4 The Compass Wednesday, February 19, 1992
Strollin’ down Memory Lane:
ECSU's first homecoming queen
remembers the good old days
By Julie W. Osmon
ECSU has come a long way since
1938 when Mrs. Izetta Redmon
was elected the school's first
Homecoming Queen. "Back then, boys
had to wear ties and the girls wore dresses.
No overalls nor jeans were allowed,"
Redmon recalls. "Males and females
socialized at school socials," she adds.
"But boys and girls weren't allowed to
dance as we do now, face to face, in each
other's embrace."
Instead, students did a dance called
"the cake walk," which involved walk
ing side by side to the beat of a piano
player's music, or of the neighborhood or
school combo.
"Dating was done under supervision,"
says Redmon. "You had to have chaper
ones. The boys had to come into the house,
meet the family, sit and court in the pres
ence of parents or older children. You
really ordy went out on dates to sodals."
In 1938 ECSU was known as Elizabeth
Qty State Colored Normal School. (In
1939 the legislature changed it to Eliza
beth City State Teacher's College.)
When asked about the possibility of
"premarital sex" on the campus, Red
mon laughed and responded with: "Are
you kidding? It probably occurred as it
does today; but it was hidden, not thrust
at children. Now sex is all over the TV
and kids can watch it openly."
Redmon says that the environment of
her day allowed children a time of inno
cence and fantasy.
"They had nursery rhymes, fairy tales,
Bible stories and daily readings of these at
leisure or bedtime. Young people then
had more respect for their elders. The
problem with children today is a lack of
moral training, thus resp>ect is broken
down. It's not the children's fault; it's the
fault of their role models for depriving
them of a knowledge of Christian ethics,
for creating broken families, for provid
ing insufficient basic needs and for ex
posing them too early to the dangers of
perplexing adult life which include por
nography, bigotry and hate."
The ECSU campus life of 1938 repre
sented a time of innocence for the Uni
versity family as well, Redmon recalls.
"The whole school community rela
tionship provided a safety net for every
one. Little children could play on or off
campus without fear of danger. Teen
agers and adults could go and come any
hour of the day or night without being
Miss Izetta Redmon, ECSU’s first Home
coming Queen. Circa 1938.
assaulted or molested. If rain threatened
or fell, neighbors who had hung out laun
dry before going to work would often
times return to find it taken in and neatly
folded."
It was also a time when the campus
enjoyed widespread community support.
"The community was very active in
helping to provide scholarships, food and
resources to the school," she recalls. "The
school raised crops of vegetables, hogs,
cows and chickenson its own farm. Every
year it held a fair and invited farmers in
the area to display their wares. Black
farmers could not participate in the
Pasquotank County Fair, so they were
very happy to be given this opportunity
by President Bias. This was after all one
of our annual 'big affairs' which drew
large attendance and continued interest
in the growth and development of our
school."
Faculty, students and community
members all pitched-in to support the
school, says Redmon. "1 remember how
Mrs. Beverly Clark, the artistically adept
and extremely energetic wife of James A.
Clark, our beloved science instructor and
renown band leader, sat down to her
Singer sewing nuchine and made the
school's first band uniforms for every
member including drum majors and
majorettes.
Those snazzy blue-and-whites, in the
vernacular of today, were bad" she says.
Although the school persoiuiel worked
"in dedicated partnership with the whole
“The community
was very active in helping to
provide scholarships, food
and resources to the school.
The school raised crops of
vegetables, hogs, cows and
chickens on its own farm.
Every year it held a fair and
invited farmers in the area
to display their wares.”
Mrs. Izeta Redmon
northeastern North Carolina area," local
busit^ses failed to recognize State Nor
mal as "their most valuable source of
income," says Redmon. "The hiring of
locals, the influx of students, the promo
tion of cultural and athletic activities for
both public schoolsand colleges...brought
many dollars to this economy."
Housed on campus in those days was a
grade school nicknamed "The Chicken
Coop" by locals. "It got its name because
when the doors were left open at night,
loose chickens would roost in there and
then fly out when teachers and children
entered the next morning. People in the
community would keep a look-out for
the children as they walked from their
homes to the school."
One of her fondest memories of those
days was of "The Po' House," a county
home located across from the new Sci
ence Complex where both white and black
indigents stayed. (The small jail is still
standing on the property behind the
HouseofPrayerChurchwhichnowowns
the property.)
"The Po' House was a hon>e for mental
and physical handicaps and incarcerated
juvenile delinquents," wrote Jimmy
Midgette, in his foreword to Oaks and
Acorns, a booklet about that era. "All
families living in the vicinity, from Elmer
Brothers' Store to the Shields' farm were
known as Po' House Folks." Midgette
continued: "For we were a closely-knit
conununity cemented by uncompromis
ing circumstances."
The "uncompromising circumstanced
included the harsh conditions created h
a society segregated by race.
"Segregation was obvious," recalt
Redmon, "but somehow the pain o:
neglect and disregard for us as humar
beings did not dissuade our utmost de
sires to prove our worthiness.
"Nowadays, you can hardly tell th
difference between a black communil)
and a white one," says Redmon. "Then
the beginning of the black communit;
was obvious in that the pavement endet
and the dirt road began. Neither was
there electricity, a water system, or side
walks. Every so often white prison guards
would bring a black prisoner to the cedi'
tree near the library on Sundays, releasf
the bloodhounds at the jail and let them
track him in a training exercise."
"Schools too were segregated," she
recalls. She found it iroiuc that after all
the marching, all the struggle to integrate
the races, that there is now a trend to
ward a return to segregation.
"Some of the people talk about African
American," she says. "I was bom here. I
grew up here. I am an American." Natu
ralized citizens bom in Africa are Afro-
Americans. Blacks bom in America ai«
Americans. Whites and other races bom
in America are Americans. With all the
interracial sex acts during and after slav
ery, who is to say what any person is.
Redmon says she has difficulty under
standing racial hatred. "Hate perpetu
ates hate. At some point you have to letit
go or suffer its poison."
Although she acknowledges that the
university has enjoyed "many positivf
upward changes" since she was a stu
dent, she adds that the school needs to
"revert back to working together with
the total constituency. There's been a
breakdown of rapport between the school
and the community, yet the school con
tinues to seek our Hnancial support."
Another change the university shoulii
make, according to Redmon, is to e"')
courage guest speakers to address moff
issues than just those related to histori"
cally black institutions. They should ®'
elude issues of interest to the growinS;
number of white students now enroll®^
"To enhance attendance, cultural pi®"
grams should be of interest to all ractf
and not just one." The University should.
also "survey students and members o
the community for their areas of interest
in cultural and religious activities,'
dares Redmon, "and implement a