He who thinks himself wise,
O heavens! is a great fool.
—Voltaire.
THE BENNETT BANNER
archives
®*nnett College
Sreensboro^ N. C.
VOLUME XX
STUDENT PUBIilOATION OP BENNETT OOIJiEiE
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, MARCH, 1953
To know you’re a fool is often a
very fine flash of wisdom.
—Edoi Phillpots.
NUMBER 6
Prize-winning Author Visits Bennett's Campus
27th Annual
Institute Held At Bennett
An author, a movie actress, a for
eign correspondent, and two news
paper executives highlighted the 27th
annual Homemaking Institute held at
Bennett College March 15-22.
Theme of the week-long meet,
which drew in community leaders and
students in joint enterprise, was
“Achieving Peace Through Creative
Experiences.”
Keynote speaker at the opening ses
sion of the Institute was Ralph Elli
son, author of The Invisible Man, and
winner of the 1952 National Book
Award for best fiction. Ellison told
the Institute audience, “I know of
peace only such as a person who dedi
cated himself to fiction or art can
know it.” He declared that “each gen
eration must rediscover the world for
itself.”
Speaking on March 16, Allen Ray
mond, foreign correspondent and now
writer for Reporter Magazine, said
that peace will have to come as an in
dividual m-atter. “There will be no
peace,” Raymond declared, “so long
as tyranny and slavery exists.” The
veteran correspondent told the group
that peace can come to an individual
from a sense of accomplishment of
something worth doing.
Motion picture actress Maidie Ruth
Gamble, star of “The Well,” arrived
at Bennett College on March 19 to
participate in panel discussions of the
Institute theme. Mrs. Norman spoke
on the role of films in achieving
peace. She is a Bennett College alum
na, having graduated here in 1934.
Two other nationally known lead
ers, G. James Fleming and Miss Mary
Esther McWhirter, came to Bennett
during the week to speak at the Insti
tute. Fleming is executive editor of
the New York Amsterdam News, and
Miss McWhirter is director of peace
education for children and editor of
News Letter of the American Friends
Service Committee of Philadelphia,
Pa.
During the week all five guest
speakers participated in panel discus
sions and workshops in which stu
dents dealt with achieving peace
through creative experiences. Work
shop projects, including such crafts
as rug-making, knitting, and leather
work, were held. Arts were also in
cluded, such as the dance, piano, short
story writing, verse writing, and
many other projects. All projects
completed during the week were dis
played on March 21 to show the pro
gress made during the Institute.
Benjamin Nays Speaker
On Palm Sunday
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, president
of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga.,
was guest speaker at Bennett Col
lege vesper services here March 29
nt 4 p. m.
Services were held in the Annie!
Merner Pfeiffer Chapel on the Ben
nett Campus.
Dr. Mays, who has been president
at Morehouse since 1940, is a native
of South Carolina. He received an
A. B. Degree at Bates College, Lew
iston, Me.; and his M. A. and Ph.D.
degrees at the University of Chicago.
He has taught at Morehouse, South
Carolina State College and served
as Dean of the School of Religion at
Howard University in Washington,
D. C.
Outstanding in many fields. Dr.
Mays was named the alumnus of
the year by University of Chicago’s
Divinity School in 1949. He has
served as a representative abroad foi
the Y. M. C. A. on several occasions,
and has been vice-president of the
Federal Council of Churches of
Christ in America.
Student Speaks
At Vespers
“Who’s In Your Gallery?” was the
topic of Douglass Moore, of the Bos
ton University School of Theology,
in his address at Bennett College
vesper services on March 8.
Referring to the “gallery” as the
group of people who have most in
fluence on the course of an indivi
dual’s life, Moore declared that it
.should not include people who preach
a philosophy of defeatism and quest
for money alone.
The most important person for an
individual to have in his gallery,
Moore said, is Jesus Christ. It is by
the principles of Christianity, he de
clared, that a worthwhile life shouW
be lived.
Bennett College Bell
Is Housed
The 257-pound bell which has been
ringing punctually 21 times a day for
the past ycc.rs here at Bcimeti. is
housed in a new colonial-style tower,
and was dedicated March 8, at 5:15
p. m.
This bell, made of copper from
Michigan and tin from Malaya, has
served as a timepiece for students
and for the people in the community
since the presidency of Rutherford B.
Hayes.
The history of the bell dates from
1878, five years after the opening of
Bennett College, when the founder,
Lyman Bennett, went to his own
I townspeople in Troy, N. Y. and col-
I lected contributions to send a bell to
j this Southern school. In this effort,
Bennett contracted pneumonia and
died soon aferward. However, the bell
I was shipped down the Hudson River
by boat to Bennett College where it
was housed in one of the first build
ings.
Inscribed on the bronze bell is the
Bible quotation from Isaiah (i; 1 . . ,
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me;
because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings to the meek; He
hath sent me to bind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the pris
on to them that are bound.”
During the bell’s long service of
pealing out nearly a half-million
times to summon students to classes
and religious meetings, it has become
traditional at Bennett for a student to
serve as bell ringer. Looked upon
with respect by all students, the bell-
ringer arises to ring the bell each day
throughout the school year at 7; 45 a.
m. Throughout the day she announces
classes and meals with the bell until
the last timorous note is sounded at
5:15 in the evening.
Rev. J. E. Brower, pastor of St.
Matthews Methodist Church, was the
bell-ringer during his college days at
Bennett. He spoke at the dedicatory
service on March 8, when he gave
some “symbolic unities” of the bell.
He too brought out the fact that the
(Continued on Page Four)
Senior Day Celebrated
At Bennett College
It was a great day in the lives of
the Senior Class as its members as
sembled in the gymnasium at 3:30
o’clock last Friday. The class assem
bled to receive the roses which its
sophom.ore sisters so graciously pinn
ed on them, and for the processian
to the Chapel. With heads held high, |
and with very, very proud hearts, |
they marched through the Ceremon
ial Gate which was opened for the
occasion. Side by side the two classes
marched to the Chapel. To the strains
of “Pomp and Circumstance” played
by Mr. Whiteman, they marched into
place in reserved seats in the iroiit
of the Chapel.
Senior Day is a tradition at Ben
nett College. It is on this day that
the members of the Senior Class re
ceive their caps and gowns and be
come authorized to wear them until
graduation, providing they meet all
the requirements of a senior. It is an
inspirational ceremony as was ex
empted on Friday.
The Announcement of Honors and;
Presentation of Seniors for Caps and
Gowns was done by Dr. Willa B.
Player. As is customary on this oc
casion, the names of those students
who ranked highest according to
scholastic averages were announced.
The top ten were: Betty Washington,
Elizabeth Reese, Lyvonne Mackel,
Helena Valteau, Bero^lla Lawson,
Lovye Davis, Hazeline McPhaul, Re
becca Turner, Janol Corry, and
Thomasina Martin. After this an
nouncement the Senior Class was
presented to President Jones to re
ceive the caps and gowns. After
everyone had received a cap and
gown from a sophomore sister and
was seated again, Dr. Player gave a
nod to the class and ninety-two caps
were put on simultaneously.
After a melodious presentation of
“When I Survey the Wondrous
Cross” by the choir Lyvonne Mackel
made a speech for the Class of ’53
in appreciation for the many, many
opportunities that have been afforded
them. She reminisced for a little over
(Continued on Page 2)
KAl.PH ELLISON
Mr. George Houser
Speaks At Bennett
“American people are accepting
the inevitability of war and con
forming to it in a spirit of cynicism.”
This is an assertion made by Mr.
George Houser, project secretary of
tiie Fellowship of Reconciliation of
New. York, as he spoke in Chapel
on March 3.
Speaking with great concern, Mr.
Houser stated that the American
people need to stand up for spiritual
values through non-violence in the
face of adversity. He also pointed
out that world government, disarma
ment, and the Point Four program
cannot achieve peace.
“We are not a secure people to
day,” Mr. Houser asserted. “We are
a people fraught with fear and hys
teria. Our acceptance of things as
they are is leading to a loss of moral
values. “It is necessary,” he contin
ued, “to make a moral decision either
to go along with the present trend or
.stand up against violence.
“There is power in the method
of non-violence,” Mr. Houser de
clared, “and this is the way by which
we can escape the spiritual crisis to
day.”
A prize-winning young Negro
author who started his life’s work
riding an ice wagon with his father
through the streets of Oklahoma
City, Okla., at the age of three,
attributed the foundation of his suc
cess as a writer to “being exposed
to a mother who had no patience with
that which was false and who en
couraged me to do what I wanted
to do.”
The author, Ralph Ellison, who
v.ron the 1952 National Book Award
for his novel. The Invisible Man,
said in an interview that his mother
was an endless source of encourage
ment to him during his early years
of indecision.
Ellison, who started a career in
'.he study of music, became interested
in writing after reading some of
the writings of Richard Wrighl,
author of Native Son. The music
student was so impressed that he
sought Wright out in New York City
to discuss writing with him. A strong
friendship resulted, and Ellison toss
ed aside his study of music to under
take serious writing.
After writing several successful
.short stories, Ellison started his firs';
novel in 1945. “I tried this book, but
I didn’t know enough about struc
ture,” Ellison confessed. “1 had to
abandon it.”
Failing in his first attempt, Ellison,
made an exhaustive investigation of
many writers’ techniques. “Ernest
Hemingway, Herman Melville, and
William Faulkner made a very stronf!
impression on me,” the writer said.
“George Bernard Shaw was another
definite influence.”
“When I started The Invisiblo
Man, the 39-year-old author said, “I
was Irying to see reality and person
ality for what they are. I wanted
to define what was real and “I wa:i
interested, too,” he pointed out, “ir^
how Negro leaders arise.” His ideas
for the book changed as he progress
ed, Ellison said. “Whatever idea
j you start out with is likely to gc
through modifications. I tried to de
fine the experiences of my gencra-
lion, and I tried to do it by avoiding
old ideas. Where I was wrong was
in not getting in close enough.”
With plans for his second novel
already underway, Ellison said: “I
am striving for what is called hon
esty. I feel a responsibility to be a
witness of the times. The main thing
one seeks is to release the deep drive
within himself. I want to take thift
life and give it my own personal
slant while yet not violating its
truth.”
Alpha Kappa Mu Initiation
Period Held On Campus
On Sunday morning, March 8th,
the probation period started for the
eleven Juniors and Seniors who wore
elegible to become members of the
Alpha Kappa Mu Association. Dur
ing the period each probate was to.
(;arry a scroll 33 inches long and a
book weighing seven pounds. V/hite
gloves were worn at all times, the
hair was drawn to the back of the
head, and no make-up was used.
Whenever passing an Alpha Kappa
Mu member, the probates had to
raise their scrolls.
Many interesting programs were
presented before and during the.
dinner hour by the following pro
bates: Janol Corry, Barbara Crutch
field, Helena Valteau, Roberta Mc-
Guinn, Marilyn Whaley, Bertha
Brown, Charlotte Al.ston, Peggie Jef
fries, Marilyn Kimber, Jean Phil
lips, Dorothy Dixon and Thomasina
Martin.
The qualification for becoming a
member is a 2.5 average for the junior
year, and a 2.3 average for the senior
year. Congratulations, girls, and may
you have many happy and prosper
ous days in the future.
JJ3UU95
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