Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1951-03-24
AVENUE OF ACHIEVEMENT

of Hartford, Los Angeles of Hous-
ton, and New Orleans of Jackson
vile. But believe you me, Atlanta
stands out on it's own.
Atlanta is refreshing, indeed.
Here in Georgia, it is something
of an island of hope and light in
a sea of turbulent darkness. To
be sure, Atlanta is not the, only
bright spot in the South. For
that matter, it does not exactly
stand alone in Georgia. Savannah
and Augusta, for instance, can
claim their light.
Nevertheless, what the Atlanta
| Negro is doing and has done, stand
as types of neutrality-suspicious. of
race progress and should encour-
Sge the race over the nation, and
especially in the South. Negroes
in Atlanta are very proud of their
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, schools,
churches, community institutions
and businesses. And there is good
justification in this vanity.
| always get a thrill out Of
walking along mere four blocks
of John Wesley Dobbs' "Sweet
Auburn Avenue" In these few
squares, you see that that has
made and will keep Atlanta great
| 1t starts with the Atlanta Life
Insurance Company, the multi-mil-
lion business which A. F. Hern-
don launched with the profits from
his worlds finest barber shops"
Across the street are located
the executive offices of the At
!anta Daily World, the nations
first successful Negro daily news
paper, whose plant is also located
in the four-block area of my Ave-
nue. of Achievement. Along the
way are w. H. Aiken, Inc, car
rying the name of the man who
is considered top man in construc-
ton and others to call the roll.
There is Jackson's, Inc, a lead
er in household appliances, 7. NJ.
Alexander's insurance empire,
Hart-the plumber, Hooper's mar
ket, The Brown Boy bottling
works, The Citizens Trust Com
pany-the bank of Auburn Ave
nue. and the only Federal Reserve
depository among Negro operated
banking institutions, and the
building and loan association.
Going farther, you view store
number one of the Yates and Hill
ton drug chain, the main store of
Shaw the eye-glass man, branch
offices of the Atlanta Life and
other leading insurance operations
of the race. All of these bust
nesses have the nicely dress-up
fronts and interiors of the first
class business establishments that
they are.
Standing along the way are the
office buildings which house this
city's professional group-the doc
tors, dentists, accountants, law
yers and real estate dealers. Nat
urally, l have missed some. But
am rushing to get to Radio
Station WEIRD, another Negro
venture.
Now in its second year of Negro
ownership, WEIRD is just another
example of Atlanta's onward
march in the business world. Each
time that | visit Atlanta and go
into VERBS studios or listen to
its fine array of programs, get
real bitter with a letter-writer in
st. Louis who wrote. one of the
weeklies there opposing what was
termed a "Jim Grow" radio sta
ton.
Radio is big business and to
me it can be termed "Jim Grow"
no more so than can banking, man.
ufacturing or any other industry
or business enterprise that serves
the public. Ny big question would
be: "How in the name of God
can one conceive of Jim Crowed
airlanes ?"
The Blaytons, owners and oper-
ators of WEIRD, would tell you
that their assigned channel has
no color line, and the man who
hands out the notwithstanding rat
ings would tell you the same. There
are twelve radio stations in the
greater Atlanta area and, accord
ing to Hooper, WEIRD holds the
second listening position of the
city for its air-hours. Only an
approximately 1870 of this city's
100000 population is Negro.
Within the 10O-mile reach of
the WERD-channel length are L.
100000 people. This is the heart
of Mr.. Talmadge's Georgia; and
as of now, no Iron Curtain tao
tics have been employed to black
the station out, nor have state laws
been passed prohibiting Georgians
Of either color to listen to WEIRD
programs.
Here our people control an i'm
portant medium of communica-
tions. What could st. Louis and
several scores Of other Negro
communities do with such a med
ium to air their causes, display
talents, give boys and girls op-
portunities to enter all phases Of