Tri-Commission

Makes Recommendations

On Organic Union.

The Report of the Special Committee of the Tri-Commission of the A. M. E., A. M. E. Z., and C. M. E. Churches which met in 1922 says: We, your Committee on Plan of Procedure, beg to submit the following report:

Whereas, We believe that Organic Union of the A. M. E., A. M. E. Z. and C. M. E. Churches is practicable, desirable and feasible, and, Whereas, we recognize the necessity of some definite outline of the plans and propositions underlying the question of Organic Union, we respectfully recommend this question of Organic Union to be approached from the following angles:

(1) That the entire commission consisting of twenty-four members with eight representatives from each participating body be divided into two groups, consisting of four each, from each denomination, to be styled as Sub-Commission with authority to study, formulate and recommend plans for the basis of union; taking under consideration the following, to-wit:

Group "A"-The Name, Policy, as to doctrines and administration; the Episcopacy-Episcopal Districts and Annual Conferences.

Group "B"-Departmental Life-Institutions and Property Rights.

(2) This Sub-Commission to make report to the full Commission at such time as said Commission is or may be called to meet.

(3) Believing that a larger general Commission is desirable we recommend that the council of Bishops of each of the participating bodies be asked to increase the number of commissioners from eight to fifteen.

(4) Resolved, Further, that during the period of negotiations and members of our respective churches, annual conferences, our pastors, presiding elders, general officers and bishops be urged to exercise the most kindly fellowship and co-operation looking towards that unity of spirit and service which will consummate Organic Union.

The General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church which met at Indianapolis, Indiana, May, 1924, among other things elected three bishops, established a central treasury, appointed a finance committee to handle all funds of the Annual Conference, discontinued Bishops' rights and made it unlawful for Bishops to collect funds in the annual conference or at any time belonging to the general Church or funds that should be sent to the financial secretary. Lay representation was increased. All accounts of general officers, etc., are to be audited by expert accountants and reports made public for the use of the Church generally. Each Bishop is to live within the district over which he is presiding.

Southern Baptist Convention
National Baptist Convention
Co-operate Establishing

Negro Theological Seminary.

The General Conference of the A. M. E. Church was held at Louisville, Kentucky, in May, 1924. The Episcopal Address presented at the opening of the Conference among other things stressed the necessity for progressive Christian organization, higher standards for the pulpit,

the enforcement of the Prohibition Laws, suppression of mob violence, political independence of any party for the Negro, and a greater program of social service.

At the 1923 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., held at Indianapolis, Indiana, the following resolution was adopted with reference to the appointment of Negroes on the Church Boards:

"Resolved, That it is the sense of this Assembly that racial groups be given representation on the Boards of the Church as soon as possible and as far as may be expedient.”

This was a substitute for a motion that the number of members on the four Boards of the denomination be increased and that two Negroes be named on the Board of National Missions and one Negro on each of the other Boards.

At the 1924 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention held at Atlanta, Georgia, the report, on the Negro Theological Seminary which the Convention in co-operation with the National Baptist Convention is establishing at Nashville, Tennessee, was that the first unit of the Seminary was being constructed. It was recommended that "The Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention continue to receive the funds allocated to this purpose from the 75 Million Campaign.

In the future program, that the Southern Baptist Convention provide not less than $50,000 per year for the promotion of the interests of the Seminary; that $20,000 of this may be set aside for current expenses and that the National Baptist Convention provide an amount not less than $15,000 per year for the current expenses of the Seminary." "The report was amended by striking out the words specifying a definite amount ($50,000 per year) for the promotion of the interest of the Seminary; and the sum to be allotted was left to the Committee on Future Program.'

Effect Proposed Union

M. E. Church And M. E. Church, South
On Negro Member M. E. Church.

The Southwestern Christian Advocate, official organ of the Negro members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in commenting on the effect of the proposed union of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on the Negro members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, said:

"With this merger perfected, as proposed, we shall have in the United Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 54 active Bishops, 28971 Ministers, 20,987 Lay Ministers, 6,831,552 church members. Of this great body there will be two Bishops who are Negroes, 2,044 Negro ministers, 3,465 Negro lay preachers, 369,162 Negro members, organically a part of the United Church. All others will be White or of other races. Besides the Negroes referred to; there will be the independent Negro body known as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America, to whom help will go in the future, as in the past, through Jurisdictional Conference number Two, which covers the new Methodist Episcopal Church, South."

Negroes Receiving
Wider Recognition

Y. M. C. A. Work.

The four colored members of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A., are Bishop Robert E. Jones, New Orleans, Dr. R. R. Moton, Tuskegee Institute, F. B. Ransom, Attorney and Manager of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, and W. F. Trotman, of New York City.

Three colored members of State Committees have been elected. They are: G. G. Brown, M. D., of Wichita, Kansas; R. L. Brokenburr, Attorney-at-Law, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and W. R. Valentine, Principal, Manual Training School, Bordentown, New Jersey.

There were ten colored delegates to the Constitutional Convention held at Cleveland, Ohio, October, 1923. Dr. R. R. Moton served as a member of the Committee of Thirty-three that arranged for the Convention and was one of the Vice-Chairmen during the Convention sessions. Bishop R. E. Jones served as a Vice-Chairman of the International Convention at Atlantic City. Dr. R. R. Moton was named as Chairman of the Sub-Committee which has charge of the work among colored men.

The Centre Avenue Branch (Pittsburgh), the 13th building to be erected under the Rosenwald offer, was opened to the public in September, 1923. It was erected at a cost of $250,000. Four building campaigns have been conducted. They were in Denver, Colo., Detroit, Mich.; Montclair, N. J.; and St. Louis, Mo. Two of these buildings are now in course of construction-those at Denver and Detroit. The Detroit building when completed at a cost of more than a half million dollars will be the largest and finest building for colored men in the country. In the St. Louis campaign, colored people subscribed more than $125,000, of which $25,000 was subscribed by Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Malone of the Poro College, this being the largest single contribution of Negroes to Y. M. C. A. or Y. W. C. A. work. The St. Louis campaign will make possible a second building for colored men in that city and the enlargement of the present Pine Street Department.

Dr. J. E. Moorland, after more than 30 years of service in the Y. M. C. A. work was retired after reaching the age limit of sixty, on Oct. 1, 1923. A national testimonial was tendered him at Harper's Ferry in connection with the annual session of the Y. M. C. A. Summer School. C. H. Tobias, formerly Secretary of the colored Student Associations, was appointed as Dr. Moorland's successor.

Max Yergan's work in South Africa has resulted in the organization of 20 Y. M. C. A.'s, among the Native Educational Institutions of South Africa. The colored people of America have supported Max Yergan in his work in South Africa and have raised sufficient funds to make possible his attendance at the World Student Christian Federation Conference to be held in London in August, 1924.

One hundred seventy-two (172) colored delegates attended the Student Volunteer Convention at Indianapolis in December, 1923.

A Colored Men's Department and Inter-racial Conference, presided over by Dr. John R. Mott, was held at Asheville, N. C., in May, 1924, for the purpose of initiating a forward movement in the interest of Association Work among colored men and boys and strengthening the work of the Inter-racial Department of the International Committee. Rep

resentatives of both races from all parts of the country attended this Conference.

A Y. M. C. A. building is being erected at a cost of $50,000 for the colored people of Vicksburg, Miss. This building was the gift outright of Mrs. Fannie W. Johnson, a white friend of the Race, who also gave $50,000 as a permanent endowment of the work.

The Army and Navy Department has made a conditional gift of $10,000 to the Y. M. C. A., at Columbus, Ga., especially in the interest of serving the needs of the men of the 24th Infantry, stationed at Fort Benning.

Gifts of colored people to the Home Work of the International Committee have increased from $10,000 two years ago to $17,700 during the past year. This is more than half the amount necessary to operate the Department annually.

Mr. Julius Rosenwald in September, 1923, announced an offer to give $25,000 toward another colored Y. M. C. A. building in Chicago on condition that the colored people raise $75,000.

Miss Lucy D. Slowe, Dean of Women, Howard University; Miss Ethel McGhee and Miss Ophelia Shields, both students in the New York School of Social Work, were elected members at large of the Executive Committee of the National Student Council.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ross Haynes, New York City, was elected a resident member of the National Board of the Y. W. C. A., at its Eighth Biennial Convention in New York City in 1924. There were 3,000 delegates at this convention, 125 of whom were colored.

Mrs. Ruth Logan Roberts, New York City, is a member of the National City Committee and the National Council of Colored Work.

At the biennial meeting of the National Student Committee which is a section of the Y. W. C. A., there were 19 colored students among 350 delegates. Miss Emma McAllister, of Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, was a member of the Executive Committee of the Assembly and was chosen a First Vice President.

Miss Juliette Derricotte, a Field Student Secretary of the Y. W. C. A. Work Among Negroes, was one of the five women who represented American women at the World's Christian Student Federation, held at Heigh Leigh, England, August 7-21, 1924. Nineteen countries were represented at this great student gathering.

"The Council on Colored Work of the Y. W. C. A. National Board is made up of four white and four colored women- -Mrs. Richard Ward Westbrook, of New York, Chairman; Mrs. John M. Hanna, of Dallas, Texas; Mrs. Beverly B. Mumford, of Richmond, Va.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., of New York; Mrs. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, of Sedalia, N. C.; Mrs. Frank L. Williams, of St. Louis; Mrs. George R. Haynes, of New York, and Mrs. Ruth Logan Roberts, of New York. "The Secretary of the Council is Miss Eva D. Bowles.

"The functions of the Council are: to study the history of the Negro race, to discuss frankly and with unbiased minds the problems of the race, to plan for better racial understanding, and for members of the committee to use their influence to co-operate with all agencies and individuals to bring about desired results."

The following resolution was adopted at the meeting in April, 1924:

"While a growing interpretation of brotherhood has reduced the toll of life through lynchings during the last year some 50 per cent, there is still imperative need for a nation-wide campaign in education which will result not only in the enactment of laws but the enforcement of such laws.

"As law enforcement depends upon right attitudes of mind, we, the Council of Colored Work of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association, would urge upon our entire association body a new and earnest effort to create right public opinion toward the complete eradication of mob violence and lynching in this country."

Inter-racial Council

Women Of The Darker Races

Organized.

The activity of colored women through their clubs is notable. This is indicated by the fact that there are active State Federations of Colored Women's Clubs in practically every state where there are a considerable number of colored people. There is a vigorous growth of the Northeastern, the Northwestern and the Southeastern Federations of the Colored Women's Clubs and the National Association of Colored Women. The Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs at its 1922 meeting appointed a delegation to call on Senator Lodge and urge the passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. Among the subjects discussed at this meeting were health, hygiene, temperance, law enforcement and the use of the ballot. The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs at its 13th biennial meeting in Richmond, Virginia, 1922, made recommendations to the National Council of Women's Clubs composed of 87 organizations of which the National Association of Colored Women is one.

(1) That there should be colored men and women on all educational boards; (2) The raising of the age of consent and one moral standard for men and women. (3) The abolishing of lynching: (4) The enforcement of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

August 12, 1922, the home of Frederick Douglass was dedicated as a shrine for the race by a committee from the National Association of Colored Women of which Mrs. Mary B. Talbot, Buffalo, New York, was President, and Mrs. Nellie L. Napier, Nashville, Tennessee, Treasurer. The colored women's clubs of the country through contributions had paid all the indebtedness against the home and dedicated it as a shrine for the Negro Race. Tributes were paid to the memory of Frederick Douglass and appropriate tablets were unveiled. For this purpose they had raised $16,446. The mortgage was paid and the building was repaired; five tablets and a statute of Douglass were placed in the home. The home was taken over by the National Association of Colored Women in 1916; the mortgage was paid in 1918 and restoration of the home was begun in September, 1921. The formal dedication was Saturday, August 12, 1922. The home is directly under the supervision of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.

At Washington in August, 1922, the organization of "The International Council of Women of the Darker Races" was effected. Representatives were present from Africa, the West Indies, Ceylon and from a number of national organizations in the United States. The following were elected: Mrs. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. President; Mrs. Elizabeth C. Carter, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Secretary; and Mrs. Margaret Wilson, Orangeburg, South Carolina, Treasurer. The Home for Delinquent Boys and Girls is receiving special attention of state federations of women's clubs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama and Texas.