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 8

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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 8

HOW MINNEAPOLIS BEAT THE BIGOTS
[[italics]]from page 94[[end italics]]
Yet while the Minneapolis self-survey was in progress the League of Women Voters polled its members and found that more than ninety percent did not care about the color of the salesgirl so long as she was capable. At the same time ten thousand Minneapolis housewives went on record in a petition as saying they favored giving competent Negroes a chance at the better jobs.
FINALLY one department store hired one Negro salesgirl.. The management held its breath and waited. Here was a practical test of all the old fears and prejudice,
Of all the old customers the store had feared offending, exactly two canceled their charge accounts. These were offset by several scores of women who opened new charge accounts at the store to show their approval.
Another store took the same step. As soon as the first Negro salesgirl appeared three young women working at near-by counters went to the store president and said they would quit unless the new girl was removed.
The president remained firm. The store had a new policy and it was going to stick. Anyone who disapproved could resign. The three young women, still annoyed, went back to their counters.
A few days later the president made a visit to the controversial department. he arrived in time to see the new Negro salesgirl going out to lunch with the three young women who had threatened to quit.
Today this man is firmly convinced that a great part of race prejudice is mere superstition. "This business of hiring Negro salespeople has been a strange experience," he told me. "It's just one of those things you're afraid to do all though the years. Then you finally do it--and suddenly you discover that there was nothing to fear in the first place."
This same man gave me a sharp lesson in what our government calls the "fair employment code." I asked him, "How many Negroes are working for you now?"
He answered quickly, 'I don't know."
"Then let's call your personnel manager," I suggested. "he must know."
The president looked at me firmly. "If he [[italics]]does[[end italics]] know and I hear of him telling you or anyone else I'll dismiss him. If we start counting, that in itself is a form of segregation--and we don't tolerate it."
In the self-survey of real-estate firms Minneapolis found that the great majority refused to sell or rent houses to minority groups except in certain segregated areas. The chief reason was that nearly everybody assumed, without looking into the facts, that property values would decline if a member of a minority moved into the neighborhood.
Yet the survey indicated that nearly a third of all the Minneapolis people questioned had no objection ta tall to living next door to a Negro, Jew, oriental or Mexican. once this fact was made known, the real-estate dealer who helped with the survey could freely express some convictions he had all along:
"In thirt years in the business," he said, "I've never seen or heard of a clear-cut case where property values declined when a minority-group family moved in. The whole thing is just a matter of apathy. You go along with everybody else, without ever questioning the facts, and you don't think much about it until something like this jars you out of your rut."
The economic waste shown by the survey was staggering. During the war when the shortage of hospital nurses was at its worst Minneapolis had more than a dozen Japanese-American girls with good hospital training. One of them applied at seven hospitals--and was turned down each time. Given a job, she might have saved a life or many lives.
Despite the shortage of qualified physicians most Minneapolis hospitals kept Jewish doctors off their staffs or permitted just one or two--for the record. The Jewish people built their own three-million-dollar hospital, staffed with physicians of the Jewish faith.
Good schoolteachers were in desperately short supply, yet Jewish and Negro teachers were kept out of jobs. Only two Negroes had jobs even remotely connected with teaching. One was a clerk in a schoolhouse and one worked in a school cafeteria.
Looking backward, the citizens of the one-time "capital of race prejudice" now wonder why they passed up for so long the great advantages of using each citizen according to his ability. They can scarcely understand why they permitted old habits to stand in the way of progress and prosperity.
Why force thousands of citizens into slums that you will have to support?
When a nurse means the difference between life or death, why exclude good applicants?
When a man will die without the services of the best available surgeon,w hat does it matter whether the doctor is Jew or gentile?
When good schoolteachers are needed, why bar a fine teacher because she has dark skin?
These are the questions Minneapolis asked itself--thanks largely to the Fisk University self-survey. The answers were plain and Minneapolis acted on them.
the self-survey was hardly two weeks under way when the first hospital, reminded that its goal is service to the patient, appointed its first Negro nurse. She did an excellent job and was well liked by her patients. Soon the first Negro was elected to the Junior Chamber of Congress.
When the survey was published the city got a good look at all the facts--on jobs, on housing, club memberships, living conditions, every aspect of community life.
Interested citizens--some of them survey workers, others inspired to action by the published facts--organized standing committees for improvement. They tackled and are still tackling the job problem, the school problem, the health problem.
Today the public schools have taken on some excellent Jewish and Negro teachers.
Seven Negroes are on the police force. One has already advanced to detective.
Many highly educated Japanese have moved into the professional jobs they deserve--and have begun to make a genuine contribution to the community.
The first Jew has been elected to public office in a city-wide election. Most of the service clubs have Jewish members and are mighty glad of it.
REAL-ESTATE firms no longer ask whether a prospective renter or buyer is a Jew or a Negro. As a result Minneapolis has gone far toward providing that people of all races and creeds [[italics]]can[[end italics]] live together in harmony. In one middle-class suburb of ten thousand families, many Jewish families are now living on the friendliest terms with their neighbors. yet the original deeds of all the homes in the area contained restrictive clauses.
And in the last few years at least a score of Negro families have moved out of their own shabby neighborhoods into sections where no Negro ever lived before. Not once has there been an incident of violence.
A young Negro girl who recently rented an apartment in a white neighborhood told me of her experience. I put it down here in her own words because it is typical of what has happened in nearly every other similar case. 
"At first," she said, "my neighbors were co(?). A few were even unfriendly and went so (?) as to protest to the landlord. But gradua(lly?) people began to nod as they passed and th(ey?) (?) to say hello. And just the other day I sp(ent?) an hour chatting pleasantly with the woman who had been the bitterest complainer."
The Jews in the community have abandoned...
[[Center box text]]
Small Wonder
The worlds will never starve for wants of wonders, but only for want of wonder.
G. K. CHESTERTON
[[Bottom of page]]
96 October 1951

Saving...

HOW MINNEAPOLIS BEAT THE BIGOTS [[italics]]from page 94[[end italics]] Yet while the Minneapolis self-survey was in progress the League of Women Voters polled its members and found that more than ninety percent did not care about the color of the salesgirl so long as she was capable. At the same time ten thousand Minneapolis housewives went on record in a petition as saying they favored giving competent Negroes a chance at the better jobs. FINALLY one department store hired one Negro salesgirl.. The management held its breath and waited. Here was a practical test of all the old fears and prejudice, Of all the old customers the store had feared offending, exactly two canceled their charge accounts. These were offset by several scores of women who opened new charge accounts at the store to show their approval. Another store took the same step. As soon as the first Negro salesgirl appeared three young women working at near-by counters went to the store president and said they would quit unless the new girl was removed. The president remained firm. The store had a new policy and it was going to stick. Anyone who disapproved could resign. The three young women, still annoyed, went back to their counters. A few days later the president made a visit to the controversial department. he arrived in time to see the new Negro salesgirl going out to lunch with the three young women who had threatened to quit. Today this man is firmly convinced that a great part of race prejudice is mere superstition. "This business of hiring Negro salespeople has been a strange experience," he told me. "It's just one of those things you're afraid to do all though the years. Then you finally do it--and suddenly you discover that there was nothing to fear in the first place." This same man gave me a sharp lesson in what our government calls the "fair employment code." I asked him, "How many Negroes are working for you now?" He answered quickly, 'I don't know." "Then let's call your personnel manager," I suggested. "he must know." The president looked at me firmly. "If he [[italics]]does[[end italics]] know and I hear of him telling you or anyone else I'll dismiss him. If we start counting, that in itself is a form of segregation--and we don't tolerate it." In the self-survey of real-estate firms Minneapolis found that the great majority refused to sell or rent houses to minority groups except in certain segregated areas. The chief reason was that nearly everybody assumed, without looking into the facts, that property values would decline if a member of a minority moved into the neighborhood. Yet the survey indicated that nearly a third of all the Minneapolis people questioned had no objection ta tall to living next door to a Negro, Jew, oriental or Mexican. once this fact was made known, the real-estate dealer who helped with the survey could freely express some convictions he had all along: "In thirt years in the business," he said, "I've never seen or heard of a clear-cut case where property values declined when a minority-group family moved in. The whole thing is just a matter of apathy. You go along with everybody else, without ever questioning the facts, and you don't think much about it until something like this jars you out of your rut." The economic waste shown by the survey was staggering. During the war when the shortage of hospital nurses was at its worst Minneapolis had more than a dozen Japanese-American girls with good hospital training. One of them applied at seven hospitals--and was turned down each time. Given a job, she might have saved a life or many lives. Despite the shortage of qualified physicians most Minneapolis hospitals kept Jewish doctors off their staffs or permitted just one or two--for the record. The Jewish people built their own three-million-dollar hospital, staffed with physicians of the Jewish faith. Good schoolteachers were in desperately short supply, yet Jewish and Negro teachers were kept out of jobs. Only two Negroes had jobs even remotely connected with teaching. One was a clerk in a schoolhouse and one worked in a school cafeteria. Looking backward, the citizens of the one-time "capital of race prejudice" now wonder why they passed up for so long the great advantages of using each citizen according to his ability. They can scarcely understand why they permitted old habits to stand in the way of progress and prosperity. Why force thousands of citizens into slums that you will have to support? When a nurse means the difference between life or death, why exclude good applicants? When a man will die without the services of the best available surgeon,w hat does it matter whether the doctor is Jew or gentile? When good schoolteachers are needed, why bar a fine teacher because she has dark skin? These are the questions Minneapolis asked itself--thanks largely to the Fisk University self-survey. The answers were plain and Minneapolis acted on them. the self-survey was hardly two weeks under way when the first hospital, reminded that its goal is service to the patient, appointed its first Negro nurse. She did an excellent job and was well liked by her patients. Soon the first Negro was elected to the Junior Chamber of Congress. When the survey was published the city got a good look at all the facts--on jobs, on housing, club memberships, living conditions, every aspect of community life. Interested citizens--some of them survey workers, others inspired to action by the published facts--organized standing committees for improvement. They tackled and are still tackling the job problem, the school problem, the health problem. Today the public schools have taken on some excellent Jewish and Negro teachers. Seven Negroes are on the police force. One has already advanced to detective. Many highly educated Japanese have moved into the professional jobs they deserve--and have begun to make a genuine contribution to the community. The first Jew has been elected to public office in a city-wide election. Most of the service clubs have Jewish members and are mighty glad of it. REAL-ESTATE firms no longer ask whether a prospective renter or buyer is a Jew or a Negro. As a result Minneapolis has gone far toward providing that people of all races and creeds [[italics]]can[[end italics]] live together in harmony. In one middle-class suburb of ten thousand families, many Jewish families are now living on the friendliest terms with their neighbors. yet the original deeds of all the homes in the area contained restrictive clauses. And in the last few years at least a score of Negro families have moved out of their own shabby neighborhoods into sections where no Negro ever lived before. Not once has there been an incident of violence. A young Negro girl who recently rented an apartment in a white neighborhood told me of her experience. I put it down here in her own words because it is typical of what has happened in nearly every other similar case. "At first," she said, "my neighbors were co(?). A few were even unfriendly and went so (?) as to protest to the landlord. But gradua(lly?) people began to nod as they passed and th(ey?) (?) to say hello. And just the other day I sp(ent?) an hour chatting pleasantly with the woman who had been the bitterest complainer." The Jews in the community have abandoned... [[Center box text]] Small Wonder The worlds will never starve for wants of wonders, but only for want of wonder. G. K. CHESTERTON [[Bottom of page]] 96 October 1951