The Miami Times

Between The Lines
ALABAMA NEGROES STEAL SHOW

On October 29, 1942, more than 70 southern Negroes met at Durham, N. C. in what turned out to be the memorable Durham Conference. They met to draft a statement, addressed to the Southern White man, in an effort to challenge his righteousness and his claims of being Christian and democratic.

The now famous Durham Manifesto was a product of that meeting.

Those Negroes were being scrutinized closely; and their least mistake would have been a death warrant to their commendable endeavors. They did not make that mistake. They spoke forthrightly to their southern White brethren after such manner that their statement evoked a respectable and encouraging reply.

The Southern Negro has come of age.

What is more, they spoke after such manner that there was left no doubt that there was Negro manhood in the South even as there was in the North. That historic Durham meeting proved conclusively that Negro manhood is not bounded by geographical limits. In fact it takes a great deal more courage to be a man in Georgia than in New York. The real Negro man is not necessarily the one who gets the most things said, but the one who gets the most things done!

It is true that today we hear more and more from the Southern Negro; but the latent manhood was always in the offing, ready upon a moment's notice to blossom into deeds of valor and service. Even in the days of slavery we find that the slaves were far from cowards, even though they were outnumbered and overpowered. How else can we explain the fact that according to Reuter, in his The American Race Problem, there was an uprising of the slaves on the average of one every four years. It is doubtful if such displays of courage can be equaled in the annals of mankind.

As of current date we have in Alabama one of the finest displays of Negro manhood and womanhood. Collectively and individually the Alabama Negro is stealing the race relations show.

While the Negrophobes in the South are weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth, the Alabama Negro is facing forward.

One Miss Autherine Lucy is bidding for admission to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. In spite of the rioting and "rowdying" by thousands of students and their sympathizers, Miss Lucy is determined to enter the university.

It takes raw courage to face what she is facing without a whimper. To use a Churchillian expression, this is Miss Lucy's "finest hour." It is one of the finer hours for the Southern Negro who has arrived almost overnight.

When we consider where the Negro was in 1914 and where he is today, it is hard to believe such wonders could in such short time be wrought. When the Southern Negro could not speak for himself the northern Negro spoke for him. Now he speaks for himself.

The Southern Negro has come of age as is so genuinely indicated by Miss Lucy's courageous contentions.

Then there is the Montgomery bus boycott. For more than 50 years, the Negro commuters have been treated as untouchables by the transportation companies. All kinds of abuses and indignities and in many instances death itself have been heaped upon them. The worm turns and in Montgomery, Alabama. Something has happened to the Alabama Negroes who are boycotting their persecutors are pioneers, moral pioneers, opening up vast horizons of moral and social possibilities.

We must keep the records clear. The revolt of those Montgomery Negroes is not against the South per se; it is against the Old South, which is attempting to turn back the hands on the clock of time. It cannot be done and the manly stand being taken by the Montgomery Negroes is just a practical way of saying it cannot be done.

Just how the authorities are going to force the Negroes to ride in buses against their will is not at present clear, although that seems to be the proposed program of the local authorities.

When Negroes learn the power in unified action which is being currently demonstrated by the Alabama Negroes, we are going places—and in a hurry. God and Time and Right are on the side of these boycotting Negroes and on Miss Lucy's side.

The Alabama Negroes steal the show!