The Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1921 Page: 1 of 8
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DO THE DEAD TALK? See The Answer at The Aldridge Theatre Wed. Mar. 30 1921
LebeL
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nal in Oklahoma
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PRICE 5 CENTS
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REAL SOCIAL
White Paramour Horsewhips
Aged Principal of Negro School
Assistant Teacher Driven from State
ASSISTED BY WHITE MOONSHINER—ESCAPES INTO ARKANSAS
EArm
VOL.. VI. NO. 16
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, MARCH 25, 1921
We Stand
m*
right «f
the voice of
to fee heard m
their own
enun®at"
For Democracy
aa acfesaM^-ooi
LULU, Miss., March 23—(Special to
the Black Dispatch)—Henry Holmes,
Negro school teacher, narrowly escap-
ed with his life, by the assistance of
a friendly white moonshiner, who,
when he found him in the wods, fer-
ried him across the Mississippi,
-where he escaped into Arkansas.
Holmes told the moonshiner that he
was trying to reach his wife on the
other side, who was lying at the point
-of death.
The trouble started near Lulu, when
Holmes and the Negro principal of
the schools attempted to expell a
seventeen-year-old mullatto girl, Hat-
tie Morris. At a neighborhood meet-
ing held, it had been decided that the
conduct of .Hattie Morris with the
son of one of the white planters, Wal-
ton White, was of such nature that
the parents felt to permit her longer
to attend school with their children,
rage when he hear*1, that his sweet-
heart had been excluded from the
school. He proceeded to the school-
house and informed the principal, W.
T. Bowman, and a man of 50 years of
age, that Hattie was as good as any
"NIGGER IN THJ5 COMMUNITY."
He said he, personally, did not care
about any nigger and he would see
that the girl attended school.
That night old man Bowman was
taken oht and whipped. The mob.
led by the irate Wilson, then started
in search of Holmes; of course, fail-
ing to find him. Holmes is married
and has four children. Old man Bow-
man has lived in the neighborhood
for many years. He went that even-
ing to see some of the BEST WHITE
FOLKS in the neighborhood in an at-
tempt to secure protection, but all re-
fused to assist. Walter Wilson is
known among the Negroes of this sec-
tion, as a mob leader. He and his
father are. recent arrivals in the com-
munity. coming from somewhere up
America's Congo
-was demoralizing and an outrage. , mumi;. v.uu uS
The white planter's son was in a the hills of Mississippi, near Edwards.
Lincoln League Holds Big Rally
BETHEL'S HALL «'is packed and jammed with loyal Republicans, Wed-
nesday night ,to hear the Republican municipal candidates discuss the issues
«f the Campaign. Candidates Warren E. Moore and Bob Parnam were pres-
ent. Both made rousing speeches. The meeting was held under the auspices
of the Lincoln League, Mr. E. C. King, the president of the c'ub, presiding.
Both candidates pledged themselves to attempt to provide the Negro districts
•with three policemen, two in uniform and one plain-clothesman. They also
agreed to restore the right of the Negroes to go to Northeast Lake, from
which they have been barred by the Democratic Administration and they
made no uncertain promises as to what would be done in the districts of the
city where the Democrats seem to have forgotten to place lights and proper
drainage, particular reference being made to the Fair Grounds district and
the West Reno and Capitol Hill Districts.
The candidates were greeted with cheers as they offered their worth
•while program including the employment of Negros again in th Public Works
Department, from which they have been practically barred since Commis-
sioner Ollie Wilson took charge.
Miss Florrie D. Pugh, Mr. Yancy, Rev. Kirkland and Mr. David Stroud
made strong talks In favor of the Republican ticket and many new members
wre added to the League. Another rousing meeting was held in the Fair
C rounds district Thursday night, and at Rev. Kirkland's church Friday night.
From all indications, the Negro Republicans of the city are aroused and will
help to swamp the Democratic machine on election day.
IMPORTANT
On the editorial page are two articles, entitled, "Independent Voting." Be
sure to read them, one article is written by Dr. I. W. Young, the other by
the editor.
MARQUESS FIGHTS FOR
LANGSTON
President Jno. Marquess of
Langston University, was in the
city and at the State Capitol
Tuesday, in the interest of the
legislative program for Langs-
ton University. The President
is attempting to sacure the right
to confere degrees for the Uni-
versity and to secure such ap-
propriations for the school as
will be adequate and necessary.
Some opposition has developed
on the right of the University
to confer degrees and the Black
Dispatch suggests that all of
the readers of the paper write
their representative and express
themselves on this very impor-
tant subject. Some time ago
this paper started a fight on
this proposition and President
Marquess is doing everything to
relieve this condition at the
University. A united front will
help. Do your bit. Ge into the
harness today and write to your
representative from your county
and tell him that you think
Langston should be be a uni-
versity in name only; tell him
that the Negro boys and girls
in this state should have the
same chance at Langston that
is given to the white youth in
! several places in the state of
Oklahoma.
INTERESTING
FACTS ABOUT
NEGRO LABOR
Negroes were most generally employ-
ed during the war period, the average
number of working hours, opinions of
employers who employed Negroes and
the Negro workers records as to ab-
senteeism, turnover, etc. The report
also gives full acocunt of the plans,
policies, methods of handling the prob-
lems dealt with by the Department of
Labor during the past t!iree- years for
increasing the efficiency of Negro
workers, and improving the relations
of Negro workers, white workers and
employers.
Pickens Writes on Insidious
Debt-Slavery System of South
Says System is Cause of Nearly All
[Lynchings, Burnings and Brutality
(Reprinted from the Nation of March ] allow the ignorant and the poor un-
23, 1921) wittingly and unwillingly to sell them-
THE AMERICAN CONGO-BURNING selves for much less than an old slave-
~ — ..r.inVf I rw AJn\S , 1.1 orvl^l TVlO
OF HENRY LOWRY
PERRY'S CHIEF ENDORSES HIM
FOR BIG JOB IN NEGRO
METROPOLIS
twenty-six states, comprising 62,340
Negro workers in 292 firms in the dif-
ferent war industries in 1918 are given.
The large percentage of increase of
Negroes in meat-packing establish-
ments from 1916 to 1919 and an analy-
sis of the occupations ■ of 24,648 Negro
workers in the shipbuilding plants
under the jurisdiction of the U. S.
Shipping Board, studies of Negroes in
iron and steel plants and other basic
industries during the war are included.
The opinions of employers who have
had experience with Negro workers,
have been ascertained and tabulated.
A brief summary is given of the
large shift of Colored women from
domestic and personal service into in-
dustrial and clerical occupations dur-
ing the war period.
In commenting on the publication
TYSON HERE"
Dr. Andrew H. Tyson of Wewoka,
Okla., was in the city, Wednesday,
attending to business connected with
the Independent Industrial League of
which he is the president. Dr. Tyson
stated that a district meeting of his
League would be held on the 9th and
10th of April, in the city of Lima. Dr.
D W. Porter of Dallas, Texas, will de-
liver an address on "Mexico, the Land
of Opportunities." An extended pro-
gram, covering the two days' meeting,
has been prepared and sent out to the
membership.
OHIO NEGRO ESTABLISHES
PLANT TO CONVERT CITY
REFUSE INTO USEFUL
FERTERLIZER.
(By the Associated Negro Press)
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, March 15 —
Solving the garbage question for cities,
towns and villages is declared to have
been put within reach by the inven-
tion of W. F. Page, a Negro, which
provides for the converting of all kinds
of waste material into a practical fer-
tilizer. A stock company has been
formed and is successfully operated
under the direction of the Rev. W. D.
Harper of this city.
city, Major Bliss found time to
hold a telephone conversation with
the editor of this publication. He
stated that many times, he had read
the Black Dispatch in France thru
the courtesy of Sergeant Major Geo.
W. Perry, formerly of the Black Dis-
patch force, and who was connected
with the Major's lighting unit. He
spoke in the highest terms of the abil-
ity of Mr. Perry whom he holds in
high esteem. He stated that he had
learned from Mr. Perry that he was a
candidate for appointment as post-
master at Boley. He stated . further
that he hoped Mr. Perry would se-
cure the appointment.
Educational Work
In Rural Districts
Is Going Forward
By William Pickens
The valley of the Mississippi River
from Memphis to the great delta may
properly be termed the "Congo" of
America. It includes the States of
I Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
western Tennessee, and eastern Tex-
as. The quest of this Congo is not for
i\egro men m un «.uieu ™ rubber and ivory, but for cotton and
sugar. Here labor is forced, and the
laborer is a slave. The slavery is a
cunningly contrived debt-slavery, to
give the appearance of civilization and
the sanction of law. A debt of a few
hundred dollars may tie a black man
and his family of ten as security in
bondage to a great white planter as
if he had purchased their bodies. If
the Thirteenth Amendment, which has
never been enforced in this region,
means anything, it is that a man's
body cannot be held for an honestly
contracted debt; that only his proper-
ty can be held; and'that if a contract-
ing debtor has no property, the credi-
tor takes the risk in advancing cred-
it. Otherwise a law abolishing slave-
ry could be easily evaded, for the
wealthy enslaver could get the poor
victim into debt and then hold his
body in default of payment. Wages
could then be so adjusted to expenses
and the costs of "keep" that the slav-
ery would be unending. The only way
for this debt-slave to get free from
such a master is to get some one else
to pay this debt; that is, to sell him-
self to another, with added charges,
expenses of moving and bonuses. By
this method the enslaver gets his
bondmen cheaper than in a regular
slave system, for in the debt-system
he does not have to pay the full mar-
ket price of a man. The effect is to
Major Paul S. Bliss, in command of
the 805 Pioneer Infantry, A. E. F., and
who saw service in France with this — """? — --- «■— -
Unit of the American forces, was in Dr. George E. Haynes of the Depart-
Oklahoma City last week. While in ment of Labor said, "The facts given
- in this second study of Negro labor
have been very carefully gathered,
collated and analyzed. The tables and
figures and other data while limited
in quantity and scope are accurate and
probably the most available and al-
most the only material covering these
problems."
BAKER HEADS NEW COM-
PANY OF OKLAHOMA
CITIZENS
Slayer of Defenseless Woman
Quickly Landed in Prison
cr!mina"sClwps | W
fx1;" sr.rr.ss;
s-sss smsm
cowardly and fiendish murder of this
-oor woman. Rosetta Humphrey, the
slain woman, had just been in the
city for a few days, coming here from
Frederick, Okla., where she had
known the accused man Carson. She
was married; it is alleged that she
had followed Carson here, but had
decided to go hack to her husband,
and this is what angered Carson.
About six o'clock, Thursday even-
ing, Carson met the Humphrey wo-
man on West 2nd Street, accompa-
nied by his brother-in-law. Vergil
Green, who it Is alleged, alsoho'u'rt ^"investigation. Wednesday
rnln whfZll w.th^Xe"Hum^eyU Justice Hawk.ns' Court, Carson
woman. Green forccs me other wo-1 was bound over without bail. He was
man to go with him, while Carson questions during the preliminary.
head-work soon located the brother-
in-law, Green, through him they were
led cut to the house on ZZnd street
where Carson's wife worked. Greer,
was forced to open the house but Mrs
Carson had been tipped off and was
gone. Secreting themselves in a gar
age directly west of the house, the of
ficers were successful in nabbing Car-
son about an hour later as he slippeo
up the alley from the west, evidently
intending to change his clothes ana
make his get-away.
He was lodged in the city jail and
a charge of murder was placed against
him. Green was also held for 24
(From the New York Age)
Atlantic City, N. J—In addressing
members of the Department of Rural
Education at a meeting held here re-
cently, Dr. James Hrdy Dillard spoke
interestingly of the big work in Edu-j
eating Negroes in the rural districts.
Dr. Dillard said in part:
"Eight years ago the country super-1
'ntendents began to see the need of
having in their counties at least onei
;ood graded school that would go be-:
•end the work of the one-room schools!
The John F. Slater Fund, which until
his time had not helped in the rural
work, agreed to contribute $500 a year
for the establishment of such schools
in counties on condition that they be
public schools belonging to the coun-
ty or district, that the term be eight
months, that there be at least eight
grades, and that he couny or district
board give 1750 a year. Four schools
were started in 1912. There were
wenty teachers in the four schools
■md for their salaries the public tax
funds gave $3344 and the Slater Fuad
$2000. In 1913 there were again only
four. Then the number began to in-
crease steadily as follows: eight, sev-
enteen. twenty-seven, forty-two. fifty-
two. seventy-two, one hundred and six
and this year there are 142 with 833
teachers and the counties are appro-
priating for establishment and sup-
port over half a million dollars.
Salaries On The Increase
"A total of $533,701 is paid for sal-
aries, of which the counties pay $;">47,
898, and the General Educational
Board is contributing $74,800 for mak-
Mr. H. E. Baker, the genial *
manager of the Ardmore Lubri- *
eating Oil Company, of Oklaho- *
ma City, has organized another !
strong company in the city from
among some of the most sub- '
stantial citizens. The purpose •
of the new company will be,
according to the articles of in-
corporation, to operate stores,
manufactories, employment
agencies, to establish building
associations, loan money, make
investments and handle guard-
ianships.
The charter is sweeping; ac-
cording to Mr. Baker, tins was
intended so that the company
could cover a wide range of ac-
tivities. Mr. Baker states that
he intends to make of it the
same -success that has been
made of the Ardmore Lubricat-
ing Oil Company, and judging
from the remarkable strides in
financing and putting across the
Ardmore Lubricating Oil Com-
pany, made by Mr. Baker, the
new company's success is as-
sured.
Some of the prominent men cf
1 the city whose names appear on
' the articles of incorporation are
* Prof. T. R. Debnam, Prof. G. N.
" Bowen, Antoine H. Fuhr, Z. Gar-
► rett, H. E. Powers and others.
" The new company will be nam-
e ed "Our Stockholder's Mercan-
* tile, Commission Jobbers, ln-
* vestment, Real Estate and ln-
* dustrial Company."
holder Avould have sold them. The
debt-master has other advantages, in
that he is free from liabilities on ac-
count of the debtor's ill-health or the
failure on his crops. The debtor takes
all the risk; and in case of misfortune
or crop failure, gets deeper into debt
—more securely tied in bondage.
This is the system that obtains in
the great Mississippi Valley, and it
has not been modified for thirty years
or more. The evil of this system is
responsible for all of the massacres of
cqlored people and for nearly oil of
the horrible lynchings and burnings
of individual NegroeB that have late-
ly taken place in this region. The
recent most barbarous of all burnings
of a human being, that of Henry Low-
ry, at Nodena, Arkansas, near Mem-
phis, Tennessee, is directly and im-
mediately traceable to this debt-slave
system. The newspapers of that sec-
tion which described in great detail
the Negro "murderer's" deed of kill-
ing a white planter and the savage
torture which the farmers Inflicted uo
on the slayer, either pretend not to
know the cause of all this or deliber-
ately ignore it. Some of the newspa-
pers, whose representatives saw mem-
bers of the white planter's family and
found out everything else ,said that
"no reason could be ascertained" as
to why the Negro shot the white man.
And other papers invented or accepted
a beautiful little fiction: that Lowry
had chased a colored woman for a
mile or more trying to kill her; that
this colored woman finally ran into
the home of O. T. Craig, the planter,
for protection; that the planter step-
ped out to "remonstrate" with Low-
ry, when the latter shot him dead, in-
cidentally killing his daughter, a Mrs.
(continued on page six)
But all along the lines there is nota-
ble improvement. The readiness and
selS-sacrifice of the colored people
themselves to contribute to their
schools will some day be recognized
senwald. From September 1, 1920, to
January 31, 1921, it is expected that
226 School-houses will have been built
at a total cost of $1,071,036. Of this
amount, the colored people will have stuuum mu oumo u«j in,u6u.« u
contributed $311, 432; white people i as one of the remarkable features of
*121,830; public funds, $426,974; and i this period of educational develop-
the Rosenwald Fund, $210,800. (ment and all things consider, the stea-
"But more important than all of dy growth of white public sentiment
these outside donations is the amount in favor of a square deal for the col-
that is being spent out of public taxlored people is little less remarkable."
funds for smaller public schools and i
for the various State Normal and In FLIPPER HAS POSITION IN INTER-
dustrial Institutes and Colleges. The I IOR DEPARTMENT
amount appropriated to the higher]
State colored institutions for the pres-i n r ucmn Flin-
year i. )U67.m, Thi, ,0..! SST'o.
Academy, has been appointed a spec-
ial assistant to the Secretary of the
Interior, and has assumed his new
duties.
mount for colored children in seven of
the Southern states for the session
1919-1920 was $2,171,000, almost dou-
bles the amount of eight years ago.
Negro Education Makes Progress
"These figures that I have given are
enough to show that the work of ed-
ucation among the colored people is
going forward at least fairly well. We
do not hear as much about all this
activity as we hear about lynching,
yet it is there. The best of the work,
as is perhaps always true of all the
best work, is going on in a more or
less quiet way, like the processes of
nature, but it is all counting. In spite
of prophets of evil, the educational
condition of the colored people as a
whole is steadily improving year by
year. Nor have I spoken, because I
have been dealing with what is chief-
ly rural work, of the tremendous ser-
vice that is being done by the various
bodies religious to their institutions
and colleges and by the various pri
vate institutions. They are all doing
erage salary was only $267, this year an important service to supply the
it is $642. I have not yet the accurate heavy need and demand for teachers. | *
number for the present session but °—"„,.« !« •. #
last year the number of pupils in the
high schools from these beginnings of
high schools are helping to supply
the superintendent with teachers for
his smaller schools—a makeshift per- «•« —-- ----
haps, but still a great improvement., heard a teacher say the other.day that
-Along with these two lines of work}if she and her pupils were far enough
there is going another important a- advanced, they could study geology
ot improvement thresh the i.brought
Sacrifice For Education
"In many, many sections, however,
the salaries of the rural colored teach
ers are still very low, the terms short
the school-houses mere shacks. I
Board is contributing $74,800 for ma*- ^ency oi impro.oucm ho roof
ing certain increases. In 1912 the av- splendid liberality of Mr. Julius Ro-- sides and astronomy through the roof.
THE ARDMORE LUBRICAT-
ING OIL COMPANY
As I see it now, is a splendid
investment for our people. I
have looked into the matter and
conditions and the chance for
our people is splendid indeed
You know, that is if you know
anything at all, that It takes
money to develop the plant and
carry out the plans.
The manager, H. E. Baker, is
< a man that keeps everlasting-
1 ly at it. That's the kind that
■ will succeed. I heartily recom-
' mend to the confidence of the
* people, this enterprise.
► And to let you know how I
feel about it, I am in the field
12 as an agent and to help push
and to invest and to ge other
people to invest. I am a man
not to lead my people into any-
thing that I know is not true.
Signed:
W. P. Pipkins,
Presiding Elder Oklahoma Dis-
trict C. M. E. Church, Head-
quarters 725 East 3rd St, Ok-
lahoma City. 320 D. St., Ard-
more, Okla.
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Dunjee, Roscoe. The Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1921, newspaper, March 25, 1921; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc152325/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.