The Omaha guide., 1935-10-26
HOMES WAITING
FOR THEIR BOYS

A S SOON as the pavement ends, and large round
"A cobblestones, clipped at the edges, grass grow
ing between the cracks, begin to fill the roadways,
you know that you are approaching a Negro neigh
borhood Of Atlanta, Georgia, one Of the largest cit
les Of the South. Little street is no exception. Not
a house on that street has seen a coat Of paint in
years-if ever. The landlords don't care how they
look. TIL they're after is the rent.
Not a single one Of them has a cellar; they
roost on spindly brick columns about two feet off
the ground, leaving just room enough for all the
old shoes; broken furniture rusty hole-riddled buck
cts; meat and chicken bones watermelon rinds, lit
tiers of sick puppies and garbage Of every descrip-
tion-symbols Of the poverty that broods despair.
Most of the houses have some sort Of flowers
around them, like an attempt to hide their wretch
edness behind green leaves. Tall sickly sunflowers
raise their heads above the dusty streets, reaching a
height Of about 5 feet, and then droop hopelessly
fl to say: "Why grow in squalor like this?'
THE POVERTY OF LITTL PLACE
Little Place is an alley off Little Street. Mum
Der | Little Place is where Mrs. Viola Montgomery
and ten-year-old Mary Alice live. They have lived
here for most of the four and a half years that Glen
Montgomery, one Of the Scottsboro boys, has been
in Jail. They lived in the country back in 1881, in
Monroe, Georgia, where Mrs. Montgomery was born.
But then Glen left to have his eyes fixed, and try
to find work to help the mall, and the next time
his mother saw him was in the death house Of Kilby
Prison ,along with the other eight Scottsboro boys.
After that the family moved to Atlanta, and finally
to Little Place.
just as | arrived, Mrs. Montgomery was pitch
ing a huge tubful Of suds out in front Of her house.
Some of it splashed against the sides of the neigh
boring house, one foot removed from hers. There
no other place to throw it. There is no sink In the
two-room house, no running water, and the toilet
is in the house around the corner; the only comfort
is that it belongs solely to the Montgomery family
or any family that resides in Number One Little
Place. MATCHBOX u
Inside the two room matchbox house there is
hardly any light. Once there was wall paper on
those walls. There are only a few patches Of it
left now. Many of the patches of broken plaster are
covered with huge, garishly colored calendars, but
there aren't enough calendars to cover all Of them.
The bed and the table cover most Of the floor
space in the front room. In the back room there's
a fireplace. Its only decoration is a huge enlarge
ment Of a picture Of Glen taken in jail. Mrs. Mont
gomery busted off the picture with her elbow and
made me sit in the only chair in the room. Her first
words were of Glen. She had just received a letter
from him. His spirits were good.
cts lucky you come on a Sunday she told
me, "because | work sometimes the rest of the
week" A few weeks ago the relief lady told Mrs.
Montgomery that she would have to go to work or
her $3.50 every-two weeks-cash relief would be cut
off. Since then, she has been working three or four
days each week, though she must 60 down every
day, at Zoe an hour. The most she can be worked
is thirty hours a v week.
Mrs. Montgomery house rent-for nothing but
the wretched gray walls-no lights, no water, no
heats So amOnth. Water is extra, and has to be
hauled half a block. Fire-wood is expensive; light
comes cheap enough in two kerosene lamps.
CHILDREN SHoELESS
While we were talking about conditions, and
the boys and the coming trials, Mary Alice was
rushing to get dressed. She was going to walk me
over to Mrs. Powell, mother Of Ozio, another Of the
Scottsboro boys. Mary Alice is the only child in
Little Alley that boasts Of a pair Of shoes. They
come from the international Labor Defense. In fact
the money that comes every month from the Inter
national Labor Defense is what stands between the
Montgomerys and starvation.
Mary Alice and | walked through blocks and
blocks Of miserable streets filled with children, gar
bage and dust, past Big Rock jail FULTON Tower
PRISON. whose gloomy grayness casts long shadows
all around it.
Finally we got to Mrs. Powell's house. This is
even worse than the Montgomery home because it
is twice as large and therefore twice as wretched.
Mrs. Powell, her married daughter, son-inIaw, her
baby girl and the grandchildren all live in one
small corner of the house. The rest is let out to
dodgers SO that the rent-$20-water extra-can be