated that as a joke and replied "Why you can stop at a hotel." It had never occurred to me at any time or under any circumstances to attempt to stop at a hotel for white people in the South. The very suggestion from the conductor shocked and appalled me. Before I stopped to think, therefore, I said impulsively. "Why I cant stop at a hotel in Texarkana." "Certainly you can. "There's a fine hotel just across from the station." Why not," he asked. By that time the train had stopped. He picked up my dress suit case and walked toward the door. I followed involuntarily, not knowing what else to do. I was in a dilemma such as I never could have imagined would overtake me. Seeing a porter approaching the conductor said, "Here Jim, take this lady to the Rawlings House." I could not refuse to go to the hotel. I was acquainted with nobody in the place, white or black. I had no idea where whether I could find a boarding place among colored people. I did not know whether this porter could or would, direct me to one or not. But before I had had time to reason the situation out, the porter had my Holy Spirit to them that ask him." --Preached in the cathedral at Copenhagen on Sunday, August 6, as the conference sermon of the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches. -- Printed in THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY, Sept. 14, 1922 -- 5 suit case andwas leading me to the hotel just a few steps ahead of us. In the twinkling of an eye before I knew it I stood before the clerk to register my name and be assigned a room. As he was giving the key to the bell hop he said, "dinner is almost over, so if you want anything you had better go into the dining room immediately. You haven't much time." That information was a blessing inddisguise, perhaps. I had been sitting by an open window in a common [day] coach one hot day [in] passing thru Louisiana while and the smoke and the dust had covered me with several coats of smudge. I must have been several shades darker than I usually am, so I was far from looking like a lily. However. the fates seemed to be guiding or misguiding me in this dilemma, so without trying to change my dress, I simply refreshed my self a bit and went into the dining room. The head waiter placed me at a table at which were seated a man and his wife. By the time I found myself at this table I had to exercise great self control in order to keep my composure. "Just bring me a simple dinner." I said."I am late and I shall not take time to give you an order." My room was on the floor above the main entrance with a window reaching from the ceiling to the floor which lead to a little veranda. After I had removed my hat and had begun to get settled I remembered that I had registered my full name quite legibly and a great fear suddenly took possession of me. I had been filling engagements in that part of the South for three or four weeks and it was quite possible that some of the waiters in the hotel had read the colored newspapers which gave rather full accounts of both my career and my speeches. What if they should see my name and recognize who I was. If they did and should tell the management of the hotel, what would become of me? I trembled with apprehension. What a mistake I made in not registering under and assumed name I tried to banish my fears as best I could and [retired]. I had [retired] [been asleep] been in for about two hours, perhaps, when a loud noise at my door awoke me out of a sound sleep. "Your [hour] time has come", was the first thought that popped into my head. I was sure that the clerk or the proprietor had learned that I was a colored woman and had come to take vengeance upon me for violating the traditions and customs of the Southland. I did not answer and tried to plan what I would do. The second knock sounder louder than the first. Then I decided that I would The diplomat must obey the law of Christ. He must be brotherly. His ambition must be to help, and he must do his work within sight of the principle of sacrifice. The mailed fist must go -- only the pierced hands can lift the world to new levels. Love is the mightiest force in the universe. Let us believe it and act upon it. Scientists are not ashamed of the law of gravitation. It is inexorable, unchangeable, and those who ignore it perish. Let us not apologize for the law of love. It also is unalterable, inflexible, and those who violate it are ground to powder. The world is in its present deplorable condition solely because of the long continued and outrageous trampling upon the law of love. If a government have not the spirit of Christ it is none of his. If it lack his spirit it is doomed. Its wealth will not save it, nor its learning, nor its genius, nor its military power. If a nation have not the spirit of Christ it must go down. Let us press this upon the mind and conscience of the world. Let us put it in the forefront of all our teaching. God has made of one flesh every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitations. Corporate life is ordained of God, and ruled by him. National development is held in the grip of unchanging and irresistible law. God is love, and rulers and statesmen lead nations to the abyss if they refuse to obey the law of love. Nations, like individuals, live and move and have their being in God (namely in love). No nation lives to itself. Every nation is vitally related to every other nation, and all nations are bound up in the life of the Lord of love. A nation which refuses to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with its neighbors in the path of brotherly service and goodwill is sooner or later dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel. Those who doubt this should read history. International Realm It is in the international realm that the church must, through the coming centuries, perform its most zealous and arduous labor. The world is sick and the church must heal it. The world is torn by evil spirits, suspicion and fear, and greed and injustice, and hate and revenge, and all those must be cast out. The church is commissioned to cast out demons. War is a demon. War must go. We must have a warless world if we are to have any world at all. Let us demand in the name of Christ that preparations for war throughout shall cease. Preparing for war leads to war. Let us insist that target practice shall come to an end. Let us denounce it as blasphemy against God, a conscienceless trampling on our word to the young men who went out to die in the great war, heartened by our promise that that would be the last war. Let us cry out unitedly against the building of battleships, those breeders of fear, and against the construction of bomb-dropping aeroplanes, those fomentors of hate, and against the creation of al those instruments of death whose very existence arouses suspicion and poisons on the springs of international goodwill. God calls all men to repent. To repent is not to cry or to feel bad. We have cried enough. To repent is to change one's mind. God commands us to change our ways of thinking. We think like men, and the world can never become better or happier until we think like God. We think like God only when we think like Christ. When we think like Christ we think in terms or justice and mercy, of tenderness and forgiveness and goodwill. When we think like Christ we believe in men. We trust them, we suffer long and still are kind. We are patient with them, and we forgive them when they do us wrong. We claim them as our brothers. 6 not let myself be taken out of that room to be beaten and disfigured or oterwaise maltreat by an infuriated mob. I remembered all too distinctly that Texarkana was the first city in the South in recent years in which a colored man had been burned to death, which did not comfort me much. I would rush to the little balcony, I hastily resolved, and jump to the ground. If that did not kill me, I thought, it might stun me sufficiently not to be as sensitive to pain as I would otherwise be. By the time I had planned what I would do, a third knock came. Then I mustered up courage and strength enough to say, "What is it?" "Lady", came a voice. "did you ring for a pitcher of water?" "No," I fairly shouted, "I did not," I hope I shall never pass thru an experience like that again. It is said that it is possible for a human being to have certain feelings only once in a life time. If the feelings are of the harrowing, painful variety, that dispensation of Providence is a great blessing, indeed. Once when I was filling engagements in Florida I had a another experience, which proved against how unreliable are railroad schedules in some parts of the South I was told that the train for which I had bought my ticket would carry me thru to Miami and I would arrive that night. As evening came over the conductor came to tell me that the schedule had been changed and that I would have to remain over night at a small place which was a winter resort for Northerners.and take a train for Miami the next day at noon. I had been riding all day in the first class coach and had met some interesting people from Chicago who were en route to this resort. They had spent several winters there and were delighted with it on general principles. When one of the women who had been especially interested in me learned that I had to remain over night at this resort, she immediately insisted That I should put up at her hotel- a small, exclusive hostelry fordiscriminating guests. My newly-made acquaintance stated with pride that nobody but people highly recommended could secure accommodations at his little inn. I demurred at first, saying I preferred to go to a regular hotel, since I would be in the place but a single night, but my new friend insisted so vigorously that I should put up at her hotel that I finally consented to do so. mental principle of Christianity is self-denial. When Paul urges men to have the mind that was in Christ, he portrays the self-surrender of the man Jesus, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus was always laying down his life for others. "If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross every day." The church is right in making the cross the symbol of the Christian faith. Brotherly Service Here then we stand in the presence of the soul of Jesus. He is brotherly, helpful, self-denying. His spirit is in the spirit of fraternity, service and loving sacrifice. If a man have not this same spirit he is none of his. If a church is not baptised into this same spirit it does not belong to him. If you roll brotherliness, service, and sacrifice into one word, you have love. The spirit of Jesus is the spirit of Love. "God is love," and Jesus is the express image of his Father, and is therefore love. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Father and also of the Son, and therefore the Holy Spirit is the spirit of love. The kingdom of God is the sway of love. If the world is full of suspicion, and fear, and ill will, the kingdom of God has not come. If the church abounds in unbrotherliness and selfishness and dissention the kingdom of God has not come. All Christians are expected to pray constantly that the sway of love may come. It must come first of all to those who offer the prayer. The sway of love must be first in the church. If it is not there it is not likely to be anywhere. It cannot be there until Christians repent and are born from above. Christ is inexorable on this point. "A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you." Men are always willing to love up to a certain point and after a conventional standard. We become real Christians only in loving our fellow Christians as Christ has loved us. This is his type of love which will save the situation. There must be the generous, forgiving, overflowing, reckless love of Christ. We must forgive our enemies, and do good to them that despitefully use us. It is this Christlike type of love in Christian men which is to convince the world that Jesus is from Heaven. Such love is the only badge of discipleship, the only satisfactory proof of loyalty. It is the only orthodoxy recognized in heaven. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one for another." A loveless church is not a Christian church. A church which does not serve humanity does not belong to Christ. A divided church is a stumbling block and scandal. A church made up of groups of men who are unbrotherly, and who hold aloof from mutual service and who refuse to cooperate in loving sacrifice for the attainment of common ends is a church which is a disappointment to the heart of Christ. The nations will never be won by the observance of sacraments. The world can only be won by the massed cohorts of Christians who love one another as Christ has loved them. If the church have not the spirit of Christ it is none of his. Until that axiomatic truth is faced, and accepted, and incarnated, we must remain outside the city whose gates are pearl. "If a man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Let us put a fresh emphasis on that. If he does not have the mind of Christ he is contributing nothing to that public opinion which will some day control the world. If he does not have the heart of Christ he does not count in the sum total of redemptive forces. If the church has not the spirit of Christ it is none of his. Let us stress that. Jesus of Nazareth walked boldly across national, racial and social lines, and he said "Follow me." Let us follow him. It is the duty of the church to walk unafraid across national frontier. *over- 7 I had been in the room assigned me but a short while when some one knoced at the door. Without opening it I made a little crack wide enough to inquire what was wanted. It was my new acquaintance who said that she had told some of her friends about me and they were in the reception room waiting to meet me. I excused myself on the ground that I was a bit fatigued and had to do some work before I retired. About ten minutes later this lady came again to urge me to come down to meet her friends saying that since she had told them about the delightful day we had spent together they would be very much disappointed, if I refused. But I excused myself again, expressing sincere regret that I could not comply with the request. The next morning I was placed at a table for transients and not at the table at which the regular guests were seated. My new friend and her husband came in a bit late and greeted me pleasantly as they sat down. While I was eating my breakfast I felt that somebody was looking at me, I had had that feeling more than once, and when I had tried to find the cause of this uncanny sensation I usually discovered that somebody's gaze had actually been fixed on me. Those who have fastened their eyes upon a friend sitting opposite to them in an auditorium or in a public vehicle so as to attract their attention and have seen him or her suddenly look straight at them will understand this pschyic force which is hard to explain. When I looked across the room to see if some one were really gazing at me I caught the eyes of a woman seated at the table of the regular guests whom I recognized immediately. She bowed bery graciously and, seemed pleased to see me. As I was leaving the room, she came to me, called me by name and expressed surprise at seeing me so far South. I had to admit that while I was sure I had met her before I could not remember her name. "Why I am Mrs. R", she replied, "We have spoken more than once upon the same platform" Then I recalled who she was the president of a large woman's organization. We left the dining room together, and she went up the street, while I took a seat on the large viranda in front of the of the hotel. In a few minutes my new acquaintance can e out where I was sitting, stared at me coldly and cut me dead. I understood perfectly what had happened. My old friend had undoubtedly told her who I was without intending to betray any terrible secret which would cause her to take me off her list. But the fact that she had admired a colored woman so much, had III- 6 INTERCOLLEGIATE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB Founded Approx. Membership 700 Students from 70 countries studying in 45 Colleges of Greater New York. 2929 Broadway, N.Y.City Chairman - Frederick Osborn. Secretary - Harry Edwards. Activities: Promotes discussion of international problems through student assembly modeled on Assembly of the League of Nations. NATIONAL STUDENT FORUM 2929 Broadway, New York City. Founded 1921 Approx. Membership Executive Secretary - Miss Beatrice Cohen Promotes discussion of international questions in colleges and encourages international exchange of students. Publication - "The New Student". 8 taken such pains to show it, and had tried to present her to friends was a blow from which it was evidently impossible for her to recover. Whenever I had the thought of this occurrence I have been very happy about two things. In the first place I was glad that I was loyal to my race in several discussions which he had en route. As we passed some of the unsightly, dilapidated huts in which colored people live in many parts of the South, particularly in the rural districts, this lady from Chicago who had spent three or four winters in Florida surprised me by the harsh opinions which she expressed. The worst thing which she could say about colored people seemed too good. She agreed thoroughly with the Southerner's point of view. Negroes were a bad lot, she declared the whole of them and none of them could be trusted. And so on and so forth. I reminded her that human beings are the result both of heredity and environment and asked her to judge colored people according to that rule. But I had little success. She was one of the Northerners whom colored people say are more hard-boiled, when they live South than Southerners themselves. "Deliver us from yankees who live down here", they say. It was a great satisfaction to me to know that I had not been tempted to agree with the northern woman's unjust estimate of my group while we were travelling together in the South under circumstances which would have caused me trouble and embarrassment if she had suspected who I was. I shuddered as I looked at the Jim Crow Car, when I boarded the train. It was dirtier and more forbidding than they usually are, and it would have been an ordeal thru which I would not have liked to pass, if I had been ejected from the first class coach, which was none too good on this particular road, and forced to make the long and tedious journey in the Jim Crow Car. I was glad also that I had not under an assumed name. When I took the register in this little Florida resort. I remembered my first experience in stopping at a white hotel in the South and how I had wondered whether it would not have been wiser to use a fictitious name But, altho I thought I might be running a risk to register my name correctly, I could not persuade myself to do otherwise. Then after I had met a woman who had been well acquainted with me for years, it would have been very embarrassing to me to have her know that i was travelling under an assumed name. No matter how philosophical or tactful she may be a colored woman who is obliged to make many journeys thru the South has trials and trubulaions galore. Written by Mary Church Terrell- The fact that so many people were willing to risk their lives to fly from San Francisco to Hawaii proves that while life was sweet to them, money and glory were still sweeter. It is a pity men and women who have so much courage and such an [unspeakable] unconquerable spirit of adventure should go down to defeat and lose their lives in such a commendable effort. The pretty young school teacher from Flint Michigan who was only twenty two years old and who with the two aviators risked her life in the "Miss Doran" which was named for her deserves especial mention. Even those who do not approve of a women's entering into such a hazardous [projerct] project can not help but admire her courage and daring. If she had reached Hawaii in safety, as she confidently expected to do with the enthusiasm and cocksureness of youth, she would have won undying fame as the first woman to fly such a distance in an air plane. And that is what [promted] prompted her to risk her life in the adventure. It is a great pity she did not succeed. X X X X X X I can not help wondering how Dole , the man who offered the prize, feels when he realizes that altho he did so with the desire to promote aviation, he is nevertheless indirectly responsible for the loss of seven fine specimens of human beings. However, it is thru such tragedies that progress is made Man has learned that he can fly and he intends to keep on trying until he has conquered the air as he has made himself master of the sea. And new comes science with good news for the farmer. It has been discovered that when a gang plow discharges a certain amount of electricity into the soil weeds and troublesome grubs are killed and the soil is so stimulated that crops planted immediately sprout much more quickly and grow stronger than others and without the interference of weeds and quack grass. A man in Leroy New York has proved that buckwheat sown in that part of the field to which he applied his electrical process, sprouted in half the time and grew twice as large as the same crop planted in another part, altho [it] the latter was fertilized with 200 pounds of standard fertilizer to the sore. In another field which had been treated with electricity corn, beans and potatoes germinated in five days as compared with sixteen days which are ordinarily required. Surely this information 11 Since the little English basement was so near the settlement for colored people, I had no idea that I would have any trouble whatever in securing it, But in this case the wish was father of the thought. The owner of the house, a white woman, made up her mind definitely not to sell it under and circumstances to colored people. And pleading in vain we took our troubles to a distinguished white gentleman who cheerfully bought the house which he immediately sold to us. My second experience was when I attempted to buy a house which I thought was better suited to the needs of my family that the one in which we then lived. As a rule, the real estate agents showed me nothing but old-fashioned houses which had been discarded by white people for that reason. They simply did not take me to see the modern houses which were built according to the plan I preferred. Finally, by a justifiable subterfuge I succeeded in having them take me to see the kind of homes I liked. Although the house I neglected was in a white neighborhood, it could not be classified as very exclusive, because an engine house was in the middle of the block. I went to a real estate agent who had been highly recommended to me by one of my friends and threw my cards on the table at once. "I am a colored woman, as you observe," I said "and I want to buy a house in a white neighborhood- not because it is in a white neighborhood, but because it has been built to suit me. If you have any objection to me selling the house in a white neighborhood to a colored woman, be frank enough to say so, and I will annoy you no more." He assured me he would be glad to accept the commission and in a few days I made a deposit on the house, requesting him to close the deal as soon as he could. After that whenever I requested him to report progress he would assure me that everything was coming out all right. When I had waited nearly two months and it became necessary to vacate the little apartment in which we were then living, I phoned him one morning that I must know something definite right away. He then requested me to come to hid office that afternoon. "Mrs Terrell," he said, when he saw me, "I am returning you your de- [The first time I saw my name in print and [was] I was about nine of ten years old I [stood] speechless as I gaped upon [before] the page have been the well-known children's magazine I had answered correctly a puzzle [which appeared] in [the] St. Nicholas and my name with the other successful ones appeared in the back of the book. There it was, Mary E. Church actually in print in a real book. I could scarcely believe my eyes. It seemed too good to be true. I can not recall what the puzzle was, but the solution was one of Tennyson's poems which I had to search long and hard to find. The next time [my name appeared in] I was greatly excited at seeing my name in print [?] was when I beheld it in the Oberlin Review, the Oberlin College paper edited and managed by the students. Under the heading "Editorial Board" the name of Mary E. Church appeared as one of the editors representing her society, Aelioian. I wrote several editorials for the Review which received favorable comment. But if ever a human being wrote with fear and trembling, it was surely myself. I wrote my thoughts painfully in long hand, of course, for the typewriter was then unknown. I interlined, changed and rechanged, crossed out, reinserted, and made composition a difficult task indeed. And no matter how much pains I took with an essay or an oration I was never satisfied with [what I wrote] it. After my marriage I was invited by Mrs. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin to write the Washington news for the New Era, a magazine which she established and published in Boston. Later on Mr. Cooper the editor of [I wrote a column for] the Colored American, a news paper published in Washington, invited me to write a column for women entitled Women's World and I wrote under the nom de plume of Euphemai Kirk. From that time on I have written for a goodly number of papers and magazines published by colored people. Notable among these were the Howard Magazine, published in New York City by my brother Thomas Ayres Church, and the Voice of the Negro published in Atlanta Georgia and edited by Max Barber. I thoroughly enjoyed writing for the Voice, although the remuneration I received was very small indeed. [For that matter I] When I wrote an article for one of our newspapers I did not expect to be recompensed, for few of them at that time were financially able to pay much to their contributors. Among [the] my articles which appeared in the Voice I especially enjoyed writing the one entitled Christmas at the Whitehouse. Mrs. Mary Church Terrell -2- October 6th, 1926. renewal of your 1925 contribution of $5.00 to our treasurer, Mr. Lloyd Garrison, at the above address so that we may continue this good work through the balance of the year. Sincerely yours, Eugene Kinckle Jones Executive Secretary, National Urban League EKJ:PWJ DMS Enc. 2 When Mr. Barber asked me to write this article, I feared to attempt it, for the task of going to the White House several months before Christmas to learn what was going to happen then and to get enough information about the manner in which it would be celebrated to make an interesting article seemed prodigious indeed. But, like many other things which we dread before we attempt them, this task was much easier than I anticipated. But why wouldn't it be? When I tell you that the Roosevelt family with the Roosevelt children lived in the White House at that time, you will not be surprised to learn that the job of finding out what was going to happen there at Christmas was interesting to say the least. I was told what had been done the previous Christmas and what the children had received then, I learned that the tree prettily decorated was lighted for the first time Christmas Eve in the nursery and that it [tr???] and sparkled after that every night for a week. That the children repaired to the library right after breakfast Christmas morning and received their presents there and that just like other mothers Mrs. Roosevelt kept the library locked for a week before Christmas to keep curious eyes from prying into its secrets. I heard all about the toys, games and books which the Roosevelt children usually received at Christmas and they were just like the others in households of similar taste and wealth electric railway. I heard about the surprise Archie, who was usually master of ceremonies or such occasions gave his father, the President, the years previous. He had an electrician arrange lights on a baby Christmas tree, decorated it prettily himself, then locked the door and kept the key in his pocket. After the presents had been distributed in the library Christmas morning, he asked his father to turn around and look at something else. Then the President complied with his young son's request, he beheld the little Christmas tree which had been planned expressly for him ablaze with electric lights of different colors and gorgeous in its holiday dress.. I wrelated with a great deal of pleasure that among the gifts for President and Mrs. Roosevelt and the children some were always left by Santa Claus for two children of a different race-the sons of the White House steward, Roswell who was then nine years old and little Theodore REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE PERRY W. HOWARD MEMBER FOR MISSISSIPPI WILLIAM M. BUTLER CHAIRMAN CHARLES D. HILLES VICE-CHAIRMAN RALPH E. WILLIAMS VICE-CHAIRMAN MRS. ALVIN T. HERT VICE-CHAIRMAN ROY O. WEST SECRETARY WILLIAM V. HODGES TREASURER 1216 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NORTHWEST WASHINGTON, D. C. April 9, 1927. Mrs. May Church Terrell, 1616 S Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Terrell: The Fisk University Club of Washington has arranged for an Educational Rally on the evening of April 18, at 8 o'clock at the Metropolitan A. M.E. Church, at which time the Fisk Jubilee Singers will appear. In addition to this some of the most noted speakers of the country will be on the program including President Jones of Fisk University, President Mordecai Johnson of Howard University, Mr. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy, Postmaster General New, and Attorney General Sargent. I hereby appoint you as a member of the Committee in charge of the affair and request that as such a member of the Committee you exercise your influence and good offices to the end that we may have a large attendance at this meeting. We especially ask that you be present in person and occupy a seat of honor on this occasion. We are planning to make this a record breaking occasion. Please advice me of your acceptance at your earliest convenience. Sincerely yours, PENNY W. HOWARD. Chairman of Committee of One Hundred W- 3 the President's namesake who was only three. One of the presents received by the Pinckney children was an animal game out of which nearly every four footed beast which roams the forest could be made. I also heard aabout the beautiful silver loving cup which the President had given his colored namesake, Theodore. I told how Archie's pony was once taken up to his room on an elevator in the White House, so that his master who was ill with the meales might see him and how the three youngest children had once climbed a tree in the front yard of the White House to see a parade passing by. In referring to Alice, now Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, the President's eldest child by his first wife I dexcribed her attitude toward the White House help each of whom was devoted to her, because she was so cordial and considerate in her attitude toward them. At that time Ethel attended the National Cathedral School in the suburbs of Washington, while Kermit and Theodore were in Groton preparing to enter Harvard. My article in the Voice was well illustrated with pictures of the Roosevelt children which had seldom appeared. There was one of Miss Alice, holding a little dog in her arms. There were two pictures of Theodore. In one he sat at the trunk of a tree with his arm around a dog. In the other he stood holding in his hand a parrot which was the very picture of content. Ethel's picture showed her leaning against some shrubbery. holding a bii sailor hat by the elastic. Kermit's was taken with one of the White House guards. There were two pictures of Quentin, the youngest child, one on a pony and the other taken with the little colored boy Roswell Pinckney with whom he often played. Quentin was the son who was killed in an air plane during the World War. Among the white newspapers for which I have written I mention especially the Washington Post for two reasons. It is the only paper in which one of my stories ever appeared. and it is the only large daily for whose Sunday edition I ever contributed regularly for any length of time. When persuing the life of some well known writer I have often been awed to learn that the very first story he or she every wrote was accepted. Well, I can say the MINUTES A meeting of the Joint Committee on Race Relations of the Interracial Committee of the District of Columbia was held Tuesday afternoon, December 14th, 1926, at 4:00 o'clock, at the headquarters of the Federation of Churches, 941 Woodward Building. There were present at the meeting: Canon Anson Phelps Stokes, Chairman; Mr. Clarence Aspinwall, Dr. D. Butler Pratt, Mrs. A. H. Hopkins, Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, Mr. William Knowles Cooper, Mr. Garnet C. Wilkinson, Dr. J. Milton Waldron, Mrs. William Adams Slade, and Doctor Scott, Secretary. Dr. Stokes, Chairman,advised that arrangements are being made for Graduate Students of George Washington University, under the direction of Professor Sutton of the Department of Economics; and Graduate Students of Howard University, under the direction of Professor Jones, Head of the Department of Sociology, and with the approval of President William Mather Lewis of George Washington University and President Mordecai W. Johnson of Howard University, to conduct the Housing Survey suggested at the meeting held July 28th, 1926, the idea being to conduct a Seminar Course for Graduate Students with special reference to ascertaining the facts as to how the present housing situation affects the colored people of Washington. The Chairman explained that while the Graduate Students of the two institutions will make their separate studies there will be occasional joint meetings at the headquarters of the Federation of Churches so as to develop techniques of cooperative study, and at the same time reach clear-cut understandings as to the scope of the inquiry Mrs. Hopkins proffered all of the data she has gathered on the subject of improving housing conditions in Washington including Studies of the Alley Situation, Maps, Statistics, Literature, etc., etc. It was suggested that eventually Dr. Edward T. Devine, formerly of New York, but now connected with American University at Washington, might render helpful service in formulating conclusions of a definitive study of the housing situation in Washington. After a very full and free discussion it was, upon motion VOTED: That the cooperative survey (or study) of the Housing Situation in Washington as suggested by Dr. Stokes, Chairman, be approved. Upon motion, it was also VOTED that theprogram of execution be referred to the Executive Committee with power to add other members if needed, or desired, and with request to formulate a plan for raising funds for carrying forward the proposed survey. ATTEST: Emmett Scott Secretary. 3 1/2 [*?*] same thing. The very first story I ever wrote was accepted by the Washington 3 1/2 But the comparison between the well-known writers whose very first story Post, [But, alas, it was also the last story that was ever accepted] was accepted and myself ends right here. For the well-known writers kept on [anybody] producing stories which were acceptted, while my very first was also my very last which managed to burst [to be accepted] into print. All the other stories concerned some phase, of the race problem. Several critics who read them declared they passed muster quite nicely, but the editors of the magazines to which they were sent thought other wise. I soon discovered that there are few things more difficult that to induce an editor of the average white magazine or newspaper to publish an article on the race problem from the colored man's point of view. When my m anuscripts were rejected at first, I took it for granted they fell too farbbelow the required standard to be accepted. But after I had been laboring un under that impression for a long time something happened which proved that there was nothing wrong with my manuscripts [the matter] at all. [*see page 4*] In the Jnuary 1904 number of the North American Review Thomas Nelson Page had an article on Lynching which What it means to be colored in the Capital of the U. S. Coleridge Taylor Editorial are [?] book about colored women. Tafts attitude toward colored soldiers. -2- means by which this can be accomplished very shortly? Surely, there are enough college women in gainful occupations to support a project as desirable as this. 4. Our fellowship fund needs to be built up rapidly in order that we may begin to send our "Educational Ambassadors" to the Universities of Europe and America for productive study. What will you do to bring this to pass? 5. Further study should be made of the Institutions in the United States in which most of our women are trained. Personal visits by officers and members of the Standards Committee should be made to these institutions. Officers of the National should visit the various branches of the Association from time to time for the purpose of welding all the parts of the Association into a harmonious whole. These visits take money. Can your branch devise any means for the carrying forward of such a program? What about some branch activities for the purpose of helping National do its legitimate work? Can we count on you for support and for active interest in the work outlined? May we hear immediately from your branch? Very sincerely yours, Lucy D. Slowe President 4 In the January number of the North American Review 1904 Thomas Nelson Page had an article on Lynching which was one of the most scurrious attacks upon the colored men of the United States which has ever appeared in print. It was full of misleading statements from beginning to end. When I read it, I thought I could not survive, if something were not done to correct the false impression that Mr. Page's article had made. I wrote to Mr. Munroe the editor of the North American Review, a Scotchman, and told him I thought it was unworthy a great magazine like his to kick a group that was already down by showing one side of a story which represented them as brutes without allowing the other side to be shown. I urged him to have some outstanding man like Booker T. Washington or Dr. Dubois to write the story of lynching from a colored man's point of view, so that the truth would be told. I wish I had all the money I spent on postage stamps in sending such letters to Mr. Munro. After writing at intervals for several months without receiving a reply I finally wrote to William Dean Howells and asked him if he could not induce the editor of the North American Review to allow the other side of the story to be shown. Almost by return mail I received a letter from Mr. Howells, saying that he agreed with me perfectly, and while he was simply a contributor to the Harper publications and had no great amount of influence he would do what he could to have the colored man's side presented. Shortly after that I received a letter from Mr. Munro saying that he would like to have me write the article I had suggested, that he did not want me to consider I had been commissioned by him to write it, and that if he decided to publish it, he would and if he didn't, he wouldn't. I wrote the article which was one of the easiest tasks in that line that I ever attempted. I had been keeping a scrapbook for several year and all I had to do was to turn it in and find concrete examples showing Mr. Page's statements that innocent negroes had never been lynched and that the Negro was practically the only rapist in the United States, were absolutely false. This article was in the 1904 June number of the Review published without a change of a "the" or an "and"! I received a copy of the Review sent me by my husband while I was in Berlin Germany, where I had gone to deliver an address before the International Council of Women on the progress of Colored Women. When I returned from Europe I went to call on Mr. Munro in New york and outlined another article which I wanted to write for the North American PAX WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE U. S. Section, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom 533 17th Street N. W., Washington, D. C. Telephone Franklin 8218 Cable Wilus International President Jane Addams Hull-House Chicago, Ill. NATIONAL OFFICERS CHAIRMAN HANNAH CLOTHIER HULL 504 WALNUT LANE SWARTHMORE, PA. VICE-CHAIRMAN MAUD RICHARDS R. F. D. CRESSONA ROAD POTTSVILLE, PA. DIRECTOR OF POLICIES EMILY GREENE BALCH 17 ROANOKE ROAD WELLESLEY, MASS. TREASURER FLORENCE G. TAUSSIG 4506 MARYLAND AVENUE ST. LOUIS, MO. RECORDING SECRETARY ALICE S. CHEYNEY 259 SO. 44TH STREET PHILADELPHIA, PA. CHAIRMAN OF ORGANIZATION ELLA BOYNTON 360 NO. MICHIGAN AVE. CHICAGO, ILL. EXECUTIVE SECRETARY DOROTHY DETZER 522 17TH STREET N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. NATIONAL BOARD EMILY G. BALCH META S. BERGER ALICE S. CHEYNEY ALICE P. GANNETT ELIZABETH REYNOLDS HAPGOOD HANNAH CLOTHIER HULL KATHLEEN B. JENNISON LUCY BIDDLE LEWIS IDA C. LOVETT ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON MILDRED SCOTT OLMSTEAD JEANNETTE RANKIN MAUD RICHARDS MARGARET F. SLOSS SELMA B. STONE FLORENCE G. TAUSSIG MARGARET LORING THOMAS STATE CHAIRMEN ELLA BOYNTON, ILL. MARTHA HELEN ELLIOTT, MASS. KATHLEEN MCGRAW HENDRIE, MICH. BESSIE KIND, PA. JESSIE L. PALMER, MD. GERTRUDE SHOWELL, N. J. MAUD C. STOCKWELL, MINN. GRACE HOFFMAN WHITE, N. Y. February 7, 1927. Dear Friend: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has assigned Wednesday, February 16th as the date for a hearing under the auspices of the Women's International League on Senate Concurrent Resolution #15, popularly known as the "Snipstead Bill," dealing with the subject of foreign loans. The committee in charge has procured the best informed speakers available on the subject. A large sympathetic and well-informed audience is certain to have a helpful influence upon the committee and it is hoped that a representative group of W.I.L. members may be present. Faithfully yours, Dorothy Detzer Dorothy Detzer Executive Secretary. D/PM 5 Review. "A Plea for the White South by a Colored Woman " was to be its title. As I gave him the points which I intended to make Mr, Munro seemed very much pleased indeed. and thought there was no doubt it would be accepted, When he received it, however, he sent it back by return mail. [*See next page*] [I would have believed that the article had been rejected because it had failed had not come up to the to reach the] Mr Munro plainly showed his reaction to my article by suggesting [required standard, if Mr. Munro had not advised me to send it to the 19th Century and After, Mr. Munsals suggested advising me at the same time] that I should to blue pencil some of the statements I had made [and] because the relations then existing between the U.S and England were very cordial indeed. Since (insert this) [I knew Mr. Munro would never have advised me to send a poorly written article to an English magazine whose] noted for its high literary standards, it [It] dawned upon me then and there that my manuscrip had been rejected, not because [it was] of its mediocrity or inferiority but because of the [matter] [?] objectionable? facts which it presented, As I reread it prayerfully and carefully before sending it to the 19th Century and After I could see nothing which [either] veracity, diplomacy or good taste would suggest having changed. So I [went] forwarded it exactly as it was. [And] It was accepted and published in a very short while and I was perfectly satisfied with the check [?] I received I considered that acceptance sufficient proof that my article came up to the required literary standard, to say the least in its favor. I had still another driking proof of the same thing. [Once when I was delivering] Having learned from an experience which occurred during an address that I [an address before the Baptist Woman's Home Missionary Society in] delivered before the [Women's] Baptist Women's Home Missionary Society [that] Beverly Massachusetts that even welleducated people who kept abreast of the [M even well-educated people who kept abreast of the times knew nothing about] times knew nothing whatever about the Convict Lease System I decided to write an article [about] on the subject. Accordingly I went to the Congressional Library and spent six [?] weeks looking over old files of the Atlanta Constitution and other newspapers published in the South. I knew that the Governor of [?] Georgia had been so shocked a few years previously by some of the revelations which reached his ears about the barbarity of the Convict Lease System in his State that he decided to probe it to its depths. This he did and the testimony of eye witnesses to the murder and the unspeakable cruelties practiced upon the helpless prisoners, most of whom were negroes, werepublished in the Atlanta Constitution. Having armed myself with the facts [?] practically first hand I wrote my article, making it as readable and as interesting as I could. I was very careful not to [I would have] In the letter accompanying my returned manuscript Mr. Munro advied me to send it to the 19th Century and After. This proved conclusively that the article was not rejected by the Review because it was too poorly written, for if that had been the case Mr. Munro would never have advised me to send it to the 19th Century. [Mr. Munro warned advised] THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS MEMORIAL AND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MRS. MARY B. TALBERT, PRESIDENT 521 MICHIGAN AVENUE BUFFALO, N. Y. MRS. NETTIE L. NAPIER, CUSTODIAN OF FUNDS 120 15TH AVENUE NORTH NASHVILLE, TENN. November 18, 1921. My dear Co-worker:- I am preparing a series of articles to appear in "Voices of Women" during the coming year, and I want your voice to be heard among them. I will also be writing "Lest we forget" and bring before our people the lives of some of our noted women who have gone on before Mrs. Lucy Thurman, Mrs. J. Silone Yates, Madam C. J. Walker, Mrs. Fannie Jackson Coppin, Mrs. Francis E. W. Harper, Mrs. Victoria Earle Mathews, Mrs. Amanda Smith, Mrs. Muzette Gregory, Miss Jennis Deane, and many others. Will you send me a full and complete account of your life activities so that our boys and girls may receive inspiration from your work and your life. Surely you will not deny them this, Then too, this is the beginning of a compilation of the lives of our great Women, to be placed in the Douglass Memorial Home, so that our children, one hundred years from now, will know who were trying to build the foundations for their future happiness. Send me photo or cut of yourself. Will you do this today? Sincerely yours, Mary B Talbert 6 tear passion to tatters and I made it a point to state nothing which could not be proved by what a southern white man had either spoken or written. Then I sent [this article] my manuscript to practically every magazine in this country which would be likely to publish such an article, but it was rejected by every single one. Remembering that Mr. Munro had advised me to send the article rejected by the North American Review to the late Century and After I resolved to do follow [this] While I was talking with my brother his counsel in this case, and I did say. While I was talking with my broth fellow counsel in this case did it was copied er in New York) he said "Sis, somebody else has got that old Convict Lease System bee in his bonnet as well as yourself." In explaining his remark he said recently he had seen excerpts from an article on the Convict Lease System which had appeared in some English magazine, without telling him that I had submitted such an article to an English publication went to the library as quickly as I could to see whether the manuscript had been published to the 19th Century . There it was exactly as I had written it. I wrote it was perfectly clear to me then that it would be exceedingly difficult for me to write an article on the race problem which would be accepted by an American magazine. I became thoroughly discouraged and did not try again to induce an editor in the United Satates to accept an article on the Race Problem for a long time. On one occassion an article entitled How, Why, Where, When, Who and Where Black Becomes White was practically accepted for the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune and was kept in the office for a whole year before it was printed. When I wrote to the editor requesting him to return it to be and stating that I intended to send it to another paper, he asked the paper's Washington [?] told the representative correspondent to tell me that he intended to publish it soon that it was one of the most striking articles he had read in a long time but that the paper had a large southern clientele which he did not want to offend. The same article to the Boston Heral which accepted it, and a short while afterward the Chicago Tribune allowed it to appear (Just one more incident to illustrate the attitude assumed a few years ago by some of the magazines (toward presenting facts favorable to colored people). [Miss Bertha Knobe A very successful magazine writer challenged me one day] "Mrs. Terrell, why dont you write an article on "Colored Women"? was the way a very successful magazine writer challenged me one day in New York. She told me that occasionally she was paid a neat little sum just for c o p y NATIONAL LEAGUE ON URBAN CONDITIONS AMONG NEGROES November 15th, 1919. War Camp Community Service, New York, N.Y. Gentlemen: In view of my recent conference with Dr. Bryan relative to the welfare work needed in behalf of Negro soldiers and men and women engaged in occupations "essential to the maintenance of the National interest during the emergency" which includes the time of reconstruction as well as the time of war, I wish to submit the following programs of work to be financed by the War Camp Community Service and to be executed with the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes cooperating. I. Organization of Southern communities for welfare work among Negroes as an aid to worthy reconstruction work in the South. The Southern white and colored people have cooperated in the war emergency on matters pertaining to the war as they have never done before. Negro men as soldiers have participated in the affairs of free people during the war as never before in their history--this being especially true in France where no civic privilege was denied the Negro soldier. As peace returns many of the Southern whites will expect a return of the pre-war relationship between Negroes and whites. The Negroes will never again submit quietly and without protest to such an arrangement. This situation will be intensified when the Negro soldiers, many many thousands in number, return from France. We propose the establishment of a bureau in the South similar to those already maintained by the Urban League in many communities to: 1. Develope cooperation in welfare work among Negroes and to encourage a better feeling of neighborliness between the races. 2. Create those agencies of improvement in housing, education, recreation, employment and health among Negroes such as will fit them better for the places which they should occupy in their respective communities. To conduct such a work would require the services of (1) an organizer and (2) his assistant who would devote their time entirely to field work, spending sufficient time in each city needing their services to work up organizations of white and colored leaders capable of carrying out the plans as outlines. (3) Office force to handle correspondence and records and conduct business in the absence of the organizers. Special attention should be paid to the work of adjusting the soldier in the community on his return by directing him to lodgings when necessary and locating him in a suitable job. For this work for one year the sum of $16,520 will be required: Salaries: First organizer $2500 Second organizer 2500 Chief Clerk (office) 1800 Assistant clerk 1200 Office boy and filing assistant 720 8720 Traveling expenses 3000 Rent 1200 Light and heat 300 Stationary, postage and printing 1500 Furnishings of office, (including typewriters, files, desks and other equipment 1500 Telephone and telegrams 300 $16,520 These workers should be colored. It would also be well for a similar and co-ordinated work to be launched in the South with white workers who would be commissioned with the program of advocating better feeling on the part of Southern white people towards Negroes--a propaganda movement with a competent Southern white man as director. The bureau's headquarters should be located in Atlanta, Nashville, or Richmond, Va. 7 suggesting a subject or presenting an idea [fam????] about something which appealed to [?]. "Dont you think I have already done so?" [?] answering her question by asking another? Then I related the efforts I had made to induce several magazines to accept an article on Colored Women, but that it had been rejected every time. On one occasion I had actually been commissioned to write the article, I told Miss K but it had failed of acceptance. Miss K felt she understood perfectly why the manuscript was not accepted. I had probably felt too tense about things she said and had injected too much feeling into the matter. All right", I replied, "You write the article. Some time when you are planning a trip to Washington, let me know be - forhand and come to my house for lunch. I'll give you my manuscript, and let you browse to your heart's content thru my scrap book which contains a great deal of information concerning the work colored women have actually done. She accepted the invitation and came. True to my work I gave her my manuscript and helped her take notes for the article on Colored Women which she said she intended to write immediately. She promised me that she would tell me the result. I waited in vain to hear from her. Finally I called her up about a year after that when I happened to be in New York and she arranged to meet me. Then she told me she had written the article on Colored Women and had offered it to every magazine likely to publish it and that it had been rejected by every one of them. She also related the comments on the article made by some of the editors who were frank enough to express their opinions. One of them declared that in the hey day of Booker T Washington's glory his magazine had not published a work about him, He would not think of publishing an article showing the progress of colored women, for colored people on general principles were "too cocky" as it was., he said. So the article on the Progress of Colored Women written by a well-known contributor to magazines has never appeared. A member of a publishing form once read my article entitles "Being a Colored Woman in the United States and he was so favorably impressed with it that without any suggestion on my part he sent it to the editor of a leading magazine. He felt sure it would be accepted, but it was also rejected. The fact that a man who made a business of reading manuscripts for a large publication house thought well enough of the article to submit it to one of the oldest magazines in the country Copy--W. C. C. S. #3 postage, stationery, telegrams, telephones, etc. 3000 Traveling expenses 2000 $11,900 Respectfully submitted, EKJ/PW (Signed) EUGENE KINCKLE JONES Executive Secretary 8 was proof positive that there was no glaring defect in the way it was written. and that there was no shocking evidence of bad taste. In returning my manuscripts on several occasions editors have praised them [my style] and have suggested that if I would submit something on any other subject, they would give it favorable consideration, but they told me positively they would not accept anything on the Race Problem. [In spite of that taboo, however, my articles have appeared in the Independent, in the North American Review and in some of the best newspapers in the country, as well as in the Nineteenth Century in England.] Those who advised me to write about something else [on another subject] evidently felt that all I had to do was to select any[thing] subject which [might] was likely tappeal to an [find favor in an] editor['s eye] and then proceed to [make a] manufacture an article on it forthwith. They believed I could [turn my] direct thoughts and my interest to any other subject that occurred to me just as one [and pour my] turns the faucet to get water in a sink. But my whole being was centered on the interest in my race and I poured my very heart's blood into efforts to promote its welfare. It was impossible for me to write on anything that [but] did not concern the race. Then another difficulty confronted me. I could neither force myself to emphasize its vices and defects nor hold it up to ridicule, if haply that point of view might find favor in an editors eye. on articles on the Race Problem [But in spite of the taboo which a few years ago] mine have appear was observed much more rigidly then it is to day ed in some of the leading magazines botn in this country and in England as well as some of the leading largest and best newspapers in the United States. For a long time the only kind of an article on the Race Problem which seemed to please the editors of magazines was one that emphasized the Colored Americans vices and defects or held him up to ridicule and scorn. Stories which represented him as being a crap shooter, a murderer, or a pimp were considered fine samples of literary art appeared in reputable magazines from time to time, but those which related his struggles to accomplish something worth while against fearful odds were labeled inartistic rarely saw the light for they were labeled inartistic of day. The latter was labeled more than once my articles have made friends for me among literary people I am indebted to my articles for the friendship of several who have stimulated and encouraged me greatly. Thru the article on Lynching Telephone: BRAdhurst 0454 BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS BROTHERHOOD OF Sleeping Car Porters Headquarters: 2311 SEVENTH AVENUE NEW YORK, N. Y. General Organizer A. PHILIP RANDOLPH Assistant General Organizer W. H. DES VERNEY Assistant General Organizer A. L. TOTTEN Secretary-Treasurer ROY LANCASTER Special Organizer FRANK R. CROSSWAITH Field Representative S. E. GRAIN June 22, 1926 Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, c/o Washington Tribune, 920 U St., N. W., Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Terrell: Permit me to request you to address a letter to the Convention of the National Federation of Colored Women's Clubs which will be held in Oakland, Calif. about the 4th or 5th of July, and one to Mrs. Bethune, President of the Daytona- Dookman Institute, Daytona Beach, Fla., requesting that that said Convention endorse the Brotherhood or Sleeping Car Porters. May I say that this Organization began August 25, 1925, and has secured the large majority of responsible men in the service. We are fighting for a living wage in order to relieve Pullman Porters of the necessity of relying upon the uncertainty of tips to maintain their wives and children. We feel that if the Pullman Conductors are entitled to a living wage, the Pullman Porters are also. We also feel that if organization was able to secure a living wage for the Conductors who are white, organization will secure a living wage for the Porters who are black. But all social and educational movements need moral sentiments behind them; hence we want the white world to realize that the leading responsible organizations and individuals among Negroes are appreciative of the value and significance of collective, economic action. Such an endorsement will indicate that our colored women are abreast with the vital trends in the economic world that affect OUR GOAL: More wages; better working conditions; pay for overtime; pay for "preparation" time; abolition of "doubling out," conductor's pay for conductor's work when in charge and manhood rights. 9 [Which appeared in the North American Review] I met Mrs. Van Renssalaer Cruger a novelist of distinction who wrote to congratulate me upon it, declaring that few of her friends were [who frequently invited me to take tea with her in] capable of making a literary effort comparable with mine. Mrs. Cruger e lived in an old-fashioned house in Georgetown, [not far from in the section of Washington called the Gas plant] and frequently invited me to take tea with her. Those were rare treats indeed. Mrs. Cruger had traveled and lived abroad for years [and was full of] had been intimately associated with distinguished people all over the world and was an exceptionally fine conversationalist. She always wore a large picture hat, when I took tea with her and looked like a French grande dame miniature and when she was to bbe She was a widow when I met [the second time], and when she married the second time she left Washington [married, she told me all about her fiance .] and did not live here again. Mrs. Mary Roberts Rinehart the well-known playwright and author manifested her friendship toward me in many ways. She declared that she had received more information from my articles on Lynching. on the Convict Lease System and from my Plea for the White South that she had from any articles she had read in twenty years. She encouraged me to write and was willing to assist me to get an entree into the magazines which had not yet opened their columns to me. I often called o n and invariable came out of her presence encouraged and inspired. her [in her home]/ The day after Judge Terrell died. Mrs. Rinehart came [to exepress] to our home and lingered with me a long time to express her sympathy [her sympathy and remained in our home just as just as any other good] and cheer me up. It was impossible for anybody to entertain broader [friend would do.] views on the the position which intelligent colored people should occupy in the uUnited States than she did. She had no patience with that exhibition of narrow, petty race prejudice which [restricted] exclude[d] colored people of education and character from the advantages and privileges which other people enjoy. [as of any kind to which they were entitled because of their character and] attainments. She would have been glad to have me received [enjoy every] the consideration which would have been shown me, if I had been white or which I have received in every country which I have visited abroad. In mentioning the friendships made for me by my literary efforts I must not forget the great illness T Stead who corresponded with me regularly for a long time after we met in London. [and who gave me the only in] And when Mrs.and Mrs. Stead visited Washington years afterward, I was the only one to whom he gave an [terview whne he visited Washington years afterward] interview [during his stay, here] so that this interview [which appeared] in in the capital of the U.S the Washington Evening Star was the only one which appeared in any daily while he was here. Howard University Washington D.C. Founded by General G.G. Howard Office of the Secretary-Treasurer Mordecai W. Johnson, S.T.M., D.D. President of the University Emmet J. Scott, A.M., LLD, Secretary-Treasurer March nineteenth 1927 Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, 1615 S Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Dear Mrs. Terrell: I am sending herewith minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee on Race Relations of the Interracial Committee of the District of Columbia which was held Tuesday, December 14th, 1926, with the thought that you may care to have same in advance of the meeting to be held Monday, March 21st, 1927. Very truly yours, Emmett Scott Secretary. 10 I asked Ray Stannard Baker, one of the editors of the American Magazine if he thought his or any other magazine would publish a modern Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, if she were alive, if it depicted the injustice then as now perpetrated upon colored people practically all over the United States and showed the towering obstacles erected by a cruel race prejudice which they have had to surmount in order to accom;lish anything worth while ever since they have been emancipated, as the original Uncle Tom's Cabin exposed the cruelties and barbarities of slavery. In short would an American magazine publish a novel showing the shackles by which colored people were then are bound although nominally free, as the original Uncle Tom laid bare the cruelties and barbarities of slavery. Both Mr. Baker and Mr. Philip Boyden, who was also then on the staff of the American Magazine debated my question for a while and finally admitted that in their opinion no American periodical would publish any such story at that time. That confirmed me in my opinion on the subject and sounded my literary death knell. I knew full well that the kind of story I would probably be able to write would not appeal to the average editor of an American Magazine. I was sure it would not be artistic from their point of view. The and then I gave up the literary ghost. It has been a bitter disappointment to me that I did not succeed as a story writer. i have thought for years that the Race Problem could be solved more quickly and more surely thru the instrumentality of the short story than in any other way. After my article on Lynching appeared I re-ceived the following letter from Mr. Bruce Porter of San Francisco which whetted my desire to attempt a book such as I had wanted to write for so long. [8] 10 Shortly after the [when the] National Association for the advancement of Colored People was organized Mrs. Robert G. Ingerrsol, window of the great agnostic, invited some of us who were attending the meeting in New York to luncheon at which [aabo] I felt that her [dour or five] editors of well-known magazines were present. [In order to] Was my chance to get the information which I wanted very much. I asked Ray Stannard Baker who was then one of the editors of the American magazine, if he thought his or any other magazine in the cointry would publish Harriet Beecher Stove [shore] of the living then [and should write a {modern} Uncle Tom's Cabin] written by [??] [depicting] the injustice perpetrated upon colored people practically all erected by a cruel race preju- over the United States and showing the towering obstacles which they have to surmount in order to accomplish anything, as the original Uncle Tom's Cabin In short I asked, would magazine troublish a story showing the shackles by exposed the cruelties and barbarities of slavery, Both Mr. Baker and Mr. Philip Boyden also on the staff of the American discussed my question for a few minutes and admitted that in their opinion no magazine in the county would publish any such story at that time. Which colored people are bound to day as the original Uncle Tom's Cabin depicted the chains and horors of slavery, It has been a bitter disappointment to me that I did not succeed as a story writer. I have thought for many years that the Race Problem could be solved more quickly and more surely by thru the instrumentality of the short story than in any other way. After reading my article on Lynching [appeared] a well known [man] Californian urged me to write a novel. My regret is, " he said," that in this standard publication" (the North American Review) "the circle of your readers is necessarily limited. I would suggest- if you feel it to be within your power- that you embody these truths (with moderation and justice) in the form of a novel You possess the fervor of conviction, which is of first value is such an effort, and that can easily carry your work above the difficulty of literary expression.xxxxI believe a book of this sort Suffrage Pride May 9/14 "I have read", with deep interest," said he and with impotent shame that every true American suffers in the face of the fact- your direct, fearless article in the current number of the Review, My regret is that in this standard publication the circle of your readers is necessarily limited [small]. I would suggest- if you feel it to be within your power- that you embody these truths (with moderation and justice) in the forme of the novel. You possess the fervor of conviction, which is of first value in such an effort and that can carry your work above the difficulty, of literary expression. There has lately been published a book written so-and with justice- upon the case of the Jews in Austria "Idylls of the Gass" a story of wrong written about the life of a child. With the of the question of the Negro to us all- I believe a book of this sort would have a wide influence upon the mind of the public, Very failthfully yours, Bruce Porter, Bohemian Club San Fracisco. I shall never cease to regret that I did not take Mr. Porter's advice and attempt to write the novel which he suggested. But my time was fully occupied with my duty to my family and for many years to the public schools as a member of the Board of education while not fnfrequently I filled lecture engagements offte being obliged to prepare a special address for the occasion on which I was invited to speak. [first writing in long hand my thought in long hand and then typing them] and every now and then accepting some editor's invitation to write a special article for his paper. Throughout my life I have dreamed of the day I would have the leisure and the mental peace to write some of the things which I have longed to say. But the day never came. In every diary I have kept the longing to write and the poignant regret that I could not do so run like a Jerminad Jermiad from the first day of the year to the last. "I am always getting [I am more like ca-] ready to write something," [?] lament in one place, but I am never prepared to begin, I am more like George Eliot's Casaubon than anybody in fiction or out of it with whom I can be compared." If I had lived in a literay atmosphere or if I had not kinds I might have gratified my desire to "tell the world" a few things I want it to know. Copy—War Camp Community Service. #2 The present War Camp Community Service Units for Colored Soldiers in Southern cities could be made the nuclei for such movements in cities where they exist. II. National Industrial Welfare of Negroes (in cooperation with Government labor program.) Negroes, are, as a rule loyal, competent and desirable workmen when employed under conditions that encourage those attributes. They are just the opposite if worked under bad conditions. This is what accounts for their reputation in many quarters for unreliability, idleness and laziness. The experience of many large industrial plants that have used Negro welfare workers to look after the health, recreation, home life and contentment of their Negro workers justifies a wide extension of this system to the end that more responsible positions may be thrown open to the Negro and the country may profit properly from the service of Negro working-men. Such an improvement in the general situation would mean much to the returning Negro soldier who would find a little better type of job waiting him than the one he left. A National Secretary of Industrial Welfare of Negroes should be appointed with one or two assistants whose duties would be as follows. 1. Work with employers to give Negroes better chances for work. 2. Work with Labor unions to get fairer attitudes toward fellow Negro workman 3. Work with employers to appoint Negro welfare workers 4. Prepare Negro men of intelligence and practical knowledge of handling men for welfare workers for larger plants. 5. Lecture to Negro workers in plants on fundamentals of efficiency- -regularity punctuality, sobriety, constancy, application to work, etc. The Cost Salary $2500 Assistant 2100 Clerk. 1500 Miscellaneous 3000_________ $10,300 III. ROOM REGISTRY With the problem of housing adequately the throngs inour cities is that of finding and maintaining decent rooming accommodations in the houses that do exist for women and men arriving in the urban communities. This problem while annoying among the white people is acute among the colored people. At the recent convention of persons interested in the subject of room, registry, it developed that no organization had done any tangible work along this line for Negroes nor contemplated such efforts. The problem of adjusting the soldiers in the cities when they return will be no less serious than the one of finding proper accommodation for women and civilian men in environments that will protect their morals and their economic standards. We propose the adoption of a room registry program that will tend to meet the rooming problem, of the Urban League. It would involve the appointment of a Room Registry Investigator who would conduct investigations of the needs in certain larger cities through ac actual survey of the rooms available — this to be followed by an appeal to the U.S.Government to establish room registries in connection with the local U.S. Employment Service or the establishment of room registries through private sources if the Government support is not forthcoming. The cost. Chief investigator $3100 Two assistants at ($1800 each). 3600 Clerk 1200 Miscel. Including Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.