Sunday Chicago bee. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1925-19??, 1940-09-01
THE NEGRO WOMAN
BY DIXIE B. BROOKS

OF business and aim for indepen-
dence. They did not always find
employment, but through imagi-
nation and creative ability, made
positions for themselves and 9TH
ers.
In factories, business and in
dustry, the Negro woman is slow
ly penetrating unaccustomed ave-
nues, and lending efficiency, skill
and dignity to her task. Further,
she readily enters into organized
union with her sisters to improve,
standardize and protect her work
and wages, because protection is
what she has SO long needed.
Likewise, those Of the professions
are participating members in the
organizations of their particular
interest for similar reasons.
When we think seriously Of the
adjustment the Negro woman has
made to a mode OF life, we'll estab-
lished before she was permitted
to enter as a participant, and the
contribution she has made to it,
it is easy to appreciate that she
has pressed her cause to the gates,
and justly merits place within
the life Of the nation.
The Negro woman was early
identified with the growth of the
church and still represents a po-
tent influence in its program and
auxiliary bodies. She was an &C
tive spirited force in the Adolf
ton movement and the Under
ground Railroad. The Equal Suf-
frage League and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union be-
came absorbing interests and her
voice was heard among those Of
superior advantages who had
championed these causes.
She has been an enthusiastic
contributor to the Woman's club
idea of which the National Asso-
citation of Colored Women and the
National Council of Negro Wo-
men are the most outstanding
within the group. Lodges, Greek
letter sororities, political organiza-
tons and the League Of Women
Voters have modified and given
weight to her thinking.
She is the determined adVO-
cate Of every righteous and civic
cause that springs forth within her
environment. Many Of the orga-
nizations are affiliated with other
groups. The National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People and the Young Mems
Christian Association are directed
by men, but so long as detectives
are clarified, social goals estab-
lished and the betterment Of the
people are realized, the American
Negro woman will step forward
to assume her share of the respOn-
sibility.
These and other organizations
have served as training bases in
leadership, a means of stepping to
higher ground. We refer to some
of them as inter-racial, but so
long as we make common cause
for the welfare of any part of the
people of this nation, | prefer say
ing they are American.
The American Negro woman Of
education pnd experience, who
has a knowledge Of government
and understanding Of people, is
like unto "a woman with a lamp,
standing within the land, a noble
type of Womanhood," a leader a.
mong women, eager to brighten
the path Of those who follow in
her train. Her growth, contribu
ton and detectives are too little
known, because history gives her
scant mention. Her achievements
have been SO bound to the lights
and shadows Of the men and 9th
er women of her time that it is
difficult and confusing, if not we'll
nigh impossible, to ascribe to her
due credit, but there is no mys-
terry surrounding the fact that she
has brought her hard earned gifts
and laid them on the altar Of
American life.
This is the seventy fifth year
following the Emancipation. Not
all our goals have been reached
nor all the foes conquered, but it
is hoped that the unfolding years
will bring full participation in the
benefits and privileges Of our ma
ton as we'll as in it's burdens and
responsibilities
The Negro woman has come
through the storms Of slavery and
the hazy road Of civilization, I'M
daunted, unafraid! She defies
the scorn of time and precedent,
and steps forward to the light Of
a new day.