Page 4
University Daily Kansan
Friday, Jan. 19, 1962
Harry Shaffer Fights-
(Continued from page 1)
(Continued from p. 127) off the boat, but I picked it up fairly easily."
Finally entering the United States in 1940, Prof. Shaffer served about 14 months in the Army during the war. He then earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees in economics at New York University.
AFTER TEACHING for a year and a half at Concord College, W. Va., he joined the faculty at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. "... Tuscaloosa ... is as nice and clean a town as can be found anywhere," he wrote in a 1956 magazine article for Ebony, the Negro equivalent of Life magazine. "... it is a town that grows on a person—and it did not take long until I, as many others, felt at home. . . There is interest in issues of national and international importance (in Tuscaloosa), a strong belief in democratic processes ... and the right of each individual to be the master of his own destiny. . .
"Yet one cannot help but feel that somewhere . . . there is a point at which it all stops, the love for one's neighbor, the 'Southern hospitality', the right of the individual. After a while one learns what it is. The color line cannot be crossed. . . "
IN THE ARTICLE, Prof. Shaffer describes the sequence of events leading to his resignation from the University of Alabama faculty in
University of Alabama
1956. He describes the student demonstrations and the violence following the enrollment in February, 1956, of Miss Lucy, the subsequent decision by the Alabama Board of Regents to bar the girl from classes "until further notice" and the Board's decision a month later to dismiss her from school.
In his office, Prof. Shaffer looked back on the Miss Lucy incident and commented on his resignation.
"In the beginning," he said, "we (faculty members) resigned because we felt we just couldn't take the way the Board of Regents handled the situation. But later we began to question ourselves as to whether this had been the best course to follow."
Reading the 1956 magazine article one senses this conflict.
"MANY OF US (the faculty members) felt that we could no longer honorably be associated with the University of Alabama (after the Miss Lucy incident)," Prof. Shaffer wrote. "We started to look for other jobs...
("But) there was so much to be done and I was pulling out. . . . I didn't know whether I had done the right thing. But . . . it was too late now. . . . There was just one last detail to be taken care of. A letter to the editor of the Tuscaloosa News to bid my friends farewell. I sat down to write it:
"The editor, Tuscaloosa News: I want to take this opportunity to say good-bye to all my many friends in Tuscaloosa. This town . . . has come to mean a lot to me during that sixth of my life that I spent here. . . And yet I have to leave.
'When a man decides on the teaching profession . . . he is willing to forego many things that life has to offer. Most of us university professors decided on teaching for a career because we have certain beliefs, certain ideals (and) certain convictions. . . .
Alabama that I do not feel I could remain . . .
To me, these ideals . . . are the basic principles of our American democracy, the equality of all human beings before the law and before God, the right of every individual to make his way in this nation . . . as best he can, irrespective of the color of his skin. These principles, holy to me, have been so badly violated at the University of
IN HIS OFFICE, Prof. Shaffer stirred a cup of instant coffee, then commented on the future of the Negro in the South.
"We realize that prejudice will take generations to wipe out—if it can ever be wiped out," he said slowly. "But we can eliminate the outward symbol of prejudice—segregation.
"Integration is just a question of time. But if people say 'just wait, it will come,' nothing will be done. We must light along democratic lines to accomplish something."
Prof. Shaffer lost little time in putting this philosophy—"we must fight along democratic lines"—into practice after arriving in Lawrence in 1356. Here, he said, he found Negroes discriminated against in downtown restaurants and denied access to the swimming pool.
HE JOINED the Lawrence League for the Practice of Democracy—a civic group seeking to combat racial and religious discrimination in Lawrence, and became president of the group in 1960.
That year, the League attempted to end discrimination against Negroes at the swimming pool here.
"We felt it was horrible that little Negro children could swim in the river but nowhere else in Lawrence." Prof. Shaffer explained.
While the League as a whole voted against using picket lines in its campaign for integrating the pool, individual League members joined a group of KU students picketing the pool in July, 1960.
THE ATTEMPT was unsuccessful, and Prof. Shaffer—as League president—made enemies in Lawrence as a result of participation in the picketing attempt.
"Once during the picketing, we got a load of fish on our front porch, once garbage and once an effigy hung on my front door," he recalled
He smiled:
"For some time after the campaign, I got blamed for almost everything that happened in Lawrence."
HE SUMMED UP his view of the community:
"I have found the University community to be very liberal and fair," he said, choosing his words carefully. "I have found a large part of the town community not to be so. The town community is quite unreasonably prejudiced and treatment of the Negro here is still unfair in many respects."
But, he continued, progress has been made, much of it due to the state Public Accommodations Act of 1960, a law which makes it illegal for an owner of a restaurant or a place of recreation to discriminate on the basis of race or creed.
"I like KU and plan to stay here," he said. "Writing my book ('An Economic History of the American People') will take some time—I always get sidetracked when something interesting comes up. During the last three months, I've taken time out from the book to write a book review and a magazine article for the American Economic Review.
FEW LAWRENCE eating establishments now discriminate against Negroes, he said, although downtown businesses have been slow to employ Negroes.
Prof. Shaffer leaned back in his chair and outlined his future plans.
"But once the book is done, I plan to keep busy by starting on something else."
All the world loves a lover.—A
G. Spaulding
Felix Moos, instructor in sociology and anthropology and a member of the East Asian Studies Group, will speak on "Problems in Korea" at the Current Events Forum at 4 p.m. today in the Kansas Union Music Room. Coffee will be served.
'Problems in Korea' Current Events Topic
Wins Right To Build Shelter
Bv Leo Soroka
United Press International
ST. LOUISE (UPI) — Bespectacled Abraham David Kaner is building his family fallout shelter under the front lawn exactly where he tried to put it three years ago when, he said, "bureaucratic officials" in suburban University City wouldn't let him.
"They wee me an apology," said Kaner. He told UPI he had been "shunted from pillar to post" seeking a permit "for a fallout shelter Civil Defense wanted people to build."
Kaner, 64, said the city officials gave him the "proverbial run around" because "they didn't want the shelter in front of the house."
He said he was told to build in back of his house, but he pleaded that excavating machinery couldn't maneuver in the limited backyard space.
put "But that would cost an additional $200, so I said 'no.'"
"I even sent telegrams to the Civil Defense in Washington and President Kennedy," Kaner said.
Things are different now. Kaner has won his case.
The crux in the matter was the University City zoning laws, which banned obstructions in front of residences.
"But they said 'no' again." Kaner said. "Finally, they said it was all right to build underground on the front lawn if I would extend the pipes to the back of the house.
Kaner complained that "they were even making fun of me."
Kaner, a construction man, explained to officials that the only obstructions would be "two exhaust pipes" which he offered to reduce in height from 10 to 3 feet and that he would even disguise the black steel pipes to make them look like lanterns.
He said during one of the many times he pleaded for a building permit, an office secretary greeted him "do you think we are going to be bombed?"
"So I told her it's not what I think but I do not know what Khrushchev thinks." Kaner said.
All the time, Kaner said, he hopeo officials would see his thinking in the matter.
the matter.
"My wife Ruth," he said, "wanted to give up. She said 'let's move to another community.'"
Kaner told her that "men cannot change houses as they exchange a pair of gloves."
"What made them change their minds about building in front of the house?" Kaner was asked.
"Time changed their thinking," he said "and I didn't give up."
Of his three-year fight, Kaner said "I don't want to be a slave."
"The world is divided into two ideologies," he said. "Not just Russian and American. It's the free man or the conquered man."
NEW YORK — (UPI)—The Diaper Service Information Bureau reports there are eight babies born every minute in the United States —one about every seven seconds. Last year's total: 4,068,000.
Baby Boom
Dixon's Are Back
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Gas War Continues
Few realize it, but the current "gas war" now going on in the Lawrence area is "the lowest ever" according to a number of Lawrence service station attendants.
The "gas war" has entered its seventh month and no one, not even the men who make this work their profession, know when it will end. One attendant, asked when he thought it might end said, "That's the $64 question, I have no idea."
THE "PRICE FIXING." AS IT was called by one station operator, started last July, and the prices have been continually falling until they have reached the present price. (Regular gasoline is now selling for 20.9 cents a gallon at most service stations.)
"I've been on this corner for 26 years," one attendant said, "and I can never remember the prices this low. A few years before the war, he continued, "gasoline was selling for 15 or 16 cents a gallon, but the tax was only two cents a gallon. Now the tax is nine cents a gallon and that seven cents makes a lot of difference."
Competition among the Lawrence service stations is the primary reason for the low prices, one attendant said. "Until a compromise is reached among all Lawrence stations, the prices will remain the same."
How do the station operators feel about the debased prices? "I love it," said one station manager, "I'm making more money than I ever made in my life. People are filling their tanks up more and we are doing more business than ever before." But the feeling wasn't uniform. "It's just a bunch of nonsense," another station manager commented. "The 'gas war' has no effect on my business."
Out of town folks are taking full advantage of the slashed prices. One attendant noted that a large number of Topeka citizens stop in Lawrence and have their cars filled with gas.
A variety of answers were given when attendants were asked if the cold, snowy weather had any effect on the gasoline business." More people fill the tanks up during cold weather." "Nah, the weather doesn't make any difference in this business." "Business hasn't slowed down anymore than normal, so you can't blame the weather." "Any change in weather helps business," were a few of the comments made.
Wass Awarded Scholarship
Hugh Wass, instructor in the department of the history of art, has been awarded the Louise Wallace Hackney Scholarship for research in Chinese Painting by the Freer Gallery or Art, of Washington, D.C. Mr. Wass's appointment is for the calendar year of 1962. He plans to return to KU in 1863.
"I HAD A CUSTOMER FROM Kansas City stop and buy 75 cents worth of gasoline," a downtown station operator said. The purchaser said he couldn't pass up a bargain like that.
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