Good Luck,
Seniors!
THE BENNETT BANNER
STUDENT PUBLICATION OP BENNKTT COlJ.EtJE
Pleasaut vacolioii to the
Bennett luunily
VOLUME XX
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, MAY, 1953
NUMBER 8
CAMPUS OFFICERS ELECTED FOR 1953-54 SCHOOL YEAR
Bennett Vice-President Bennett Teacher And
Gets Honorary Degree Student Get Honors
School Named For
Bennett President
A new 12-room elementary school
will be named the David D. Jones
School in honor of Dr. Jones, Presi
dent of Bennett College, the Greens
boro school trustees have announced.
Construction on the school will
start about July and it will cost about
S350,000.
The new building will replace the
present Jacksonville School which
has been condemned. It is located
in the Warnersville area, the com
munity where Dr. Jones was born. i
The school came into the local sys
tem in 1890 when the districts were
enlarged- It was the second Negro
school in the city. Its principal is
Mrs. Gladys Woods.
Dr. Jones has been president of
Bennett College since its reorganiza
tion as a woman’s college in 1926.
A brother, Bishop Robert E. Jones,
now retired, was the first Negro bis
hop of the Methodist Church.
Dr. Jones is a past president of
the National Association of Schools
and Colleges of the Methodist
Church and was honored by that
organization at a special banquet in
Washington at the end of his 25th
anniversary as president of Bennett.
He is a member of the Board of
Education of the Methodist Church
and of the National Council of
Churches of Christ.
He was formerly secretary of the
International Committee of the
YMCA; executive secretary cf the
Pine Street Branch YMCA, St. Louis;
and general field agent of the South
ern Interracial Commission. He is
a member of Phi Beta Kappa and
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternities.
He is a graduate of Wesleyan Uni
versity, Middletown, Conn.
He is one of two Negroes who
wrote a statement of personal phil
osophy included in This I Believe,
edited by Edward R- Murrow.
Mrs. Jones are the parents of four
children.
Dr. Willa B. Player, vice-president
of Bennett College, was given an
honorary degree. Doctor of Laws,
by Ohio Wesleyan University, May 9.
Dr. Arthur Fleming, president of
the University, conferred the degree
on the occasion of the celebration of
ihe University Centennial.
Dr. Player graduated from the
University in 1929, received an M. A-
degree from Oberlin College and a
Doctor of Education degree from
Columbia University. She has studied
at the University of Wisconsin and
the University of Grenoble in France.
She was promoted to vice-presi-
dent of Beimett College last October
after having been teacher, registrar,
director of admissions, and coordina
tor of instruction.
Last fall she turned down an of
fer to become president of Spelman,
College, Atlanta. Previously she had;
declined offers to take an administra
tive post at another large Negro in-
f^titution.
Last month the Bennett tiusteesi
granted her a leave of absence to
accept a fellowship from the Fund
for the Advancement of Education.
She will study and observe nine
colleges next year.
In July she will direct a workshop!
on education in missions for the
Methodist Pennsylvaiiia Coiiference
School of Missions in the Pocona
Mountains. Later in the month sha
will head a workshop on “The Im
provement and Evaluation of In-i
struction,” for the Department oj
Higher Education of the Methodist)
Church at Nashville, Tenn.
On May 10, she delivered a Wom-i
an’s Day address at Knoxville, Tenn.
She will make commencement ad
dresses at Allen High School, Ashe-
ville, N. C.; Nashville, N. C-; Graham,
N. C.; and Mather Academy, Cam-
den, S. C.
Dr. Player was appointed recently
to the State Advisory Committee or>
Education by the State Superintends
ent of Public Instruction. She is a
member of the Visiting Committed
evaluating Negro colleges for the
Southern Association of Secondary
Schools and Colleges.
She is a native of Akron, Ohio,
and is the daughter of Mrs. B. D.
Player and the late C. C- Player.
Music Educator
Visits Bennett
Mrs. Harriett Case Merner, vice-
president of the Cosmopolitan School
of Music, Chicago, spent a week on
the campus recently, where she lec
tured and visited' classes in the col
lege music department.
Mrs. Merner is the widow of the
late Will Merner, a brother of the
late Mrs. Henry Pfeiffer, Bennett’s
most generous benefactor.
FAITH
A brighter day is coming when you
will be free
From the bonds and chains that en-
caseth thee.
No one will say, “Please go to the
rear.”
You will speak your mind without
having fear.
You will be able to go to the church
of your choice
And walk down the aisles with dig
nity and poise.
It will be heaven to live in a place
Where no one will say, “You’re from
a minority race.”
So kepe your faith, my brother, my
friend.
Your patience will bring you to a
greater end.
But don’t expect a change in a day,
For labor and sacrifice will bring you
good pay.
Always remember that God is your
light
He’ll always protect you when you’re
in the right.
—L. ELIZABETH SAUNDERS, ’53.
A Bennett College teacher and a
member of the senior class received
high scholastic honors recently which
enable them to do further study.
Frenise A. Logan, instructor in
history, has been granted a Ford
Foundation Fellowship to study next
year at the University of Calcutta,
Calcutta, India.
Miss Rebecca Turner, a senior from
New Orleans, received a Methodist
Church Crusade for Christ Scholar
ship for graduate study in music at
Northwestern University. She is thd
third student to receive one of the
awards in consecutive years.
Mr. Logan, a native of Cleveland,
Ohio will study the history, social,
political, and economic conditions o£
India.
He is a graduate of Fisk Univer
sity where he was president of the
student governing body one year. Ho
received a master’s degree from
Western Reserve University. He haa
contributed articles and poems to
Phylon, the Negro History Bulletin,
the National Association of Social
Science Teachers Quarterly, Crisis
and Opportunity magazines.
He is a member of the Alpha Phi
Alpha fratei'nity and Sigma Upsilon
Pi honor society at Fisk University.
Miss Turner, the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Elvy A- Turner, New Or
leans, was- au exchc’"gp student last
year at Heidelberg College, Trilfin,
Ohio.
She was salutatorian of her gradu
ating class at McDonough High
School No. 35. She is treasurer of
the senior choir and has been secre
tary of the organization and presi
dent of the Freshman Choir. Other
offices she has held include Chair
man of the Mid-week Vesper Com
mittee and Chairman of the Student
Union Cultural Committee. She is
one of the ten highest ranking stu
dents in the senior class.
Bennett College
Commencement Events
1953
FRIDAY, MAY TWENTY-NINTH
3:00 P.M- Class Day Exercises
7:00 P.M. Little Theatre Guild
Production Mid Sum
mer Night’s Dream by
William Shakespeare
SATURDAY, MAY THIRTIETH
10:00 A.M. Meeting of the Gradu
ate Association
1:00 P.M. All-Bennett Luncheon
8:00 P.M. Annual Choir Concert
9:30 P.M. Campus Illumination
SUNDAY, MAY THIRTY-FIRST
10:00 A.M- Alpha Kappa Mu Honor
Society Union Faculty
Lounge
4:00 P.M. Baccalaureate Address
Rev. James S. Thomas,
General Board of Ed
ucation of the Metho
dist Church, Nashville,
Tennessee
8:00 P.M. President’s Reception
Student Union Building
MONDAY. JUNE FIRST
10:30 A.M. Commencement Addres3
Dr. Florence M. Reed,
Spelman College, Atlan
ta, Georgia
Editors Urged To Aid
Negro lob Prospects
Opportunity for the betterment ol!
the Negro race in North Carolina
was asked editors of the state at tha
annual North Carolina Editorial
Writers Conference, May 17.
Harry L. Golden, Charlotte, editor
of The Carolina Israelite, addressing
a dinner session of the conference at
the Carolina Inn, said “the conscience
of the editori.,! page of North Caro
lina demands that the editors fulfill
their responsibility to the taxpayer.
“The citizens of our state year af
ter year, with loyalty and generosity,
pay out thousands upon thousands
of tax dollars to educate the children
of our state,” editor Golden said.
“Out of every ten North Carolinai
educated Negro engineers, only two
have remained in the state — thej
other eight may never even buy a,
Coca-Cola in North Carolina. And of
the two who remain, one usually
becomes a waiter or a pullman por
ter, while the last one will probably
take a civil service examination to
qualify as a government employee or
become a teacher”
The export of Negro ability, Golden
said, is “the most costly result of the
failure to integrate Negroes into the
predominently white work groups
of North Carolina.”
At the luncheon session, Alan Barth
of the editorial staff of the Washing
ton Post told the editors that the
U. S. is in danger of having a to
talitarian form of government if a
check is not placed on the growing
tendency of Congress to usurp pow
ers reserved in the Constitution for
the executive and judicial depart
ments.
“The national legislature is beinfj
used to browbeat and blackmail and
force executive policies and has as
sumed the power to hire and fire
are authority which it does not have,'
“Barth said. I
The editorial pages in general in
irecent years have failed to exercise
their most vital obligation to serve,
as a check upon this growing in
vasion of executive and judicial
functions by the legislative branch
of the government, he said.
Horace Carter, editor of the Tabor
City Tribune, and Willard G. Cole,
editor of the Whiteville News Re
porter, recent recipients of Pulitzer
awards for their successful anti—Ku
Klux Klan crusade, were given a
standing ovation.
Campus Election
1953-54
The campus was buzzing on May
1st with talk of the coming election.
You were among that group of girl.1
seated on the chapel steps, oi- the*
ones down at the flag pole. No mat
ter where you might have been oh
Friday morning, the main topic for
discussion was the campus wide elec
tion. While standing around in tho
union during the election. While
standing around in the union durinj}
1he election, 1 overheard suc h con-
ver.sations as these, “The i.nion iss
lor us, the success of the union next
year depends on us as followers oC
a good leader, vote wisely my
friends.” “Hats off to “Dotty” Dixor^
for the wonderful job she has donq
in building up the attendance of thd
Sunday School, that is the type ol!
Sunday School we want on our cam-i
pus, vote for the girl you think cai
do the job ” “Patience, time, and new
ideas, these things characterize our
mid-week vespers chairman who
shall I vote for.”
These and many similar conversa
tions were overheard in the union,
and by one o’clock on Friday, over
hair of the campus had gone to the
polls, casting their votes for the girls
they thought best suited for the job.
The entire campus remained in
suspense for two days, and on Sun
day, the returns of the election were
given, and it was revealed that the
following girls would take the spot
light for the year 1953-54:
Student Senate
Charlotte Alston President
Gwendolyn Freeman Secretary
Peggy Jeffries Treasurer
Barbara Hodges Parliamentarian
Student Union
Mary Ann Rogers President
Barbara Crutchfield Vice-President
Eugenia Duncan Secretary
Joye Stanley Representative to
Board of Directors
Bennett Banner
Annetta Patton Editor-In-Chiel
Grace Ellison Associate Editor
Shirley Thomas Secretary
Sunday School
Barbara Patterson Superintendent
Marian Samuels Representative to
Central Committee
Mid-Week Vespers Committee
Carmen Cora Chairman
Marian Bass Secretary
Congratulations girls, and much
luck to you in the coming school
year. The load will seem heavy
sometimes, but count on our full co
operation and we can look forward
to another successful school year.
—Renwick