GOT SPIRIT?
CARVER, THE EDUCATOR
Enoch Bond
Ebond008@collegeclub.com
“Viking BORN, Viking BREED
and when I die, I’ll be Viking DEAD”
is the spirit shared by many members
dfthe Mighty Viking Crew. However,
not all of the students share such
sentiments. As a matter of fact, it is
safe to say that ECSU’s school spirit
is at an all time low. In an effort to find
out just why the love for the blue and
White was cooling off and how to
deter such an eventuality, some of
the fellow Vikings decided to share
their thoughts.
Asked, “Do you think school
spirit is low here at ECSU?” LaTasha
Futrell, a sophomore from Hertford
County, NC, answered with an affir
mative “Yes! You can see the colors
of some universities in their cities
even before approaching the school
and here, we have nothing to show
that this is the home of the Vikings.
People don’t seem to care.”
Asked, “What measures should
be taken to increase Viking pride?”
Futrell thought it would be ideal to
establish a Viking Pride week, lower
the prices of Viking paraphernalia in
the student bookstore and at all the
entrances, have some means of
letting visitors know that they are
entering Viking Territory.
: Asked the same questions
llatoya Jordan, a sophomore from
Edenton, NC, responded, “School
spirit is not really low, but it could be
higher.” Jordan credits such a lack of
spirit to the students’ attendance
attitude.
“Some view the school as being
too small and others are here not by
choice but due to circumstance.
Viking spirit just isn’t in their hearts.”
Jordan suggests that a larger variety
of ECSU merchandise, Viking flags
bn'the light fixtures lining the street
heading from the main entrance of
the University to Bedell Hall, signs
that say “Welcome to Viking Country”,
and painting the curbs blue and white
will increase Viking spirit.
These ideas expressed in this
article are but a few of the many
ways to boost VIKING PRIDE. So
now you know we go pride. HOW
ABOUT YOU?
By Elizabeth A. Martins
Bondgirl69@collegeclub.com
It is rare to find a man of the
caliber of George Washington Carver.
Agricultural chemist, George Wash
ington Carver invented three hundred
uses for peanuts and hundreds more
uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet
potatoes. Only three patents were
ever issued to him, but among his
listed discoveries are: adhesives, axle
grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili
sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant
coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat
tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plas
tic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe
polish, synthetic rubber, talcum
powder, and wood stain.
Carver was born in 1864, near
Diamond Grove, Missouri, on the
farm of Moses Carver. The infant
George and his mother were kid
napped by confederate night-raiders
and possibly sent away to Arkansas.
Moses Carver found and reclaimed
George after the war, but his mother
had disappeared forever. Moses and
Susan Carver reared George and his
brother as their own children. It was
on the Moses’ farm where Carver first
fell in love with nature, and earned
the nickname “The Plant Doctor” and
collected in earnest all manner of
rocks and plants.
Carver began his formal educa
tion at the age of twelve, which re
quired him to leave the home of his
adopted parents. He moved to New
ton County in Southwest Missouri,
where he worked as a farm hand and
studied in a one-room schoolhouse.
He went on to attend Minneapolis
High School in Kansas. At the age of
thirty, Carver gained acceptance to
Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa,
where he was the first black student.
He studied piano and art and later
transferred to Iowa Agricultural Col
lege (now Iowa State University) in
1891, where he gained a Bachelor of
Science degree in 1894 and a Master
of Science degree in bacterial botany
and agriculture in 1897. Carver be
came a member of the faculty of the
Iowa State College of Agriculture
and Mechanics (the first black faculty
member for Iowa College), teaching
classes about soil conservation and
chemurgy.
Later, in 1897, Booker T. Wash
ington, founder of the Tuskeegee
Normal and Industrial Institute for
Negroes (Tuskeegee University),
convinced Carver to go south and
serve as the school’s Director of
Agriculture. Carver remained at
Tuskeegee until his death in 1943.
At Tuskeegee, Carver developed
his crop-rotation method, which
revolutionized southern agriculture.
Decades of growing only cotton and
tobacco had depleted the soils of the
southern area of the United States of
America. Carver’s idea was to alter
nate cotton crops with soil-enriching
crops - such as peanuts, peas,
soybeans, sweet potato, and pecans.
America’s economy was heavily
dependent upon agriculture during
this era, making Carver’s achieve
ments very significant.
During World War I, he found a
way to replace textile dyes formerly
imported from Europe. He produced
dyes of 500 different shades of dye
and was responsible for the invention
in 1927, of a process for producing
paints and stains from soybeans. For
that he received three separate
patents.
George Washington Carver was
bestowed and honorary doctorate
from Simpson College in 1928. He
was also an honorary member of the
Royal Society of Arts in London,
England. The National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
presented him with the Spingarn
Award in 1923. Then, in 1939 Carver
received the Roosevelt medal for
restoring southern agriculture. Presi
dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt also
honored Carver with a national
Monument dedicated to his accom
plishments. This park was the first
designated national monument to an
African American in the United
States.
George Washington Carver was
once quoted as saying “It is not the
style of clothes one wears, neither
the kind of auto mobile one drives,
nor the amount of money one has in
the bank, that counts. These mean
nothing. It is simply service that
measures success.”
February 13, 2002 ^
EXISU KICKS OFF MLK WEEK
By Elizabeth A. Martins
Bondgirl69@collegeclub.com
Elizabeth City State University had
a Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaker’s
Forum on January 15 at the Fine Arts
Complex. Dr. Albert L. Walker, Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs pre
sided. Dr. Gloria Knight performed a
prelude. After the prelude, Mr. Keith
Richardson, the Student Government
Association President gave the invoca
tion.
After the invocation, the audience
stood to sing the Black National An
them, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Then,
Dr. Glen Bowman, Assistant Professor
of History, introduced the speaker.
Judge Janice Cole.
Judge Cole presented some
lesser-known facts about the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King. Cole said that King
was once quoted as saying “If you get
someone to deliver my eulogy, I want
two things: I don’t want them to take
too long. And I don’t want them to
mention that I won the Nobel Peace
Prize or any of my 300 other awards.”
Cole went on to describe King.
She said, “He wanted people to say
that he ‘tried to love somebody.’ He
also wanted people to know that he
visited those who were imprisoned,
and that he tried to clothe those who
were unclothed.”
She went on to say that King once
said “Anybody can serve... you only
need a heart full of grace... The final
great tragedy of a distorted personality
is pushing others down in order to pull
oneself up.”
Chancellor Mickey L. Burnim gave
remarks and presented Cole with an
award. Burnim said that Martin Luther
King was “a great world citizen, a great
American citizen, a great African -
American who contributed to the world.
He was not afraid to speak out or to
take action. He spoke out for injustice.
We all should embrace and accept the
oneness of all men, all women, and all
children as he did.”
After Chancellor Burnim gave the
remarks and presented Judge Cole
with the award. Dr. Walker gave pre
sentations and the announcements. He
also acknowledged outstanding mem
bers of the community in the audience.
The forum concluded with Keith
Richardson giving the benediction, and
with the panel leading the audience in
a rendition of the popular protest song,
“We Shall Overcome.”
BURNIM EXPERIENCES STUDENT LIFE
WHO IS CARTER G.
WOODSON ?
Cylea Seabrook
cylea@yahoo.com
Chancellor Mickey L. Burnim has
always been involved and interested
in student life. He understands that it
is important to know what the stu
dents are thinking and feeling. He
has been supportive of the Student
Government Association, attended
events, such as the Miss Elizabeth
City State University coronation,
student athletics and the Honda All-
Star Team games, chorus and band
functions.
Recently students’ complaints
about campus life became so intense
and evident that Chancellor Burnim
decided to spend a week on campus
to examine life in the dorms and the
cafeteria.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday
night. Chancellor Burnim stayed in
Mitchell Lewis and Butler Hall to
experience the conditions of the
dorms.
“Mitchell Lewis is an old dorm
and there are some things that need
to be improved,” Burnim said. He has
made plans to have the old dorms on
campus renovated in the near future.
While visiting the cafeteria sev
eral times in one week, he was im
pressed by the wide variety of meats,
drinks, and deserts the students had
to choose from.
“Last week was my first time
eating in the cafeteria for breakfast
and I thought everything was good,”
Burnim said, “However, my interest
did not start last week, I have always
been there.”
Burnim values the opinion of the
student body. He feels it is the
student’s obligation to speak up when
displeased or pleased.
Chancellor Burnim, along with
Dr. Deborah Fontaine, are planning a
card night at the Commuting Center
for more faculty to interact with the
students.
Chancellor Burnim is having a
dorm designed that holds 200 beds
and should be online for the Fall of
2003.
He is called the “Father of Negro
History,” Carter Godwin Woodson
(1875-1950) was instrumental in the
founding of the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History in
1915. During his lifetime he was
probably the most significant scholar
promoting the history and achieve
ments of African Americans.
Carter Woodson was born in
New Canton, Virginia, in 1875—ten
years after the 13th Amendment,
abolishing slavery, was written into
law. His grandparents and his father,
James, a tenant farmer, and mother,
Anne, had been slaves. Conse
quently, when freedom was a reality,
they were poor like thousands of
newly freed families of African de
scent in the United States. Because
of the close ties to his family and a
strong sense of responsibility to
them, Woodson worked throughout
his early school years to help support
his parents and siblings. By the time
he was able to attend school, he was
well past his teens.
Creative and imaginative as well
as independent at an early age,
Woodson taught himself by reading
avidly in his spare time. As a result of
his innate intelligence, personal
accomplishments, and dedication to
learning, he was able to complete
high school. In 1903 he graduated
with honors from Berea College, a
unique college in the slave state of
Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea
introduced integrated education in
the 19th century and thus permitted
the enrollment of African Americans.
Yet Kentucky had profited from the
slave market and the psychology of
its people could not accept racially-
integrated classrooms.
One year after Woodson’s gradu
ation the “Day Law” was passed,
which prevented white and African
American students from being in the
same classroom or school commu
nity together. Integrated schooling
became illegal. The pernicious “Day
Law” was actually enforced for nearly
half a century, a fact that was not lost
on Woodson in his writings about the
social customs and laws that served
as obstacles to the progress of “the
Negro race.” He recorded these
events as he pursued his interests in
the study of African American history.
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