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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9,1997
13A
UMOJA
Word Around
Camp
Olympic High School
•Ohmar Land has been chosen to represent
Charlotte as an honorary marshal during the
inaugural celebration of Gov. Jim Hunt and the
Council of State Jan 10-11. Land, who boasts a
grade point average of 4.05, is president of the
senior class.
Land
Winthrop
University
•Charlottean Joanne M.C.
Saulsberry was inducted into
the Winthrop chapter of Phi
Kappa Phi, an academic honor
society that recognizes all dis-
ciphnes. Saulsberry is a senior
majoring in elementary educa-
Saulsberry
Holland
tion. Also inducted was Virginia native, Lucrettia N. Holland.
Holland is a junior pohtical science major.
Barber Scotia College
•Inauguration Week is Jan. 19—26. Dr. Sammie Potts will be
installed as the 14th president of the college. For more informa
tion, call 789-2944.
Johnson C. Smith University
•The Charlotte alumni chapter recently awarded it’s first schol
arship, a $1,000 per semester tuition grant to freshman Evelyn
Members of the Charlotte alumni chapter pose with scholar
ship winner Evelyn Hart (center). Hart will recieve $1,000 per
sememster.
Hart. The scholarship is the result of eight years of fund raising
by the Charlotte chapter. The group has raised more than
$100,000 to aid students.
North Carolina Central University
•Latonya Staton of Charlotte recently won the HIV Awareness
Essay Contest sponsored by Student Health Services. Staton’s
paper titled “How to Promote HIV/AIDS Awareness Among
NCCU Students,” calls for visits by students to facilities that care
for people with AIDS as well as presentations by ymmg African
Americans who have contracted the disease.
UNC Greensboro
•Bernita Lanette Hawthorne, daughter of
John and Barbara Hawthorne of Charlotte, has
been neimed an Outstanding Senior for the fall
semester. A human development and family
studies major, Hawthorne is on the Dean’s list
and is a member of the Black Student Nursing
Association. She served on the Campus
Activities Board and in 1993 won an academic
achievement award.
Hawthorne
Items for Word Around Camp should be mailed to
1531 Camden Road, Charlotte N.C. 28203 or faxed
to
(704)342 -2160.
Stanford grad fighting hunger
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Perry Pa5me does not like to
talk about himself.
Instead the Stanford
University graduate prefers to
talk about hunger, poverty and
his efforts to alleviate them.
Payne is one of 18 young
Americans participating in the
Mickey Leland Hunger Fellows
Program.
“When you think about
hunger, you have all of these
issues that are related to it,”
Payne said, pointing to a large
chart that depicts hunger’s
effects. The program takes its
name from George Mickey
Leland, a six-term congressman
and Democratic Party official.
Leland was responsible for the
Africa Famine Relief and
Recovery Act of 1985 that pro
vided much-needed food and
medical supplies to African
nations affected by drought and
warfare in the early ’80s.
Raised in a single parent
home, Lelemd overcame poverty
and racism to win a seat in the
Texas Legislature in 1973.
After his first trip to Africa
short after his election, he
became a spokesperson for
Afiican aid. In 1978, he ran for
the congressional seat vacated
by Barbara Jordan. His move
ment heightened his efforts to
end world hunger. Leland died
in a plane crash while on a relief
mission in Ethiopia in 1989 at
the age of 45.
The Hunger Fellows program
seeks to carry on Leland’s work.
Students assemble in
Washington for orientation and
team building workshops. They
are then sent to in teams of two
to urban and rural nonprofit
organizations for six months.
They return to Washington
after their internships for a
week-long recap.
Payne, a native of Arkansas, is
working at Metrolina Food
Bank.
“He would form alhes with the
people that the United States
always thought of as sort of
threatening,” Payne said of
Leland. “He cut across all
boundaries. That is what we
want to do with this program.
The purpose of the program is to
create people who are going to
be leaders in the anti-hunger
movement. If we are going to be
leaders, we have to recognize
that we have to step outside of
our little comfort zones.”
Payne cites the dismal statis
tics on hunger in America as
reasons people need to embrace
the cause. He found out about
the program while a student a
Stanford. He wanted to take a
year off before entering medical
school.
“I wanted to take a job and do
some public service work,”
Payne said. ‘T went out search
ing for some different public ser
vice programs. The unique
thing about this program you do
the grassroots work and then at
the same time you do the policy
Perry and Hima work during busy moment at MFB. The organi
zation helped thousands of local families during the hoiidays.
work.”
Payne says the program pro
vides a good opportunity to not
only to serve but to see how pro
grams and policies are created
by the federal government to
help poor people.
“If you are out working in the
soup kitchen aU of the time,” he
said, “you don’t get to under
stand the difBciilties of creating
policies. That job has chal
lenges.”
Payne said people at the
grassroots level aren’t aware of
the difficult decisions made
about programs by Congress.
“We criticize them aU the time
without getting involved in
what’s going on,” he said. “There
needs to be an integration
between the two areas of work.”
Payne and his partner, Hima
Prabhakar, are working togeth
er to create a “super pantiy,” a
program that provides life skills
training and food to single
mothers.
According to Payne, single
parents have said that
increased self-esteem and self-
confidence are needed, too.
Henrietta Marie stirs Wake professor and students
By Felecia McMillian
WINSTON-SALEM CHRONICLE
WINSTON-SALEM - When
Alton Pollard stood on the shore
outside of St. George’s Castle in
Ghana, he wept.
He wept for the many Afiicans
who were held in the castle for
nine to 12 months before being
put on ships for the transat
lantic voyage to the Americas.
When PoUard saw “The Door
of No Return,” he was overcome
with emotion for this was their
last view of Afiica.
Pollard, a Wake Forest
University religion professor and
minister, made his pilgrimage to
Ghana in 1993 with his wife
Jessica and son Brooks.
However, his memories of the
slave castle and the slave ships
were jarred when he brought 15
students fi"om his Struggles for
Freedom class, a joint
reUgion/histoiy course he teach
es along with fellow professor
historian Anthony Parent, to
Charlotte to view “A Slave Ship
Speaks: The Wreck of the
Henrietta Marie.”
Pollard called Africans who
made it through the Middle
Passage, the voyage from Afiica
to the Americas, phenomenal
wonders who are shining exam
ples of the Nguzo Saba, the
seven principles of Kwanzaa.
‘Tf our celebration of Kwanzaa
does not include these Africans
who exhibited all the principles
of the Nguzo Saba, then we do
not what Kwanzaa is,” he said.
The history of the Henrietta
Marie is a cru
cial part of
African
American her
itage. In 1700,
the English
slave ship
sank off the
coast of Key
West, Fla.,
after unload
ing its human
cargo.
Discovered in
1972 by Mel
Fisher, the
ship was
recovered by
the National
Association of
Black Scuba
Divers in 1993
and has
become part of
a national
traveling exhibit. Wake Forest
professor and author Maya
Angelou is the honorary celebri
ty chair of the exhibit.
Students who went on the
exhibit said they experienced an
eerie feeling when they walked
into the “dark somber setting,”
said PoUard.
“Here for the first time in their
lives, and for most people in this
country, they saw the horror of
slavery being brought graphical
ly to life in the three-dimension
al way,” PoUard said.
Even those who saw the
movie, “Sankofa,” saw the horror
on screen and were merely “pas
sive participants,” he said. When
students walked through the
The hold of the slave ship “The Henrietta Marie.” The exhibit runs through Jan. 25.
ship’s hold, they were actively
involved. They often responded
with silence because they
couldn’t articulate their emo
tions.
Some just shed tears.
PoUard and Parent, in addition
to Struggles for Freedom, teach
civU rights and black conscious
ness. Together they instruct a
broad cross-section of students
on issues surrounding fiieedom.
“There is no such thing as free
dom for people of African
descent without religion,”
PoUard send. “Many of us have
become so enticed with secular
ism and have forgotten the spirit
of the ancestors, but is because
of their faith that they endured.”
If there was anything that
PoUard would add to the exhibit,
it would be a repUca of the door
of no return, he said.
Pollard’s trip to Ghana
brought home the horror of the
dungeons that were holding
pens for slaves.
“The more Americans are
exposed to the reality of slavery,
the better chance there is to
awaken this country to the hor
ror of the past and remind it of
the triumph of those who over
came in spite of the danger,” he
said. “The beauty of the door is
that is was to be a door of no
return, yet some of Afiica’s chil
dren have come back.”
Barber-Scotia celebrates first homecoming since probation
By GENA WATKINS
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
“There's no place like home!”
These words will ring true for
Barber-Scotia’s students and
alumni as they embark upon “A
New Era of Distinction”- this
year’s homecoming theme. 'The
theme exemplifies the insight,
faith, and commitment which
have kept Barber-Scotia strong.
In 1994, when faced with over
whelming financial obligations,
Barber-Scotia responded posi
tively and effectively to negative
press exposure and probation
handed down by the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools. SACS is the accrediting
body for schools in the south
eastern region of the United
States. It is commissioned to
insure schools operate in compli
ance with guidelines set by
states.
Mable Parker-McLean then
returned to the helm as presi
dent of what she often refers to
as “this old vessel”. And it was
her insight and unwavering
faith and a greater commitment
from the faculty, staff, alumni,
and Mends of Barber-Scotia that
guided this vessel to calmer
seas.
The college has diminished it
$3 miUion dollar plus debt and
returned to fuUy accredited sta
tus. Sammie Potts, Barber-
Scotia's current president, cred
its. McLean with laying the
foundation for Barber-Scotia's
quick and successful turn
around. This year’s homecoming
will be a celebration and reflec
tion of their collective efforts.
When asked how it feels to be
moving into this homecoming
season without the accreditation
factor hanging over his head, an
elated Dr. Potts remarked, “It
feels great not to have this alba
tross hovering overhead.” He
was equally excited that alumni
could once again return to a fully
accredited institution.
Also sharing the spotlight in
this celebration is senior Leslie
Mayhue, this year’s homecoming
queen. She is a native of Jackson
Springs and the second of four
daughters born to Carl and
Pauline Mayhue. She is a biolo
gy major and a member of Delta
Sigma 'Theta Sorority Inc. She
enjoys shopping and volunteer
Potts
services that entail working
with children. Mayhue said that
her greatest moment at Barber-
Scotia was when she learned
that she had been elected Ms.
Homecoming.
She cherishes the Mendships
that Barber-Scotia has afforded
her. She plans to accept a posi
tion researching medicine with
Oakridge Laboratory in
Nashville, Tenn. Her only wish
for homecoming is that everyone
have fun.
Students are looking forward
to this year’s homecoming.
Inclement weather postponed
last year’s homecoming game
and seems to have put a damper
on the Saber spirit. However, in
light of Barber-Scotia’s recent
turn of events students antici
pate that this will be the best
homecoming ever. Senior Lisa
Hart said she looks forward to
return of alumni. While sopho
more ShawnteUe Jones eagerly
awaits the Homecoming game to
be played Friday, Jan. 24,
against Allen University of
Columbia, S.C. ShawnteUe most
enjoys the camaraderie and
unity displayed during the
homecoming game.
'The festivities will begin'Jan
19 and run through Jan. 26. 'The
week will also include other
notable events such as the col
lege's presidential inauguration
to be held Jan. 25 at 11 a.m.
and Founder's Day Convocation
to be held Jan. 26 at 11 a.m.