The Truth About

Oneal, James

The Truth About EVOLUTION PLAINLY TOLD I. Introduction II. Teaching and Evolution By JAMES ONEAL I—Introduction » N this first installment of | the series on modern science , which was...

...Modern science hss rendered many srehsic views obsolete...
...If the phytical sciences are to be outlawed, the next to be strangled will be the soeisl sciences...
...Not alone are we out to secure these conditions for the Negro toiler, but we are equally determined that never again must organized Labor lose another atrike in this City through the activities of Negro strike-break-era, and we intend to unite more solidly the Negro and the white worker...
...By CHARLES H. JUDD Director ef the School ef Education, Universify of Chicago j U—Tttcfaf aid Evolution IN the normal schools of the State of Tennessee it will, I think, be impossible to obey the law without seriously depriving teachers-in-training of a proper view of the facts of human mental development...
...Hugh Frayne, New York representative of the A. F. of L., delivered the-main address...
...It is quite impossible to make any adequate atudy of the mental development of children without taking into account the facta that have been learntd from the ttudy of comparative or animal psychology...
...Moreover, "the bound* of all depart {pits of human research and speeu-latlon are inherently, provisional, in etlsit...
...The social sciences are perverted by reactionary political and economic* interests...
...it is also plain that we cannot get and do get want the assistance of Labor's enemies...
...The very fact that a aaw idea ia new brings it into conflict with the prevailing afjnioas of the time...
...Elaborate studies hsve been msde in the field of humsn psychology dealing with such matters ss the evolution of tools, the evolution of lsnguage and the evolution of customs snd Isws...
...What is more, every WUist Is today accepted was st ens time s heresy...
...Even the theoretical concession of democracy in education under capitalism leaves much to be desired...
...Every psychologist recognises the fact that the human organs of sense, such as the eye and the ear, are similar in structure and action to the organs of sense of the animals...
...In other Werja, there is no final truth...
...The Negro worker is abandoning the South and the farms.for ths great industrial centers in tha East and North...
...It is, necessary to remember what Professor Robinson has said in his ?4»s New History" when he wrote that "No set of investigators can any loafer claim exclusive jurisdicEin (van the tiniest scientific field, nothing indeed would be more I to them than the successful dtfinse of any such claim...
...Teaching and Evolution By JAMES ONEAL I—Introduction » N this first installment of | the series on modern science , which was presented for the fjjBrt record in the) Dayton the necessity of leaving j teaching and investigation Mtaapered by statute law g..tressed...
...in his review of Mill's esse*'on "Liberty," wrote 'that "We are too apt to speak ss if we hsd afaetrsted into the sanctusry of truth and raised the veil of the god-K when in fact we are still stand-is., coward like, trembling before the vestibule, and net daring from very fear to cross the threshold of •ft temple...
...Mew much wont would this be if obscurantism were a protected creed and science became an outcast...
...The Record of Man's History Whst is evident in the struggle to think, write and teach is that conventional opinion has always taken refuge behind coercion and conventional opinion, has always lost in the end...
...attention of their friends' to this series'and induce them to become readers of The New Leader...
...The sntiquity of man is known to all but the prejudiced, the ignorant, and the miseducated...
...We Wsst' therefore organize him, for if we do not, organised capital will use him further to cut down the wages and lengthen the hours of lsbor ss well as to break down the standard of living that the Labor movement has built up through years of hardships and struggles...
...There is only approximation to the truth...
...That we have to irgue this in the twentieth cen-tuy instead of taking it for itanted indicates the low level of .intelligence that prevails in fridt areas of the United States...
...There is general agreement that Evolution in some form or other must be accepted aa the explanation of human mental life...
...Our slogan," continued Crosswaith, "is union hours, union conditions, and union wages for the Negro worker in New York City...
...It will be impossible in my judgment in the State University as well as in the normal school* to teach adequately psychology or the science of education without making con-stsnt reference to all the facta of mental development which are included in the general doctrine of Evolution...
...In my judgment It will be quite impossible to carry on the work in most of the departments in the higher institutions of the State of Tennessee without teaching the doctrine of Evolution as ths fundamental bssis for the understanding of all human institutions...
...A Supreme Insult To Intelligence The supreme insult to modern intelligence is the Fundamentalist claim that it has the final truth...
...Neither does it mean that everytblag that is presented is a ptrt of the Socialist philosophy...
...Herewith follows the introductory article...
...The Committee" has now opened headquarters at 2380 Seventh avenue, Room 604, in the center of Negro Harlem, and it now engaged in carrying the message of trade unionism to the great mass of Negro workers of New York City, who today number nearly 150,000 and over 60 per cent of whom are organ-isable...
...The fret tetching of all science it bound up with the emancipation of tie workers from wage servitude...
...That is, JS^seru the supremacy of the inr Widual conscience, ss we should J*J> oyer human lsw...
...The laws of lesrning which have been atudied in psychological and education labor-atoriet are thown to be in many respects identicsl and alwtyt similar for animala and man...
...Man has left a long record of hia history in flint chips, the crude drawings on...
...Science now has crossed ifs" threshold of the temple, but taere 'are those who would now have *J not only withdraw but also close tie temple to all seekers of the With...
...We therefore recommend theae articles to the serious attention of our readers...
...and fluctuating...
...mt, in his "History of Freedom of «eught," wrote that "the individual •bould at any cost refuse to be wNed'hy any human authority or tybunal into a course which his own *>M condemns as wrong...
...All of these studies are bssed on definitely ascertainable facts snd show without exception that a long process of evolution has been going, on in the life of'man as it is definitely known through historical record snd prehistoric remains...
...were of ons opinion, snd only eiej person were of the contrary eftnioii, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person tssn'he, if he had the power, would k* justified in silencing mankind...
...consequently, it...
...Over one-seventh of all workers in the United States are Negroes, snd with the Immigration laws now operating to keep out European and other foreign labor the Negro worker will be entering more and more Into industry...
...Were it not for science we would know little or nothing of our shsggy forebears...
...intense, tumultuous, short, its millenniums, compared to prehiatory't eoas, are s dynamic in stsnt of time," is the language of Professor Giddings in trying to convey an idea of this antiquity...
...Labor has also given special attention to the Jewish workers, note The United Hebrew Trades, note also The Italian Chamber of Labor for the Italian workers...
...After prehistory, history...
...power to enforce it men hsyr been broken on the wheel, have hid their tongues pierced or cut out, alas beep forced to endure the filth tf the eillery or have been consigned te As flames...
...We are now appealing to the Various Labor organisations for financial support...
...We express the hope that our readers wiU call the...
...Whatevsr may be the constitutional rights of legislatures to prescribe the general course of study of public schools It will in my Judgment be a serious nstionsl disaster if the sttempt is successful to determine the details to be taught in the schools through the vote*of legislatures rather than as a result of scientific investigation...
...Aside from sll this the working clsss hss a tremendous stake involved in this issue...
...How are we' ever te abandon erroneeua views and accept saner ones if the law is to serialize one view and protect sn-ejsWone...
...Mill, in the famous essay referred re, wrote that "If all mankind minus eat...
...the walls of his caves, the wood, bone, bronze and iron tools of the infancy of the race...
...Whan seen by the reporter, Secretary Crosswaith skid: "There is no gainsaying the fact that the work we are endeavoring now to do should have been done long, long ago...
...Where a cult, a class or s clique has keen obsessed with this idea and,has s»d the...
...and we feel that now is the opportune time to consider the caee of the-Negro workers, especially when we bear in mind that in every important strike in the United States within the last fifteen years the Negro worker, has played an important part, always, however, sgainst organised Labor...
...Winning the Negroes for Unionism \T a Conference of black and A white trade unionists held recently in Arlington Hall, N. Y. C, there was formed "The Trade Union Committee for Organizing Negro Workers" with Thomas J. Curtis, General Manager of the Building Trades Compensation Bureau, as Chairman and Treasurer, and with Frank R. Crosswaith as Executive Secretary...
...he is a factor now to be reckoned with in our industrial life, and unless we reach him now and line him up on Labor's side those who stand for autocracy and chaos in industry will use him to their own advantage...
...Our work is meeting with success, we nave already introduced a number of Negro workers into the unions of their trade...
...The Trade Union Committee for Organised Negro workers has the privilege of have ing inducted Into the Bookeepers, Stenographed and Accountants' Union the first Negro member in tha history of the union...
...Many of us have been unable to follow the advances mads in the sciences in'the past decade or .two and these articles are con-' tributions of specialists who give the results of the latest thought and researches in their respective fields...
...The only dispute in the field of psychology that has ever arisen among psychologists so far as I know has to do with the methods of Evolution...
...Our Emblem is the hands of a Negro and a white worker claaped in friendship and solidarity...
...To a clergyman who defended s pro-slavery mob he said: "The coward priest forgot, if he ever knew, that the early Christians met in secret beneath the pavements of Rome, only to pray for the martyra whose crosses lined the highways, whose daring defied Paganism at its own altars, and whose humanity stopped the bloody gamei of Rome in the upper air...
...The fundamental pattern of the human brain is the same aa that of the higher snimals...
...Labor has seen fit, and rightly so, to create special instruments for the induction of women in trade unions and for their protection in industry, note The Women's Trade Union League...
...When asked as to how "The Committee" will be financed, Secretary Crosswaith replied: "It is plain that this necessary work can no longer be permitted to remain undone...
...To the '•Wdantentalist we commend the flNNVej.^ndell Phillips on the fpbn syb...
...In presenting this series The New tender would have it understood that it does aot necessarily approve of »rerythrhg that is said by the astaors...
...Socialists generally believe in progress, development, change, Evolution—call it whaf'yeu will—but there is no standardised opinion regarding all phase* of Evolution...
...is to organized Labor that we must look for support...
...every enlightened, union man should see the need for' supporting the Trade Union Committee for Organising Negro Workers...
...There ia no exception to this rule...
...We hope in a very short time to be able to remove the fear of unorganized Negro workers again breaking strikes in New York City...

Vol. 2 • August 1925 • No. 32


 
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