Race and Place Newspapers

Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Date of Publication: July 21, 1934 (Tuesday)
Frequency: weekly

Page 01

Column 01
Blunders of a Recently Adjourned 73rd

Transcript of Article

Recalling the accomplishments of the 73rd Congress which adjourned several weeks ago does not thrill the average American newspaper reader and citizen.

Those that followed its daily "deeds" are familiar with certain backward and forward steps taken for the "good of the people".

They know that Congress failed to pass a single bill that would tend to raise the standards of our wobbling army from the place it now holds as 17th among armies world. They know that a congressional mandate classifies the people of Puerto Rico as alien s rather than American citizens and that hereafter they shall be so treated in teh regulations of sugar production.

Interested readers and citizens know too, that a bill was passed which places a heavy embargo on imports of oils from the Islands to the mainland, which may destroy one of the chief products of the Pilippine Islands and bring starvatoins to millions located there.

They shall never forget either how legislation, that caused the cancellation of all domestic air mail contracts and took the lives of a dozen or more army flers [sic], was legalized. They know also how The House Committee on Army Affairs blocked the mea sure to create a G. H. Q. Air Force that would have strenthened our forces in the air.

The blunders of the recently adjourned 73rd Congress were many. Most Negroes however, are more deeply concerned with the most brutal of blunders, the failure of that body to consider the Costigan Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill, because 4,000 Negroes have been lynched in America since 1882 and because three men have lost their lives by lawless mobs in Southern states since the adjourment of the Congress of Errors a month ago.

Summary of Article
An article which dubs the 73rd congress "The Congress of Errors" for its failure to address the issues of America's 17th ranked army, its failure to include Puerto Rico as a part of the United States, and its lack of consideration for the anti-lynching Costigan-Wagner Bill.

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Column 02
Another "New Deal" Blessing

Transcript of Article

"The Government Home Owners Loan Corporation has lent more than one thousand million dollars of government money to protect citizens from loss of their homes by mortgage foreclosure". This statement was released to newspapers early last week and is very important because it means that hundreds of families throughout this country can breathe freely without fear of the auctioneer's red flag.

From Washington comes more encouraging news; Mr. James A. Moffet was recently appointed to the new housing program in this country. His job is going to be assist people in obtaining homes of their own on easy and convenient financial terms and to enable others to secure the cash necessary for repairs needed around the home.

This latest new deal accomplishment not only promises to put a home within the reach of any thrifty and ambitious citizen, but it also promises employment to thousands of builders, manufacturers and workers that make up what is now the almost stagnant bui lding trade.

Local brick layers, carpenters and electrical workers that have not worked for years will soon be drawing regular pay checks again. Mills and factories will take on more labor and unemployed men and unemployed money will both be put profitably to work ag ain.

This latest program devised by President Roosevelt, whereby ready cash may be obtained for the buying and improving of American homes provides for the necessary stability that only a nation of home owners can offer and at the same time it guarantees work and plenty of it for idle men and idle dollars.

Summary of Article
An article in praise of the "Government Home Owners Loan Corporation" for making home ownership possible for "any thrifty and ambitious citizen."

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Column 03
Charlottesville, Yours and Mine

Transcript of Article

A Brief History of Our People and Our Town for Your Scrapbook: Part III

Five Negro Insurance Companies do business in Charlottesville in sharp competition with a dozen or more white companies. Years ago a local concern attempted a Negro Insurance Company here but it went the way of the Y.M.C.A. the Building and Loan Association and the branch of the N.A.A.C.P. - Charlottesville negroes tire easily, whether that fault is in the promoters or the local public is a question that cannot be solved by a mere newspaperman but it seems to be a bit of truth in the statement. Great efforts flare up, remain alive for awhile, then sink gently into nothingness. No attempt shall be made here to solve the local problem but one thing is outstanding - each group delights in blaming the other group for conditions as they exist. This does at least one thing, it points out the need in this city for a sincere race leader, a man or woman who could connect those links and bring the various groups together under some form of mutual understanding for the common good of it all.

That job is going to be a difficult one. Charlottesville negroes, unlike negroes living near large industrial or agricultural centers enjoy a somewhat permanent order of existence that is not necessarily governed by so-called Conditions of the times. The logic in organization cannot be seen because there is apparently nothing to be done, which of course is the natural trend of the mass mind when in a state of satisfaction.

Summary of Article
The third in a series of articles subtitled "A Brief History of Our People and Our Town for Your Scrapbook." This one focuses on the author's perception that Charlottesville blacks have no follow through on Civic issues.

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Page 02

Column 01
Open Forum

Transcript of Article

Dear Editor:

How do you feel about the part that Charlottesville is playing in making America "safe for Democracy?" I do not know whether you have heard the various rumors among the laboring classes or not, but since I rank that way, I should like to offer my opinio n.

Up to this time, I have not verified many of the rumors that have come to me, but since reliable people have been talking, I am forced to believe them. It seems that there is an undercurrent feeling of dissatisfaction with Negro laborers, among some whi te establishments, not because of inefficiency but because many wish to create employment for poor whites. Although it doesn't seem at all fair, I am not commenting on this attitude of white employers who cater to only whites, I am directing my criticism s to those who have Negro and white Patrons.

I have heard that a certain large grocery firm, that serves numerous Negroes, recently fired a clerk who had been working there for almost fifteen years on a pretext that was too thin not to be seen through and hired a white man in his place. Now I rais e no objection to the fellow's getting the job, for doubtlessly, the man needed it, but what about the principle involved. Why take meat from one hungry man and give it to another? Of course you realize that almost one-third of Charlottesville's populat ion is composed of Negroes. I happen to know that many of them patronize this store. if you doubt me, step down town of a Friday or Saturday even ing and you'll see a perfect rainbow of faces and a regular "Santa Claus looking" armful of parcels coming out of this store. Personally, I believe we as a race should stop buying at this store. We should refuse to spend our money at an establishment that fires a Negro and hires a white man.

I have also heard of other instances of laundries and dry goods stores doing the same thing. It is time for us to wake up because, after all, the black dollar contains as many pennies as the white dollar and the Negro pays the same price for sugar and t he laundering of a sheet as any other man.

You have been talking about a Civic League for quite sometime. One should really begin functioning now because these are truly the times that try men's souls.

I don't want to arouse any feeling of bitterness, but it seems so unfair to discharge efficient men because of the color of their skin. It lowers the par placed on our democracy and besmirches the pride that Charlottesvillians, white and colored, have b oasted of in connection with the compatibility of the two races.

Sincerely,

A true citizen.

Summary of Article
A letter to the editor from a Charlottesville Laborer who wishes to boycott a grocery store for firing a black man who had worked there 15 years.

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Page 04

Column 01
From a Purely Personal Point of View

Transcript of Article

Life is a very peculiar thing; you roll into Zuni, Winsdor and Waverly on an early July morning and you see the first faint rays of the rising sun playing on miles and miles of healthy potato vines and you are glad for the Tidewater Virginia truck farmer. You rattle along farther down the road wondering just how all of those acres of corn that greet your eyes are going to be worked and gain you are glad for the farmer and so you pull on into Norfolk in the afternoon and find them giving potatoes away by the carloads and retailing corn for 6 cents a dozen ears and you wonder how they do it and you feel sad for the poor farmers in Zuni, Winsdor and Waverly.

Any mountain man will get an indside [sic] story of the San Francisco Long Shoremen's Strike after seeing the hundreds of idle Stevedore's along Green Street in Portsmouth and down Chapel Street in Norfolk. Each one is anxious to tell the story urged on by a modes dose of "Whiskey Blend" or "Frontier" from the near by "A B C."

Placards in Employment Agency Windows tell of the huge crews now at work in the navy yards and how such a job might be obtained. A visit to the yard throws you in contact with lean looking, restless young men making 40 hours to the month.

Summary of Article
A short narrative about the begining days of the Depression focusing on the farmers of Zuni, Windsor, and Waverly, Virginia as well as the unemployed laborers of Norfolk, Virginia.

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