Document text
October 2, 1939
Xesse W. Bowser, (Negro Lawyer)
420 E. 2nd Street
Charlotte, N.C.
Cora L. Bennett, Writer
Dudley W. Crawford, Revisor
No Names Changed
Zeiss* W. Bowser, Negro lawyer, occupies a small
office on the second floor of an old brick building
in the center of the most prominent and prosperous Negro
quarters of Charlotte.
While he has a somewhat restricted field for the
practice of law, he has apparently attained a station
of economic security comparable with that of the average
lawyer. As may be seen from the following story, he is
a man whose convictions and aspirations are above the
average men of his race.
"I have been in Charlotte in this law office since
1932. My early life was the life of an average farm boy.
My father began as a tenant farmer and later bought a small
farm in Chester County, South Carolina. I attended the
county schools at my home for four or five years, just
three months of the year. From there I went to Friendship
College in Rock Bill, S. C., where I finished the elementary
school. At Shaw University in Raleigh, N. C., I did my
high school work and also received my A. B. degree from
that institution in 1926.
"In the summer of 1928 I studied at the University
of Chicago. I held the Chair of Social Science at Allen
University in South Carolina in 1928-29. But in the fall
of 1929 I decided to again go to study law and entered
Howard Law School at Washington, graduating from that
department in 1931. I passed the North Carolina State
Bar in August of the same year.
"I did not go immediately into prectioing law but
went back to Friendship College to teach Social Science
for one year. I was nevertheless anxious to get at my
chosen work and decided to come to Charlotte. As senior
counselor for the firm of Bowser and Harris, we handled
cases in North and South Carolina. I was associate counse-
lor in the Tommy Walls case which raised the question of
Negro jury service in Mboklenburg County. That is perhaps
the most outstanding case that we have been associated
with in this section.
"I like to think about present day trends and wonder
where we are going to end. We know that in education the
trend is toward higher literary training as well as voca-
tional training. In comparing the two I think that voca-
tional training is the more important, yet is lagging farther
behind. The resulting effect is a super abundance of college
graduates with no Jobs.
"Negro business is on the declinejI believe, due to
the fact that the old negro business man has not kept pace
with the ever changing conditions of society. He still
believes that he is living in an individualistic age
without any conception of co-operation. The resulting
effect is that when he dies that business dies also.
The present day Negro college fails woefully in stimu-
lating the ambition of the younger Negro in business
adventures.
"Property holders are decreasing because the love
of property-ownership,that at one time was the highest
ambition of the older Negroes lifl,has been lost. Property
that has been bought and paid for by the group referred to
has been lost by the younger generation.
"The Negro is woefully lacking in interest in the
ballot. Yet he has made some progress during the past
few years. And still he has met made progress commensurate
with the population.
"At the present, crime among Negroes in Mecklenburg
County is definitely on the increase. I believe that this
may be attributed to the following things: The lack of
understanding of the Negro situation on the part of the
white people; the lack of understanding of Negro problems
on the part of Negroes themselves; slum conditions; low
wages, that is below the living scale; the need of Negro
policemen; failure to provide adequate recreational facili-
ties; a gross lack of social agencies such as the Y.M.C.A.
and Y.N.C.A., though these bodies function on a small scale.
Day nurseries, Childrens Service Bureau, Mental Hygiene
Society, etc.
"1 am a member of the church and attend regularly, but
believe that the trend is away from church attendance.
I have been reliably informed that in Charlotte out of a
population of some thirty thousand Negroes, less than five
thousand attend church on Cunday. This has been caused
by a number of things such as the radio; a lack of sympathy
on the part of the church toward youth; too many churches,
with the resulting effect that its followers are taxed far
beyond their means to support these various churches; fail-
ure of the church to bring its program up to datirealizing
the changing conditions; too few prepared ministers.
"1 have one child and it is my earnest desire to see
to it that she is educated in such a way that she will be
best fitted to make her way in the world."
Lawyer Bowser is connected with Elks Lodge as attorney
for same. He is Worthy Chief of the True Reformers and
also attorney for this organization. Other connections
are Speeial Counsel for the Odd Fellows Lodge; Attorney
for the Brothers and Sisters Aid; Vice President of the
Negro State Bar Association and President of the Committee
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on Negro affairs of Mecklenburg County.