The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-11-22
STARVED MOTHER
BURIED; FATHER
TO MARCH DEC. 9Th
Harlem Workers Hold
Mass Funeral for
Estelle Smith

Mrs. Estelle Smith, Negro mother
who was starved to death by the
charities" of New York City was
buried Yesterday. Standing by the
coffin Of this murdered woman. the
Negro and white workers of Harlem
pledged themselves to ayenge her
death by organizing AGAINST the hun
ger government of New York and
the United States. As a first step
in this struggle. they elected Norman
Smith, husband Of the dead comrade.
to go ss a delegate to Washington in
the national hunger march in Dec
ember.
Representatives Of working class
organization spoke at the mass fun
eraI in the Harlem Workers Center,
$50 Lenox Avenue, urging the work.
ers to learn from the life and death
of Comrade Smith the need of relent-
less STRUGGLE against starvation and
jim rowism.
Turned AWAY by Charities.
Mrs Smith and her husband had
been denied relief by almost every
agency in New York The Charity
Organization Society, and the Home
Relief Bureaus again and again gave
them only a few pennies. or turned
them away altogether. During the
last two years, the family was eVicted
several times. When Comrade Nor
man Smith. with delegation Of
white and NEGRO workers. went to the
Relief Bureau, on 125th Street to
demand helm. he and a number of
others were thrown into jail for eight
days.
Lived on IL Gents a Day.
For nanv months Norman and Es-
telle Smith ard their two small chill
dren were forced to live on II cents
a dav given them by the Home Re-
lief Bureau. During the last year,
Mrs. Smith, in srite of the tact that
she was rregpant, was forced to
carry euept hurdles of wood THROUGH
the streets in order to get something
to eat. Her starvation diet and her
hard work had grealv weakened her
bv the time she gave birth to her
child in Fordham Hosnital on Oc-
tober 8. In the hosuii'al she was
mistreated and neglected. and after
returning home was forced to 90 to
the Harlem Hospital for further
treatment Here she died on Noyem-
Der IS
starvation and mistreatment
killed Esstelle Smith" said speaker
after speaker at the funeral, as the
honor guard Of Negro and white
workers stood with raised, clench
fists by the coffin. Eve charge the
city of New York and the American
government with her murder. Had
Mrs. Smith been white woman, she
would not have been starved and mis-
treated. But she is the wife of an
unemployed worker, and she is Ne
gro. Therefore she got the treatment
which the government gives to work
ers and especially to Negroes-star-
walton.
Mrs. Smith is not the onIv worker
murdered by the hunger nolicv of the
government. Millions of men. wo-
men and children are slowly starving
to death in America TODAY. while the
warehouses are bursting with food
PLEDGE Fight on HUNGER.
"Here BY the side of our murdered
c0mrsde. we pledge ourselves to build
our working class organization, our
Unemrloved Councils and the League
of Struggle for Negro Rights, Of
which Mrs. Smith was an active
member. We pledge ourselves to
help swell the ranks of the hunger
marchers who will go to Washington
to demand immediate relief and I'M
insurance. If we do not
force the government to grant imme-
date aid. we will see this nur1er re-
peated hundred time, .lt COM
ing winter. in every ci a town in
the United States"