MARCH, 1969
THE NEWS ARGUS
PAGE THREE
Black Woman and
Change
Because of her unique position,
the Black woman has a special re
sponsibility to institute change in
a white society that has given
blacks the short end of the stick.
So said Mrs, Robert Cummings
to WSSC students during an assem
bly program marking the college’s
annual women’s week celebration.
Mrs. Cummings, who with her
husband, will study in Africa this
summer, is an English instructor
at Winston-Salem State.
“Traditionally women have been
very dominant features in the
black families,” Mrs. Cummings
said.
She said that when Black people
were brought to America they were
put into a completely new culture
and that whites did not try to
learn nor understand the Afri
can’s way of life. Whites tried to
make the blacks change by ridi
culing their culture, she said.
“But in the white’s attempt to
destroy the culture, they practical
ly destroyed the black male,” Mrs.
Cummings said.
After slavery was ended, she
said, black women could find work,
but black men had only limited em
ployment opportunities, which fur
ther weakened his position in the
family.
“If there were a man around
the house, families were denied
welfare,” she said. “For these rea
sons men life home in order that
their families might be provided
for. The black woman then had
to become both mother and fa-
ther.”
Because women have developed
this special position in the black
culture, she sair, “we are extreme
ly necessary to the movement
toward black power.”
She cited Mrs. Shirley Chisolm,
the new congresswoman from New
York, and Mrs. Rosa Parks, who
helped start desegregation of trans
portation facilities in the South,
as examples of black women who
have already done a great deal.
“Black women in influential,
powerful positions have, can and
must continue to help other blacks
change the discriminations prac
ticed in industry, government and
life,” Mrs. Cummings said.
“When this is done, women will
have helped greatly in demolish
ing the existing white society, and
it will all be accomplished because
you will have dared to expend your
energies in the black communi
ties.”
—My Black King—
/ Await You!
I come before you my black
king; naked; stripped of all ideals
of superiority which have handi
capped our black men too often
For centuries, it has been drum
med into my head that I was a
woman — a woman of superior
capacities and educated to please
the beck and call of the white
man. For centuries, I have reserv
ed my body and my mind to think
and be like the white woman. Only
to realize this is a fallacy in an
age old tale.
Too often, I have let my king
down by being something other
than a black woman. For centuries
I’ve portrayed the part of a nigger-
woman, looking for the luxuries of
life without my man. Only to leave
you, alone and unaided.
When you needed me, I was
never there. When you desired me,
I never gave whole-heartedly. It is
you, who I now need. It is you who
can fulfill my wanton desires and
relieve my tensions. It is you by
whose side I want to stand and be
a complete woman. It is you and
only you who can help me meet my
new found obligations.
My Black King — I await you!
—Janet Hunter
Let’s Party In Raleigh!
During the past election campaign North Carolina saw and heard
one of the most prolific and provocative parades of amateur poli
ticians this state has seen since the “white niggers” of the Recon
struction Era made their world famous play for power. Those poor
brain washed brothers and sisters didn’t last long, and neither will the
General Assembly if its present state of mind continues.
The attitude of the General Assembly is in more than a few ways
indicative of the people who compose it. The men and women of the
General Assembly are representative of a right-wing group, who this
year made their play for power in national, state and local governments
throughout the United States. Specifically in North Carolina, the ma
jority of our legislative representatives are more interested in tobacco
crop allotments and superior highways than in increasing the educa
tional level and bettering living conditions of its citizens. This state al
ready has highways far superior to other states of equal size and
economic situation. Needless time is spent arguing about tobacco allot
ments which the federal government determines anyway.
Ironically the general assembly, encraraged by rural constituents,
has gone out of its way to limit appropriations to colleges and univer
sities. Despite the passivity and non-violent attitudes of the students
at S. C., the general assembly has proposed cutting expansion funds
to W.S.S.C. by nearly 40 per cent over the last biennial’s appropriation.
It is becoming very clear that the eastern dominated state legisla
ture is not so much afraid of the militants, but harbors an immense
fear for the educated voter. Now that the general assembly has
shown that it cannot tolerate an educated electorate, the total student
community should not tolerate ignorance in state government.
You Are Invited
Molotov Cocktail Party
Where: General Assembly Building—Raleigh, North Carolina
When: When gross ignorance becomes intolerable
Time: Morning, Noon and Night
Loneliness
It’s spawned out of happiness.
Of pleasure and content.
Of joy turned to sorrow
From a love t’was well meant.
It’s spawned out of age,
Decrepid and cold.
To face true reality no one
Wants you when you’re old.
It’s spawned out of grief.
Of pity and of pride.
Hurt, depressed by them all,
We seek someplace to hide.
It’s spawned out of discrimination,
Of handicaps and resentment.
For we all get that feeling
When they think we’re a bit different.
Pretending to be happy,
Witty, charming, and gay.
For you want no one to know
That you feel this way.
To amble a discorded path by day.
To roam the still of a garden by night.
The forlorned misery mounting within.
Longing to behold what’s not in sight.
Walking through life
Seemingly free as a bird.
Yet, when someone speaks
You haven’t heard a word.
Yes, this is the feeling which makes
The strongest of men cry.
Tortured by the pulsating pain
Till you just want to die.
Yes, it has happened to most all.
Those alive and at rest.
Experiencing this feeling to be alone;
Alone with loneliness.
—William L. Richardson
Why Study African History?
Hell On Earth
As the dusk settled down
We prepared for the night.
Then! The sound of a flare
And suddenly there was light.
They fired, and fired.
And fired, and fled.
Seventy of us had started,
Now forty were dead.
The sky was pale gray
Though the sun quite bright.
As we trudged through the jungle.
Following that terrifying night.
We walked along cautiously
Feeling weary and tired.
A sharp crack rang out
And our scout screamed and
died.
We searched and we searched.
But in his hole the rat did flee.
It is so very hard to fight
When the enemy we cannot see.
We came out of cover.
Twenty-nine of us now.
Knowing we had to make it.
But not knowing how
WE LIED! We tried to hide the
shame of slavery in this country
by calling Africans lazy and un
civilized. We taught the lie; we
murmured it over tea and coffee.
In truth MAN’S sunrise glowed
first in Africa. He began there. All
mankind — ALL, THE SO-CALLED
RACES of mankind.
In West Africa, the historical
homeland for most American
blacks, the Africans built the pow
erful states of Mali, Songhai,
Kenem, Benin, Mossi-Dagomba,
that thrived long before Europeans
came. The old Ghana Empire last
ed 1,000 years to 1240 AD. Black
people can boast that Nok and He
had no equal. (See LOOK Jan.,
1969.)
Realizing that integration at
tempts have failed in these United
States, the black people of this
the confines of these United States.
AFRICANS ARE NOT NEGROES.
The Negro has been scientifically
created by the American white so
ciety. As a Negro, we can not find
an historical past which gives the
needed historical traditions and
cultural depth of achievements
which are considered significant in
the growth of world civilizations.
In order that the Negro realize his
true worth and value in the growth
and development of world civiliza
tions, he must shed his Negroism
and become BLACK. He must ac
cept the fact of his BLACKNESS.
Note, there is no Negro land; no
Negro language; which leaves the
Negro without the depth of histori
cal existence. Only as a black map,
therefore, is he able to relate to
his REAL past: That of African
descent. Here, he can find the
country are now attempting to de- , . . r . • i
velop in their community more achievements of his people as they
than voting strength. The black ’"e fte to world civiliza w^^
community needs CULTURAL Why study Africa? Africa is the
STRENGTH. This kind of strength ^Pintual homeland to many black
can develop an understanding of Americans who look with pride at
the African heritage of the Ifrc^ ‘heir cultural heritage, and rightly
American and thus give him a ! f
sense of spiritual equality and, Ito react TOWARD Afn-
more important, a sense of his-i^^. c tv, 3- J ^
torical achievement and historical i
participation in world develop-1 ^rn for Africa has develo^d,
^ I but now more than at any other
To this date, he has been de-!‘™^
prived of all belief in himself and '^'^e-spread and thus can prove of
thus considers himself the inferior, j
of all men. This is due to the i Africa? People tend to de-
MYTHS OF THE BLACK MAN’S |
PAST, which validates his concept: ideas
of inferiority, which may be out-'°f ‘he Greco-Roman worlds are
lined as follows: | beautiful to us because they have
1. Negroes are naturally of a child- i western cul-
like character, and adjust easily : heritage — we haye always
to the most unsatisfactory social, been proud to relate to this because
conditions, which they accept ‘^e world stands as a symbol
readily and even happily; greatness o western thought^
2. Only the poorer stock of Africa' ^/nca has ALSO contributed
was enslaved, the more intelli-! ^^^H ‘o that greatness of the
gent member of the African' West. \Ve need to know this With
communities raided were clever :f." understanding of this contnbu-
enough to elude the slave-hunt-1he Black m^ will feel more
gj.g. ° a contributing factor in the present
Even granting enough Negroes ' "'"‘’eme of things. He has been sub-
of a given tribe had the oppor-i humanized and segregated from
tunity to live together, and toat contributions to the extent that
they had the will and ability to actually feels that he IS in-
continue their customary modes TOIS^BFLIEF IS°"mo^^
of behavior, the cultures of Afri- Af u- 7 n
ca were so savage and relative-1.V. ^ f
1, so low 1„ the scale of human ! ^ear thi u.tru h ou^ art
As we neared the jungle end
A rice patty came into sight.
And our hearts filled with hatred
0 the upcoming fight.
Looking the land over.
Not a sound could we hear.
Quite enough knowledge to know
The enemy was near.
They came out of hiding
Thus the fight began.
Forced to retreat for cover.
Into the jungle we ran.
We fought, and fought, and fought;
Then the dead began to fall.
How many died that frightful day
1 never can recall.
When the killing stopped
And the firing had ceased
I began to reminisce.
I have often dreamed of hell.
But never was it like this.
—William L. Richardson
civilization that the apparent su
periority of Europeans as ob
served in the behaviors of the
whites, would have caused and
actually did cause the slave to
give up such aborginal tradi
tions as they may otherwise
have desired to preserve;
4. The Negro is thus a man with
out a past.
These are known MYTHS of the
past of black folks. African history
agrees with ONLY one of the above
statements: The Negro is a man
without a past
a past any place other than in
Enrichment Center
Adds New
Learning Aids
The Winston-Salem State College
Enrichment Center presently is in
the process of adding numerous
new learning aids to its already
bulging shelves. Center coordinator
Dr. Hazel M. Naugle explained that
the recent additions to the center’s
collection has increased enrollment,
which recently reached 550 stu
dents.
Spearheading the list of new
arrivals is a College Level Reading
Program which makes it possible
for serious users to better their
comprehension and speed in every
day reading. Aids to business
aspirants are most numerous
among the new equipment. Specific
additions include audio visual aids
to business relations, banking, and
programmed shorthand.
A wide range of records in philo
sophy are currently being added.
The most noticeable aid to the
growth of the Enrichment Center
Materials has been numerous
faculty contributions. Recent con
tributors among faculty members
are Mr. A. T. Clark, Mrs. Walls,
Mrs. Mosely and Mrs. Parker
and sculpture will proclaim this
belief erroneous. African kingdoms
will correct this lie in the minds
of black people thus giving them
something to be proud of. Research
in African history and cultures has
excavated civilizations that had
to be beyond Europe’s reach and
so beyond her recognition — thus
it was also out of the realm of
black history.
Africa has had its owti rich
sweep of events outside those which
European conquest and settlement
'nfaT wi/hnTit ^ave recorded. This era of Euro-
’ pean dominance is short within the*
thin margin of human history.
Long before, in the evolution of
man himself, Africa had helped
shape history — world-wide. And
while the centres of European cul
ture flourished, decayed, and
sprouted in their turn, empires in
Africa rose, ruled, resisted, and
succumbed. Scholars studied and
disputed in Timbuctu as in Paris,
and w'hat the Italians accomplished
with pigment, the artists of Benin
achieved with bronze. The cultures
were different, but only on the
horizontal. The vertical, the sep
aration into superior and inferior
worlds and peoples, was a product
of conquest.
Much of Africa's past has now
been excavated from ignorance
and error. Yet the study of Afri
can history has hardly begun.
Those who have undertaken it are
the explorers of an unknown hu
man heritage. Their discoveries
are of much more than African
moment. They must enrich man
everywhere. Then when we read
the great historians, they will dif
fer with Arnold Toynbee and
others, who proclaimed “The only
one of the primary races which
has not made a creative contribu
tion to any one of our 21 civiliza
tions is the black race.” WE
LIED . . .!
—Robert Cummings