St. Paul recorder., 1962-12-28
The Year 1862
Was EVentful
CONTINUED from Page ~


have found their Constitutional rights abrogated
and on all the fronts where minority Americans
and violated by either custom, local laws.
CORE has been In the forefront Of direct
action and demonstrations participated In largely
by groups Of Negroes, and whites against dis
criminatOry practices against minOrtdes, notably
Negroes, in housing public accommodation areas.
The National Urban League with affiliates in
over a half hundred cities, generally supported by
the Community Chests or United Funds Of the COM
nunities in which it operates continues to offer
valuable services to communities wrestling with
race problems at a relatively small cost for great
services rendered.
The Southern Christian Leadership Confer
ence headed by Dr. Martin Luther King and other
ministers Of the gospel has done q magnificent
Job by using the non-violent-Gandh method Of
protest which proved 50 effective in Montgomery,
Ala, movement against public transportation dis
elimination.
Negro ministers the original leaders Of the
American Negro and who in the past four decades
lost that leadership to the politicians the business
community, the social welfare workers have come
back strong into the leadership circle. The example
set by Baptist ministers like Martin Luther King,
Abernathy and F. L. shuttlesworth have inspired
other ministers to action in behalf of the Negro seq
ment Of the national population
The action of the Philadelphia pastors of Negro
church in forming a tacit organization to work
against the discrimination in job opportunity against
Negroes is example Of the re-emergence Of the
Negro minister potent leadership factor in the
Negro's march towards equality Of opportunity The
so-called "selective buying" campaign of Philadel-
phia Negroes led by the informal group Of Negro
pastors resulted in thousands of payroll dollars
from jobs never before held by Negroes who were
barred from them simply because of their
10 rhona kra kafo1
ant development of the past two years and
reached its greatest fruiton In 1862 when Its
challenge to the great A. P. chain Is a topic
Of great discussion In American business circles.
In 1862 there was hardly a state city in
the nation with the exception Of the hard-core
racially antediluvian communities Of the South
which does not boast interracial or human rights
commissions, usually composed Of citizens Of all
races and religious faiths, interested in coming to
grips with the issues of race, color and religion
which sap much of American unity and progress,
and place the nation in embarrassing position
In the world grown small
In forthcoming issues will deal with the
progress which our people have made which in
reality is not just progress for the Negro alone,
for as we have often pointed out If the Negro who
has traditionally been the "low the totem
pole" makes advance, one can be sure that the
country is making advance, socially spiritually,
economically and materially.
In 1862 the Negro made advances Of great
significance In government school integratiOn
access to public Accommodations, voting, employ
ment the field Of sports both amateur and pro-
fessional, entertainment and literature.
Today, never before the American Negro Ia
the topic of living room discussions in millions of
homes of the white segment Of the nations popula-
ton Both the American Negro and his black
cousin of emerging Africa popular objects of
articles and comment In American mass media.
Daily newspapers who only few years ago
ignored the life of the American Negro to an amaz-
ing degree except the sports pages now regularly
devote many columns dealing with the Negro a
part Of the population and touching upon his life
and the community, state and nation. The same Is
true in other forms Of media.
In the area OF racc conflict controversy, and
even progress, televisIon made the biggest contri
button to American knowledge Of the race prob
lem in 1862. Network dOcmentaries various
facets Of the problem are most beneficial to
American education on the problems Of the Negro,
and the face Of his antagonists. 1t Is no accident
that southern white mobs first strike at the tele
vision camera the newspaper reporters
armed with cameras when they began their de-
predatiOns. Evon the T.V. sports programs with In
tegrated teams leave their impact on the raoe
scene.
The pitiess photo lens, from which television
gets its life tells graphically than the printed
word of what mind and substance the political
demigod the professional racist Is made The moral
depravity of those who would deny fellow Amer
ican his basic rights doesn't look good when exposed
to the TVI camera and In this respect part Of the
progress which race relations made in 1862 can be
traced to TV
The year 1862 was a big year for the American
Negro and thereby for free American as a whole.
We expect 1858 the year Of the Tooth Anniversary
Of the great human freedom document the Emanci-
patton Proclamation to be even greater.