St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-02-26
OBSERVATIONS IN
BALTIMORE
Continued from Page y

pOeLry anu oil dL the liable SuJOySu
hearing their original poems.
Without doubt the most helpful
person to US in Baltimore was Mrs.
Lille M. Jackson, the president of
the Baltimore Branch of the N. A.
A. G. P. I called her from the
Afro-American office and she came
right over and took us to the cozy
office of the Baltimore Branch. We
met Randall Tyus, the executive
secretary of the Baltimore Branch,
which is the second largest in the
country, with ten thousand men,
bers. Detroit, the largest branch,
has more than twelve thousand
members and paid executive Sec
rotary. The phenomenal growth of
the Baltimore Branch is due large
ly to Mrs. Jackson, who has been
the president for several years. In
1941 the Baltimore had 5000 men,
bers and in 1912 their member
ship was doubled and Mr.. Tyus
was employed as the full time ex-
ecutive secretary at salary higher
than that paid to him as a member
of the national N. A. A. G. P. staff.
Mrs. Jackson took US back to the
Afro American office, where we
were extended every possible cour-
tesy. Mrs. Jackson and Mr.. Tyus
assured US that their branch would
be willing to cooperate with us in
any way possible in the fight we
are now making to "STRIKE A
BLOW AT OLD jim CROW,
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR NEGROES
IN THE ARMED FORCES" The
Baltimore Branch was the spear
head of the very successful "March
on Annapolis" the capital of Mary
land, last year, when two thousand
citizens marched on the capitol to
protest against discrimination.
We were the dinner guests of Mr..
and Mrs. Clarence Mitchell. Mrs.
Mitchell is the daughter of Mrs.
Jackson and her husband will be re-
membered as the executive secre-
tary of the st. Paul Urban League,
before he resigned in 1941 to enter
governmental work. Mr.. Mitchell
is on the staff of the War Man
power Commission. The Mitchells
wish to be remembered to all of
their friends in the Twin Cities.
They are regular readers of THE
ST. PAUL RECORDER and are
very much interested in affairs in
the Twin Cities. We were the
guests in the lovely home of Mr..
and Mrs. Jackson our second night
in Baltimore.
In my story on "Observations in
Washington" gave Washington
the rather undesirable title of being
possibly the most prejudiced city
in the nation. Well, Baltimore is
a closer second to Washington in
that respect than the forty miles
that separate the two cities. There
are department stores in Baltimore
that refuse service to Negroes.
When say SERVICE" I am not re-
ferring to just the refusal to serve
Negroes at their lunch counters or
eating places, but Negroes cannot
buy anything in these stores. Here
are two examples of this kind of
discrimination as told to me by Mrs.
Jackson.
The first story concerns a black
Frenchman, who was refused serv-
ice in a store because of his color.
This black Frenchman protested
that he was not an American Ne
gro, but a Frenchman! He was
served. A dark-skinned Cuban had
been denied service, but when he
protested that he was a Cuban and
not an American Negro, he too was
served.
But the story that really made
my blood boil and made my face
change to whatever color my face
becomes when I am angry was the
following: A young Negro mother
took her two little sons into Bal
timore store to buy some shoes for
the boys. This Negro mother was
refused service. l wonder how she
felt, when she realized that her
husband was then in the United
States Army, training to fight for
President Roosevelt's and Mr..
Churchill's "four freedoms" while
his wife was being denied the OPP
portunity to buy shoes for his sons,
not in Hitler's Berlin, but in Balti-
more, Maryland, U. S. "A, "The Ar
senal of Democracy" The Rankins,
Bilbos, Dixons, Talmadges, Dies,
Ku Kluxers, people all over the ma
ton who discriminate against the
Negro and other minority groups
and our so-called friends, who think
that we should cease fighting for
our democratic rights-until the
war is won overseas must wake
up to the realization of the fact
they are retarding the war effort.
Discrimination and segregation in
America are staunch allies, very
close friends indeed, to Hitler and
his Axis partners. There are many
people in America, in national and
state governmental positions as
we'll as in private life. who need tn