Dr.-. Robert E,
Dawson, a N Durham
' ophthalmologist for over
35 years, was honored by
" the ' National Medical
Association at its annual,
' meeting in Sari Fran-
cisco, California. ; -v f
Dawson was awarded
the Distinguished Service
- Award, the NMA's
highest - award, for i 40
years of devoted service,
interest and concern for
the growth and develop
ment of the profession
' and its institutions,; ac
' cording to Dr. Alexander
A. Williams, chairman
of the awards commit
: tee.
Dr. Dawson, a Fellow
of the American College
of Surgeons and a
Diplomate of the
American Board of
Ophthalmology, is an
assistant clinical pro
fessor of ophthalmology
at Duke University Eye
Center as well as a
member of the attending
staff, ophthalmology,
Durham County General
Hospital where he is a
member of the Board of
Trustees. Dawspri. a
DAWSON
member of the Alpha
Omega . Alpha Honor
Society, was cited recent-
Glaucoma Congress and
a member of the Board
of Directors of the Na
. tional Society to Prevent
Blindness where he
serves as vice president,
Dr. Robert Hillard,
president Of the NMA, in
presenting the award,
said: "For forty years,
Dr. Dawson has brought
distinction to the medical
profession as an outstan
ding practitioner whose
leadership and devotion
have been exemplary.
Hi& timeless ' and
unselfish service as presi
dent of the National
Medical Association and
as a member of boards
and . councils -.of many
prestigious associat ions
has brought recognition
nationally and interna-
I. . ' .' '' 1 L v -
ly aur serving as an ex- ,jonallv io the medical
aminer for the American nrnfc3nn nA ,h ku
Board of
Ophthalmology. He is a
former member of the
Board of Trustees of
Meharry Medical Col
lege, his alma mater, and
the Board of Visitors of
Clark College. Dr.
Dawson is also a member
of the International
profession and the Na
tional Medical Associa
tion." .)
Dr. Dawson is married
to the former Ms. Julia .
B. Davis of Summit,
N.J. They have three
daughters and one son,
Dianne, Janice, Melanie
and Robert, Jr.
SEMINAR CROWD The crowd of young blacks who
flocked to the most recent session of Bruce Bridges' cultural
awareness seminar last Thursday took time out to pose for a pic-
ture. Bridges, a professor at SI. Augustine's College in Raleigh,
and who conducts the seminars, is standing on the back row. sc.
tuna irom ine lar right.
Once Over The "Bar"
Life Returns To Normal
By Edward Bishop
'.Now that the North
tension," ' Rudd said, i students from Central
Blacks Take New View of Past
To Better Grasp Future
By AlvLs Tinnen
Black history, predates'
America.
it goes an the way
pareift result of this
wholesale "whitewash"
of history is an America
where 30 million blacks.
back to Africa, the w!inJ comDinca .income
cradle of civilization of about $140 billion an-
to-
Ky afolina-BarHExanr -, Jhe 4dexav xivad - -aH
over, Karl Rudd has his preparea tnemsetves tor
,u ..l ..i t.j whPi-WarWie rn,rii nualiy can t seem
ve mdsxaev x4had - ,.H -similar felHrev"vWeA
discovered imimmu-vi
wife and daughter back.
Before the two-day ex,
am, which was given on,
the' 27th and 28th of Ju
ly, Rudd, a North
Carolina Central Law
School graduate, sent his ;
wife. Sheila, and their
one-year-old daughter
away from their Durham
home so that he could
concentrate on his
studies.
"There was a lot of
it, but the anxiety was
frightening."
Rudd and about 575
people from al across
the country took the
North Carolina Bar ex
am, which will determine
if those taking it will be
able to practice law in
the courts of this state.
Rudd, who graduated
last May, said that he
thought that he had done
well and that the 36 other
similar feettngs
"After the first day of ,
'examination, . many - -of
the students went, out to
dinner or did a little stu
dying," he said,' "I read
some materials that I felt
needed a little attention,
but not much." ;
Rudd, like most of the
students who . took the
bar, enrolled in one of
several .' bar review
courses that were being
offered two months
(Continued on Page 3)
kingdoms.
many so-called' mysteries ,v
of life, and freely shared
them with marauding;
but inquisitive whites
from Europe.
This act of friendliness
began the' downfall of
blacic people, a descent
that produced popular
and widely held myths of
blacks cunning around
barefoot and ignorant in
Africa when whites ar
rived. '
One; graphically ap-.
originate the reasonings,
the conclusions and the
observations generally
attributed 1& them, but
they stole them from the
black high priest's of
'mysteries" in Africa.
' The audiences love it.
sight I
anywhere
Durham,"
can 'I
else
said
get
in
Dr.
Fahecm Ash'anli, "and it
can be applied to all
Icvck of my life... "
But Bridges says he
wants the information to'
an inspiration for me,"
he said, "to get up and
do something construc
tive." Bridges, who tops six
feet by several inches,
and who commands-at
tention as he sneaks.
1ii:;Cidiii.'br'a
uin you must have- the m intellectual' double home to his audiences
Youths Do Good Deeds
By Josephine Scarlett
Charlotte
likes what she's doing
this summer
other youngsters in the
Few Gardens housing
development are doing
good things for
themselves and other
people as members of the
Few Gardens 4-H Club.
"We give dances, bake
sales and other activities
v to raise money to send
the club to. camp each
f summer," said Ms. Am
bristcr, a 14-year-old
Durham High School
student. She is the
secretary-treasurer of the
club which vas formed
in the ,, federally
" subsidized V .housing
development one year
ago by Ms. Hattie Far-
rar.
"The children in that
club have done quite
well. They've had fun
draisers, participated in
first aid workshops at
the American Red Cross;
they wrote a play", said'
' Deniece Johnson of the
Durham 4-H Council,
"and won the 4-H Shar
ing the Fun talent
show."
The Few Gardens
4-Hers are also active in
the Durham political
arena. They've helped
with .previous primary
and city council elections
. by passing out flyers aqd
; helping the elderly and
(handicapped " get
.transforation to " the
' polls. ' ' .
1 Parents in the com
munity are also in
terested in . the activities
of the 4-Hers. Ms. Hattie
' Farrar, 1 coordinator of
the Few Gardens 4-H
Ambrister r'n ""v
e's doing !lelson' Gardens
?hi anrt 1Q """uniiy woricer, ana
George White, a retired
postal worker from
Chicago, support the
club members in their ac
' tivities. . ,
Even- ' though the
4-Hers have no activities
on. the immediate agen
da, Ms. Ambrister said
they will have a back-to-schopl
dance in thier
community. "I think
that the tilings I'm learn-i
ing in 4-H will help me
with' other things," said
Msv Ambrister.
' No matter how many
tales of violence and
destruction come out of
the Few Gardens com
munity; there is a light at
the end of the tunnel. So
the next time you wonder
what's wrong with these
kids today, remember,
there are some kids who
care -- enough-to try to
build up their communi
ty and their character
along with it.
bur uruce Bridges, a
St. Augustine's College
professor1,? believes thai
linking today's, black
Americans with a' renew
ed and broadened view
of African history will
help build a bridge of
motivation over which
blacks can march to a
brighter future.
"Knowledge of one's
history is a motivating
force," ? explained
Bridges; who is currently
conducting a series of
what- he calls cultural
awareness seminars. "It
is an impetus that causes
one to realize that one
can accomplish today
what our history reveals
that we accomplished in
the past.'!
, For ' the past nine
weeks or so Bridges has
been : preaching this
philosophy of "looking
to the past! to. better see
the future,!' to an every
growing gfoup of in
terested young blacks.
They've met each
Thursday from 7 to 9
p.m., in Hhe Student
Union Jpuilding at
NCCU, but with he ad
vent of school, the series
ruirii you
proper foundation,"
said William
McLaughlin, a local
businessman who has at
tended most sessions of
the seminar series.
"Bruce is providing the
foundation of a con
sciousness that has been
missing in the lives of
black people."
A local psychologist
who has attended the
scries, echoes similar
Comments. "The
knowledge is valuable
because it gives me in
talk.
"My preference is that
people lake what wc talk
about in the seminars
and incorporate it into
their lives, and use it to;
spark positive action,"
Bridges explained.
"Knowledge, for the
sake of knowledge is not
nearly as valuable as
knowledge put to use."
Obataiye Akinwolc, a
Durham writer, and
former radio personali
ty, agrees: "The
seminars arc serving as
with gestures, facial ex
pressions, and humor.
But after "preaching for
an hour or so, he closes
each session with a sim
ple challenge:
"Don't just take my
word for any of this," he
says with a smile. Go
home, get some books
and check it out for
yourself, and once you
know it, share it with so
meone else, and you do
something about it
yourself."
(Continued On Page .
Local Woman's First Trip
To Africa Calls For Second
By Edward Bishop.
Any black American
who can afford to should
go to Africa at least
once. And one black
woman who just return
called Goree, a former
center of early slave
trading near Dakar.
, "I could imagine rhc
slaves being shackled in
the bottom of those slave
has now moved- to St. worth there,"
Joseph's f Church
, Fayettevillf Street..
''I am very pleased
with the way the
response i has grown,"
- Bridges said during a re
cent interview. "Each
; week we get more peo- tor at North Carolina
: pie, and the interest ap- Central University, said
! pears to be continuing to
grow.". ,
According to Bridges,
WDUR Radio will begin
, broadcasting one hour of
i the two-hour seminar
ed from a month's tour trading ships, said Ms.
of Senegal, a West Mills, who attended
African nation, said one undergraduate school at
trip makes you want to-the Unviersity of North
go back. "You feel a Carolina, "the misery
greater sense of self-
must have been tremen
dous." She said that each time
that she took the trip,
she nearly cried.
"It was a very moving
and emotional ex
perience for me, she
said, "it was chilling and
((. oniimicd on Page (i
said Ms.
on Janice Mills. "There is
nothing that is chipping
away at you because of
your blackness that you
sometimes feel here."
Ms. Mills, a Duke law
graduate and an instruc-
4.
r
YOUNGSTERS' IN FEW
GARDENS have spent the sum
mer working in the community.
One of their activities was to '
help encourage residents in the
neighborhood to vote, and to
help arrange rides for, the elderly
and handicapped persons who
i wanted to go to the polls. They
are (-r); Pamela Farrar, Sharon
Manning, Sharlet Ambrlsto,
Tracey Jones, - Mrs. Dorothy
Nelson, Christine Jones, Ronald
Ambrlsto, Roy Nelson and
George White.
live from the church next
- Thursday. The broadcast
is scheduled to begin at
7:30 p.m. , A
"We want to see more
people come out to the
seminar," Bridges said,
"and we hope to be able
to Continue the seriesin
definitely, because, this
information is so vital to
our success." ' J .
: The. . information"
! Bridges gives is often
mew and shocking to his
-audience.: .For example,"
Bridges . contends that
philosophers such as
Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle aid not
(hat one month in
Senegal, a former French
colony, left her with a
yearning to return some
day. '
"One gets a renewed
sense of pride, ".said Ms.
Mills, who took more
than 300 photographs,
"Your blackness is not
something that is con
stantly challenged in a
country where the ma
jority fo the people are
black."
Ms. Mills said that the
Senegalese were a ' very
"open people" who ac
cepted her as if she was
one of, their own. I
stayed in a compound in
the middle of Dakar, the
capital city. .
Several times, Ms.
Mills took 'a small boat
from Dakar to an island
-V;
i
f
mi
MISS MILLS
...in native dress