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Black Ink
Keep The Faith
Thoughts of being home, eating holi
day meals, strengthening family and
friendship ties, hanging out, and attemp
ting to catch up on sleep make it difficult
to maintain full concentration on class
assignments and daily responsibilities.
Just as exams cause us to look inside
ourselves to discuss what motivates us, so
does the holiday season.
Our sense of community becomes
more apparent as the seasons change. We
are more willing to accept and to express
emotions. It is at this time of the year that
we gather our families and friends and
even contribute to the Salvation Army out
side our favorite department store. This
festive occasion is not just a time for
eating and celebration, but a time for
introspection.
This is a great time to clean our
mental attics. We can strive for
a renewal of our spirits so that we
can reach for new academic,
spiritual, cultural, and social
heights.
Accordingly, the very nature of the
season cduses us to explore our deepest
thoughts and feelings. We fe-evaluate
what is important to us as we uncover the
ideals and principles of sharing that we
have internalized. This is a great time to
clean our mental attics. We can strive for
a renewal of our spirits so that we can
reach for new academic, spiritual,
cultural, and social heights.
During this season, as we become
more aware of those things for which we
are thankful consider this: Do we ap
preciate each other at UNC?
Despite our many efforts to
distinguish ourselves as members of the
esoteric, we share a commonality — a
desire for the human spirit to triumph.
Upon our January return, keep in
mind that we have a national holiday to
celebrate and a legacy to commemorate.
Although this holiday season comes but
once a year, let’s capture its essence and
make it evident throughout this school
year.
Best wishes on final exams. Eat right
and rest well! Warm Holiday Greetings.
Richard J. White,III
Assistant to the Editors
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Sheila Simmons
Co-Editor
Richard White
Assistant to the Editors
Diana Lowery
Special Projects Editor
Taundra Woodard
News Editor
Abraham Segres
Nancy Harrington
Yvette Cook
Staff Writers
leff Raynet
Co-Editor
Mia Davis
Advertising Editor
Keith Clark
Business Manager
Lori Roberts
Features Editor
Tonya Carter
Suzanne leffries
Andrea Shaw
Reubena Whitted
Staff Photographer
The Black Ink is published by students of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
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amination periods.
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Ink.
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Perspective
‘‘A Singing Stream:
A Black Family Chronicle”
The musical legacy continues (photo by
Reubena Whitted)
A Singing Stream started out as a
movie to depict a Southern Black family’s
struggle through racial discrimination,
poverty, family break-up, racial readjust
ment of schools and the changes of a ten
ant farmer to a landowner. Mrs. Bertha
M. Landis, the oldest surviving member
of the family at 87 years of age, tells about
the family’s survival through the pitfalls
of the South. She also talks about the fami
ly singing as a group, as individuals, how
they became singers, and the fame and
fortune that they received as singers.
Since singing ran on both sides of the
family, Mrs. Landis and her husbands’
family, she continued the Singing Stream
by teaching her children how to sing. Mrs.
Landis’ ability to sing was brought out by
her multi-talented father. Mrs. Landis'
father played the harmonica, the banjo,
and the fiddle, along with teaching the
church choir to sing their pitches.
Teaching Mrs. Landis to sing led to the
singing career of most of the older
children of the Landis family. Two
members of the Landis family are active
ly involved in their singing career with the
Golden Echos.
The Golden Echos consists of John
Landis, Claude Landis, Mike Austin,
Andrew Green, Luther Foster, J.P.
Jenkins, Sidney Brodie, Jimmy Up
church, Manager Wilbert Malone, Brian
Malone, and a former member who
played by special request, Kenneth
Daniel. Each member strongly agrees that
the group is still progressing. Speaking
with a few members of the Golden Echos,
after a brief performance after the movie,
it was easy to see that they have a strong
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singing relationship on and off the stage.
Jimmy Upchurch, one of the newest
members of the Echos says,“[Singing]
gets us closer to God. It feels nice to play
in front of a crowd who can feel what you
play.”
The Echos seemed to have grown
stronger since the filming of the movie
that portrays a family full of talent and en
thusiasm. Not knowing what the movie
was going to be really about, Tom Daven
port started filming the documentary and
soon stumbled onto a family full of talent.
Taking five years to finish filming and
editing, Davenport didn’t have any idea
which way the film was headed so he kept
up production.
Kenneth Daniel, a former Golden
Echo who now plays and sings with a few
cousins, was asked to come on-stage and
play with the group. Replacing Brian
Malone, Wilburt’s son, on the guitar,
Kenneth showed the crowd that he still
had the talent as a musician. After his per
formance, he had a few words to say to
the Black Ink, “The feeling was still and
I had a great time. The group [Echos] is
better because they have their own uni
que style that fits them. They are getting
better with what they are doing.”
Talking to Wilburt and Brian Malone
about the group showed that their play
ing in the group has kept their father-son
relationship strong. Brian being the
youngest member of the Echos at 13 years
old is truly a magnificent accomplishment
for a teenager. Wilburt says, “It feels
great to play alongside of my son and with
the Echos. Brian has always been in
terested in playing with the Echos since
he was 5 years old.”
Asked if there was anything he
wanted to see happen, he replied, “I want
to see Brian travel more and get a chance
to see the world from a different
perspective.”
Finally getting a chance to talk to
Claude Landis, he had a bit to say about
the group and the filming. “Filming the
movie was a new experience for me and
cutting records was exciting. At first, the
film was talked about amongst the group
and then it spread [into the community].
We mostly got our exposure to the public
when we sang at folk festivals in New
York and New Jersey.”
Claude Landis had one more thing to
say just as we were leaving. He said with
a smile, “Remember, you can reach your
goal only if you try.”
Learning about a family who is in
love with its work shows others that not
all people do things that they don’t have
to. Many people do things because they
want to. As Mrs. Landis said in the film,
“I want something that my children can
benefit from.” Teaching her children how
to sing put them on the road to their hap
piness and their success. It went so well
that they were rewarded for their
faithfulness in singing and in God.
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