St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-02-02

cember Mrs. Anderson, who was
Aemployed in the luncheonette de.
partment of the store, was ordered
to move from the large dressing
room used Unfortunately by most
of the female employees to a small
one used only by Negro employees
Mrs. Anderson resented the order
and inquired as to what the reason
for the order was, as she had had
no trouble with any of the employees
in the three months that she had
been with the company. She was
told that a complaint had been made
by one of the white girls solely be-
cause of Mrs. Anderson's race.
Admits Discriminatory Order
Mrs. Anderson did not return to
work the next day and on Dec 9,
she went to see B. C. Dablow, the
personnel manager of the depart
ment in which she had worked. He
admitted that he had given the
order and asked Mrs. Anderson to
continue to work, which she refused
to do. Mrs. Anderson asked for
and received a refund of $155.0O
that she had paid on fur coat in
the store. Mrs. Anderson then re-
ported the case to the st. Paul
Branch N. A. A. C. P. On Thurs
day, Dec. IA, Rev. Nelson and Maceo
V. Littlejohn, chairman of the Legal
Redress Committee, had a confer
ence with Mr.. Dablow. The latter
said that Mrs. Anderson was said
to be the best help in the depart
ment and he placed the blame for
the situation on a former manager
of the department, who permitted
Mrs. Anderson to go into the large
dressing room when she was first
employed"
According to Mr.. Dablow it is the
policy of the Montgomery Ward
firm to have separate dressing
rooms on the basis of race" in all of
the stores I have been in and
have not been in any of the stores
of the South" Mr.. Littlejohn raised
the question as to why Negro clerks
had not been hired in the store.
Mr.. Dablow did not claim to know
the answer to that question. When
he was asked as to what the future
policy of the store would be in re-
gard to the dressing rooms, Mr..
Dablow asked "what is the policy
in the other stores?" He promised
to call Rev. Nelson the next day on
the matter.
When Mr.. Dablow called Rev.
Nelson he told him that upon in
vestigation it had been found out
that the Negro women had asked
for a separate dressing room
"about two years ago." Mr.. Nelson
talked to several of the Negro en-
ployes, including Warden Woodford,
who has been employed at Wards
for more than twenty years.
Some of Them Wanted
Segregation
Mr.. Woodford told Rev. Nelson
that the small dressing room, now
being used by several of the Negro
women, was at first departmental
dressing room, but when the num-
Der of employees increased a larger
dressing room was made for all.
According to Mr.. Woodford all of
the Negro women and girls could
have gone into the larger dressing
room, but some of them desired to
remain in the small dressing room.
Whereupon comfortable chairs were
placed in the smaller room. Mr..
Woodford pointed out to Rev. Mel
son that there were at least three
Negro women still using the larger
dressing room. Rev. Nelson also
reported seeing one Negro girl come
out Of the larger dressing room,
while he and Mr.. Woodford were
talking. He asked Mr.. Woodford,
why Mr.. Dablow permitted Mrs.
A large crowd attended the m,
NAACP held at Halle @. Brown
question "What tie Negro Wants."
Mrs. Val Dora Turner Frazier, n
Alverta Coram, Louis Mason anC
Johnson, graduate student of IL
moderator.