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The essence of freedom is understanding
Black Student Movement Official Newspaper
Tfie University of North Carolina at Cliapel Hill
VoL XV, No. 8
February 28, 1985
Black History Month
Still Has A Purpose
by Joy Thompson
Staff Writer
Sing a song fiill of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song JuU of the hope that the present that the present has brought us
These lines from James Weldon
Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing, repre
sent the ideas Carter G. Woodson had in
mind when he established the historical
association that created Afro-American
History Week 58 years ago.
Woodson was disturbed by the one
sided presentation of Black history. He felt
it wasn’t accurate or adequate. Often,
Whites downplayed or totally ignored the
accomplishments of Black people and the
many roles they played in American
history.
Woodson felt so strongly about the
need to collect, study and document Black
histoiy that he founded the Association for
the Study of Afro-American Life and
History in 1915.
Reginald Hildebrand, a lecturer in the
history department and the curriculum in
African and Afro-American Studies, dis
cussed the importance of studying Black
history.
“There are a number of reasons why
people should study Black history,”
Hildebrand said. “One is intellectual
curiosity. It is a way of expanding your in
tellectual horizon.”
Another reason Hildebrand pointed out
was that Black history can add a body of
knowledge to a students background.
“Most students come here (to the Universi
ty) with a meager background in Black
history,” Hildebrand said. “Black
students,” he said, “help’s one to fill in the
gaps about Black history and understand the
subject.”
BSM Began With
Demands, Got Results
by Kevin Washington
Assistant Editor
They were sitting on Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson’s desk.
All 23 of them.
It had taken some time to hammer out the group of demands on a typewriter-
even the Black Student Movement Central Committee was proud of the work it had
done to prepare the demands during the past weeks. But, it was time to show the
University what they had done.
On Dec. 11, 1968, Sitterson had not been able to officially receive the list of 23
demands upon the University, but Claiborne Jones, assistant to the Chancellor, had
given the Chancellor’s regrets and placed the list on the Chancellor’s desk.
Preston Dobbins, BSM chairman, and his entourage handed the five page
document to Jones, talked for a while, then left.
The Black students had long since decided that somethings were wrong with
the University. They wrote at the beginning of their demands: “The Black Student
(Continued on page 8)
I I Percy Moorman Trial Revisted
Page 2
d] Discovery Seminars Roundup
Pages 4 and 5
n Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre
Reviewed
Page 7
“In addition, it allows you to have a
sound knowledge of American history,” he
said.
Black history also allows a person to
get a different perspective on American
history, he said. “It is also important in
raising conscious about some social con
cerns relative to the Black community,” he
said.
Some progress has been made in this
area in the establishing of Black history
courses as legitimate history courses on
campus.
“I found when I first started teaching
here (around three years ago), I had some
difficulty establishing Black history courses
like other history courses—not like a rap
session,” Hildebrand said. He said he
found that the battle to establish legitimate
Black history courses easier, but far from
over.
“Still some people approach Black
history as a course you can relax in,” he
said. “I resent that view very much, but I
don’t come across it very much now.”
Whether a Black history observance is
adequate varies depending on the attitudes
of the people sponsoring it, he said. “I am
pleased by the interest initiated by students
on this campus,” he said.
“Black History Month observances
can be very useful,” he said, “but to raise
consciousness about Black history is an on
going process. My concern is when it
becomes counterproductive—if people view
it as an alternative to making it an on-going
concern.”
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(Photo by Ralph Ward)
Somethin ’ Funny Wacko ?
If you’ve never seen this face, you probably never stop by the Pit. Eric “Wacko”
Walker can be caught roller skating in the Pit some days or, on a day like today,
cracking a smile—which happened to catch the attention of our photographer.
BSM Discovery Program
Saturday Well Attended
(Related stories on pages 4 and 5.)
The Black Student Movement spon
sored Discovery, a celebration of Black
History Month, on Feb. 23. TTie program,
which was held in the University’s Carolina
Union, consisted of a number seminars on
Black college, economic and political life.
The N.C. Black Student Leadership
Caucus and Black Reunion Alumni Com
mittee were also responsible for organizing
the event.
Attended by several hundred students
and former University students, the pro
gram which began at 11 a.m. and lasted un
til 5 p.m., featured guest speakers from the
University as well as around the state on
such topics as Blacks in the Media, Job Op
portunities for Black Graduateds, Black
Student Leadership effectiveness and South
African Apartheid.
Sf)eakers included attorney Mickey
Michaeux, a state legislative representative;
Julius Nyang ‘Oro, an assistant professor at
the University; Miriam Thomas, an an
chorwoman at WTVD television station in
Durham; and William Barber, president of
the N.C. Association of Black Student
Government Presidents and SGA president
at N.C. Central University.
Several University students as well as
alumni participated in the program.
A banquet for Discovery participants
was held that evening. Henry Frye, an
associate justice on the N.C. Supreme
Court was the keynote speaker. Frye was
also the first Black person to graduate from
the University’s law school.
A candle light vigil in remembrance of
a Black food worker’s strike in Feb. 1%9
was held in the Pit after dark.
A cultural program featuring the
Ebony Readers, Yours Truly and the BSM
Gospel Choir ended the day's events.