1939: Negroes, American

Marian Anderson Recital.

Dramatically, the high spot of Negro-white relations during 1939 occurred on Easter Sunday when Marion Anderson, great Negro contralto, stood on the steps of Lincoln Memorial in the nation's capital and sang 'America' to an audience of 75,000 persons, white and Negro, and to countless others over a coast-to-coast radio network. Behind her sat members of the President's Cabinet, Senators, Congressmen and distinguished citizens, white and Negro, representing the world of politics, art, and public affairs. When Miss Anderson closed her recital with the haunting and appropriate spiritual, 'Nobody Knows De Trouble I've Seen,' a new affirmation of democracy was felt by all those present, even by some members of the Daughters of the American Revolution who had refused Miss Anderson the use of Constitution Hall in Washington.

Equalization of Salaries.

Less dramatic but perhaps more far-reaching was the decision in the United States District Court in Maryland, handed down by Judge W. Calvin Chesnut on Thanksgiving eve, in which it was ruled that Anne Arundel County, Maryland, could not pay Negro teachers lower salaries than white teachers with the same experience, educational background, and size of school. The racial differential from which Negroes suffer in Anne Arundel County totaled $45,000 a year; in Maryland, approximately $600,000 a year; and in the 19 southern states which maintain and require separate schools for Negroes which are supposed to be equal, the differential is estimated to be between $20,000,000 and $25,000,000. Judge Chesnut ruled that salary differentials based solely on race and color are a violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which represented a new precedent in Federal court procedure.

Admittance to Graduate Schools.

Similarly, in the field of education the repercussions were felt during 1939 of the decision by the United States Supreme Court in Gaines v. University of Missouri (Vol. 83, Lawyers Edition of Supreme Court Reports), in which the Court ruled that the state of Missouri must either provide Lloyd Gaines, a Negro citizen of Missouri who desired to study law, substantially equal accommodations for studying law to those provided for white Missourians at the University of Missouri or else admit Gaines to the University of Missouri. To meet this decision the Missouri Legislature appropriated $200,000 to establish a law school for Negroes which was housed in a building formerly used to manufacture cosmetics and hair preparations. Because it was patently not the equal of the School of Law at the University of Missouri there was practically unanimous opposition on the part of Negroes to this inadequate substitute.

A very well prepared young woman made application for admission to the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri and was refused. As 1939 came to a close it appeared likely that the state would also have to supply money for a school of journalism and perhaps for other professional and graduate schools which are now provided for white Missourians but not for Negro citizens of that state.

In Kentucky a commission appointed by Governor Albert B. Chandler to make recommendations about meeting the issues raised in Kentucky made by the Gaines decision recommended that legal action and legislation be studied with the view to bringing the practices of Kentucky into harmony with the Supreme Court decision. In other states of the South various proposals were made and studied, involving cooperative arrangements between white and Negro schools, so-called regional professional and graduate schools for Negro youth, and voluntary scholarships. In Maryland, however, a Negro Oberlin graduate was admitted to the School of Law of the University of Maryland, the third of his race to be admitted there since a Maryland State Court decision ordered that Negroes be admitted.

Increase in Number of Voters.

The enfranchisement of Negroes in states where hitherto they had been denied the right to vote moved steadily forward, though slowly, during 1939. In Richmond, Va.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; and various cities in Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Kentucky, the number of Negro registrants and voters materially increased. In Florida and South Carolina parades by the Ku Klux Klan, mob violence and other forms of intimidation were unsuccessfully resorted to in an effort to discourage Negroes from voting. Meanwhile, the potential balance of power held by the Negro vote in 17 northern and border states with a total vote of 281 in the electoral college profoundly affected the national political scene. The growing independence and intelligence of the Negro vote in these states caused politicians of all parties to realize that this was a phenomenon which had to be reckoned with.

Artistic Prowess.

In the world of the theater Ethel Waters made her début as a dramatic actress, winning enthusiastic critical acclaim for her performance in the title role of Mamba's Daughters. Bill Robinson, in The Hot Mikado, enjoyed a long run on Broadway and later at the New York World's Fair. Paul Robeson, returned to America after many years' absence in England and Russia, opened in Roark Bradford's John Henry. Maxine Sullivan gained new prominence in addition to that which she had won on the radio and stage by her performance in Swingin' the Dream, a swing-version of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream in which she was co-starred with Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong.

But Broadway and the cinema continued to remain impervious to a presentation of Negro life on any level save that represented by the above productions.

Marian Anderson continued to win new acclaim as one of the great singers of modern times. She was awarded the 24th Spingarn Medal which was presented to her by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt at the 30th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at Richmond, Virginia, July 2. A new Negro singer appeared with ecstatic acclaim in the person of Dorothy Maynor, soprano, who was presented by Serge Koussevitzky at the Berkshire Symphony Festival. She later made her début in Town Hall in New York City with lavish praise by critics and public.

Sports.

In the world of sports, Joe Louis successfully defended three times his heavyweight championship and continued to be the same modest, gentlemanly individual he had always been. Henry Armstrong retained his welterweight championship but lost his lightweight title to Lou Ambers in August in a decision which was very sharply criticised by sportswriters and the public. Negro football players on many college teams won widespread praise, among them being Kenney Washington who gained more ground than any other college football player. Negroes continued to be barred, because of their color, from professional baseball and football teams. Numerous southern schools, among them Texas Christian University and Davis Elkins, followed the sportsmanlike example of the University of North Carolina in intersectional games, of playing teams on which there were Negro players. An outstanding example of the surrender to prejudice was that of Boston College which benched Lou Montgomery, its great Negro backfield, when it played the University of Florida, Auburn and Clemson, the latter game being in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.

Appointments and Awards.

William H. Hastie, first Negro to be appointed a Federal judge, resigned his post in the Virgin Islands to become Dean of the Law School at Howard University. Herman E. Moore of Chicago was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to succeed Judge Hastie. In New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia appointed Jane M. Bolin, Negro woman lawyer, as Justice of the Court of Domestic Relations. Judge Bolin is the first Negro woman to be appointed to a judgeship in the United States. Mayor LaGuardia also promoted Magistrate Myles A. Paige, to be a justice of the Court of Special Sessions, the first Negro to hold such an office.

Dr. George W. Carver, distinguished agricultural chemist at Tuskegee Institute, was awarded the Roosevelt Medal for his distinguished contributions to the development of products from cotton, the peanut and the soil of his native South.

Employment and Labor Unions.

The chief barrier to the Negro's progress and development as a citizen was continued discrimination in the matter of jobs and of economic opportunity. This was true in both public and private employment, though the United States Housing Authority and the Department of the Interior broke new ground by including in their contracts that there must not be discrimination on account of race, creed or color. The American Federation of Labor unions continued their constitutional and other barriers to admission of Negroes to many of the unions though there were a few faint signs that the attitude of C.I.O. unions in welcoming all workers regardless of race to its membership began to have its effect on the membership of some A.F.L. unions.