DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 2 of 2) | 1951-11-04 Des Moines Register Editorial: "Burlington's Human Rights Survey"

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

1951-11-04 Des Moines Register Editorial: "Burlington's Human Rights Survey"

[[Top of page]]
6-A     Nov. 4, 1951
[[Header]]
Des Moines Sunday Register
EDITORIALS
[[Bold]]
Burlington's Human Relation Survey.
[[end bold]]
[[Article text]]
Burlington has done it again!
[[Bullet]]Burlington and surrounding Des Moines county pioneered one of the first and most effective city-county health units in Iowa.
[[Bullet]]The Burlington League of Women Voters a few years back got out an attractive voters' manual and distributed it to every household in the community in connection with a get-out-the-vote drive, showing the way to the whole state.
[[Bullet]]Now Burlington has made the most elaborate and thorough Community Self-Survey on human relations in Iowa, and perhaps in the nation, as applied to Negroes.
***
The traditional view in Iowa has been that "we have no Negro problem here." There are a few Negroes in the state, few of us mean to harm them in any way, and we are often not aware that they suffer any serious disabilities (even if we have to close our eyes hard not to see them).
But let's not kid ourselves. there [[italics]]is[[end italics]] a racial problem in America.
It is worst for Negroes in certain parts of the South, worst for Mexicans in parts of Texas, worst for Jews in certain Northeastern and resorts cities -- but in some form, it pervades every corner of the land. Altogether it forms the blackest blot upon our record.
We can shut our eyes to it in Iowa, but we cannot hide it from the world. China knows it, India knows it, Europe knows it, Russia broadcasts it.
***
Burlington has only about 300 Negroes in a population of over 30,000--roughly 1 per cent. Most of them were born there, and they move away or die faster than they are replaced.
Neither they nor the advocates of discrimination are very vocal or militant. That's what people mean when they say Burlington "has no race problem."
But a host of Burlingtonians were able to see beyond this excuse for doing nothing and [[italics]]some 800 of them took a personal part[[end italics]] in the two-year task of gathering factual data for the human relations survey.
It began when a small discussion group agreed the question was important, but did not agree on the facts. They organized a much larger group, the Burlington Self-Survey committee, to find out what the facts were. This committee engaged Dr. Herman Long of Fisk university as consultant.
***
Dr. Long had been consultant for the famed Minneapolis Self-Survey which resulted in changing that city from "the capital of anti-Semitism in the United States" to a city in which Jews, Negroes, and Indians are more and more accepted on their merits as individuals, and their special group contributions to our multiple culture recognized and welcomed.
The Burlington committee organized five working subcommittees--on education, housing, employment, public accommodation, and health--with over 50 members. Under their direction, the 800 volunteers pounded the pavements, looked and listened, gathered a complex mass of facts.
They sent these facts to Fisk university, where they were turned into an orderly statistical report, which then came back to the local sub-committees for intensive discussion and interpretation. 
The result was a 96-page full report, a 12-page summary, and--most important of all--a vivid personal sens of the human aspects of the problem in the hearts of 800 Burlington citizens, of all walks of life, including many of the most eminent leaders.
***
The real test comes from now on.
In Minneapolis, the self-survey led to the beginning of striking changes in racial practices and attitudes--the first Negro nurse, the first Negro and Jewish members of service clubs, Negro and Jewish teaches and so on.
Thanks to the vision and hard work of its 800, Burlington now has a great opportunity before it. It knows exactly wherein it falls short of the ideals and pretension of American democracy. Fortunately, it isn't so very far short and the steps will not be painful.
But they could not have been taken in the dark; they could not have been taken with eyes closed or averted. There are plenty of real problems in racial "integration," which must be met with courage and foresight and sympathetic imagination--in other words, leadership. But Burlington has many people rich in all these qualities.
Here is a great opportunity for the press, the Chamber of Commerce, employers, labor unions, voluntary associations of all sorts, and for every citizen.
It is an example for all Iowa and for the nation.

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[[Top of page]] 6-A Nov. 4, 1951 [[Header]] Des Moines Sunday Register EDITORIALS [[Bold]] Burlington's Human Relation Survey. [[end bold]] [[Article text]] Burlington has done it again! [[Bullet]]Burlington and surrounding Des Moines county pioneered one of the first and most effective city-county health units in Iowa. [[Bullet]]The Burlington League of Women Voters a few years back got out an attractive voters' manual and distributed it to every household in the community in connection with a get-out-the-vote drive, showing the way to the whole state. [[Bullet]]Now Burlington has made the most elaborate and thorough Community Self-Survey on human relations in Iowa, and perhaps in the nation, as applied to Negroes. *** The traditional view in Iowa has been that "we have no Negro problem here." There are a few Negroes in the state, few of us mean to harm them in any way, and we are often not aware that they suffer any serious disabilities (even if we have to close our eyes hard not to see them). But let's not kid ourselves. there [[italics]]is[[end italics]] a racial problem in America. It is worst for Negroes in certain parts of the South, worst for Mexicans in parts of Texas, worst for Jews in certain Northeastern and resorts cities -- but in some form, it pervades every corner of the land. Altogether it forms the blackest blot upon our record. We can shut our eyes to it in Iowa, but we cannot hide it from the world. China knows it, India knows it, Europe knows it, Russia broadcasts it. *** Burlington has only about 300 Negroes in a population of over 30,000--roughly 1 per cent. Most of them were born there, and they move away or die faster than they are replaced. Neither they nor the advocates of discrimination are very vocal or militant. That's what people mean when they say Burlington "has no race problem." But a host of Burlingtonians were able to see beyond this excuse for doing nothing and [[italics]]some 800 of them took a personal part[[end italics]] in the two-year task of gathering factual data for the human relations survey. It began when a small discussion group agreed the question was important, but did not agree on the facts. They organized a much larger group, the Burlington Self-Survey committee, to find out what the facts were. This committee engaged Dr. Herman Long of Fisk university as consultant. *** Dr. Long had been consultant for the famed Minneapolis Self-Survey which resulted in changing that city from "the capital of anti-Semitism in the United States" to a city in which Jews, Negroes, and Indians are more and more accepted on their merits as individuals, and their special group contributions to our multiple culture recognized and welcomed. The Burlington committee organized five working subcommittees--on education, housing, employment, public accommodation, and health--with over 50 members. Under their direction, the 800 volunteers pounded the pavements, looked and listened, gathered a complex mass of facts. They sent these facts to Fisk university, where they were turned into an orderly statistical report, which then came back to the local sub-committees for intensive discussion and interpretation. The result was a 96-page full report, a 12-page summary, and--most important of all--a vivid personal sens of the human aspects of the problem in the hearts of 800 Burlington citizens, of all walks of life, including many of the most eminent leaders. *** The real test comes from now on. In Minneapolis, the self-survey led to the beginning of striking changes in racial practices and attitudes--the first Negro nurse, the first Negro and Jewish members of service clubs, Negro and Jewish teaches and so on. Thanks to the vision and hard work of its 800, Burlington now has a great opportunity before it. It knows exactly wherein it falls short of the ideals and pretension of American democracy. Fortunately, it isn't so very far short and the steps will not be painful. But they could not have been taken in the dark; they could not have been taken with eyes closed or averted. There are plenty of real problems in racial "integration," which must be met with courage and foresight and sympathetic imagination--in other words, leadership. But Burlington has many people rich in all these qualities. Here is a great opportunity for the press, the Chamber of Commerce, employers, labor unions, voluntary associations of all sorts, and for every citizen. It is an example for all Iowa and for the nation.