The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1908 no. 183

              Number 183                                      Atlanta, Georgia                                         June, 1908 Commencement Week The thirty-ninth school year at Atlanta University was appropriately brought to a close by the exercises of Commencement week. Although it was unusually warm, the exercises were well attended and the response was enthusiastic. The campus was never more beautiful than at this time. Public Day at the Oglethorpe School The public exhibition of class room and hand work at the Oglethorpe School was attended by large numbers and the work went forward uninterrupted by the throngs of visitors Phi Kappa Anniversary This took place Friday night, the annual address being given by Rev. E. R. Carter, D. D., pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church. He urged upon the young men of the Society the importance of establishing and maintaining high ideals. The Sunday Exercises The baccalaureate sermon was preached by the Rev. Henry H. Tweedy of Bridgeport, Conn. We are glad to report his sermon in this issue. This was Mr. Tweedy's first visit to Atlanta and he remained with us until Commencement day, entering heartily into all the exercises. Class Night Exercises Under the training and management of Mrs. A. F. Herndon, the Senior Class presented "Twelfth Night." Every seat was taken and the play was presented in a way that reflected great credit upon those who took part. They showed the results of the most careful and arduous drill. The sale of tickets brought one hundred dollars above expenses, which has been appropriated by the class for the beginning of an auditorium fund. The Thirteenth Annual Conference The subject this year for study was "The Negro Family." This conference will long be remembered for the presence of Miss Jane Addams, who spoke at the mothers' meeting in the afternoon and in the evening delivered the address which is reported elsewhere in this issue. The Wednesday Exercises Students and their friends enjoyed the inspection of industrial work in the morning, visiting the Model Home, the exhibition of sewing in Stone Hall, the Oglethorpe School, the Knowles Industrial building and the Library. At night the Alumni had a large gathering at their business meeting, which was followed by a banquet in North Hall to which teachers and guests were invited. Commencement Exercises . There were twelve speakers, representing a College Class of ten and a Normal Class of twenty. Places of honor on the program were assigned to May C. Hawes and Lucy C. Smith of the College Class and to Louise N. Maxwell and MayBelle D. Houstoun of the Normal Class. The orations and essays were unusually interesting and the exercises were dignified and appropriate. The College honors announced were, in the class of 1908, with Honor, May Catherine Hawes; in the class of 1910, with High Honor, Edwin Arthur Gibson and Jennie May King. Announcement was made of the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon Pierce M. Thompson of the class of 1906 for having successfully completed a year's work and having received a degree from Chicago University. The Commencement address by Prof. W. S. Scarborough of Wilberforce University is reported in this issue. The President's Reception This was attended by a large number and brought the exercises of the year to a fitting close. --------------'—<¦ — ¦>--------------------- Address of Miss Jane Addams Advantages and Disadvantages of a Broken Inheritance I feel a certain diffidence in speaking upon a topic which has been before you all day. With such a careful sociologist as Dr. Du Bois at the head of your department, I am quite sure you would be quick to detect my ignorance if I tried to say very much about a subject which has been handled so well. Still, I have many friends among the Negro colony of Chicago, and I have been very much interested in the settlement started there by Mrs. Wooley, to which the fair-minded people of both sides of society may come and discuss the serious problems which arise—problems of the difficulty of finding positions, with which many of the educated young Negroes in Chicago are confronted, and of the difficulty of equal opportunity and a square deal. We meet there every little while and have some interesting and heart-breaking conferences. But after all, that does not reach the family and does not throw light upon that side of the colony's life, and I thought perhaps I could be of most use this evening in giving you some of my general observations and experiences with the problems which confront families of various nationalities who move into Chicago and meet all the maladjustment, all the ups and downs of city life for the first time. These are, after all, the great human problems which must confront all of. us. The thing I feel most strongly as the difficulty among the Italians, among the Greeks and among the Russians (for these are the ones whom I constantly see), is the contrast they find between the life they have led at home and the life they are obliged to live in Chicago. All sorts of customs fit them to walk in the old folk ways, the old ways which their ancestors have had for so many years. Now, as I take it, your difficulties are quite unlike that. The habits which you might have had from your ancestors were all broken into, they were all scattered, and especially the habits connected with family life. There are advantages and disadvantages in the lack of tradition and the lack of habits in those directions. The advantages are that you are much more ready to make your adaptation; you are much more ready to bring the results of education and the rationalistic side of life to bear directly upon the refining of the family. And the disadvantages are that you lack some of the restraints of the traditions which the people I have mentioned bring with them. For instance, if an Italian girl or woman in our neighborhood is suspected of having led an immoral life, she suffers the greatest amount of social penalty at once. She is probably put out of her father's house and treated with great scorn, because she has deviated from the path he holds as the right path for his daughter to take. Adjustment to New Conditions The experiences of adjustment to new conditions of life which the Italians have when they come to this country may prove of value. For instance, take the Italian women from Southern Italy. They have been accustomed always to wash their clothes in the open streams in the villages,