I <37*
Newcomer
Winston ma
By AUDREY WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
In every city she's ever been in, 31-year-old
Toni Tupponce says she had an opportunity to
put down roots, but something always pulled
her awav *- mostly employment or education.
A longtime attraction to Winston-Salem pulled
her away from the N.C. Department of
Transportation in Raleigh when she took Jim
Crews, her present supervisor, up on the offer
to become a transportation planner for the city
of Winston-Salem nine months ago.
"Working for the state was not a goal for
me," says Tupponce. "Getting my master's
was."
With various interruptions to deal with, it
took the North Carolina Central graduate near
ly four years to find the time to complete her
master's tiegree in regional transportation at
the University of North CaTolina at Chapel
Hill.
A three-year employment stint in South
Carolina put a halt to her studies until she was
offered a job with the state of North Carolina.
While working in Raleigh, Tupponce completed
her degree.
"As soon as I got my degree," she says, "I
started looking again tfor another job)." .
Jim Ritchie, manager of the Winston-Salem
^ Transist Authority and an acquaintance of the
West Point, Va., native, contacted her and a
?2X51/ BV Mike Campbe
I 7 S I
1/ I SlAflHqt " QK?wq "4
I q ba*h cjfth a Pubt>te J
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Young & Gifted
Fourteen-year-old Mike Campbell's ar
nothing else will do (photo by James Pi
Black Medal <
By GERRTTAYtOR ,
Department of The Army ^
!
CHICAGO -- From the smokey fields of the
to the sweaty jungles of Vietnam, black sol
foueht lone and hard for their ennntrv.
multitude of battles, 55 of them earned th<
highest decoration for heroism ? the Medal o
Sgt. William H. Carney, a union solider ir
War, became the first black to be awarded the
f
Honor after his heroic actions at the battl
Wagner, S.C., in* 1863.
While advancing toward the gates of the fort
unit. Company C of the 54th Colored Infantry,
barded by musket fire and shells, killing or
men left to right. One of the wounded was
bearer. But before the flag touched the groun
seized it and made his way to the front of the c<
it retreated.
Still hampered by enemy fire, he continued h
the rear, all the time clutching the flag. Bullets
the chest and leg, and another soldier treated h
As they moved on again, another bullet graze<
head. When the other soldier offered to tak<
Carney refused, saying, "No one but a mem
54th should carry the flag."
Later, as Carney carried the regimental flag
his comrades cheered at the sight of him. Car
proudly and said simply, "The flag never tc
ground, boys."
Seventeen black soldiers received the Medal
during the Indian Campaigns. Five others rc
?
e?Mag&
y be the place f<
network began between the two. By February
of last year, eight months after completing her
thesis, Tupponce says she was offered the position
here.
"I always said if I were to settle in North
^aiunna, n wouia nave to De here," she says.
"I've always loved the Piedmont."
In fact, Tupponce, who is single, likes the
area so much that she has purchased a home in
Winston. ^ *
"I made a bit of a commitment when 1
"There's a growing political awareness
here as far as black folks are concerned
and that intrigues me.... "
? Toni Tupponce
bought mv home." she savs, "so 1 guess I'm
sunk for a while."
She says she's had other offers to go
elsewhere, but a magnetic attraction to the arts
* and a progressive city kept her from doing so.
Putting down roots in Winston-Salem hasn't
really occurred to her, she says, despite the fact
that she's now a city taxpayer. But she says
planting herself here permanently is a possibility.
"I don't have anybody really but me," Tupponce
says, "so I can go where I want to go.
Nobody is counting on my paycheck but me.
"If my absolute goal was to be in Atlanta 01
< * -Jr
w ?? IwS* .. >
nbition In life is to become an accompl
arker).
af Honor winnc
medal tor their actions in the Spanis
But not until 1950 did another blat
Medal of Honor.
Pfc. William Thompson, a memt
,VI ar 24th Regiment, 25th Infantry Divi
i ers ave ^|ack to be awarded the medal duri
Within a njc(
e nation s
f Honor. On Aug. 6, 1950, Thompson and tl
i the Civil came under fire by enemy forces neat
? Medal of set up his machine gun and fired on t
e oi rort their advance enough so part ot his
cover from exploding grenades and
, Carney's __________________
, was bomwounding
"Seventeen black soldiers
the color Medal of Honor during
id, Carney Campaigns. Five others
ompan> as medal for their actions in
lis night to American W
hit him in
is wounds.
i Carney's Badly wounded by grenade ar
e the flag, Thompson refused to leave his static
ber of the ing at the enemy as his comrades re'
silenced when he was mortally woun
into camp, grenade.
ney smiled As the nation's soldiers struggled
>uched the War, Sfc. William M. Bryant was th
the United States' higest military av
i oi Honor Bryant earned the Medal ol Hoi
rceived the commanding officer of Civilian Irrei
*
i zine Sec
or Tupponce
Manhattan by the time I was 35, I would have
made that move by now," she says.
Noting that she had not actively sought
f>mnlr*vmont in U/inc?/,n CnUw. T,, ? ^ ^
vnipivj IIIVIU 111 m.Muii-oaicni, I U^^UlltC
says, "... I didn't seek Winston, but this city
appealed to me." ?
It is apparent that Tupponce is also impressed
with the city's black community, but she sees
the problems, too.
"There's a growing political awareness here
as far as black folks are concerned," she says,
. "and that7 intrigues me. I've always liked
politics, but I haven't ever considered running
for office."
To Tupponce, the black religious community,
which she says has always been a very important
part of her life, is stronger than any
she's ever seen, citing some of Winston's
politicaliy^acUv&xhurch leaders as proof.
But, she adds, "I've not done a whole lot of
1 delving at this point, but there appears to be a
lot of arenas that we as a (black) community
have yet to take advantage of."
Those arenas, she says, include the arts,
Winston-Salem State University, black i
> businesses and the electoral process that helped i
elect the city's four black aldermen.
"Those are the avenues," says Tupponce,
"but out of all those avenues, 1 really don't feel
, a strong sense of community here.
"It seems to me that with a unified communi- 1
Please see page B9 \
Artist sh
By AUDREY WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
Mrs. Alma Campbell thin!
I son, Michael, went out and gc
chiding has been
No, Mike Isn't lazy. He jus
thing in life that appeals to Y
"Til tell him, 4Mike, go an
^^B Mrs. Campbell, who is also tl
sor^' "anc* te" me' ^or
\ Since he has his mind made
wants him to pursue his aspi
using all the necessary chann<
get the exposure Mike is gettii
V a cartoon'st al such a young a
is featured on the Chrome!
A lot of cartoonists come
characters from either child he
,:.f oranai, an inquismve nine i
Walker's Hi and l.ois, but froi
tually patterned after Mike's r
, "I just like watching her,'
because if she doesn't like so
she'll just throw it down."
As a ninth-grade honor sti
ished artist and Mike has often been called
assistance with classroom bull<
irs have served ti
h-Amei Lean War.
:k soldier receive the .
>er of Company M,
ision, was the first ng
the Korean Con
Haman. Thompson
platoon
gunfire.
received the
the Indian
the
the Jfk
>n and continued fir- I
treated. His gun was I
ided by an exploding HBBMI
through the Vietnam Winston-Salem native La
e latest black to earn Army veteran, earned
/ard. decoration for bravery, t
nor while serving as his service In Vietnam. Jc
gular Defense Group coma two weeks ago.
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J Section B
February 16, 1984
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V
roni Tupponce is intrigued by the political awarenesss of black people In
A/inston-Salem (photo by James Parker).
ooting for the sky at 14
and most surprising accomplishment to date, he says,
came when the editor of the Chronicle selected his work
to be featured in the paper each week,
ts it's time her 14-year-old "1 was, really surprised when I got a call from the
rt himself a job. So far, her Chronicle and thev told me thev wanted me to Hn a rar
1. : toon every week/^ Mike says^M had put it in the back of
t has his mind set on the one my mind and forgotten about it."
tim most. Mike also realizes that the more advanced his art work
d get a work permit,"' says becomes, the more competition he will be up against.
he mother of an 11-year-old "There are other people at my school who draw real
n, I don't want to be a bag good," he says. "I get mad sometimes when I see
t."' someSbdy that draws better than me."
up, Mrs. Campbell says she That's one of the reasons he reaches for his clip board
ration to become an artist, and art tools as soon as he arrives home from school.
els available to him. But what about school work?
ibly give almost anything to "Oh, I do that at school during lunch," he says, "but
ig for his creative talents as as soon as I get home I start drawing until about 11 at
ge. His cartoon, "Brandi," night."
c *s amusement page each Mrs. Campbell says her son began showing his first signs
of creativity when he was just a toddler. At six, she
up with the ideas for their says, the images started to take on more than just first>od
or just out of the blue, grade sketching.
3aby girl, similar to Mort 44It really doesn't bother me that he likes to draw," she
m a black perpesctive, is ac- says. "When he was smaller, he used to doodle and waste
eal-life baby cousin, whose a lot of paper and it would be all over his bedroom floor
when he would wake up in the morning,
says Mike. "She's funny "But he loves it and now he's into drawing these weird,
mething, she won't eat it; way-out pictures," says Mrs. Campbell, giving a puzzled
look at one of her son's fantasy sketches,
ident at Hill High School, Many of Mike's ideas come from one of the many
upon by teachers for his action-packed comic books, such as "Heavy Metal" and
nin boards, but his greatest Please see page B9
heir country well
H Company 32<4, 2nd. Battalion, 3rd Mobile Strike Force
Command in the Long Khanh Province. On March 24.
I 1969, Bryant's battalion came under heavy fire and was
suddenly surrounded by enemy regiments. While exposed
to enemy fire many times during the attack, Bryant
scrambled back and forth among his company's positions
giving out ammunition, helping the wounded and direc
ting return fire.
During a break in the attack, Bryant led a group of his
men outside the perimeter to gather informantion the
enemy. When the patrol was pinned down by intense
automatic weapons fire, Bryant singlehandedly fought
off the enemy, inspiring the rest of the platoon to fend
off continued attacks.
In the midst of the enemy's deadly assault, Bryant
regrouped his men and attempted to break through the
enemy circle. Moving forward about 200 meters, the men
r were again pinned down by heavy fire; this time Bryant
was severly wounded. Regardless, he assembled his men
and radioed for a helicopter gunship attack on the enemy
I position.
nWhen the choppers had gone, Bryant charged and
overran an enemy position, killing its three defenders.
Then, while regrouping his men for a final assault,
Bryant was mortally wounded by an enemy rocket.
Bryant was one of 15 black soldiers receiving the Medal
of Honor during the Vietnam War.
wrence Joel, a 23-year From these examples of black soldiers answering their
the nation s highest country's call to arms, and giving themselves beyond the
he Medal of Honor, for call of duty, today's soldier, regardless of racial origin,
>e! died from a diabetic can point with pride and confidence to the triumph of the
human spirit during combat.