Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1963-07-25
Mobile. AIa.. Works
For Rociol Peace
Adjusts To Change

For RocidI Peace
Adjusts To Change
the Mobile Register carried a pic
ture Of two Negro participants in
Gulf-area Negro golf tourna-
ment held at the course.
Lunch Counter Pioneers"
Last year, in unpubhcized meet
ings with white leaders and mer-
chants, Negroes lined up support
for lunch counter desegregation of
10 downtown stores and in a shop
ping center. Selected pairs Of Ne
gro pioneers" arrived daily at the
counters, at first during off hours.
Five plain-clothes policemen were
on hand at each location, but the
three-week acclimation period was
uneventfIl. One downtown chain
store manager was told by his
superiors to expect the SIX drop
in lunch counter trade he said was
experienced in other Southern
cities. 1t never came.
To be sure, many racial bars
remain in Mobile. Negroes and
whites are still forbidden to par
ticdpate in mixed play at the city
golf course, and Negro golfers
have separate locker facilities.
Restaurants, theaters and drinking
fountains are segregated. A we'll
TODD Negro physician complains
his race Is completely cut off
from the cultural life Of the COM
munity."
But Mobile Negroes themselves
agree that they have achieved
many gains in recent years. MO
bile is a much better place for Ne
groes to live than any other city
in Alabama" says a Negro lawyer
here.
How did Mobile get that way?
Local historians say one import
ant influence has been the city's
heritage from its early French and
Spanish settlers, who were a rela-
lively tolerant lot. Eighteenth
century maps show the residences
Of whites and Negroes side by side
"a situation that persists on some
Mobile streets today.
Another moderating influence
has been the Catholic Church,
whose communicates comprise 20%
of Mobiles residents. Although
local parochial schools remain seq
regated, Negro Catholics have long
attended church where they pleas
ed. Spring Hill College, a Catholic
liberal arts institution here and
the oldest college in the satte, de-
Segregated in 1854 and has gradu-
ated more than two dozen Negroes
since then.
Medical Society Drops Bar
Several important community
organizations in Mobile have long
had Negro board members. Among
them are the local Girl Scouts
Council, the Young Women's Chris
tan Association. In June the Medi-
cal Society Of Mobile County voted
for the first time to accept apple
atoms from Negro physicians.
A diversified economy ranging
from paper manufacturing to ship
building to Brooldey Air Force
Base with its 10000 civilian work.
ers has produced a large body Of
well-paid Negro wage earners.
Nearly all Mobiles 1000 dock
workers are Negroes, and In GER
tain trades Negroes here enjoy
opportunities closed to their race
in many other communities. Since
Its founding in 1900, about a quar-
ter of the membership Of the Brick
layers Unions Local No 2 has
been Negro Socially we're differ
ent, but on the job we're together, "
says o. L. Mason, Jr., white bus
mess agent for the local.
As Birmingham showed, how
ever, good incomes alone won't
prevent racial tension If there is
no communication between the
races. But communication between
Negro leaders and their white
Icomterparts has been continuous
In Mobile. Says an executive Of a
supermarket chain headquartered
here: We've kept the lines OF
communication open. That's the
important thing" Leading white
businessmen - including the su-
. permarlket official, a railroad pres
ident, a bank president and drug
chain executive - have played key
roles In the behind the-scenes ne
gotiations that have led to Negro
gains here.
Recently the Mobile City Com
mission set up formal machinery
flor conducting such inter-racial
negotiations. It appointed a nine
member Special Advisory Commits
sion to handle day-to-day racial
problems and a 27-meinber Special
Advisory Committee to help form
ulate broad policies in racial mat
tiers. Both groups are one-third
! Negro, giving the Negroes repre-
sentation In proportion to their
share Of the total Mobile popula-