''Every Negro Who Discharges His Duty Faithfully Is Making a Real Contribution'

AS 19,300,000 U.S. Negroes seek equal employment rights, they are often met by an endlessly infuriating question: Are they really equal to whites in their abilities, or are they disqualified by some anthropological defect? The simplest, most frequent reply is to cite Negroes who have become famous. No one can argue about the extraordinary physical feats of baseball's Willie Mays, pro football's Jimmy Brown, Decathlon Champion Rafer Johnson and many other athletes. Similarly, the Negro has long held his share of the spotlight in the performing arts, as witness the success of such as Jazzman Miles Davis, Singers Lena Home, Harry Belafonte and Leontyne Price.

But such an answer is too narrow. These celebrities work before audiences, which ask only to be entertained--and which are too often unwilling to accept the Negro as an equal beyond recognition of physical or artistic talent.

A better answer to the crucial question lies in the seldom publicized accomplishments of Negroes in more private vocations. Here the barriers are tougher, and the Negro is less apt to be prepared, since to him many such fields have long seemed closed. Yet in science and education, the professions and in business, the armed forces and Government, even in elective politics, individual Negroes have broken the barriers, earned positions of respect and trust, and become part of the U.S. leadership community (see following pages).

To be sure, about 60% of nonwhite families in the U.S. still earn less than $4,000 a year, against only 26% of white families. Negroes still comprise but 3% of the nation's 180,000 college teachers, 2% of its 230,000 physicians, 1% each of its 215,000 lawyers, 2,560,000 salaried managers, 130,000 editors and reporters. But there are now some 35 Negro millionaires in the U.S. The percentage of Negro families earning $10,000 a year or more has gone from one-half of 1% a decade ago to 5% (the percentage of white families in that category has increased from 5% to 19%). More than 16% of nonwhites hold white-collar jobs, against less than 12% a decade ago.

It is by the quality of their individual achievements and the example they set for others that successful Negroes contribute most. They effectively puncture those fallacious notions that the Negro somehow has not got what it takes "to make it." In fact, the successful Negro more often than not must have more of what it takes than the white who achieves an equal degree of success. Air Force Major General Benjamin O. Davis Jr., spent most of his four years at West Point as the only Negro there, often felt that he was spoken to only when someone was barking a command. Chicago Dermatologist Theodore Lawless fought off subtle rebuffs while an instructor at Northwestern University. When his hand was to be photographed giving an injection to demonstrate a new technique, he was asked to wear a surgical glove so his dark hand would not "be seen. "I said, 'Hell no,' " he recalls, "and I never did."

Most of those Negroes who have achieved success feel that they are as much a part of the Negro protest movement as those who lie-in, sit-in and pray-in. "I feel I can serve best by doing a reasonable job here," says Negro Space Engineer Spencer Robinson. "My presence, I believe, has paved the way for others of my race." Carl T. Rowan, one of three Negro U.S. ambassadors, sees a broader implication in the success of individual Negroes. "Every Negro American in a position of responsibility who discharges his duty faithfully and well, whose conduct is laudable, is making a real contribution to the struggle by bringing along a segment of the white population," he says. "However, he is also obliged to speak out where speaking is called for."

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