On the deck of the transatlantic liner Aquitania, scheduled to sail in a few hours for Europe, Conductor Walter Damrosch stood beside a Negro, extended to him a small disk of metal. Passengers who observed the ceremony could readily perceive that this was no casual donation of a gratuity. The little disk was, indeed, the highest formal honor which a Negro can achieve—the Spingarn medal, awarded annually* to that Negro who, in the opinion of a committee, has better deserved distinction than any other of his...
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