DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 2 of 2) | 1949-12-16 Burlington Hawkeye Gazette Article: "Civil Rights Self-Survey"

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

1949-12-16 Burlington Hawkeye Gazette Article: "Civil Rights Self-Survey"

Civil Rights Self-Survey

   Representatives of civic organizations interested in civil rights voted to sponsor a community "self-survey" at a meeting held Thursday night in First Evangelical & Reformed church. Purpose of a self-survey is to determine the status of a community, and to see what, if any, of their civil rights are being violated. 
   As the term "self-survey" indicates, the work of making such an investigation is done by local persons acting under the supervision of local organizations. Groups which have thus far gone on record as desiring to aid in sponsoring the survey are the League of Women Voters, the CIO, the AF of L, the Council of Church Women and the PTA.

   The speaker at Thursday's meeting was Dr. Herman Long, of the board of home missions of Congregational - Christian churches, with headquarters at Fisk university, Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Long's appearance was sponsored by race relations department of the Congregational-Christian churches. Before beginning his talk, Long discussed various aspects of the self-survey project informally with those present. A large part of his talk was given over to answering questions from the floor.

   Recognizing that Negroes, several of whom were in the audience, constitute the only minority group in Burlington whose civil rights are allegedly disregarded, the huge soft-spoken Negro sociologist discussed the various ways in which a community survey to determine the extent to which these rights are violated can be made. He said this type of survey had never before been undertaken in a city smaller than Kalamazoo, Mich., which is about twice the size of Burlington.

   "No one has the final answers to these problems," Dr. Long asserted. "The thing to do is to find what the situation is in terms of particulars and present in the individual community."
     Dr. Long told how community self-surveys, first tried out in 1943, had been worked in Minneapolis and other large cities. He said the Minneapolis survey was requested by a mayor's committee after a prominent writer on civil rights problems had tagged it "The Capital of Anti-Semitism."  Dr. Long has served as consultant to several of these surveys.
   "The mere fact that a survey is being made oftimes results in a bettering of the situation," he declared, citing instances in other towns in which business men, when they learned a survey was being taken, opened the way to more desirable jobs for Negroes. In Minneapolis, he said, as a result of a community self-survey, civil rights that had been disregarded were restored, and hospitals that had been banning Jewish doctors from their staffs reversed their attitude and accepted them as staff members.
  
   Long told the local group that he believed the Burlington survey could be made in a month on a budget of $300. He spent Friday meeting with various subcommittees assigned to study specific phases of the survey, such as housing, employment, health, education and public accommodations.

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Civil Rights Self-Survey Representatives of civic organizations interested in civil rights voted to sponsor a community "self-survey" at a meeting held Thursday night in First Evangelical & Reformed church. Purpose of a self-survey is to determine the status of a community, and to see what, if any, of their civil rights are being violated. As the term "self-survey" indicates, the work of making such an investigation is done by local persons acting under the supervision of local organizations. Groups which have thus far gone on record as desiring to aid in sponsoring the survey are the League of Women Voters, the CIO, the AF of L, the Council of Church Women and the PTA. The speaker at Thursday's meeting was Dr. Herman Long, of the board of home missions of Congregational - Christian churches, with headquarters at Fisk university, Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Long's appearance was sponsored by race relations department of the Congregational-Christian churches. Before beginning his talk, Long discussed various aspects of the self-survey project informally with those present. A large part of his talk was given over to answering questions from the floor. Recognizing that Negroes, several of whom were in the audience, constitute the only minority group in Burlington whose civil rights are allegedly disregarded, the huge soft-spoken Negro sociologist discussed the various ways in which a community survey to determine the extent to which these rights are violated can be made. He said this type of survey had never before been undertaken in a city smaller than Kalamazoo, Mich., which is about twice the size of Burlington. "No one has the final answers to these problems," Dr. Long asserted. "The thing to do is to find what the situation is in terms of particulars and present in the individual community." Dr. Long told how community self-surveys, first tried out in 1943, had been worked in Minneapolis and other large cities. He said the Minneapolis survey was requested by a mayor's committee after a prominent writer on civil rights problems had tagged it "The Capital of Anti-Semitism." Dr. Long has served as consultant to several of these surveys. "The mere fact that a survey is being made oftimes results in a bettering of the situation," he declared, citing instances in other towns in which business men, when they learned a survey was being taken, opened the way to more desirable jobs for Negroes. In Minneapolis, he said, as a result of a community self-survey, civil rights that had been disregarded were restored, and hospitals that had been banning Jewish doctors from their staffs reversed their attitude and accepted them as staff members. Long told the local group that he believed the Burlington survey could be made in a month on a budget of $300. He spent Friday meeting with various subcommittees assigned to study specific phases of the survey, such as housing, employment, health, education and public accommodations.