THE NEGROES OF NEBRASKA

     (40) The cultural life of the Negroes of Nebraska, like so many other phases of their life, is cramped by the economic pressure upon the group and therefore undeveloped. Many Negroes, endowed with musical, artistic, or literary talents, are unable to develop them because all their time is spent in making a living. Others have managed to cultivate their abilities only to find that they cannot depend on them for a livelihood.

     Some of the more progressive Negro organizations are aware of the difficulties facing the talented Negro in the pursuit of his art. Also they realize that Negro culture cannot survive as such without recognition and encouragement. Consequently such organizations as the N. A. A. C. P. and the Urban League do all within their power to aid Negro culture. The Urban Leagues of both Omaha and Lincoln maintain at their headquarters libraries of several hundred volumes for the use of any Negro in the community. In common with several other Negro organizations the Urban Leagues sponsor programs which present to the public outstanding Negro artists, lecturers, educators, and leaders.

     National Negro History Week, the second week in February, is observed annually by Negroes all over the country. During this week the Negroes of Nebraska hold a number of meetings in several different places, presenting programs which, by lectures, interracial forums, drama and posters, emphasize the contributions of the Negro and the part played by him in the development of this country. It is during this week especially that such outstanding Negroes as Carter G. Woodson, Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes, Eugene Kinckle Jones, William Pickens, W. E. B. DuBois, and T. Arnold Hill have been presented to the people of Nebraska, both colored and white.

     The foremost, purely cultural organization among Nebraska Negroes is the Semper Fidelis club, organized in Lincoln in 1925. It numbers a score or more of members. meets bi-monthly, and its activities are concerned primarily with stimulating interest in Negro literature, music, and art.

     The Negroes now living in Nebraska, so far as racial customs, mannerisms, and habits are concerned, differ little from the people of other racial groups living in Nebraska. Whatever of that nature they brought with them, as refugees, ex-slaves, and immigrants, has (41) been lost in the past three-quarters of a century. Their adaptability and imitativeness has blended them so smoothly into the pattern of Nebraska's community life that only their color and some minor racial characteristics serve to maintain their ethnic identity. Even in their food, usually the last place to show the changing influence of a new environment, little is left of the Southern dishes and recipes once popular. Some of the older Negro families, especially in Omaha and Lincoln, still serve hogs' heads and black-eyed peas on New Year's day. They believe that to do so will bring them luck throughout the coming year.

     The Negroes of Nebraska have no such body of folklore as is so often found in other immigrant groups. It is true that the immigrant

Negroes brought with them to Nebraska a store of superstitions and beliefs in omens, but through the years these have been lost or so altered as to be indistinguishable from the superstitious lore of other groups. They have no legends or legendary heroes and no mythology. All that can be unearthed are the various superstitious beliefs common to and still persistent among all racial groups. The rural Negroes of Nebraska have a number of superstitions with regard to the signs for the time of planting their various crops, but they cannot be considered as peculiar to the farmers, since they are those usually found in the farmers' almanacs issued by some drug concerns.

     (42) In spite of the economic handicaps which have so seriously repressed Negro creative work and art in Nebraska a few individuals have struggled over this obstacle to sectional, if not to national, prominence. It is only within comparatively recent years, however, that any of the Negroes of Nebraska have won any recognition for their work in artistic lines. In some fields, notably in music, they have been more recognized than in others. Their least significant contributions have probably been in the field of literature.

     Negro art in Nebraska has followed no particular trend or convention, perhaps because its contributors have been so few. The best-known Negro artist is undoubtedly Mrs. O. J. Burckhardt, of Lincoln. Her paintings have won numerous awards at fairs and exhibitions throughout the country. She conducts a private studio, with both white and colored students in her classes.

     John Smith, of Omaha, a costume designer, has done a number of paintings, both landscapes and portraits. His work in this field, however, has not been so extensive as has that of Mrs. Burckhardt. Aside from these two people no painters or sculptors of more than average ability have arisen among Nebraska Negroes.

     In drama any talent shown by the Negroes has been directed mainly toward the presentation of community plays and operettas rather than toward individual development. No great dramatic artists have appeared among the Negroes of Nebraska, although a few individuals have achieved at least local fame in this field. Andrew Reed, formerly an assistant at Omaha University in the production of school plays, also former director of the Little Theatre at the Urban League, appeared in a number of plays. in the old Boyd Theatre at Omaha. Mrs. Cecilia Jewell, Omaha singer and actress, also appeared many times on the stage of the Boyd Theatre. D. Eugene Murray, in addition to some artistic ability, has devoted some time to the stage. He is one of the few Negroes ever to appear in a Community Playhouse production in Omaha.

     Since the Y Players, sponsored by the North Side Y. W. C. A. of Omaha, disbanded in 1933 there have been no dramatic clubs or organizations among Nebraska Negroes, the Urban League Little Theatre excepted. However, the Quack Club, an organization of Omaha Negro girls, annually presents a play.

     With the exception of one group the radio work done by Nebraska Negroes has been limited to occasional individual performances and dance orchestra programs. From 1936 to 1938, however, a Negro choir of twenty-five voices, under the direction of Rev. John S. Williams, presented, weekly on Sunday, a concert over radio station WAAW, in Omaha.

     In the field of music several Nebraska Negroes have distinguished themselves, and a few have even won national recognition. These musicians and musical organizations are represented in every phase of music, including dance orchestras, bands, choral groups, singing, instrumental soloists, and teaching.

     George F. McPherson, Negro pianist, a student at the Boston Conservatory of Music, came to Omaha in 1873. The following year he opened a studio and, between concert tours in this country and abroad, taught piano for many years. His joint concerts with Hans Albert, great violinist, have been pronounced by music critics to be unsurpassed. There is little doubt that, in his prime, his ability as a pianist was excelled by few living men.

     F. C. Curtis, blind pianist of Lincoln, has successfully taught piano there since 1894, with classes of as many as sixty pupils, mostly white, at one time. He also has considerable ability as an arranger in spite of his handicap.

     (43) One of the first Negro musical organizations in Nebraska was a minstrel group, organized at Nebraska City in 1888. The first Negro band in Nebraska was organized at Omaha in 1902 by Josiah Waddle. He had moderate success with it for several years. In 1914 he organized a band comprised of Negro women only. The group, though well-trained and quite successful, is no longer active.

     Nebraska's foremost Negro teacher of piano and voice is Mrs. Florentine Pinkston-Mitchell of Omaha. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, and studied under Phillippe in Paris. She has had her own school of music in Omaha since 1908.

     Dan Desdunes, who came from New Orleans to Omaha in 1904, organized, in 1916, and trained the finest Negro band ever developed in Nebraska. His work in this connection was outstanding, and the fame of his musical organization spread far beyond Nebraska. He died in 1929.

     One of the well-known popular song composers of America is Maceo Pinkard, an Omaha Negro, now living in New York City. He began his career as a composer of popular music at the age of 22. Since then, several of his compositions, among them "The Missouri Maize," have been hits.

     One of the best trained and widely known singers among Nebraska Negroes is Mrs. Cecilia Wilson Jewell. She toured Europe with the Fisk Jubilee Singers shortly after graduating from high school. Mrs. Rae Lee Jones is another Negro woman of Omaha who possesses considerable ability in singing and in the direction of choral groups.

     Miss Edrose Willis, piano teacher and accompanist, has been termed by some critics to be as fine an accompanist as can be found anywhere. She was a pupil of Mrs. Florentine Pinkston.

     Rev. John S. Williams, pastor of Hillside Presbyterian Church, has developed the most outstanding musical organization among the Negroes of Nebraska. His highly-trained chorus, ranging from fifty to one hundred fifty voices, annually presents Handel's "The Messiah" at Christmas, and DuBois' "The Seven Last Words of Christ" at Easter.

     Other musical groups among Nebraska Negroes include a number of dance orchestras, the best known of which are the orchestras led by Lloyd Hunter, Nat Towle, Frank Perkins, Ted Adams, and Sam Turner.

     In the field of literature no very impressive figures have appeared among the Negroes of Nebraska. Three Individuals, Theodore R. Mallory, Benjamin F. Gardiner, and Selma Gordon, have written and published poems for several years, but none of them has achieved more than regional attention. Both Mr. Gardiner and Miss Gordon have published a book of poetry, and Mr. Mallory plans to issue a volume.

     In the field of academic literature J. Harvey Kerns, former executive secretary of the Omaha Urban League, did considerable work while a student at Omaha University. His contributions to the literature of sociology, dealing with the economic and social life of Nebraska Negroes, have been of more than passing significance.

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