Newspapers / Elizabeth City State University … / March 24, 1993, edition 1 / Page 11
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The Compass Wednesday, March 24, 1993 11 ack History A Time To Be Proud... Grandmother's spirit lives on in Danielle ^nimunity.”The Elizabeth City native won the National Southern Christian leadership s ^inference’s Oratory Contest last summer. By Danielle Fleming My great grandmother was always taught to be a strong black woman. I was told many stories of the things she would do to protect her family. I would like to tell you my favorite one. Ot\edayabout35yearsago,mymother and her older brothers were with my great-grandmotherinchurch. Thischurch was way back in the woods and several sharecroppers owned land all around it. This particular Sunday was very rainy and foggy. My mother, who was about three years old, wandered off into the woods all alone. My great-grandmother, who was ill and very old, would not go home until she was found. The church people contacted the share croppers and told them to be on the look out for a small African-American child who might wander onto their property. Many people began to hear gunshots for it was hunting season. Because it was so wet and foggy no one wanted to go look ing for my mother, everyone was afraid of the hunters. They be^ to say things like: "Whatif lam mistaken fora rabbitor a deer?" My great-grandmother got up and be gan to walk toward the woods yelling, "Agatha!" "Agatha!" at the top of her feeble lungs. None of the other people could stop her. That was her grandbaby in the woods, and she was going to save her. My great-grandmother really didn't know ^ese woods veiy well. When she did manage to find my mother, she was shivering in the cold. Terrified by the gunshots around her, she had bimdled herself up in a big tree trunk. My great-grandmother grabbed her and sfjanked her for wandering off like that. She then began to realize that she didn't know how to get out of the woods herself. She took my mother and began to walk in the direction she thought she had just come from. They were walking in circles for about three hours. Finally, she took a different direction and came across an old abandoned shack, where they stayed the night. By this time, my mother's parents had informed the sheriff of my mother and great-grandmother's being lost. Bright and early the next morning, the sheriff and several others began their search for mymotherandgreat-grandmother. They found them sound asleep on the floor in the old house. My great-grandmother had a lot of courage to go into a dangerous, unfamil iar area to rescue someone she loved. That is that kind of courage that has been instilled in me from the moment 1 first heard this story. 1 feel that it has made me a stronger person. Growing up as her namesake has made me realize that no matter what happens, you can find a way. My grandmother has always said that I am lite her in so many ways. Becauseof her 1 am determined to succeed at what ever task I have before me. Once I saw some older kids picking on my little brotiier; even though they were all bigger than me I stood my ground. Although I was afraid of them they thought that I was not. I hid my fear so that they would not hurt us. I help people whenever they need my help and I encourage people to be honest with one another. I feel like she (my great-grandmother) has been the greatest influence my life. She is my guardian angel and I love her. My great-grandmother died three months before I was bom. They say that I wasbominher spiritand frameof mind. In me "Mattie Daniel" lives on, and in me "Mattie Daniel Fleming," she wall rise. Sutton spoke too, on the importance of education, criticizing young people "who are more about a drink than a book," and whose chief concern was "the next ,'itfit they're going to wear on the yard." i "If we know who we are, then we can be honest. Let us stick to our values, our families, and hold fast." , Sutton said that if students think positive, their future will be positive, addmg with the help of God and the reclaiming of respect and values they can each their goals."We are 2 legit 2 quit," she added, quoting a Hammer so^g- .Sutton ended by stressing the importance of students having ai in ^niselves and their eoals. _ If we think positive, then our future will be positive, she said, enew your '*sion by knowing what you want to do in life. Think success. Let us stick together as a black fanrdly." „ , , Sutton, an Elizabeth City native, is an Incentive Scholar. She won t 'National Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Oratory Contest last ’^mer. She is the first North Carolinian to v»in the national competition during ® 13 years it has been sponsored by the organization. A criminal justice major, Sutton plans to be a lawyer "to serve my co^umty. , the assembly, the ECSU Gospel Choir performed In my Heart, with cisha Hoggard as soloist and Monique Rountree, as director. Willie Sullivan, chair of the Black History Month Committee, presided at "e event. Poetry Little Lost Lamb Little black child, lost at sea; drowned by chaotic reality. Was forced to live alone, taught to misinterpret its' ovm, suffocated by a system of poverty. Little black baby, boy or girl, abandoned in a white man's world. They encouraged you to imitate, but failed to properly educate, this precious and rare black pearl. Sweet nubian princess; so insecure, too many trials for one peari to endure. Her heart wanting to give up, her soul waiting to erupt, and so many goals left to procure. Young nubian prince; noble and proud, a confused mind screams out loud. To dream is to sin, there's no way he can win, accepts the dark angel's sacred shroud. The chosen flock, these lost sheep, no time to repent or to weep. A great kingdom under seizure, a false nation nestled with leisure. The Lord's lost lamb will safely keep. LW.D.
Elizabeth City State University Student Newspaper
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March 24, 1993, edition 1
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