Activities Among Negroes
The biennial convention of the National Association of Colored Women's clubs has just closed most successful sessions city of Chicago, where hundred delegates were in attendance besides thousands of visitors.
The outstanding features of the convention of interest to the colored club women of California is the fact that club women of this state were among the most distinguished women of this national gathering. Mrs. Pearl Lowery Winters of Bakersfield was unanimously re-elected as chairman of the ways and means committee. In this vast gathering of the most intellectual colored club women of America not one would permit her name to appear before the convention to oppose Mrs. Winters.
The California State Federation of Colored Women's clubs sent a special invitation to the national convention to hold their next biennial in the city of Oakland, Cal. This distinction was won for Oakland through the popularity of Mrs. Winters and because of the recognition accorded the national president, Miss Hallie Q. Brown, during her stay in Oakland last winter, at which time the Community Chest drive coworkers and leaders made Miss Brown not only welcome at one of their noon lunches held at the Hotel Oakland, but also listened with intense interest while she addressed them. The same recognition was accorded her at the luncheon given in honor of the president of the National League of Women Voters. In that assemblage of nearly a thousand of California white club women, Miss Brown's national and international position was recognized by her being chosen as the first speaker.
The selection of Oakland. for the next biennial meeting of the National Association of Colored Women's clubs was also made possible through the many courtesies shown the State Federation of Colored Women's clubs at their recent convention, in the city of Oakland contributed towards their entertainment. It was made possible through the letter of greeting sent by The TRIBUNE to the State Federation convention, in which, among other things, The TRIBUNE, through its editors offered the use of its columns and pledged its good office not only for the benefit of its readers and to the uplift of the Negro race as a whole.
Another aid to Oakland in winning was a personal letter sent by Mrs. Hettie B. Tilghman to the National Notes Magazine, in which she recalled the many courtesies shown the national president, Miss Hallie Q. Brown. This letter was published in the convention number of the magazine, resulting in thousands of club women reading of Oakland, Cal., long before they started to the convention. The writer sent a letter and clippings from The TRIBUNE on the State Federation which had just closed. The letter and clipping burned with plane at Salt Lake City, whereupon the writer sent a night letter, and the next day sent another air mail service letter with clippings to Mrs. Winters.
As a result the city of Oakland will act as host two years hence to the National Association of Colored Women's clubs. This is the first time that this body has ever met farther west than Denver, Colo.
The newly elected president of this body, Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune of Daytona, Fla., has served as vice-president at large of the organization, president of the Southeastern Federation of Colored Women's clubs, and president of the Florida State Federation of Colored Women's clubs. She is also the founder and president of the Daytona Normal and Industrial institute, now the Daytona Cookman Collegiate institute. Some of the outstanding events of the biennial convention of the of Colored National Association Women's clubs was the educational drive to raise $50,000, the interest of which is to be used as a scholarship fund. Ohio (which is the home state of Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the retiring president) was awarded a large silver loving cup as first prize, having raised $2000 for education; while Illinois was the recipient of the second prize, a smaller loving cup, her clubs having raised $1000. The campaign for education raised $12,000.
Many men and women of distinction were presented to the convention. Among this number was Hon. Theo. Risley, acting Secretary of Labor in Washington, D. C., who represented Secretary James J. Davis. He surprised the audience with the vast amount of knowledge he had of the progress of the Negro race. Among the white women of prominence who were presented to the convention was Miss Catherine Smith of Indianapolis, assistant director of the women's department of the Republican party. She represented Mrs. A. F. Hart of Louisville, Ky., the director of this department; Miss Sullivan of New York, and Miss Webber of Delaware, both identified with the national work of the Republican party.
Among the colored women of distinction to be presented to the convention were Mrs. M. C. Hooze {sic}, national committee woman from Mississippi, and Mrs. George Williams of Savannah, Ga., also national committee woman; Mrs. Mary Church-Terrill, wife of Judge Terrill of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. J. C. Napier of Tennessee, president of the trustee board of the Fred Douglas Memorial Home association; Miss Nannie Burroughs, president of the National League of Republican Colored Women and also president of the Nannie Burroughs School for Colored Girls in Washington, D. C. The colored men of distinction to be presented to the convention was Bishop Carey of the A. M. E. church, Dr. DuBois and Prof. J. J. Cornelius.
Music is playing an important part in the solution of the Negro problem as the following will show: On the New York Age, the musical editor, Lucian H. White, has an interesting item in which he said: "One of the interesting of the many graduates from the Damrosch Institute of Musical Art at the commencement exercises held a few weeks ago at Aeolian hall was a young African native, Nicholas G. Julius Ballanta-Taylor of Freetown, Sierra Leone. West Africa. Young Taylor was brought to this country largely through the efforts of Mrs. Cecily Hayford, an African, who became acquainted with him at Freetown and who brought with her to this country several musical compositions, which had been produced by Taylor in Freetown. She secured the interest of influential and worthwhile connections and so induced Taylor to come to. America for systematized study. His first contact was in Boston, and it was nearly a year later that he reached New York. A scholarship was secured for him at the Damrosch school and it is an open secret that George Foster Peabody, the philanthropist, made provision for the living expenses of the young African student. He was so far advanced in his self directed studies that only two years were needed to complete the course in advance composition which ordinarily require seven years.“
Taylor, declares that he has found conclusive evidence that American negro spirituals is fundamentally allied to the primitive melodies of the native African, and he is returning to Africa to continue his research work along that line, which he hopes will add valuable material to the history of negro music, both African and American.
August Crisis magazine: "The triumph of Roland Hayes in the great music halls of New York lends peculiar interest to the tributes paid to the baritone, Julius Bledsoe, a medical student of Columbia University, who appeared not many weeks ago at Aeolian Hall.” The New York Times said of his work: "His voice has the velvety quality peculiar to his race, with the tender melting pathos which the famous Roland Hayes his contemporary has so successfully cultivated. It is possible that Bledsoe may run the tenor a close second in matter of popularity."
Oakland has a promising musical artist in the person of Madame Petite Ford. She is a product of the California public schools. On Wednesday evening the writer had the pleasure of listening to her in song recital at the New Hope Baptist church, at which time Mme. Petite sang many selections from grand operas in Italian and French. The writer was amazed at the ease with which she sang in these languages, and her fine phrasing.
