Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / May 11, 1989, edition 1 / Page 9
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History offers legacy From Page A1 sparking a massive influx of Afro Americans into the city from all parts of the South. In 1930, 52 per cent of the Afro-American work force was employed at Reynolds. In 1943, the Rev. Carl Watson, an Afro-American labor advocate, organized Local 22, which is credit ed with unifying Afro-Americans and opening the door for their right to vote in local elections. "I think it all goes back to Local 22 that unified the black com munity and from there we moved on," said the Rev. William R. Craw ford, who succeeded Dr. Williams as alderman, serving from 1951-60. Local 22 fought discrimination, city segregation ordinances and increased Afro-American voter reg istration in the city from 300 in 1944 to 3,000 in 1946. "As a result, in 1947 city Negroes elected Rev. Kenneth Williams to the Board of Aldermen, reputedly the first such occurrence in modern southern history," Tise said. "Wiih the election of Williams, the Negro community gained a per manent seal on the Board of Alder men." In addition, Mayor Kurfees appointed Afro-Americans to city posts and had biracial representa tion on all city boards. He also encouraged the launching of urban renewal projects aimed at destroy ing ghettoes. "The primary cause of the early return of Negroes to political partic ipation in Winston-Salem was the relatively high socio-economic position gained under the auspices of the Reynolds Tobacco Compa ny," Tise said. "In all respects (eco nomic, social, educational, etc.) the city's Negro stood among the first five in Southern cities. "These factors, combined with the high status of Negroes in the Democratic Party, made school desegregation, integration of public and private facilities and the imple mentation of urban renewal projects a smooth process." Afro-Americans weren't as interested in becoming political fig ures as there were in trying to find a way out of bondage during the 1940s, said Dr. Williams. "?Political power back in the 1940s was practically an unknown entity due, of course, to the heritage of black people not only in Win ston-Salem but in the entire South," he said. "It was a new ball game and we were trying a number of dif ferent things as as a solution to a number of different problems black people had. Many of us felt one viable solution was to gain political strength." Dr. Williams remembers knocking on every door in his third ward -- composed of East Winston, bounded by the Boston and Kim berly Park communities. He also remembers being rejected, not by whites, but by some members of his own race. Five years after Dr. Williams Photo by Sam Greenwood "I think it all goes back to Local 22 that unified the black community and from there we moved on." ? The Rev. WJR. Crawford left the office of alderman, a nation al civil rights movement was in the Please see page A11 Racial harmony high on Coble's agenda From Page A1 I is proposing that five to six areas of ? major interest be identified which would lead to the "achievement of all students and especially the aver age child and minority student s." HI think we've got to be honest with ourselves and say the admis sion and identification of problems may be easier than quickly resolv ing the problems, but I still think recognition of the problem is a use ful first step," said Dr. Coble. because the public perception - -coming J&Qm_segmemsj)f ihe Afto-__ American and white communities - is that the public schools aren't doing the best job possible, identi fying problems, formulating solu tions and later evaluating the effec tiveness of those solutions is a good way for school administrators to be accountable to the community, said Dr. Coble. "We've got to have some agree ment as to what the community will accept as evidence to our improving the school system and how much time they'll give us to prove that our solutions are effective," he explained. "If we identify the achievement of black students, dropout rates, the achievement of the average child, that's probably ? five years worth of work " Dr. Coble announced early last month that he plans to re-organize the city-county school system. He will do that after reviewing the find ings of a four-member study-team headed by L. Linton Deck, director of education and non-profit applica tions for the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro - a pri vate non-profit education group. He had his first meeting with the study team Wednesday, and they were given the resumes of all cen tral office employees in "manage ment" positions, Dr. Coble said. The resumes are only to provide the team with information so the mem bers can decide which employees they wish to talk with, he added. "My first impression is that we are not organized at central office in a way that will allow us to maxi mize our delivery of services in support of the schools," Dr. Coble said. "I want to see us identify prob Hunt From Page A1 on trial, but it is on Sparrow and the entire judicial system downtown. "If Sparrow is for truth, if he has backbone, he has no other choice but to dismiss these charges and to go out and launch a full investiga tion and find the murder or murder ess who killed Deborah Sykes." Mr. Little said he visited Mr. Hunt Sunday and, "Darryl felt very good when I went to talk to him thinking that this could turn things around for him. But our DA (district attorney) is caught between a rock and a hard place. If he tries the case the black community will be mad at him. And if he lets him go hell have other people mad with him. "Martin Luther King Jr. once said when you're going to catch hell no matter what you do then you ought to do the right thing. The right thing is to free Darryl Hunt." Sparrow is not expected to make a decision until late May, at the ear liest. lems and channel resources to the problems, offer support and work toward resolving them." There will be some restructuring of responsibilities of administrative personnel *t the central office, Dr. Coble said, adding that that doesn't t,S ? ???, ????? , . ' . - necessarily mean promotions or demotions. "What I hope to be able to do is identify what are our needs and staff according to the strengths of the people on board and fill in voids with other personnel," he said. "Some people will remain in the role they are in and some will take on new responsibilities. Some may opt to retire or seek employment somewhere else, but it's too soon to really draw those kinds of conclu sions." YOU NEED TO KNOW YES NO YES NO YES NO Is It important to keep up with the newt In Winston-Salem's Afro-American co"?mm?ity? Is It important to know what social and religious functions are happening in W-S? Is getting to know people better in the community important to you? YES NO Would you like for your voice to be heard In the Afro-American FIND OUT IN THE Winston-Salem Chronicle H yesT Y want" To'roiow Start my subsc$ption & bill me $18.52* for 52 weeks iName. ?Address [City/ State. .Zip. | *(add $5.00 for delivery outside of Forsyth Co.. NC) Mall to: Winston-Salem Chronicle. 617 N. Liberty St.. Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Frederick Douglass Langston Hughes Our Birthright When the U.S. Constitution was first written, our founding fathers believed that freedom of the press was so important that it was written and guaranteed in the very first article* in the Bill of Rights. From the founding in 1847 of The North Star newspaper by Frederick Douglass to the writings of James Baldwin, newspaper reporters, authors, poets and playwrights have protected, recorded and taught black history to each successive generation. Freedom cannot function Without the free expression and com munication of ideas. We salute the men and women of the Black Press and their noble profession. Perhaps Langston Hughes said it best . . . "There's a dream in this land with its back against the wall. To save the dream for one , it must be saved for all. ' ' Langston Hughes Philip Morris Companies Inc. Philip Morris U'.S. A. Philip Morris International Int. Kraft General Foods Group1 Miller Brewing Company Philip Morris Credit Corporation Mission Viejo Realty Group"'
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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May 11, 1989, edition 1
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