PAGE FOUR
W-esleyan’s Contribution To
The Fight Against Poverty
By: Jerry Stockdale
Shortly afterPresident Johnson’s
appeal for a war against poverty
(last spring), many communities
In which poverty was a major
problem began the campaign to
“help stamp out poverty.” Inthe
Rocky Mount area, a key con
tribution to this drive was made
by Wesleyan College in the form
of a preliminary study conducted
by the city of Rocky Mount and
N. C. Wesleyan College, in anti
cipation of receiving a North Car
olina Fund Award,
This research was done to
determine the attitudes toward
the improvement of education and
vocational status of the Negro
people in the Nash-Edgecombe
County area. The reason for using
the Negro race was the pre
dominate one In those areas oft he
county which are most poverty-
stricken.
Various hypotheses were ar
rived at by a group discussion
with various Negro leaders of the
two counties concerning the var
ious exis'ing conditions. From
these hypotheses, interview
forms were developed , The
sample of residents was selected
at random and stratified ac
cording to age and sex. Students
at Wesleyan were -tralheS as in
terviewers to conduct the survey.
Two questionnaires were ad
ministered to pupils at North
Whitakers School in grades 5-8
concerning vocational and educa
tional aspirations, A set was also
administered to the classroom
teachers concerning conditions at
home , 226 questionnaires were
also administered to randomly
selected adults of these counties.
to 7,00 for the 18-29 age group;
(2) The rural female education
ranged from an average 4.33 to
8,57 for these same age groups;
(3) The urban male ranged from
6.18 to 9.86 in these same age
groups; (4) The urban female
average ranged from 7.92 to 10.
94.
Tfie • employment situation
shows (f) The rural female works
an average of 5.82 months per
year; (2) The rural male works
an average of 10.87 months per
year. On the other side of the
picture, the urban female works
an average of 7.41 months per
year while the urban male works
8.11 months per year. It must
be
a very favorable and strong de
sire for educational achievement
and occupational status improve
ment. These desires were backed
by the further desire to move
(migrate) to areas where this
achievement might be possible.
(5) A relatively large proportion
of students miss at least one
day a week from school due
to work. This points to an even
more important fact: That a re-
talivy small proportion of the
students parents graduated from
high school. This fact was, for
the most part, attributed to the
cause of working to help sup
port their families.
Some of the inipllcatlons and
recommendations based on the
TUggPAY. PiECEMBCT IS. 1964
mm
Dr. H. E. Seidel, Jr., Associate Professor of Psyelurionr
at NCWC, is one of the authors of a Psychologry study pub-
lished here at Wesleyan.
remembered that these are
only averages, selected randomly obtained from this study are
according to age and sex. listed below: (1) The Negro pop-
The following results were ulation of the Nash-Edgecombe
also obtained: (1) The size of the County area is desirous of fur-
famllies varies from the urban education. (2) Teachers as
average of 4.54 persons to the professional and muni-
rural average of 7,95 persons. employees are held in very
They range from two to thirteen esteem. It is also recom-
or more persons per family. mended that their aid be en-
Thls possibly points out that there listed in programs of social, vo-
is a tendency for the lower-In- national, ’
come class of people to have
larger families. (2) A fairly high
proportion of those Interviewed
feel that additional education
would not be of any help in their
nresent job, but the general o-
pinion was that further educa
tion would equip them for “better
jobs” or would improve them In
general. (3) The husbands were
to be the larger wage-earners^
with the most respect being held
for the mothers. (4) There was-
HAUNTING TUNE
It must be pointed out that
since poverty appeared to be pri
marily, although by no means
exclusively, related to race, it
was decided to confine this study
to members of the Negro race.
The two areas chosen for the
study were North Whitakers in
Nash County and Planning Dis
trict 11 in Rocky Mount. These
areas were chosen primarily be
cause of the high relation to other
areas in social deterioration,
such as disaase and mortality
rates, illegitimate births, sub
standard housing, adult arrests,
juvenile court cases, size of
Ever heard a tune coming to
you In some lonesome nights!?
If so, please be kind and let it
in. Who knows? Perhaps, It may
be “THE VOICE OF YOUR FOR
LORN HEART
It came to me one eve;
It came to me again,
Over and over, I have heard combining
family, lack of
achievement, and
educational,
low Income,
A few of the more prominent
findings of this survey were: (1)
The education of the rural male
ranged from an average of 3,59
years for the 50-plus age group.
It start.
Like some hollow cry from out
of the dark.
Halt ye and hearken a while.
Could it be the tune that
your lie plays;
With all the youthful splendor
of your day!?
Time and again, it creeps
and climbs;
High over time, higher even
over doubt.
Ah! But then it stutters.
And flbtering blindly down the
air goes out.
and educational im
provements, (3) The status and
educational ‘achievement of the
Negro race In the Nash-Edge
combe County area needs im
provement . The family life of
the Negro has a high degree of
Instability. There is also a high
rate of social deterioration, and
an exodus, of younger males from
this area as evidenced by the 58-
42 female-male ratio in Rocky
Mount. (4) A general dissat
isfaction of the younger males
with their status in their pre
sent community is evidenced by
the contrast of a more passive
attitude of thfe older males toward
this same situation, (5) The
social and economic values of
the Negro citizens are relatively
high in contrast to job satis
faction which, In general, is rel
atively low. There is apparently
little opportunity for immediate
job Improvement as it now stands,
but stress should be placed on
the high economic
The above presents only a few
of the many problems, and even
this does not try to solve all
of these problems, but only to
point out some of the more im
portant ones.
The content of this article in
its entirety may be found in the
college library under the title
THE NEGRQ^GREATER ROCKY
MOUNT, NORTH CAROLDJAT
1964 EDUCATIONAL AND VO-
CATIONAL STATUS—GOALS
ACHIEVEMENTS.
The authors, all members of
the Wesleyan Community, are
Albert Boone, Randy King, R.
Vann Massey, and Dr. H. • E.
Seidel, Jr., Associate Professor
of Psychology, Wesleyan College.
There are many others too num
erous to mention, who contributed
tirelessly of their time and ef
fort to the success of this pro
ject.
In Its entire form it com
prises a 90-page booklet, includ
ing tables, figures, charts, and
graphs depleting what has been
described in brief In the above
article.
Circle K News
values with the job dissatisfac
tion to bring about a possible
remedy. (6) The rural Negro
showed more evidence of despair
than his urban counterpart. This
Is backed up by the high per
centage of rural school children
who desire to leave the area In
which they grew up.
By: Doug Groseclose
The Circle K Club of N. C,
Wesleyan, one of the few ser
vice clubs on campus, has started
the new school year off right.
The projects committee of the
club has worked hard to set up
worthwhile projects for the club
to work on. For the first three
nights of the week November 31-
December 5, the members oi the
club sold Klwanls pzanuts in
freezing weather to provide the
finances for other projects. Most
of the money from this project
will go to a needy family at
Christmas time. The club has
agreed to give whatever it can to
an Edgecombe County welfare
family to give them a merry
Christmas this year.
Another of the club’s projects
this year will be assisting the
clean-up campaign, soon to be
gin, The club vicepresident, Mel
Gay and two committee members,
Jimmy West and Doug Grose
close, have dividec^the campus
into sections, assigning each club
and class a particular section
to post clean-up posters and re
mind students of their obligations
to keep their canipus clean. This
particular project Is being backed
by the SGA and will begin in
the near future.
The Circle K Club’s largest
project this year will rival
last year’s project, the flag
pole. The club has decided to
buy and Install a 6 foot diameter
school seal for the blank space
above the gymnasium’s front
door. This seal will not be mount
ed until some time during the
school year 1965-66. It will cost
approximately $600 and will not
be done until it has been re
viewed by the members of the
club next fall. This project was
planned for this winter but was
slowed, due to the extreme cost
of the project and the action
of the trustees regarding a new
seal for Wesleyan.
In the future look for more pro
jects from Circle K,
G y 25 Scholarship or Slavery
Dr. BsTBioad Bmct, athleiie direetor and edacstion nro-
By: Frank Perez
The University of Havana did not
have dormitories. Although there
were three more universities In
Cuba, tradition forced the ma
jority of the students from else
where In the Island to attend It.
A lot of boarding houses used to
surround the University to fulfill
the needs of room and board for
students living outside the city.
Castro, “thinking of improving
the students ’ opportunities to
study,” planned to erecta seven-
story building to accommodate
them in more pleasant and
cheaper surroundings, G y 25
Is the comer on which the build
ing was erected. Furthermore
the students dia not have to pa.y
until they started work In the new
Cuba that they were building. The
state was to make jobs available
and take a small amount of money
out of their wages until debts were
paid.
However, most of them, when
they accepted that program
(called by Castro Scholarship),
did not know that they had to serve
as militiamen, agricultural
workers, and laborers in any kind
of job that was needed., Thus not
only would th6^ have to pay for the
room and board' wf\Ich they would
receive, but also they would have
to pay a high rate of interest—
their collaboration to the ty-'
ranny.
Nevertheless, they would have a
reward, "rtiey would receive bet^
ter food than other- pi^^ple. In a
Communist country'which clalhis
the common shar...g of commodi
ties, they aije privileged. They
have less food than they could
have eaten at home, before. But
who remembers the time of the
evil Imperialism? At that time
some people could go and eat In
an expensive resturant; today
everybody eats the same food with
the exception of G y 25 resident
students, who eat a little better,
and Communist first figures, who
are at the top of the ladder.
Education Is considered as being
secondary. Affiliation to Com
munism is first. However, If the
students can’t get along in their
courses there are many places
that they can pay for the ex
penses that they have produced
without success. Anyone whose
brains are weak had better have
good muscles for hard work;
moreover, he is supposed to be
smart enough to thank Fidel and
defend the Tyranny. They are to
betray even their families If they
are conspiring against the gov
ernment. When they receive the
scholarship they are to be In a
golden cage. Unfortunately, fifty-
seven years in republican Cuban
history has taught them nothing
whatsoever about what freedom
means.
Cookie Lavagetto, first base
coach with the San Francisco
Giants, started as a second
baseman with Oakland in the
Pacific Coast League in 1933.