Thomas Jefferson High School - Aurora Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL November 19, 1942 Dear Graduates: The best wishes of the faculty and the lower class men go with you as you leave us to take your places in the more serious school of life. We have watched with deep appreciation your efforts to make Thomas Jeffer- son High School a force for good in the greater community as it struggles to survive the storm and stress of a world war. We feel that your contribu- tions to this cause have been most valuable and that you have set a fine example for succeeding generations of Jeffersonians. We hope that you have learned the all-important lesson that all social and collective action is successful only to the extent that each member of society feels his individual responsibility. Our girls will find that society will demand much more of them in the way of self-sacrifice. Your whole-hearted cooperation in the life of the community is absolutely essential for the winning of the war. To the boys who are about to go into the armed forces, we give our thanks for the sacrifices they will make so patriotically in the cause we all hold so dear. Our best wishes and our prayers go with you. Let us hear from you as often as possible, because we will want to know what you are doing. To you we can only say as the Bible puts it: MQuit yourselves like men-be strong. Sincerely yours,

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Dear Seniors: What can anyone say to you today, that will have any meaning for you? Perhaps I should tell you what you already know. And then offer you a suggestion. Life IS cruel. I do not refer now to the bestial savagery and the lust for murder among the Axis leaders and so many millions of their blood- thirsty followers. That is another story too gruesome to mention. But I do refer to the countless minor cruelties each of us encounters in his normal, daily life-the injustices, the discriminations, and the other wrongs that cast so many shadows upon what might well be a pleasant, cheerful existence. You, who are about to leave the sheltered life of Jefferson-what will you do when you encounter such inequalities in your own lives? Will you give way to cynicism, anger, hatred toward the world? Or will you try to emulate George Washington Carver? Who is George Washington Carver? Born a slave. Self-educated. Great scientist and public benefactor. Instead of making millions of dol- lars for himself by copyrighting his discoveries and inventions, Dr. Carver has given all those discoveries and inventions to the American people, free. llc has been conhdential adviser to other great people in many fields of endeavor. So fine a man is he, that the Herald Tribune, in a recent editorial. used the word usaintlyl' to describe his character. Just the other day, Senator Truman, of Missouri, and Representative Short, of the same state, introduced a remarkable hill in Congress. It would make the Missouri farm on which this great Negro was horn a Federal memorial. Mind you, this honor is scheduled for Carver while he is still alive. Does this mean anything to you, especially in these days? Or will you, who are about to pass through the gates to a broader life, scoff at such encouraging signs of greater fellowship and good will between races and religions? I know that a war is going on. I know that hatreds are being engen- dered and that love and respect for one,s neighbors are being put to the supreme test. But I warn you that unless you begin, here and now, to train your minds and your hearts to look for the tie that binds us to our fellow- man. even in this day of carnage and murder, your own lives will be the poorer and of small value to humanity. George Washington Carver must have had innumerable occasions to hate mankind. How often must his blood have boiled and his heart shriv- elled at rank injustice and blind intolerance? But he never permitted such thoughts and feelings to tarnish his life-work or to blacken his outlook.