Activities Among Negroes
The negro people of America have been appealed to assist in Russia a negro family of distinction. This appeal came to Dr. Du Bois. The document is filled with so much interest I am quoting it in full. It said: "A grandson of Alexander C. Pushkin (Gregory A. Pushkin), with his family of a wife and four children, is living in extremely poor circumstances. The only bread winner is the wife, who is employed as a teacher, and is paid a miserable salary. G. A. Pushkin preserved the library of his great ancestor, and in 1917 donated it to the Pushkin house of the Academy of Science. The administration of the Academic theaters has opened a subscription for the benefit of the starving grandson of Pushkin."
The man sending Dr. Du Bois this clipping, which was published in a paper in Moscow called the "Izvestly," added the following to his letter: "Now I do not think I have to tell you that Pushkin, the great grandson of the negro General Hannibal of Peter I, is rated among the greatest poets of Russia. He was the founder of the realist school in Russian fiction, antedating the English master of the same school. There is a monument to him in the heart of Moscow erected in 1880. The principle address at the dedication was delivered by 'Dostoveysky.' Some seventeen years ago, while in Odessa, I happened to come across a photograph from a picture of Pushkin at the age of 14. It was a typical face of a colored boy, such as you see in America. Of course, in Russia, it was not a disqualification, and Pushkin was a member of the Russian aristocracy, and even held a court title under Nicholas I. The reason I am encroaching upon your time with these details is that I think it would be desirable for the colored people of America to respond to the appeal of the administration of the Academic theaters of Russia and subscribe for the relief of Pushkin's grandson.
The English government about a year ago sent to West, South and Central Africa, Dr. Thomas Jessie Jones, the head of the Phelps-Stokes fund for negro education in the United States. He spent ten months in travel throughout Africa, studying the educational needs of the negroes of the English colonies, who said: "We were led to this largely as a result of a most extraordinary interesting report prepared by Dr. Thomas Jessie Jones.
This conference appointed the following permanent advisory committee on african education, which was to include Sir Frederick Ingard, ev-governor of Nigeria, [I think this was Frederick Lugard. - MF] a member of the mandates commission of the League of Nations; Chairman Sir Michael Saddler of Oxford University; Bishop Edmundsbury, who was formerly master of Rugby; Sir Thomas Curry, director of Gordon College at Khartom and prominently identified with the Empire Cotton Growers' movement; J. H. Oldham, representing the British missionary societies."
John W. Moses, a negro graduate holding a bachelor degree from Oxford University, England, a post graduate from Cornell University and with a practical course in vocational teaching from Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, has accepted a position as vocation director at Palmer Institute, Sedalia N. C. It has been said that this institution has the most complete agricultural equipment of any negro school in America.
In the recent New York City amateur tennis championship in the women's singles there were 125 contestants. Of that number there was one negro girl - a Miss V. T. Dolphie, a native of Texas and a graduate of Fisk University. She is now a resident and member of the Colored Branch, Y. W. C. A. of New York city. Which she represented in the tournament and won.
The eighth convention of the Sigma Pi Phi, a negro Greek letter fraternity, was recently held in New York city. California has two chapters of this fraternity - one in Los Angeles and one in the U. C., Berkeley. There were negro representatives from California who attended this grand boule.
The Taylor Memorial Methodist church recently organized in Oakland have, through the recently adjourned annual conference held in Grass Valley, secured the church located at Twelfth and Magnolia streets, Oakland. Rev. Scott, their pastor, sent invitations for a reception and inspection of the building for Thursday evening. There have been few affairs held by negro people in Oakland in which a more hearty response was received. The reception was attended by a very large number of both white and negro people. The ministry was represented by Bishop Leonard, who gave a most interesting talk on the object of organizing this church. He said he had spent a long period in corresponding and in conferences with bishops throughout the United States in search of a negro pastor who would fill his desires and carry out his program for the negro people of Oakland. After years he found the person in Rev. A. L. Scott, a graduate of the School of Theology of the Boston University,
Dr. Guthrie, general secretary of the Epworth League of the World, displayed his wonderful collections of beads given by the Epworth Leagues through the world as a token of good will and friendship to other leagues in other countries. His remarks were most interesting. His collection of beads was unique in that they covered his entire chest and reached almost to the floor. The Taylor Memorial Church Epworth League added a strand of Beads to his collection. They were presented by Mrs. Scott, the pastor's wife. She made appropriate remarks in presenting them.
The general conference of the German Methodist church now convening with the German church located at Thirty-eighth and Telegraph, Oakland, adjourned and went in a body to the reception. The pastor of this church, Rev. Vassi, made a short address of good will. Remarks were made by Dr. J. M. Brown of San Francisco, former pastor of Fifteenth A. M. E. church Oakland, and Rev. Pryor, the present pastor of this church. They were followed by Dr. Milnes, district superintendent for M. E. church, Northern California and Dr. Wesley Mell, secretary to the bible and missionary department of the M. E. church, and others. Solos were rendered by negro musicians.
The Alameda County Civic League of Colored Women Voters were represented by the following delegates: Mrs. Hettie B. Tilghman, Mrs. Annie Clayton and Mrs. Frank Henry, representing the legislative department of their league, at the monthly meeting of the executive board of the League of Women voters (White) which met Friday in San Francisco.
The membership committee of the Linden Street Branch Y. W. C. A. held a musical and silver tea Thursday afternoon, at which they welcomed their new secretary, Miss Ruth Moore from Pittsburgh, Pa., Y. W, C. A. branch. Miss Moore, however, is a native daughter from Pasadena.
