The Omaha guide., 1935-12-14
K. A. SOrOrs Hear
of SOrdid Conditions
Clinic Head Brings Reports of
Peonage In Mississippi

rural Mississippi was revealed
to XII Omega chapter of Alpha
Kappa sorority by DR.. Dorothy
Boulding-F erebee here recently.
The talk by the physician was the
report on her organizations
health project held last summer
in Lexington, Holmes county,
Miss, in connection with National
Basileus Ida Jackson's suggestion
that the education Negro reach
down to help those on the lowest
levels in the South.
The IL who made up the group
obtained permission from health
officers in the Mississippi county
and the endorsement of official
Washington. A clinic to immun-
ize 5000 ~pre-school children was
to be established at the Saints
Industrial School in Lexington.
But on their arrival, an immedi-
ate change in their plans had to
be made. The group found the
children living on plantations in
a state of peonage, which forced
the clinic to come to them by car.
No Names Nor Ages.
OF the % white planters on
tacted, 81 gave permission for the
A. K. A group to come on the
grounds. Here improvised clinics
were set up under trees or what
ever vas available. When reluct-
antly brought to these centers
from cotton picking, neither their
names nor their ages could as a
rule be learned. Some were ad-
dressed only as Fat back" etc,
having no other, and birth dates
were placed as "she was born
around cotton picking time"
Although 215 of the 1867 chill
dren examined were very i'll, moth
ing could be done as there was
neither money nor medicine avail
able. According to DR.. Ferebee,
the only answer to sickness in this
part of Dixie is death. Illness
brought on more illness, for their
shacks we're eongested, in one in
stance Is living in a two-room
hut.
Tell of Peonage.
The old Ceramics" of the plan
tations had horrible tales to tell.
According to their stories, the
tenant farmers plant all the cot
ton but never receive a cent of
wages. The money is supposed
to go into a commissary against
which the farmer can draw what
he needs, but the only things OBJ
tainable are flour, meal, salt,
sugar, grits and fat back. At the
end of the year, Negroes usually
find they W the system. One
elderly woman said that on a
large plantation of 600 Negroes,
only five had received wages one
year and one of these was a boy
paid $1.90.
Although 1884 was a good cot
ton year, the federal government
bought a large quantity and re-
quired a list of the people produc-
ing it, when the money came
farmers were called in and signed
their KS but never received the
cash for they were told they had
simply a receipt showing they
produced the cotton. Few are able
to read and write. They cannot
move without consent of the own
er and can take nothing with
them.
Have Official Killers.
Rural schools are watched. A
teacher can instruct carpentry,
but teaching how to make a re-
ceipt or figure a tenants share of
the produce is strictly prohibited.
If a Negro displaces an owner he
does not punish, but calls on his
official killer" known as the
"Big Bully who induces the Of
fender to fight with him, shoots
him down, and goes on about his
business.
All of the women have from
8 to Is children, the physician
said. They are encouraged to have
large families to produce future
workers for the plantation. These
workers are intensely ignorant
and live only by superstition.
Practically all of the schools
there were erected by Rosenwald
but there has been no upkeep, and
they are dilapidated d falling
to pieces. There is no drinking
water near their schools, forcing
pupils to bring their own in bot
Ties.