Coming Home
Eagle family members return to nest for annual bonding celebration
By Kifimbo HoUoway
Staff Reporter
Homecoming is a time to
reflect on the past and to
cherish the present. It's a time
when students and alumni
alike soar with Eagle pride.
For generations. Home
coming has been bringing
smiles to former students as
well as new students at North
Carolina Central University.
However, Homecoming
has not always been a time to
look forward to concerts fea
turing artists such as, “The
Queen of the Pack,” better
known as the sexy Patra,
Ghost Face Killa or rapper
MC Lyte.
The old North Carolina
Central during the time of
our founder. Dr. James Ed
ward Shepard, had an enroll
ment of only 500 students.
Academic activity was the
major emphasis of the uni
versity. Homecoming only
allowed students a mini
break from their academic
curriculum to witness the
crowning of Miss Home
coming and Miss NCCU, the
parade and the game.
Alumnus Rose Mary
We got that feeling: Students throw
Johnson, who attended NCCU
while Shepard was chancellor,
recalls her first two years of col
lege without Homecoming ac
tivities because of World War
II.
Things have certainly changed
since the time when women were
not allowed to wear slacks.
University archivist Brooklyn
up the funk and show their Eagle
T. Macmillan, said that
Homecoming has evolved into
a “student generated” event.
It is no longer just a time re
served for alumni, it is a cel
ebration for everyone to take
part in.
Roger Bryant, the Associ
ate Vice Chancellor for Stu
dent Affairs, has watched the
pride at an Orientation Rally.
evolution of Homecoming
since 1976, the year he came
to work for the university.
“Homecoming was the big
event of the year,” Bryant
said. During his early years
working for the university, he
also worked on the Home
coming committee.
He assisted in the planning
of the pep rally, the mock fu
neral, the barn fire and the
greatly anticipated pre-dawn
dance.
He remembers a time when
both students and alumni
worked together in lifting up
the name of the university.
The mock funeral, a time
when students would assist in
the burial of the opposing team
is no longer a listed activity.
Students dressed in black,
one taking the role of a minis
ter, while the band played
something quite lamenting,
serenading the opposing team
into the grave.
Although this event is no
longer performed, as is the fire
works show, (which at one
time signaled the celebration
of Homecoming) doesn’t mean
our students lack Eagle pride.
Hubie Mercado, an NCCU
law student definitely feels E.-
funk.
He is looking forward to
reuniting with old friends and
bringing his wife to the game.
Miss Lou Barnes, program
director of the Alphonso El
der Student Union, encourages
students to be more like
Mercado, who is proud of his
alma mater
By all means, exercise your
Eagle pride!
Scholars, activists gather to review
effects of landmark segregation case
By Shelvia Dancy
Staff Reporter
Civil rights activists, scholars
and community leaders gathered
on the campus of North Carolina
Central University on Friday, Oct.
26, for recognition of the 100th
anniversary of Plessy vs Ferguson.
The all-day conference, held in
the Miller-Morgan Health Science
Building, celebrated the landmark
court decision that legalized the
“separate but equal” ideology. The
conference hosted more than 20
speakers and half a dozen semi
nars.
Speakers included NCCU
Chancellor Julius Chambers, and
C. D. Spangler, President of the
University of North Carolina Sys
tem
One seminar focused on recent
court decisions affecting race-
based congressional districts.
“We are in trouble,” seminar
moderator Ernestine S. Sapp said.
“This is really an assault on black
progress.”
Penda Hair, Director of the N A ACP
Legal Defense Fund, agreed.
“If districts have to be redrawn, it
has to be done in a way to protect the
interests of the African-American
population,” Hair said.
Wade Henderson, Executive Direc
tor of the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights, said the U. S. Supreme
Court will continue ruling against race-
based congressional voting districts.
Henderson urged the audience to
participate in the 1996 Presidential
Election, pointing out the President of
the United States plays an important
part in nominating Supreme Court Jus
tices.
“The 1996 federal election is prob
ably the most important election be
tween the Voting Rights Act of 1965
and the modem day,” Henderson said.
Earlier this year, the U. S. Supreme
Court declared voter districts with a
majority of minority voters unconsti
tutional.
North Carolina has two pre
dominantly black voting districts.
The 1st District stretches from
the Virginia border almost to South
Carolina, and the 12th District,
which snakes through Mecklenburg
from Gaston and Durham counties.
In 1992 the 1st and 12th districts
elected RepublicanEva Clayton and
Democrat Mel Watt, respectively,
to Congress—the first blacks from
North Carolina elected to Congress
since 1901.
Redistricting North Carolina’s
predominantly black voting districts
could jeopardize the seats Clayton
and Watt hold in Congress.
The General Assembly will not
address the Supreme Court’s deci
sion until after the fall elections.
Henderson advised participants
not to become complacent in the
use of voting power.
“As we’re beginning to feel good
about where we are as a people in
the body politic, let us not forget
there is still work to be done.”
Founder's Day
Founder’s Day at NCCU honors the memory of James E.
Shepard, who obtained a charter for the National Training
School and Chatauqua in 1909 and opened the institution’s
doors in 1910.
Shepard served as president of the school until his death in
1947, when the institution was North Carolina College at
Durham. The first Founder’s Day was held in 1948, one year
after Dr. Shepard’s death.