The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1934-05-17
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the mothers and widows of slain
American soldiers to the American
cemeteries in France. the Associa-
ton vigorously protested against
the War Department sending Ne
gro Gold Star Mothers across on
seperate slower and inferior Am
erican merchant vessels carrying
chiefly freight while sending the
white Geld Star Mothers across on
the largest. finest and fastest float
ing palaces. The Negro mothers
ships required 10 days to cross the
Atlantic while those of the white
mothers required but six. In New
York the Negro mothers were sent
to third-rate hotels while awaiting
embarkation for France. while the
white mothers were lodged at the
most expensive hostelries.
The militant protest Of the Assoc
citation resulted in 90 Negro moth
ers and widows notifying the War
Department of their refusal to go
on the jim crow pilgrimage.
On October 6. 1888. the Associa-
ton came to the legal defense of
Bessie Glover a Negro woman Of
AshevilIe, N. c.. who had been
railroaded to prison for two years
on a charge of assaulting white
man with deadly weapons. The
Associations lawyers established
the fact that Miss Glover was de-
Tending herself from attempted
rape at the time and shot the white
man only after he had torn her
clothes and painfully twisted her
arm; that she had had no lawyer
at her trial, was not instructed as
to her rights; had never pleaded
guilty and did not know what was
going on until she was sentenced
to prison.
These are but a few examples Of
the sort of fight the Association
has waged during its quarter CEN
tury of existence to protect Negro
womanhood.
The Famous Sweet Case
The most noted defense of the
Negroes right of residense ever con-
Quoted by the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People was that of DR.. and Mrs.
Ossian H. Sweet of Detroit, Mich,
and nine other Negro defendants,
who were in DIR. Sweets newly
purchased home in a white" sec
ton when a member of a riotous
mob surrounding the house was
killed on September 9, 1925. DR..
Sweet had purchased the house of
q white woman who had lived there
unmolested with her Negro hus-
band for long time. AS soon as
DR.. Sweet moved into his new re-
sidence, white "neighbors'' aroused
by real estate men and Ku Klux
Khan agitators, staged meetings
and demonstrations, milling about
the house and threatening the oc-
cupants. After a barrage of stones
was showered upon the residence,
the occupants fired on the crowd,
killing one of the rioters.
The eleven Negroes were indict-
ed on charge of first degree muir
der, placed in jail, denied the right
of seeing counsel and refused bail.
Walter White, then assistant sec
rotary of the Association, went to
Detroit at once: On October z, 1925
the Association wired Clarence OAR
row, the eminent lawyer, request
ing him to take the case. The tri-
al began on October 30, with the
following N.A.A.C.P. counsel for
the defense: Clarence barrow, Ar
thur Garfield Hays, Walter Nelson.
Julian w Perry. Cecil o. Rowlette
and Charles Mahoney, the last three
being colored attorneys of Detroit.
The trial, one of the most sensa-
tional in American history, contin-
ued for four weeks. On November
~, 1925, the jury informed Judge
Murphy, after 46 hours delibera-
ton, that there was no hope of
reaching decision. Judge Muir
ply thereupon declared a mis-trial
and dismissed the jury. All Of the
defendants were released on bail.
The total cost of the first trial was
$21, s97.67, the national office Of
the Association paying $l2,577.74,
the Detroit N.A.A.C.P. branch pay
ing $6,669.93 and the City-Wide
Committee of Detroit, $2,650.
Darrow Speaks Seven Hours
Mr.. barrow then demanded sep
arate trials for the defendants. The
state chose for trial Henry Sweet,
a student at Wilberforce Universe
ty and younger brother to DR..
PERSONAL SERVICE