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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE SEGREGATION At present Louisville, Ky., is the strategic point of the segregation fight. The results will be of the utmost importance and may determine if the Negro is to be segregated in the United States. If the Louisville Ordinance is held valid it may be widely copied. News comes from Birmingham, Ala., that that city after announcing its intention of passing a segregation ordinance, has decided to await the results of the Louisville and Richmond cases. The Louisville ordinance has been carefully drawn and the men who did the work believe they have avoided the defects which have made similar ordinances invalid. After conferring with the Attorney of the National Association, and following an enthusiastic mass-meeting held in Quinn Chapel at which Dr. Spingarn and Mr. Pickens made addresses, the colored people of Louisville organized a Branch of the National Association and raised money to retain a local attorney to bring a test case under the new ordinance. This the Association is pledged to carry to the Supreme Court of the United States if necessary. The Interdenominational Ministers' Union in Louisville adopted resolutions of appreciation for the services of the Attorney of the Association. August 9 has been announced as Segregation Sunday when ministers in all churches will be asked to preach on the subject. CONGRESS The legislative representation of the Association in Washington reports that the Antimiscegenation Bill scheduled for consideration on July 27 has been postponed for at least another two weeks. It is rumored that Democratic leaders are urging their Southern contingent to avoid stirring up racial antipathies this summer because of the dangerous affect such agitation may have on the voters in the pivotal states. The Anti-miscegenation Bill may get through the House but it seems highly unlikely that it can pass the Senate. CIVIL RIGHTS The Association in its effort to inject life into the New York Civil Rights Act has met many difficulties. The last three months at least fifty cases have been investigated by the Attorney. In many instances the Legal Bureau has been helpless because of the absence of witnesses to the violations of the Civil Rights Act and because of the difficulty of securing people to act as witnesses in test cases brought by the Association. Better cooperation on the part of colored people is essential if the New York Civil Rights Act is to become effective. In one good case which will come up in September the plaintiff brought his witness with him. If this were done in every instance, soon the Civil Rights Act would cease to be the dead letter which it now is. Even where witnesses have been secured cases have not always been successful. In the case of Goff vs. Polansky tried before Judge Blake in the Seventh District Municipal Court, Mr. Paul Kennaday, of the Board of Directors who acted as a witness, not only corroborated the plaintiff in every respect but testified that the defendant had stated to him that he refused to serve the plaintiff in his restaurant on account of color. This seemed a strong case yet the Court gave judgement in favor of the defendant who with one of the waitresses contradicted Mr. Kennaday's testimony. A restaurant in Fulton Street, Brooklyn, refused to serve two young ladies. A white clergyman in Brooklyn was secured as a witness and the young ladies went back to the restaurant. The manager became suspicious that a case was being made against him and the ladies were served. Many cases of clear discrimination cannot be pushed because they do not come within the terms of the Civil Rights Act. One of the most aggravating of these was a case of a colored man who was refused a time-table by a ticket agent in the Lehigh Valley Railroad, who told him he was not paid to serve colored people. Many complaints have been received of the refusal to accommodate colored people at the Temple Auditorium in Brooklyn where pictures of the Creation are being shown in connection with a lecture. As no admission is charged, nothing can be done. THE N.A.A.C.P. 237 BRANCHES NEW branches have been chartered in Minneapolis, El Paso, Tex., Shreveport, La. Virginia Union University, and Newark, N.J. BALTIMORE. The Baltimore Branch reports a Jim-Crow car victory. An indictment against James Jenkins for violating the Separate Car Law by refusing to take a Jim-Crow seat in one of the cars of the Washington, Baltimore & Indianapolis Railway Company was quashed by Judge Elliot in the Criminal Court. Mr. McGuinn and Mr. Hawkins represented the local branch. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. As a result of abolishing the U street Sub-Station of the Post Office in Washington, a number of colored clerks lost their positions, including one man who had been long in the service and who had a military record. Mr. Grimke, the President of the District of Columbia Branch, at once took the matter up with the authorities and succeeded in getting three colored clerks reinstated in permanent positions. INDIANAPOLIS. The Legal Committee of the Branch has several cases on hand. Messrs. Ransom and Brokenburr report the acquital [[acquittal]] of two colored boys arraigned for carrying concealed weapons. The facts of the case are as follows: The Playground Commissioners had equipped separate swimming-pools for white and colored boys in Fall Creek, some distance from each other. The white boys objected to the colored boys swimming in any part of Fall Creek between the two pools, reserving, however, for themselves the right to this privilege and constituting themselves a special police to enforce their arbitrary rule. Conditions were aggravated by the fact that the colored boys' baseball park lies along Fall Creek between the two pools. Recently when colored boys were discovered swimming in the part of the Creek lying immediately below the white boys' pool they were attacked by a crowd of white men and boys. Later in a general fight shots were exchanged and the two colored boys were arrested. The cases were tried before Judge Newton M. Taylor, the colored boys being represented by the attorneys of the Branch. A verdict of not guilty was returned and the white boys were admonished by the Court that they had no greater right to play along and swim in Fall Creek than the colored boys. A novel entertainment called "The Flower Garden" was given by the Branch and netted the Association a substantial sum. Spring with her heralds, girls costumed as flowers and little children dancing the minuet, were attractive features of this very original and successful affair. It was directed by Miss Norr and Miss Mary Fields. KANSAS CITY. This Branch has been working successfully through several active committees. The Public Service Committee has taken up the matter of discrimination against colored people in public parks with considerable success. In the matter of Garrison Square Field House, a playground which though built for colored people was about to be given to Italians, the Committee secured a reversal of this decision and the playground will go to colored people for whom it was intended. The Legislative Redress Committee, in spite of hard work, lost their appeal to the Supreme Court in the case of a colored man named Bonner who was held on a charge of murder. The Publicity Committee has sent out during one month over 480 letters and notices in the interest of the work of the Branch. A committee of girls known at [[as]] "The Clippers" have given 'THE CRISIS' for a year to the Public libraries in Kansas City, Mo., and in Kansas City, Kans. They are especially active in local charitable work. QUINCY. A two days' Interstate Conference on the race question was held by Quincy Branch on July 23 and 24. Many prominent people from Chicago, Springfield, Milwaukee, and other cities attended the sessions, which opened at Bethel A.M.E. Church. Addresses were made by Mr. Charles H. Williamson and by Mr. H.E. Schmiedeskamp. At the closing session in Turner Hall a distinguished audience of white and colored people heard Dr. Du Bois. The conference succeeded beyond the best expectations of its organizers and reflects great credit on Dr. Nichols and on the Branch in the work they are doing to arouse interest in the Association in the Middle West. ST. LOUIS. The St. Louis Branch recently investigated rumors of segregation in the post office and reports that these were without much foundation.
