Letters, may 25, 1953

The U.S. Negro

Sir: Thank you for your splendid survey of the Negro in America [TIME, May 11]. As a Negress, still in my 205,1 am old enough to remember prejudice here in New York. Now, as one of three stenographers in a firm in the Wall Street area, I am accepted as "one of the gang." I still encounter certain prejudices —people move to other seats at some lunch counters, I can't buy a girdle at one store near my office, and occasionally I hear the word "nigger . . ." However, I must leave my position in three weeks since I am pregnant—and I have been refused admission to four hospitals in Manhattan. Yet, one of these hospitals admitted a friend at the identical time I will be due.

Yes, prejudice still exists, even in New York, but we have come a long way . . .

(MRS.) DOROTHY PHYLISS JOHNSON

New York City

Sir:

Your article filled my heart with appreciation, confidence, assurance and gratitude . . .

I have confidence complete in the democratic form of government, in spite of a U.S. naval officer telling me once that "it was my hard luck for being born black . . ."

GEORGE FOWLER Washington, B.C.

Sir:

... It is the best thing I have read in years. I must admit, as a clergyman in a white church, that I had to say "Ouch!" It was not easy to read: "Negroes must slowly , wrest from their white fellows . . .the privilege of praying in a white, church" [and] "11 o'clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of American life." In defense of the church, may I say . . . the American nation must not forget that the best and the highest principles in our country exist because we maintain a Christian society.

Without this atmosphere the Negro would have little chance to raise himself up. I still hope, however, the day will come when our white churches can practice the brotherhood they preach.

(THE REV.) W. A. HAUPT The First Methodist Church Sylvania, Ohio Sir: By no stretch of the imagination can "separate but equal" facilities become a reality.

The easiest way to perpetuate inequalities is to maintain separate systems. Anyone who adopts the "Uncle Tom" tactics of Booker T.

Washington will be a modern "Uncle Tom." If the basis of the "Negro problem" were moral, the conscience of the white American would have died long ago from maltreatment of a prolonged malignant illness. Not a sense of moral justice, but internal national crises, intensified by international events, are accountable for the past decade of progress.

RALPH E. JONES New York City Sir: Reams of praise for your factual, concise and interesting article—too long a subject hush-hushed and regarded with apathy . . .

JAMES A. GIBBS Philadelphia

Sir: . . . Black or white, Americans owe it to themselves to read your article. They also owe TIME a 21-gun salute for it.

WILLIAM LOEB

Memphis

Portrait of an Indian

Sir:

It was uplifting to see a picture of a holy man (Vinoba Bhave) on your May u cover, rather than the unholy and wholly unattractive Reds you have given us of late.

RICHARD R. REILLY La Jolla, Calif.

In the Solf Stream?

Sir: