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Friday, April 2, 1982
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
Vol. XLIII, No. 7
Guest gives credo
Nearing the glorious end: Seniors marked the opening of the commencement
season during Senior Day Service. IVIembers of the graduating class received
caps and gowns from sophomore sisters. Elisa Staley, a psychology major
from Orangeburg, S. C., gave the student appreciation address.
(Photo by Norman Barbee)
Seniors regaled
This year’s Senior Day in
cluded the presentation of
caps and gowns to a senior
roster of 157 students. Of
those, 13 will graduate with
honors or with high honors.
Dean Chelsea Tipton an
nounced that Valerie Dawn
C a 11 e n d a r , Myra Jewel
George, Linda Kaye Love,
Linda Smith Mojtabaee-
Zamani, Debra Jean Moore,
Pauline Nzeribe, Terri Lynne
Phillips and Nseobong Grace
Usoro would graduate with
high honors since they at
tained cumulative averages of
3.65 or above.
He also announced that five
students — Cynthia Annette
Asbury, Wanda Yvette Dick,
Phyllis Elaine Johnson, Bren
da Faye Love and Iris Wil-
lette Settle—were eligible to
graduate with honors because
their cumulative averages
were between 3.40 and 3.64.
After the announcements,
the seniors, led by class pres
ident Regina Tena Scott, were
presented their caps and
gowns and given official au
thorization to wear them on
special occasions if they met
all obligations to the college.
Senior Elisa Staley gave the
speech of appreciation, and a
group of seniors sang a varia
tion of “I Know I’ll Never
Love This Way Again.”
The sophomore class hosted
a banquet in the cafeteria fol
lowing the ceremony. Senior
Day is the second of three for
mal occasions held on the
campus. The others are Foun
der’s Day and graduation.
by Evelyn Sims
Novelist David H. Bradley, Jr.
delivered a declaration of personal
artistic freedom during addresses
in Black Hall Assembly Mar. 1-2.
“It’s not my job to be a good
Black writer but to be a good
writer,” he said, and later added:
“I’m against the applying of Af
firmative Action rules to the
writing of novels.”
But Bradley did not easily ar
rive at this liberation. His highly
acclaimed book, The Chaneysville
Incident, brought about a purga
tion of his need to be an exclu
sively political novelist. The novel
deals with a real incident in which
13 fugitive slaves asked to be shot
rather than be returned to
bondage.
“It (the massacre) was all kind
of a private obsession. I kept say
ing to publishers there’s a need
for this (book). I realized that it
(his commitment to history) came
down to one important question:
‘What is the relation of Black
people to American culture?”
In the 10' years that it took to
research and write the novel,
Bradley answered that question
and freed himself to becorne what
W.E.B. DuB'ois called “a co
worker in the kingdom of culture”
and not merely a spokesman for
causes.
Bradley discovered a “unified
field theory” of history while
studying documents about the
slave trade in the New York Pub
lic Library. He saw a connection
between the participation of colo
nial empires in slave business and
the eventual prosperity of those
cultures. Relying on his knowledge
of history, Bradley realized that
the exploitation of slaves created
economic booms in Portugal,
Holland and England.
A similar phenomenon occurred
in the United States: “50 years
after New England and Virginia
became involved in slave trade,
we had the makings of American
individualism.”
This thinking led the author to
elaborate a North-South theory
of American progress that rivals
the historian Frederick Jackson
Turner’s thesis that the greatness
of American depended on west
ward expansion and the presence
of a frontier that perpetuated
dreams and ambitions and en
couraged the spread of democracy.
Bradley believes that the devel
opment of America was contingent
on the exploitation of slaves, who
erected the foundation of the
country.
This insight enabled Bradley to
see Black history as a part of the
continuum of American history
and not as a separate entity.
“Black history will be a part of
American history,” he stated.
“Our concern with Black history
is significant and important,” he
claimed, “but it is a stage.”
Such reasoning has liberated
Bradley to begin two new books
which do not center on racial
matters. He is writing a hard-
boiled detective novel in the Ray
mond Chandler mode and also a
narrative focusing on the Sixties
and the killing of students by the
National Guard at Kent State in
1970.
Bradley feels that history is
divided into cycles of action and
reaction and he uses his own ex
perience to prove that conditions
improved for Blacks during the
15 years that preceded the election
of Ronald Reagan.
“One would tend to say that
things have gotten better,” B'rad-
ley asserts. In 1920, when his
father went to college, the senior
Bradley had only one choice—
Livingstone—because “he was not
light-skinned enough to get into
Howard.”
More than 40 years later, when
Bradley was a freshman at the
University of Pennsylvania, he re
ceived scholarship money that
amounted to twice what his father
made in one year.
The young novelist often com
pares his career to Richard
W^right’s to show that some racial
progress has occurred. In 1940,
when Richard Wright was invited
to lunch by his editor in New
York, there was no restaurant that
would serve Wright, according to
Bradley.
In contrast, Bradley visited his
editor in 1972 and was asked
“Where would you like to go?” for
lunch.
Despite these gains, Bradley be
lieves that Reagan has created a
backlash: “One gets very fright
ened of the situation right now.”
Contending that “history is some
thing of a horror show,” the
novelist says that the Reagan ad
ministration is trying to nullify
the civil rights movement.
“I’m here to tell you that this
price (of sacrifices for civil rights)
may not have been paid. It could
happen ag,ain that Jim Crow comes
back,” Bradley stated.
Education is the weapon that
can defeat repression, according
to Bradley, who stresses the need
for critical, analytical thinking.
Mathematics, reading and writing
provide a discipline for the inci
sive perception of historical trends
and subsequent action.
“All our defenses come down
to those three basic things,” he
stated.
Bradley also confirmed that the
critical approach enables Blacks
to differentiate between the good
and the dangerous in popular
culture.
“You have to constantly look
at the images you get from this
culture because this culture is
poison.”
Campus events to ring in tlie spring
The President’s Campus Rela
tions Committee is proud to
announce the following spring
activities for 1982: the annual
College Ball, a health clinic for
kindergarten children in public
daycare centers, and a May Day
Festival.
Faculty, student and staff rep
resentatives have been meeting to
coordinate plans for each of these
activities which will be scheduled
in April and May. Subcommittee
chairpersons will draw from the
pool of available campus talent to
complete the planning process and
to implement each activity.
According to Myra Davis, public
relations officer, the theme for
this year’s ball is “Tropical Splen
dor.” “We plan to transform the
Student Union Foyer into a trop
ical paradise with greenery, spe
cial lighting effects, glitter, tissue
paper and bamboo.”
The formal affair, hosted by Dr.
and Mrs. Isaac H. Miller, will be
held on Saturday, Apr. 17, 9 p.m.
until 1 a.m. Faculty and staff will
serve as “floating” hosts and are
being coordinated by Annie Pur
cell. Those who have not been
assigned to a particular task are
encouraged to “attend and enjoy
themselves.”
“Last year, a student committee
attempted to provide an escort
service for some of the Bennett
students,” said Miss Davis. “We
will invite young men from the
surrounding colleges this year, but
we hope each student will take the
initiative to find her own escort.”
Under the guidance of the
Health Center personnel, the Cam
pus Relations Committee will also
sponsor a clinic for young chil
dren. According to Shirley Pres-
Adams’ art line
Promotes links
ton, the head nurse, attention will
be given to good hygiene. Pro
gramming will occur in the new
health facility and in several day
care centers. Interested student
and faculty volunteers should con
tact Mrs. Preston as soon as
possible. This is an excellent op
portunity for health-related and
education students to obtain com
munity volunteer experiences.
(See page 3)
by Rosellen Durham
It was a time of connections.
“I hear you very clearly,
Dr. Adams,” the kind, schol
arly voice from Houston said
over the speaker-phone while
the students in the Steele Hall
art room prepared to take
notes.
The voice belongs to cele
brated contemporary artist
John Biggers, who helped in
augurate an innovative teach
ing technique on Mar. 3 in Dr.
Alma Adams’ seminar on
Afro-American art. Other
conversations with important
Black artists are continuing
throughout the semester.
The professor projected a
slide of Biggers’ mural “Rites
of Passage,” and Biggers de
scribed the origin and symbol-
ogy of the impressive work
which mixes Biblical, African,
American and very personal
elements and myths. The
mural was commissioned by
Houston art patrons.
“I’m trying to convey a feel
ing of ancestral history,” Big
gers, who was reared in Gas
tonia, explained, as students
contemplated the phases of
the mural, which is dominated
by a Black mother and her
three children.
The painter said that the
work was a response to classi
cal themes that “still chal
lenge the artist.” The phases
of the mural capture the ar
chetypal experiences of birth,
initiation, marriage, old age,
death and resurrection. The
importance of music to the
unity of the race is repre
sented by the maramba and
by an xylophone rising above
(See page 3)
The expounding novelist: Behind David H. Bradley’s casual manner lurked
strict, professional attitudes during his recent visit sponsored by the
Department of Social Sciences and the Mellon Grant. The author looks relaxed,
but he’s presently laboring on two novels—a detective story and a fictional
reflection on the turbulent 60’s. (Photo by Shelia Foxworth)