Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-02-17
Lillian Smith Decries
Fellow SOutherner's New
Defense Of Segregation
HOLDING Carter BoOk
ASSoll0d For Position

Ass0iIod For Position
Ca Roes Soparutism
SOUTHERN LEGACY. By HOd.
ding Carter. 1856 Ply. Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State Unlver.
sity Press s..
BY Lillian Smith In the NY.
Times
In the Nineteen Thirties the
vanguard Of liberal opinion in the
South became profoundly aware
Of the effect II racial segregation
not only upoa the Negro but upon
the white Pdan's culture and his
integrity o. mind. Out Of the re-
gion, since then, have come edi-
torials IN Southern magazines,
books &nalyzing the meaning OF
the strange ceremonial of segre-
cation, novels that lay bare the
torn personalities that are the re-
sult Of our way Of life. Recently,
church groups and university
women have taken a stand against
specific forms of the Jim Crow
ritual. The human beings right to
freedom from shame is today a
concept that many white Souther-
ners openly accept.
1t is, therefore, somewhat sur
prising that Mr.. Carter, a for
ward-looking Mississippi editor
and Pulitzer-Prize winner, should
write a book in 1850 based on the
assumption that segregation can
not be questioned in Dixie. Not
only can 1t be questioned, it has
been questioned by all OF the
South's serious thinkers. 1t is
questioned and It is crumbling. A
number Of Southern city libraries
have opened their doors to Ne
groes; several graduate schools
have one or more Negro students:
q few Southern churches now have
Negro members; a few civic
boards have at least one Negro on
them.
While the Dixiecrats and Repub-
hcans in Congress 60 into a huddle
TO figure out tricks to keep the
civil rights program from coming
TO q vote, Southerners at home are
making civil rights a reality, at
least here and there. It is spotty,
much too slow for the stern nee
essities Of our times, but 1t Is
happening.
In Southern Legacy Mr.. Car
ter tries hard not to offend his
fellow-southerners. Actually. he
makes out rather q poor case for
the South. The level Of its peoples
intelligence Ii not 30 low as he
implies. their interest is not 30
CONSTRUCTED. their imagination not
so duh, their conscience not so
numb. In his efforts to say cheer
lily that all. or practically all. L.
well with the South, II only the
North would leave II alone. he in
advertently paints a portrait Of
the middle-class group that Is de-
vastating: pompous, self-satis-
fled. stupidity blind to human need,
unaware Of the intellectual cur
rents sweeping across the earth.
There are undoubtedly many
such people, North and South,
with q thick color-glaze on their
imagination. many who are tight
little provincials. and some In
every Southern town. But there
are others who are profoundly
troubled by the split between their
ideals and their acts, burdened by
the authoritarian treasures Of
white supremacy. fearful Of what
the practice Of segregation Is do
ing to their own children's growth
as human beings. The South has
many people capable Of deep feel
ing. people who have minds that
can draw subtle distinctions and
are sensitive to beauty and ideas,
dreamers who are In love with the
dream Of freedom and human ex-
cellence and cannot bear for their
dream TO die. The trouble Is, some
times. they do not know how or
where to speak.
I am not guessing. As an author
I receive Thousands Of letters from
SOutherners who feel this way.
One Of the most prominent
women in the South wrote me not
long ago. MY friends and are
sick to death of segregation. II
we could only be free Of 1t 20 that
we could bend our energies TO
more interesting matters"
Perhaps we are taking Mr.. Car
ter'a book too aeTioualy. II In act