St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1938-04-01

Scissors" The man held her head
under the water, silencing her
cries, but with her dying energy
she thrust her arm aloft and
| wiggled her fingers to indicate
scissors"
have been writing and talking
for many years upon the subject OF
racial welfare, no doubt to the dis
gust of many who do not sympa-
thize with my righteousness upon
that question. In season and out /
nave continued the crusade for
unity, cooperation, sane thinking,
believing that only in this way can
this race of mine, rise to the
heights and take it's place among
races that are contributing to
world progress, and to its own well
being.
l have not yet reached the place
where my head has been beneath
the water nor met the necessity
of thrusting my arm above the
waves to emphasize scissors" But
signs of encOuragements are Wis
ible. Results are showing. Just
his past week there has been fac
tual evidence that progress along
these lines is being found and fol-
lowed. l should like to call atten-
ton to two important happenings.
The first of these was a meeting
sponsored by the Women's Society
for Peace and Freedom, at the
Walker Art Galleries in Mime
apolis. Both white and colored
people contributed to the program
directed by Mrs. Frank Reese, a
most earnest worker for interracial
understanding. The program was
given almost entirely by members
of the Halle @. Brown in st. Paul
and the Phyllis Wheatley House in
Minneapolis, and the young people
connected with each house. Assist
ing were a group of young people
of the white race. The speaker
of the evening was high Mime
sofa educational figure.
In all of this there was little of
the unusual. Time and again our
people have been invited to present
an entertaining program for the
white persons who have thus ex-
pressed a continuing interest in the
Negro group.
But this was much different. So
different that l have never wit
messed anything just like it. For
here were members of my group
seeking not to entertain friendly
members of another, but members
of my group seeking to bring edu-
cation and cooperation of equal
value to each to the end that each
might profit from the contact and
realize from the added knowledge
gained the greater worth of both.
And how splendidly it was done.
The talks of Miss Myrtle Garden
of Halle @. Brown and of Mrs.
Louise L. Bromley, the new head
of Phyllis Wheatley, were more
than satisfactory in their infOrma-
tive content, their assumption OF
equal understanding and competent
assistance in the give and take of
interracial cooperation.
The young people of st. Paul and
the young people of Minneapolis
brought to the program the I'M
equaled and touching music Of
their people interpreted as only
well trained members of the group
could do; a presentation of the
poets of the race with excerpts
from some of their most appealing
works. The little kddies danced
their way into the hearts of the
hearers, not because they were
members of an underprivileged
race, but because as lively inteli-
gent young children they have ap-
preciated the teaching they have
received, have become ambitious to
emulate other artists and are on
their way.
All in all it was the coming to-
gether of the best and most under
standing of the two groups and ]
venture the assertion that the bene-
fits of the contacts made will long
and profitably endure.
The other occasion was that of
the women of the City Association
of Clubs of Minneapolis in a pro-
gram at the Phyllis Wheatley
House in which it set itself before