St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1957-11-29

Prom Time Magazine, Nov. rs
edition

I AWhh Af@N@A e%afsA'1 -
edition
The petition 10 the city council
began simply: we the undersign.
ed wish TO live in the city Of Tuske-
gee" The 760 signers were former
Negro citizens Of Tuskegee. Ala.
(pop 4.700). who last July saw
their homes jlgsawed out Of the
city limits by the state legislature.
The gerrymander bin left exactly
nine Negro voters within the city
limits tinstead Of 1907, touched off
a Negro boycott Of white mer-
chants. MY God" said a council
member as he reviewed the petit
ton for readmittance last week.
III we back down now, wen lose
the whole works" The petition was
promptly turned down and with
1t, both sides grimly agreed, the
chances Of preventing the slow
death Of town.
The Macon Theater was the first
ma ior business TO close It's doors
10 both It's separate but equal
wings For food Negroes queued
up at small Negro.owned markets
or shared rides 20 neighboring Au-
burn and Columbus Tuskegee's
Fortune Fish Market shut down
Then Coopers Market, on the town
square, folded, along with Texaco |
service station and the David Lee
Clothing store. White clerks be-
gan counting their days at idle
five-and-ten counters. Some clerks
lost their jobs. Merchants adyer
tiAed special sales, open credit,
looked In vain for expected sym
pathy motorcades" Of white shop
pers from other Alabama towns
Says Proprietor l.. M. Hill, who is
closing his shoe store: Whats
the sense Of losing money, for
ever? Business IN Off 500 and n
doesn't look like It's coming back"
No Victor. No one claims a. Wit
tory least Of all the Negro spokes-
man, Charles @. Gomillion, 81, as
sistant professor OF sociology and
lean OF students at influential
ruskegee Institute. Believe It or
not, we love Tuskegee. It's our
nome That's why we asked TO be
aiken back. For years we've tried
% help build better Tuskegee
me In which we share in the priv
leges as well as the responsible
les But Negroes don't feel they
AN retain their self-respect by
We do not live by
,read alone.
"The white Southerner has been
cling the Negro for years, Get {
get good jobs obtain
and thenr Well. we have
III these, and we seem to be worse
~ than II we didn't What incen-
i've is there for Negro youths TO ,
ny to get good educations and TO
mount TO something when they
ee this ?"
No Spolls. state Senator Sam I
'nglehardt Jr,. author OF the orig v
nal gerrymander has already at q
empted TO counter the boycott by c
skiing for an investigation of a
'uskegee's huge Veterans Admin Q
'tration Hospital where nearly I
900 mostly Negroes) work. And a
p for referendum just eight days
efore Christmas is State Con
titutional Amendment No. rs,
Ian TO consider abolishing Macon
ouuty tnow s4ga Negrol by divid- =
~ its land among five neigh
orng counties. A poll by the
Iontgomery Advertiser indicated
hat Macon County Is In favor Of v
he abolition amendment. II the G
EST Of the state agrees, TuslSegee
IN lose its position and resulting 4
'ade AS the county seat. "You find
he people Of many cities trying
build, but few trying TO destroy
lemselves, said Professor Gomil- a
on last week. I'VE have about q
'ached the point OF no return" -,