The Wisconsin weekly blade. [volume] (Madison, Wis.) 1916-1925, 1917-02-08
OUR MID-wINTER GRADUATES

| lnere are not many or our girls
and boys coming out at this season of
the year but there is one little lady
who has made so splendid a record
that to overlook her graduation would
be gross neglect.
Miss Nancy Poindexter, oldest
daughter of Mr.. VIM. Poindexter, has
finished course at the Milwaukee
County trade school. This school in
its first organization just few years
ago was intended for branch of the
county corrective system but so great
was the demand for such institution
that the policy was changed and there
are now 400 girls there studying the
domestic industries. Miss Poindexter
is the first colored girl to ente- and
she has graduated with the highest
honors. Besides going daily TO school
which was on the extreme outskirts of
the city this little lady has been house
keeper for her father and brothers
togethehr with younger sister and
the pluck and tenacity which she has
exhibited deserves the highest praise.
So earnest was she in her anxiety to
make good record that she recently
solicited the prayers of the church
congregation to help her through and
on last Sunday she joyously an
nounced to the Sunday School that she
| bod HAY, e,,oaaccf,.1 -
post course in advanced millinery Miss
Poindexter will be prepared to do the
community tailoring and hat making
and we hope to see her industry re-
warded by an extensive patronage.
80 worship thru your labor
Great heights for you await,
The whole world is your workshop
My sweet girl graduate.
The correspondence in our last is
sue seems to have occasioned much
comment and We have received two
letters upon the same subject. 1t is
impossible for US to print the one
from Madison inasmuch as it makes
direct attack upon individuals and
| institutions. If the writer wishes to
alter these phases of the letter we
will be glad to print the same. This
column is for comment and suggestion
sure.
Milwaukee, Wis, Jan. 4, 1917.
Woman's Realm Editor,
Wisconsin Blade.
Dear Madam:
l read with much interest the letter
from the lady in Northern Wisconsin
and your reply to it. l think both
are very good and yet there still re-
mains a few things you have over
looked
| have watched this thing carefully
and have noticed that it is not the
native northern woman who is so su-
perior acting but the southern colored
woman who has just been up here a
little while. Down there they live in
small towns and just know how to
write their names and when they come
up here and strike a community where
there are not many people they begin
to pretend to be what they are not.
They then want to ignore their south
ern sisters because they know we
know just how they have lived in the
past. AS far as | can see there are
not half d dozen families in these
northern towns that have been here
for more than fifteen years and yet
they talk about coming into our COM
munity and coming into "our midst"
forgetting that when they came they
were glad to find anyone who would
take up with them.
You speak about southern women
coming up here and not making their
presence felt. Aren't there a lot of
them who have been here for years
and never do anything but criticize?
1t is this set of people who think they
are above their fellows who should be
the problem and not the newcomer.
Milwaukee is too full of women who
are living lives and doing nothing to
help better conditions. | have never
seen a place where all the work rested
upon such a few women and think
if you look them all OYER you will find
that many who are giving you the
best support in all your uplift move
ments are southern women so some of
them are making their presence felt.
want to hear more on this. We all
need little shaking up and I'm glad
you give both sides chance to express
themselves.
Wishing your column success,
A southern woman.
Beloit, Wis