Portland challenger., April 17, 1953, Image 1

Oregon Gets Civil Rights Law
House Approves Bill
By Vote Of 46 To 11
P o rt/1 a n d
Oregon lawmakers put their stamp of approval on a state’s
civil rights bill when the house of representatives passed the
senate-approved bill by a vote of 46 to 11 in Salem, April 13.
It was a majority victory of more than 4 to 1 for the hotly
Voi. 1. No. 26
Portland, Oregon. F riday, A pril 17, 1953
Hard Work Ftisaps Dividend
PRICE 10 CENTS
H ere
It Is!
B e I t E n a c te d b y th e P e o p le
th e S ta te o f O regon:
of
S e c t io n 1. A U p e r s o n s w it h in
th e ju r is d ic t io n o f t h i s s t a t e s h a ll
b e e n t it le d to th e f u l l a n d e<fual
a c c o m m o d a tio n s , a d v a n t a g e s , la -
c i l i t i e s a n d p r iv ile g e s o f a n y p la c e
o f p u b U c a c c o m m o d a tio n , r e s o r t
o r a m u s e m e n t, w it h o u t a n y d i s .
t in c t io n , d is c r im in a tio n or r e s t r ic ­
t io n o n a c c o n u t o f r a c e , r e U g io n ,
c o lo r o r n a t io n a l o r ig in .
S e c t io n 2. A p la c e o f p u b lic
a c c o m m o d a tio n , r e s o r t 'or a m u s e ­
m e n t sn a U m e a n a n y h o te l, m o te l
o r m o t o r c o u r t, a n y p la c e o f f e r in g
to th e p u b lic fo o d or d r in k fo r
c o n s u m p tio n on th e p r e m is e s , or
a n y p la c e o f f e r in g to th e p u b lic
e n t e r t a in m e n t , r e c r e a t i o n or
a m u s e m e n t; p r o v id e d t h a t n o t h ­
in g c o n ta in e d in t h i s A c t s h a l l be
c o n s t r u e d to in c lu d e o r a p p ly to
a n y in s t it u t io n , b o n a fid e c lu b or
p la c e o f a c c o m m o d a tio n , r e s o r t or
a m u s e m e n t, w h ic h is in it s n a tu r e
d is t in c t ly p r iv a t e .
Beam ing th e ir ap p ro v al of H ouse passage of th e civil rig h ts bill
T uesday afternoon are sev eral m em bers of th e P o rtla n d NAACP and
tw o legislators; am ong principals devoting lots of energy to seeing
the bill thro u g h . S tanding, left to rig h t, are: E d g ar W illiam s, Mrs.
M arie S m ith, Ulysses G. P lu m m er, Rev. D r. J. H arold Jones II, Mrs.
L orna M arple, Mrs. V erdell R u th erfo rd and O tto G. Ru herford.
S eated are S en ato r P h illip S. H itchcock and R ep resen tativ e M ark
O. H atfield, co-sponsors of th e bill.
S e c tio n 3. A ll p e r s o n s a g a in s t
w h o m a n y d is t in c t io n , d is c r im in a ­
t i o n o r r e s t r ic t io n o n a c c o u n t 01
r a c e , r e lig io n , c o lo r or n a tio n a l
o r ig in h a s b een m a d e by a n y p ia c e
o f p u b lic a c c o m m o d a tio n , r e s o r t
o r a m u s e m e n t a s d e fin e d h e r e in
s h a l l h a v e a c a u s e o f a c t .o n to r e ­
c o v e r d a m a g e s in th e s u m o f n o t
to e x c e e d ¡»soO fr o m th e o p e r a to r ,
m a n a g e r , o r e m p lo y e o f su c h
p la c e , a n d in a n y s u c h a c tio n th e
o p e r a to r ,
m an ager
or
e m p lo y e
s h a l l be J o in tly a n d s e v e r a lly
lia b le .
Youth P an el E xpresses Disappointment
In In terracial Progress of Their Elders
D isappo in tm en t in th e failu re
of th e ir elders to achieve racial
eq u ality in A m erica w as e x ­
pressed by y o u th s of this co u n ­
try at th e eig h th a n n u al m e e t­
ing of th e U rb an league of P o rt­
land held a t Benson high school
last S und ay afternoon.
A bout 1000 persons h eard a
panel of stu d en ts p red ict th at
th e n ex t g en eratio n w ill co rrect
this situation.
O ne of th e panelists, C arios
Ogimi, Reed college stu d en t
body presid en t, said m an k in d 's
biggest problem consists in h e lp ­
ing the w o rld ’s no n w h ite peoples
to find a satisfacto ry w ay of
life.
M inorities A live Now
He poin ted out th a t groups
w hich are m in o rities in th is
Sec. 34.66 P.L.&R.
U. S. PO STA G E
PAID
P erm it No. 816
PORTLAND, OREGON
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co u n try form tw o -th ird s of th e
w o rld ’s population. “F or th e first
tim e they feel th a t th ey can do
som ething. The co u n try w hich
show s th em how to realize th e ir
aim s w ill w in a g reat place in
h isto ry .”
O gim i declared th a t th e people
in th e U nited S tates do not put
enough em phasis on th is pro b ­
lem, especially since m any non-
w hites feel th a t th e ir poverty,
even th o u g h age-old, stem s from
w h ite control.
A U n iv ersity of P o rtlan d s tu ­
d en t from
N igeria, E phraim
Layode, said, “C ivil liberties
m u st be observed ev ery w h ere, if
w e are n o t alw ay s to be faced
w ith th e th re a t of w ar.”
Race P reju d ice W rong
Jo h n P au l Jones, stu d e n t body
p resid en t a t Lew is and C lark
college, said th a t race d iscrim in ­
atio n goes ag ain st n atu re , and
th a t young people learn from
th e ir eyes, th e ir b rain s and th e ir
reasoning pow ers th a t prejudice
is wrong.
“We college stu d en ts have an
oblig atio n to m ake o u r opinions
k now n on this su b ject,” said R ita
D yckm an, e x -p resid e n t of th e
M ary lh u rst college stu d en t body.
“W e m u st be sure to elim in ate
o u r ow n p reju d ices before wc
try to influence o th ers.”
O th er sp eak ers on th e panel
w ere D onald E dw ard C lark, vice
p resid en t of P o rtla n d S ta te col­
lege’s stu d en t body, and G ary
H ing, p resid en t of th e Benson
high school stu d e n t body.
R ichard Bogle, p a rt tim e stu ­
d e n t at P o rtla n d S tate extension,
w as m o d erato r for th e panel,
w hich w ill be bro ad cast on th e
KGW F reedom Forum .
Rev. O. B. Williams, Elected
Rev. O. B. W illiam s w as elect­
ed to a th re e -y e a r term on the
board of directors.
R e-elected
w ere Mrs. L an caster P ollard, Mrs
P o lly an n a Reed, C arl Deiz, Jam es
G oodsell, Law son M cCall and
H erm an P lum m er.
M ark Sm ith, state
deputy
lab o r com m issioner and acting
league trea su re r, rep o rted 1 fc»52
receip ts of $32,562.62 and $31,971-
.54 disbursem ents.
B alance at
th e tim e of the rep o rt was
S 139.17. “We could have done a
m uch b e tte r job if we had had
m ore m oney,” declared Sm ith.
Bob
F ritsch,
m em bership
chairm an, reported 400 new mem
bers g arn ered in a cam paign to
last u n til A pril 28. A television
set is to be aw arded to the group
and to th e in dividual getting the
m ost m em berships.
F ritsch announced also th a t
th e m em bership fee for stu d en ts
has been reduced to one dollar.
Portland NAACP
To Commemoratt
National Sunday
P o rtla n d ’s branch of the N atio n ­
al A ssociation for the A dvance­
m ent of Colored People celebrates
N ational N AACP S unday at the
W illiam s avenue YWCA A pril 19.
! S un d ay w ill also launch the k ick ­
off d riv e for 1953 m em berships to
the organization.
S lated as N AA CP solicitors for
the com ing cam paign are the com ­
ing
out d eb u tan tes of
Les
Fem m es. These young ladies and
th e ir sponsors are: C harlene Mol-
den and Mrs. W illiam B annister;
R o n n etta Robinson and Mrs. M ary
Belle D aw son; M ildred Robinson
and Mrs. S ylvia Thom pson; Ro-
della M iller and Mrs. R achael
B arno; and Rebecca C aldw ell and
co-sponsors Mrs. Hazel D avis and
Mrs. D olores Leggroan.
T he w inning solocitor w ill be
crow ned “Miss N AA CP of 1953”
and w ill be aw ard ed a trip to the
an n u al NAACP convention to oe
held th e last w eek in Ju n e in St.
Louis. T he crow ning will tak e
place som e tim e in June.
G overnor P aul P atterso n was
invited to the m eeting but d ue to
pressing legislative action in S a­
lem w ill be u n ab le to atten d .
W orkers on the recen t civil rights
cam paign have been invited to
atte n d th e m eeting.
Anniversary
C hallenger sta ff m em bers
a tta c h special signifgance to
this 26th issue. It happens to
be th e last of a year's series
of publiea*;ons and w e'd as
soon call it a m ilestone as
ju st an o th er issue. May 1. we
w ill proudly p resent issue
n u m b e r 1 of volum e II.
debated
m easure.
E arlier ;n
M arch, the S en ate had passed th e
bill by a vote of 21 to 9. The bill
now goes to the governor.
T he bill prohibits hotels, motels,
re sta u ra n ts and am usem ent places
i from d iscrim in atin g against peo­
ple because of race, religion or
j national origin, and allow s those
j discrim inated ag ain st to sue up
to $500.
P o rtla n d ers on H and
M any P o rtla n d resid en ts w ere
in the galleries w ith friends of
th e m easure. T he bill w as argued
largely on a m inority rep o rt by
the sta te and federal affairs com ­
m ittee th a t w ould have resulted
in referral of th e m easure to the
people.
The vote against the referral
m ove w as 39 to 18. T he S enate
also voted ag ain st re fe rra l to the
people.
R ep resen tativ e M ark O. H at­
field, Salem , lead the argum ent
against re fe rra l of the bill. He
said he feared th e “evils of the
ty p e of cam paign we w ould'
have.” He pointed out to the R e­
publican house that th e G O P
platform calls for protection of
m inorities.
R eferral Possible
T h ere is a likelihood th a t the
m easure m ay be referred by hotel
and re s ta u ra n t operators as was
the P o rtlan d civil rights o rd in ­
ance in N ovem ber, 1950. P re v i­
ously th e P o rtlan d city council
had unanim ously passed th e o r­
dinance.
O regon alread y has a fairly
w ell-toothed F air E m ploym ent
P ractice Bill. A nd both n eighbor­
ing states, W ashington and Cal-
ilornia, have civil rights legisla­
tion w ith p u n itiv e clauses.
M any local clubs and o rg an i­
zations w ere active in solid su p ­
port of the m easure. Most of
them , including m any social and
fra te rn a l organizations, the U rban
L eague of P o rtlan d , the N ational
A ssociation for the A dvancem ent
of C olored P eople and the P o rt­
land L eague of W omen V oters,
w ere u n ited in th e ir successful
efforts u n d er th e b a n n e r of the
O regon C om m ittee for Equal
rights.
Fashions Take O ver at NAACP Event
These lw o Portland women were among the models who paraded a fine array of beauty and clothing
at the NAACP dance and fashion show recently at he Masonic Sunken Ballroom. Left, Miss Marce-
line Casey step? down in a gray flannel suit, fur scarf, perky hat and chic white gloves. On tho right
Herman C. Plummer adjusts the fur stole worn by Miss Rosemarie Brock. She wears tailored gray
tweed. (Oregon Journal Photos.)