DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 1 of 2) | Women's Home Companion Article: "How Minneapolis Beat The Bigots" Page 3

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Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 1 of 2)

Women's Home Companion Article: "How Minneapolis Beat The Bigots" Page 3

[[Caption beneath photo]]
..to a Negro and his family
[[Header in bold]]
BEAT THE BIGOTS
[[End header and bold]]
[[Italics]]
Do a few loud-mouthed bigots outshout the decent citizens in your town? You can stop them. How? Here's the answer from Minneapolis, the city that lost its shameful reputation--and found its heart.
[[end italics]]
BY CLIVE HOWARD
BIGOTRY [[italics]]can[[end italics]] be beaten. I have just had the extreme pleasure of studying a community that's done it. Sound impossible? Let's hasten to the good example of Minneapolis, the city that as recently as five years ago was called "the capital of anti-Semitism in the United States." It was also noted for its cruel barriers against Negroes, Japanese-Americans, Indians and Mexicans.
Today Minneapolis is a changed city. No longer is it threatened by that creeping disease of prejudice and its inevitable economic consequence--the blighted slum area that drags down property values, adds to everybody's tax burden and lowers community health standards.
Countless people forced into the relief rolls by the prejudice of both individuals and organizations have been turned into useful productive citizens--thus Minneapolis has tapped a source of talent and skill badly needed in any community.
It has virtually ended the costly duplication of hospitals and other public service facilities.
And best of all, Minneapolis has weakened a propaganda weapon the Communists have been using against us both at home and abroad. For all our efforts to ignore or rationalize it, bigotry has lowered our reputation among the other nations of the world.
Even as late as the end of World War II, Minneapolis was a favorite stamping ground of racial and religious bigots. One of its clergymen is said to have stated flatly from his pulpit, "The Jews should be wiped off the face of the earth."
Jewish school children on the north side of tow--where many of them lived because other residential areas were closed to them--were frequently beaten up. The police department was accused of being indifferent to these cruel and burtal asaults. Signs mysteriously appeared on the campus of the University of Minnesota: "Kill the Jews!"
Although twenty thousand Jewish people lived in the city none was permitted to belong to the Kiwanis, Rotary or other important service and social organizations. Even the local automobile club, perhaps alone among all in the United Sates, excluded Jews. A Jew found it impossible to get a job in a bank or utility company, or as a clerk or executive for an insurance company. 
Five thousand Negroes lived in Minneapolis, segregated into a few little run-down residential areas in the least attractive parts of town. Employers ignored them; some labor unions refused them cards. Between 1936 and 1940, when the United States was making its spectacular recovery from the depression, nearly seventy percent of all employable Negroes in Minneapolis were on the relief rolls.
Even by 1946 Negroes found it almost impossible to get a respectable job at decent wages. Mostly they worked as servants or in the lowest unskilled jobs around the manufacturing plants. Few made enough money to support their families at anything like the average American standard of living. Most of the better hotels and restaurants barred Negroes. Even the cheaper downtown lunch counters were out of bounds. A Negro who dared to sit down for a meal was kept waiting--a half-hour, three quarters  of an hour, a full hour. When his food arrived it was sometimes so doused with salt it was inedible.
During the early part of the war four thousand Japanese-Americans from the west coast settled in Minneapolis and about a thousand remained. They too were segregated and excluded from decent jobs. So were the several thousand Indians living in Minneapolis and a large number of Mexicans.
In short, Minneapolis was a rough place for anyone but a white Christian.
When a critical article appeared in a journal called Common Ground it created a sensation in Minneapolis. Many readers were indignant; they denounced the author and the magazine as liars. Others who knew the facts but had tried to ignore them were deeply ashamed.
The mayor of Minneapolis--young Hubert H. Humphrey, now a United States senator--had the most sensible reaction of all. "Instead of complaining about the charges," he said, "let's find out if they are true. let's make a survey and get at the facts."
What the young mayor[ [ [[italics]]continued on page 94[[end italics]] ]
[[Bottom of page]]
Woman's Home Companion 33

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[[Caption beneath photo]] ..to a Negro and his family [[Header in bold]] BEAT THE BIGOTS [[End header and bold]] [[Italics]] Do a few loud-mouthed bigots outshout the decent citizens in your town? You can stop them. How? Here's the answer from Minneapolis, the city that lost its shameful reputation--and found its heart. [[end italics]] BY CLIVE HOWARD BIGOTRY [[italics]]can[[end italics]] be beaten. I have just had the extreme pleasure of studying a community that's done it. Sound impossible? Let's hasten to the good example of Minneapolis, the city that as recently as five years ago was called "the capital of anti-Semitism in the United States." It was also noted for its cruel barriers against Negroes, Japanese-Americans, Indians and Mexicans. Today Minneapolis is a changed city. No longer is it threatened by that creeping disease of prejudice and its inevitable economic consequence--the blighted slum area that drags down property values, adds to everybody's tax burden and lowers community health standards. Countless people forced into the relief rolls by the prejudice of both individuals and organizations have been turned into useful productive citizens--thus Minneapolis has tapped a source of talent and skill badly needed in any community. It has virtually ended the costly duplication of hospitals and other public service facilities. And best of all, Minneapolis has weakened a propaganda weapon the Communists have been using against us both at home and abroad. For all our efforts to ignore or rationalize it, bigotry has lowered our reputation among the other nations of the world. Even as late as the end of World War II, Minneapolis was a favorite stamping ground of racial and religious bigots. One of its clergymen is said to have stated flatly from his pulpit, "The Jews should be wiped off the face of the earth." Jewish school children on the north side of tow--where many of them lived because other residential areas were closed to them--were frequently beaten up. The police department was accused of being indifferent to these cruel and burtal asaults. Signs mysteriously appeared on the campus of the University of Minnesota: "Kill the Jews!" Although twenty thousand Jewish people lived in the city none was permitted to belong to the Kiwanis, Rotary or other important service and social organizations. Even the local automobile club, perhaps alone among all in the United Sates, excluded Jews. A Jew found it impossible to get a job in a bank or utility company, or as a clerk or executive for an insurance company. Five thousand Negroes lived in Minneapolis, segregated into a few little run-down residential areas in the least attractive parts of town. Employers ignored them; some labor unions refused them cards. Between 1936 and 1940, when the United States was making its spectacular recovery from the depression, nearly seventy percent of all employable Negroes in Minneapolis were on the relief rolls. Even by 1946 Negroes found it almost impossible to get a respectable job at decent wages. Mostly they worked as servants or in the lowest unskilled jobs around the manufacturing plants. Few made enough money to support their families at anything like the average American standard of living. Most of the better hotels and restaurants barred Negroes. Even the cheaper downtown lunch counters were out of bounds. A Negro who dared to sit down for a meal was kept waiting--a half-hour, three quarters of an hour, a full hour. When his food arrived it was sometimes so doused with salt it was inedible. During the early part of the war four thousand Japanese-Americans from the west coast settled in Minneapolis and about a thousand remained. They too were segregated and excluded from decent jobs. So were the several thousand Indians living in Minneapolis and a large number of Mexicans. In short, Minneapolis was a rough place for anyone but a white Christian. When a critical article appeared in a journal called Common Ground it created a sensation in Minneapolis. Many readers were indignant; they denounced the author and the magazine as liars. Others who knew the facts but had tried to ignore them were deeply ashamed. The mayor of Minneapolis--young Hubert H. Humphrey, now a United States senator--had the most sensible reaction of all. "Instead of complaining about the charges," he said, "let's find out if they are true. let's make a survey and get at the facts." What the young mayor[ [ [[italics]]continued on page 94[[end italics]] ] [[Bottom of page]] Woman's Home Companion 33