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Douglass Story Symbol
Of Struggle for Liberty
The Stratton Bill
Next Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee
of the U. S. House of Representatives will
commence public hearings on the measure
introduced by Rep. John Stratton of Illinois,
providing for the admission of 400,000 dis-
placed persons—of all faiths—rover a period
of four years.
An effective educational campaign is in
progress. Liberal newspapers like the Detroit
News, the New York Post, PM and the N. Y.
'Herald Tribune have been very helpful edi-
torially in this great humanitarian effort.
EP,
The campaign organized by the Michigan
Committee on Displaced Persons with the
assistance of labor, religious and hon-sectar-
ian groups has helped to bring the issue to
the attention of large numbers of people. The
appearance here of the outstanding national
backer of the measure, Earl G. Harrison, was
an important factor in the local activities in
behalf of the DPs.
But the battle in behalf of the dispossessed
survivors from Nazism is far from won, and
it is of the utmost importance that overcon-
fidence should be avoided in conducting the
campaign to open America's doors to Hitler's
unfortunate victims.
Unless the humanitarian fighters for
justice for the DPs are on the alert, the rising
difficulties may become insurmountable.
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Proof of impending danger to efforts to
liberalize immigration laws is provided by
the outburst of Paul H. Griffith, national
commander of the American Legion, who,
in an angry tirade against immigrants, told
the racist Daughters of the American Revo-
lution last week that immigration has be-
come a "lawless torrent," robbing the vet-
eran and creating a fifth column, and that it
is a "racket of specific racial, religious or
economic groups." He claimed that immi-
grants were entering the United States
legally at the rate of 154,000 a year. and that
"a fantastic number" were entering illegally.
Principal opponents of immigration, in
Congress, among them Senator Chapman
Revercomb (R., W. Va.), who compiled a
derogatory report on displaced persons after
a brief visit to Europe last year, demanding
an over-all survey of the DP problem before
present immigration laws. are altered, iri or-
der to promote "selective" immigration.
Thus the Stratton bill is far from rescue.
Shirley Graham, great-great-granddaughter of
former Negro slave who had transformed his
farmhouse into a station for the underground rail-
way that was used to free slaves, has earned the
$6,500 prize for her great book, "There Was Once
a Slave: The Heroic Story of Frederick Douglass:*
The award came from the publishers, Julian Mess-
ner, Inc., 8 W. 40th St., New York 18, "for the best
book combatting intolerance in America."
Miss Graham, who has held a Julius Rosenwald
Fellowship, not only has produced a splendid
biography but has rendered a great service in
presenting the life story of a great Negro in an
unusually fascinating style and with a sympathy
which must make friends for the oppressed. The
completeness with which she relates the story of a
great American who fought for freedom and or-
ganized the masses—white and colored—for the
cause of liberty will win admiration for the Negro
and must enlighten 'Americans regarding the
heroism of Douglass' race. -
The Douglass biography will prove interesting
to Jewish readers because of its .parallellisms to
the Irgun today. The "madness" and martyrdom of
John Brown is outlined by the author in detail,
presenting both sides of the issue as to the wisdom
of the attack on Harpers Ferry. In the end—in
spite of Douglass' refusal to countenance Brown's
madness of an attack on a government arsenal—
the martyr emerges as a hero whose act provided
the motto for the great battle for liberation of the
Negroes:
In reviewing the history of the fight for liberty
Courtesy lastihrte foe Aiworicast Daamerocv. Isis.
in Maryland, Miss Graham points out that "not
until 1826 were Jews allowed to voN*3. This was
just two years after thin, stoop-shouldered Ben-
jamin Lundy came walking down out of the back-
woods of Tennessee, a printing press on his back,
Detroit's great 1947 Allied Jewish Campaign had many and
began tOrning out the Genius of Universal
merits which marked the setting of new standards for giving Emancipation, first antislavery journal to appear
to overseas causes and for the support of our local social in the whole country. After the `Jew Bill' got by,
Baltimoreans paid more attention to Lundy's
service and educational activities.
journal. There was talk of `outside influence': and
Although we are not reaching the high goal assumed in one day Austin Woolfolk, a notoriously mean
this year's campaign, the large sum we, are raising is so slave-trader, beat up the editor on the street and
far above any previous total reached by Detroit Jewry in an nearly killed him."
Disraeli, whose political activities Douglass
Allied Jewish Campaign that there is good reason for rejoic- Watched
in - London, is described (in quotation
ing over a genuine triumph in fund-raising. We can assume from Richard Cobden) as: "He will sacrifice -any-
that the goal set at the outset was a bit too high and that the thing for power."
great Americans and Europeans introduced
actual achievement came much. closer to the community's in The
the book, the eminent figures Douglass met
capacity for giving.
here and abroad, the eminent Negro's rise to im-
The most encouraging factor in the drive; which was so portant positions in our government—these and
well managed by the general chairman, Mr. Fred M. Butzel, numerous other elements place Miss Graham's
among the "musts" on every American's
and the able director, Mr. Isidore Sobeloff, was the enrollment book
reading list.
Our Drive's Educational Merits
of thousands of workers and the elevation to community
leadership of many young people whose devotion to our
people's needs has proven a real inspiration.
The determination of the campaign workers • to carry
on the campaign solicitations beyond the allotted time, in
order to assuretotal coverage, is a clear indication of a strong
community obligation.
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Our campaign's educational merits have proven especially
valuable in the training of leadership, in. cementing unity and
in the enrollment of cooperation Which has resulted in the
postponement of other community efforts so that nothing
would be permitted to interfere with the drive's mercy ob-
jectives.
Whatever has been done until now must
Men and women who either have personally survived
be considered as a mere beginning in this the tragedies that were inflicted upon Jewry by the Nazis or
great obligation to the men, women and who have visited displaced persons camps to study the situa-
children who must find havens of refuge if tion in Europe, and messengers from Palestine addressed
they are not to perish. Those who have called thousands of contributors. ,
upon members of Congress to act must renew
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their appeals. Those who have not yet acted
There was a mingling of emotion with practical ap-
must do so now. There is very-little time left, proaches in the drive, and the contrast between the two was
either for action by Congress or to retain the especially in evidence at the campaign meeting at which Mr.
will to survive among the DPs.
Robert MacRae, managing director of- the Detroit Council of
President Truman, the Justice and State Social Agencies, and Miss Molly Picon, noted Jewish actress,
Departments have endorsed the Stratton Bill. were the guests.
Now it is up to Congress to act. And it is OUR
Mr. MacRae; the non-Jew, spoke philosophically—and
duty to let Congress know the sentiments of certainly most sympathetically—about the spiritual values of
all liberty-loving people. If WE -do not act, giving to the drive. Miss Picon, having recently returned from
the bigots who become panicky, over the a .tour of displaced persons camps, expressed envy that she
sound of the words "refugee," "immigrant" or could not discuss the _immense problems of the people who
"DP" may succeed in keeping the doors to were dispossed by Hitlerism with calmness and detachment.
America—the traditional Mother of Exiles— Then Mr. Butzel stepped in to indicate the need for a fusion
shut tight for those who need her so badly.
of all objectives in the drive, to impress his fellow-workers
Determined action may win the battle for with the inseparability of our obligations to the overseas
justice for the oppressed. Let us all have a causes with our duties to the agencies which retain strength
share in such a victory.
for the organized Jewish community of America.
It is out of such discussions that our community emerges
more understanding and stronger.
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Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
On three occasions, campaign workers heard the singing
Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Religious
News Service, Pateor Agency.
of melodies that were brought to this country from concen-
Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
tration camps by survivors and by Americans who visited in
Publisned every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
Europe since the end of the war. One of these songs—the
ing Co., 2119 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26. Mich., RA. 7956.
Subscription, $3 a year; foreign, $4. Club subscription.
Song
of the Partisans—was heard twice in Yiddish, in inter-
every fourth Friday of the month, to all subscribers to
pretations by Emma Schaver and the Gottlieb Brothers who
Allied Jewish Campaign of Jewish Welfare Federation of
Detroit. 40 cents pei year.
survived Nazism. Last week Miss Picon sang this song in an
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942. at Post Of-
fice, Detroit. Mich.. under Act of March 3, 1879.
English translation she had improvised. The depths to which
the audiences were moved by this hymn, whose concluding
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
lines—"We still are here"—eloquently affirm the Jewish will
Maurice Aronsson
Philip Slomovitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
to live, should serve as strongest assurance that the affluent
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Jewish community of America is not forgetting the survivors
Maurice H. Schwartz Henry Wineman
abroad.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor
Thus, the numerous lessons of the 1947 drive provide
VOL. XI—NO. 11
reassurance that our community not only is strong but is
MAY 30, 1947
growing from strength to strength—in its will to contribute
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
and to work for important causes, in the raising of its stand-
This Sabbath, the twelfth day of Sivan, 5707, ards, in its willing acceptance of respontibilities to less for-
the following Scriptural selections will be read in
THE JEWISH NEWS
our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Num. 4:21-8:89.
Prophetical portion—Judges 13:2-25.
•
/* Friday, May 30, 1947
• THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Four
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Two Books of Merit in Battle
Against Racial, Religious Bias
Two new voluMes--Bucklin Moon's "The High
Cost of Prejudice" and Goodwin Watson's "Action
for Unity"—are excellent contributions to the
literature aimed at mobilizing the battle for justice
and against racial and religious prejudices.
Mr. Moon's book (published by Julian Messner,
8 W. 40th St_ New York 18) declares as a con-
clusion to an able study: "The Negro has been
called the barometer of democracy, but he is far
more than that. So long as we have no solution
for the Negro problem, we have no solution for
any minority problem. And so long as our false
concepts of racial superiority continue. the Negro
can never be an American. but more than that,
Americans can never be free men."
The author proves that the Negro's tragic role
in America is comparable to the miseries suffered
by Jews in Nazi Germany. and he shows how the
Hitlerian scheme has gained ground in the world.
Considerable space is given in the book to an
expose of the quota system in American colleges
aimed at restricting attendance of Jews, Negroes
and Catholics. and bis book is especially valuable
for its objective study of "The Prejudices of Those
Prejudiced Against." In this chapter he shows
how anti-Semitism grows among Negroes. but he
denies that it is widespread. He makes much of
the interesting point that "Jews in the United
States are fighting to maintain their rights, while
Negroes are fighting to win theirs."
Mr. Watson's "Unity for Action" (published by
Harper as Bros.) is a brilliant record of the battle
for tolerance. , It is valuable for its survey of the
forces which fight for justice as well as for its
analysis of the groups that seek to set up racial
and religious barriers against minorities.
"Action for Unity" incorporates the report of
the Planning Survey of the Commission on Com-
munity Interrelations of the American Jewish
Congress. Its presentation of the patterns for the
fight for liberty is a splendid contribution to
libertarian literature and action.
Lives of Great American Jews
Emma Ehrlich Levinger, whose short stories have
thrilled young and old alike, has produced another
excellent book. Her "The Golden Door." just re-
leased by Bloch Publishing Co., has great histori-
cal merit, the stories being woven around the lives
of great American Jews.
There is a story about the Rev. Gershom Mendes
Seixas, the rabbi of New York's Congregation
Shearith Israel in the year (1776) when the British
captured New York.
Abram Mordecai is the hero of a narrative In
which he is revealed as the first Jewish settler in
Alabama.
Rebecca Gratz, Judah Touro, Mordecai Manuel
Noah, Uriah P. Levy, Emma Lazarus, Hayna Solo-
mon, Isaac Franks and others are among the
prominent American Jews to whom the 18 stories
are devoted by Mrs. Levinger.
Israel A. Fiedler is the book's illustrator.
While the stories are reprints from two earlier
works by Mrs.,tLievin
. ger, "The Golden Door*
tunate people, in an eagerness to be better informed.
From these points of view, it must generally be, admitted should arouse:Wide - interest and deserves a large
that we bad a very good campaign.
sale.
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