Brownsville Weekly News [Volume: 1, Issue: 36]

- Colored Auto Workers
In Flint Convention

_ izer, and Mr. Henry Clark, of Flint,

' pointed out that a union mémber~s

- ~ Participation in all unien activities
@a the port of all

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 36

+ + +

+ + +

y News

FLINT, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 1939

Tee

+ + +

FLINT, Mich~Colored workers
in. the auto industry convened in
Flint Saturday, March 11, at the |.
Canaan Baptist church annex, on
Gilléspie Street. The conference
had been called to. discuss the
problems and representation of the
Negro workers in the industry.
Resolutions covering part of the
Problems were discussed and prepared to be sent to the Cleveland
convention of the United Automobile Workers~. Uhion which begins._ March 27. Plans were also laid to
send several men ang women lobbyists to the convention in addition to the colored delegates regularly elected to represent local unions, Speakers on program were:
Mr. Walter Hardin, International
Representative of the U.A.W.A,
Rev. Bowman, of Saginaw, Mr.
Samuel Sponsella, ~. I. O. Organ
who chairmaned the assembly.

The speakers gave inspired talks
in which the duties of. colored
workers was outlined: Mr. Clark

obligation do not end on payment
of dues but require constant attention~ to the problems arising from
causes due to race or union membership. Many of the difficulties
>under which workers iabor today
could be solved through discussion

ated Selection ~of proper" leaders> Me~aij ~excellent singer and
urged -colored workers to-seek~the-}popular among her friends.

better jobs, and the skilled jobs in
the plants where they now -work to
prove their ability and efficiency
before seeking employment in dePartments where coloréd | workers
are now excluded, %

Mr. Hardin outlined 2a program
necessity of

| colored men and
-women in 44, 4 > V * iS ee.

etiorts to secure economic and socia] improvements such as socializeq medicine, Federal~ Housing,
etc.; and use of the union as a
means of solving race problems.

He pointed out a recent precedent
set In a small Ghio town where the
race population was very small, ~but
where ~a colored girl was hired as 2
clerk in one of the town~s largest
stores, because white people had
become acquainted with her in the
union auxiliary and had interceded
for her so tnat she could get the
job. He said that there were many
other instances where both groups
profit from mutual association.. Mr. Sponsella told his listeners
that the C. I. O ~had stuck its
neck out~ when, it offered colored
workers every right and benetit of
the organization. He saiq that this
had-placed colored workers on trial
and that it was up to them to prove
their worth. ~White workers have
always been taught,~ he Sid at one
point ~that Negrp peopie were lazy;
that they worldn~t cooperate wita
others, and ~ at t{h:y would ~ not
make usc of oppo... ities offered.~
He said that we wvuld have ~to
prov. those slatements untrue before we coulu secure tle necessary
cooperation from fellow workers. He
urged the colored workers to pick
out the i/ielligent and __ sincere
white workers in the union, to forget the fact that they were ~Negroes,
and get to work as union members
and their problems would be -mad2
cnasiderably Jess.- pees Sees aes
~ Before~ adjourning the body se
q H bf Ep Eee

alee
A:

had its first

MISS MARY ALLEN

LANSING, Mich. ~(WNS)~
Miss Mary Allen, daughter of
Mrs. Fred Allen of Kalamazoo
Street, who is the only Negro
girl now in the Lansing High
School operg cast. Mary Allen,is
is ~very |

Notables Attend ~
Progressive Youth
Party; See Tolan

PONTIAC, Mich~(WNS) ~Wken
the Progressive Youth Association

ee: Py: ass

holder of the world~s professional
100} yard dash record, accompanied
a group of his friends from Detroit.
Mr. Jamés McCrary, former assistant.coach at Wilberforce University, Mr. Samuel McLarin, Mayor of
Brownsville, in Flint, Michigan,
and their - party of friends were
down from Fiint.

The new officers of the club
were installed during a brief ceremony, at which time Mr. John
Tapley acted ac master of ceremonies. It has been announced that
one of the projects the youths will
take up this season is the establishment of a scholarship fund for colored students who desire to go to
college and can qualify.

Crusaders~ Chorus
Unusvally Active

PONTIAC, Mich~(WNS)~ The
Crusaders Chorus, under the di.
rection of Mrs. Blanche H. Wasson, rendered a program for the
vesper service at Central M. E.
Church Sunday, March 12. Along
with two groups of spirituals rendered by~ the chorus, Mrs. Savah
Pollard, soprano, sang~~A Hear the
Good News~, and Mr. Alex Kinder,
baritone, sang ~Travelling Al}
Alone~. Mrs. Wasson gave a reading, ~Black and Lowly Bards~, by
James Weldon. Johnson.

Thursday evening, Marcn 23; the
chorus is to present a musicale st
the Trinity Baptist church. The

> | prégritmwilt*be ir ~wo -parts. ~The +
pan half will consist of traditiona!
s +

tuals and gospel songs. The
balance of the program will be
made up almost entirely of Dorsey
songs. A few like ~Just Keep Still~,
and ~Somebody Touched Me~. and
several old favorites, including,
~Hide Me in Thy Bosom~, and
~You Can Tell the World~.
Sunday afternoon, March 26, the
ehorus will have charge of the final

Sunday afterncon forum of the
Federated Clubs Alliance, at the

Southwest Civic Center. Dr. R. L.
Bradby, pastor of the Second Battist Church, Detroit, has pronused
to speak on the subject: ~The
Things Which Hinde: Us~. A short
musical program wi nrecede tle
lecture. bas,

SEEKS TO STOP JIM CROW IN
- SPRINGFIELD, I1~(ANP)~ A
feature of last week~; closing session of the sta~e legislature was
adoption -by the house of a resolu
ereesenrs

ing admimistretior) to stop disand to guarantee

made in colvrei districts up
on the same considerations as the;

party, at |.
oe fe

Victory
Ends Six
Year Fight

President Of
Company Named
New Receiver

WASHINGTON,~(ANP)
A ~six-year fight to end the
extravagant spending of the
white receivers for the National Benefit Life Insyrance
Company came to an abrupt.
halt Saturday when Justice
Peyton Gordon of the U. ~.
district. court for the District
of. Columbia dismissed Frank
Bryan and Gilbert 4. Clark,
receivers since April, 1932,
and appointed John T. Risher, president of the insurance
company, to succeed them.
The suit, which was filed in 1933
by Risher, pointed out that when
receivers were appginted for the
company, there was assets of
$3,700,000. It is alleged that the
receivers had collected an addition*al7$17500,000 ~atid Tart ~aitsposed-of- ail
of the company~s assets, including
the money collected by the receivers, with the exception of $368,000.
None of this money, Risher pointed
out to the court, had been paid out
to policyholders. All of the money
spent went to administrative expenses and fees for the receivers
and their lawyers.~ ee.

of the | oe

quidating the assets on the
that they would distribute the
ceeds to the creditors. This was
not done, Risher alleged.

Risher further alleged that Bryan
and Clark sold $100,000 worth of
ponds that the National Benefit
had deposited with the district
commissioners in 1926 to secure

~payment of death claims, and used

the money received from the ~sale
to pay off receivers and lawyers in~stead of policyholders who owned
the bonds.

Property owned in Georgia and
valued at $1,225,000, was sold for
$700,000, the court was informed.
The Odd Fellows building in Atlanta, which was owned by the company at a value of $225,000, was
sold for $50,000. The record further showed that one of the receiver~s attorneys in. Atlanta received a fee of more than $30,000.

PROPERTY WASTED

Property in Washington was also
disposed of in a careless manner,
Risher pointed out. He alleged that
the Balfour apartments at 16th and

receiver culminated an individual

their benefit alone, and that some

effort will be made to recapture as
@re guaranteed jn white sctions

nt

|

| J.:;: é._
q a:; =:, }

rs:; ae ~; i A: ~ " 14
BS. | 2 aa we

As Youths Tried Out Their Wings For First Time

Te Fifty young men are shown heing gives flying tests at the Cur
tiss airport. N. Y., under the sponsorship of: the National Youth Administration. Omar Midyett, manager. of the Midwest Flyers~ School
of Aviation at the Curtiss Airport, took up thirty-five Negro youths,
one by one in a dual control training plane and gave each a brief

Believe Many 2
Negroes Would ~
Lose Their Jobs:

WASHINGTON BUREAU
ASSOCIATED

large. - Negro.
which aiready:
ly. from. discri:

opportunity to handle the controls. Those who seem fitted and who

wish to take the flying course will be trained at reduced rates. His

course will fit the youths for army pilots~ licenses.

News Photo).

(International

Citizens Attack But
Editor Burke Answers

FLINT, Mich:~Tie recent. clection in the Un-Official City of
Brownsville for Mayor continued
to draw fire last week of the citizens Of Brownsville. A. letter from
Joe Wigfall attacking the methods
used in selection of the Mayor and

~| @n~ answer by Miss~ Bessie ~Ann
der| Burke, Associate Editor of the

Brownville Weekly News is print~d here:

TO THE EDITOR OF THE
BROWNVILLE WEEKLY:
Dear Sir:

A tew days ago I read the headline of your paper: ~Mayoralty

AS we see very plainly that the
two club officers, whose names I
care ~not to mention, made an
agreement as to who should~ be
Mayor regardless to the public. To
me, if the two clubs were the sole

gre

+u
ii
Be

é:

f
i
i

a
Sa

if

i
é
tH

i

att
i:
~

Pa Bl

a

an apparently unfair race.. ~Theé-Mayor was selected and not
elected, It is for us to determine
what the out come would be in
case of a recall.

You are quite right in asking the
editor-of the Brovwnsviile. Weekly
News himself a recent candidate
for Mayor of Brownsvilie, why be
@ party spliter? And why was the
present Mayor named instead of
elected: by the people? My dear

sir, the authoriz2d election com--

mission, headed by Mr. Edward
Newman, had taken over the procedure in getting registrations;
und in doing so, laid aside the constitution and by-Jaws- adopted ~by
the ofiginal Brownsville; while at
the ~same time Our Newspaper was
getting in the real legal registrations. When we had finished compiling. ~the names and addresses of
these -registrants, your candidate,
Mr. Reynolds, put the registration
coupons and the beok of namés
in the safe, in order to hold them
until election day.

nmission had a whole lot of registrations -written on plain writing

s

nolds opened up the safe and

| turned our good registrations over

to him. Mr. Reynolds y:came
suspicious that something was
about to go wrong and refused: to
turn over the coupon. registratipns
to Mr. Newman. ~

Those registration coupons are
at present locked in the Brownsville Weekly News Safe. Mr. Newman was tne head of the cid
Brownsville Election Commission.
Mr, Reynolds blocked Mr. Nevwman~s plans to stuff the registrat.on rolls with friends of his opponent. Fiudamg ~a condition like
this which.completeiy. _ disgusted
Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Reynoias just
simply decidid to wiirdraw as
candidate for Mayor.

Mr. Newman and his commission
dro out of the picture. This
left no one in authority to carry
on the election. Mr. Magnus Ciark
ha@ already declared himself thru.
Brownsville Was done, After a few
days Mr. Reynolds thofght it
would be too~ bad for the people
of Flint to be bereft of the serv
sibly render. So he advised that
there should be a Mayor; and
since the agitation by a certain
(sometime paper) had stirred up
so much bitterness in general, Mr.
Reynolds himself being already a.

sired to get out and let them
have it.

But in order to. be able to see to

beneficial and that those people

feof Flint who have faith in him

can still have those services.

ices which Brownsvule can pos-.

public servant, as undertaker, de
Assails

JAMES V. SMITH ~
DETROIT, Mich~(WNS) ~
James V, Smith, unofficial Mayor. of North Detroit, who Tues
~day assailed the Reverend Hor
ace White, for alleged slander-.
ous remarks made against him,
in the Peace Baptist church at
a recent protest meeting for the

reggae

abe

~554
i

shooting of Jesse~ James, by a|Ze~

North. Detroit policeman. _
HAYES~ MANAGER DIES

his hotel in Toronto, Canada, Mon
Mr. Copley lived: tn | pe