Race and Place Newspapers

The Reflector

Newspaper Information
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Date of Publication: January 13, 1934 (Wednesday)
Frequency: weekly
Article Transcripts

Page 1

Column 01,02
An Ancient Trick Exposed

Transcript of Article

The Reflector has called attention before to the fundamental points of the old hide-behind-skirt-game. It has been a favorite pastime for a certain class of unscrupulous citizens in this country for years upon years. A Negro, in some way, incurs the disfavor of his more influential white brother by "back talk", or maybe a fist fight and the unfortunate fellow is charged with rape. Indiscreet rags scream the manufactured details, making sure not to mention the name of the "lady" who is supposed to be involved, and the rest of the trick is familiar to the reading public of America. All paraphernalia is collected, the victim taken from jail and the bloodthirsty mobsters avenge a personal misunderstanding in the name of "protection for the white womanhood". Consequently, a disinterested world is led to believe that all Negro men are fiendish rapists who must be held in check with the rope and oil.

There are just a few groups of sincere American citizens anxious for the truth; for example, the Southern Commission on Lynching and the Women's Anti-Lynching Federation (both Southern organizations of men and women of the white race) who have learned by actual investigation that ninety percent of the rape charges, over a period of fifteen years, have been false.

Cordie Cheek, a seventeen year old youth, was murdered in Maury County, Tenn., on December, fifteenth, by a group of citizens reputed to have been led by several county officials. However Governor McAllister has facts which prove that Cheek was lynched not because he was disrespectful to white womanhood, but because he forgot to "mister" a white youth who was the same age as he, which led to a fist fight. That night, Cheek was kidnapped and hanged which, according to a w eekly thereabouts, was "an act to protect the purity of white womanhood".

It is the same old trick that has been pulled for years by a group, which may be classified as the lowest type of humanity. These base murderers have enough of the brute's inclinations to destroy human life and are cowardl y enough to hide behind the skirts of women by naming their dastardly acts as measures of protection. God pity anything judged by the standards that such feeble and degraded minds set up.

Summary of Article
An article about "the ancient trick" of accusing black men of the rape of white women without probable cause.

Column 03
New Thoughts For Old

Transcript of Article

Professor Franklin Frazier, of Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., was guest speaker at the City Wide Young People's Forum held in Baltimore, Md., last week. In the course of his address, Professor Frazier contended that p ractically all of the Negro leaders in the past had tried to make the race a group of imitators, which, in his opinion, was the incorrect psychology of leadership. He offers that bleaching the skin and straightening the hair should be discarded and more attention paid to the maintenance of the original identity of the Negro. Dr. Clark Foreman, advisor to the Negro in this present administration, was deemed unfit for his position.

One reads the Professor's address and wonders about certain critical statements made; for example, the questioning of the leadership of Booker T. Washington, the founder of one of the greatest Negro educational institutions in the world, and the expressed doubt of the wisdom of W. E. B. Dubois, editor of "The Crisis" and active officer of the N. A. A. C. P. One is still surprised as the Professor continues his discourse of dissatisfaction with every eminent Negro, from Douglas down to present day leaders, and sincerely wonders what next?

Finally, Professor Frazier praised Marcus Garvey for his work and expressed his belief that the most important step in Negro leadership was made by this scheming West Indian who attempted to operate his Black Star Line year s ago for the purpose of taking all Negroes who could pay the passage fee, to Africa in his secondhanded boat. All things considered, we are forced to one of the two facts concerning Professor Frazier; namely, either he was previously preoccupied, so tha t he did not have time to prepare a speech, or loyalty to and pride in one's race are too inconsequent to pierce his cerebral skin.

Summary of Article
A terse condemnation of Professor Franklin Frazier and a speech he delivered at Fisk University.

Page 02

Column 01
Do You Know This One

Transcript of Article


1. How many Negroes are there in the United States, according to the last census?
2. Who is the President of Siberia?
3. Who is Dr. Robert R. Moton?
4. What famous poem deals chiefly with an aged sailor and an Albatross?
5. What is Malthusianism?
6. What are where is Wall Street?
7. Who wrote Thanatopsis, and what is the meaning of the word?
8. Give the line following: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord".
9. Who was Goethe?
10. What is a scenario?

The questions presented this week take in a wide range of subjects, but should be familiar in their above simple form to the average reader. Most of the questions were submitted this week by some of our readers. (Editor's Note.)

Answers
1. There are 14,000,000 Negroes in the United States.
2. President Barclay.
3. President of Tuskegee college for Negroes and famous Negro author.
4. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
5. The contention of Malthus that population increases faster than subsistence, therefore can be made to do, and that poverty is, for that reason, inevitable.
6. The street in New York City on which so many financial transactions in stocks and bonds take place.
7. William Cullen Bryant: The name means from the Greek, "a meditation on death."
8. "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored". From the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
9. One of the most famous of German poets and writers (1749-1832)
10. The form in which a movie is written for the guidance of directors and actors.

NOTE: The answers are not offered as strict text book material and may vary a little from authority on minor detail. The answers are given in the most simple and condensed form for the benefit of busy readers that may not have the time to pore over long and tedious volumes.

Summary of Article
A quiz that test the knowlege of Charlottesvillians on political, social, and historical trivia.

Column 03
Poems

Transcript of Article

These Poems were submitted by Professor Winson M. Tyler, instructor in Science and Athletic director at Halifax County Training School. He is a graduate of Lincoln University in Lincoln, Penn.


Blind I gazed at Passion.... Nude-nude as the moon. So lovely.... So sublime.... Then I gazed at love, But naught could I see; Passion had Left me blind.
The End When my task is done, And the hour is nigh That I must seek rest She comes in all her Still radiance....takes Me to her cool breast.
To some nook we hie Where soothing breezes Play about the air; Sweet roses kiss me Free of pain and care.
Comes dusk; the robin Sings his slumber song As sun and earth meet My brow she doth kiss Till--at last I sleep.
To a Little Bird Ah, little bird, you have a song And we poor souls but a sigh; High up in your stately home You laugh at this motely crowd. So wide is your airy realm and Your small humble nest rivals By far earth's strongest palace, For yours is safe, being nearer God.
Little Red Leaves Little red leaves sighing in the wind, You don't know lynching is a sin. What you saw last night you shame to tell Tell me red leaves, I know 'twas Hell.
Little red leaves stop your crying You want folks to come and hear you crying? White folks had a spree, didn't they Bud, Cause you're all dressed up and painted in Blood.

Summary of Article
A somber poem about a lynching at dusk.

Page 4

Column 03
Tender Is the Night

Transcript of Article


Tender is the Night; Countless Stars Come and Go
Tender is the Night; The moon is full; Soft breezes blow
Tender is the Night, Cool, pure, refreshing; darkness Giving birth to dew.
Tender is the Night, The moon, the stars, the darkness and You.

T. J. Sellers

Summary of Article
A brief and tender love poem about the beauty and refreshing seclusion of nighttime.

Return to Index by Date | Return to Richmond Planet | Return to Reflector
Search Newspapers | Return to Introduction