The Miami times. [volume] (Miami, Fla.) 1923-current, 1953-08-22
Straight Ahead
BY OLIVE A. ADAMS

NEW YORK - GlobaD Some
months ago, a staggering loqua-
cious Britisher named Ashley
Montague made speech at pri-
vate elementary school here In
New York which caused quite
stir. Montague is an Anthropolo-
gist, and just why that makes him
an authority on human relations
is not quite clear. True, the find
ings of anthropologistS have help
ed to knock some of the silly
Nordic ideas of racial superiority
into a cooked hat; but the scjen-
fist is usually a person who sticks
to facts and though he may hint
as to the sociological aspects of
his findings, he usually is too wise
to 20 too far into another field to
expound at length on the impli-
cations of his findings.
But not MIR. Montagu. He APP.
pears to have been Spurred on by
an increasingly human relations
minded American public, and
stimulated by the desire to corner
some of the gravy in the lucra-
tive lecture circuit. So he has
taken to the lecture platform and
he seems to have met with fair
success here and there. The only
difficulty seems to be that MIR.
Montague has failed to inveSti-
gate thoroughly the American
scene before expressing his theor-
les which are supposed to be bas-
ed upon "workable solutions" to
the race problem.
1t was reported that in his
speech Montagu started out by
giving scientific proof of racial
equality, exploding the myth of
racial superiority. After having
laid such ground work, he then
proceeded to launch into a dis
cussion as to the sociological as
poets of indignation, saying that
such a thing would be long time
coming in America. He went even
further. He said Negroes were not
quite ready for it, and when ask
ed if he thought Negroes were
mot ready" to be freed from sla-
very when they were, he answer
ed in the affirmative. He came
out against interracial housing,
schooling, and marriage Zone is
sue he should have left strictly
alone.) He is reported to have
said that he had never known of
a successful interracial marriage,
and there is the key to the whole
situation. There seem to be a lot
of things MIR. Montagu has never
heard of.
Despite his years of teaching at
Rutgers University, MIR. Montagu
apparently never got around to
getting acquainted with American
life generally. True, there are
many Negroes who "aren't ready"
and a great many more Whites
who "arent ready" But the
gentleman should do a little re-
search in the fields of business
and industry. Then perhaps he
would come upon some startling
information.
Nobody has ever been able to
stop interracial marriage. 1t has
come about even in the face of
restricting laws. Besides, it is
purely personal matter that no
outsider should tamper with too
much. AS for integrated schools
everything points to change in
that pattern. The segregated
school is on its way out in many
sections Of the country. and the
weight Of public opinion is bring
ing about a change for the better
even In those areas where strict
segregation has been enforced.
But the biggest surprise would
come to MIR. Montagu if ne were
to do a little research in the field
of industry. There he would and
Negroes integrated in top man
agement and sales forces; he
would find that some of the big
gest industries in the country seek
out Negro engineers and other
technical men from Negro schools
as avidly as they seek graduates
of the best known technical
schools In the country. With these
Negroes occupying top spots in