Page Two
the campus echo
Friday, October 4, 1963
Carrip^*©Echo
ffntoiitm at ZVrr^rtrm
Member
ASSOrjATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
HAROLD FOSTER
Editor
EVERETT ADAMS
Business Manager
JEAN NORRIS
Advisor
OFFICE EXTENSION 325
The CAMPUS ECHO is the official student publication of North
Carolina College At Durham. It is published bi-weekly during the
regular school year, except during college holidays, at Service
Printing Company, Durham, N. C.
All editorials appearing in the CAMPUS ECHO are the opinions
of the editor, unless otherwise credited; they do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of the other members of the staff.
Subscription rates. $1.35 per semester, $2.50 per school year.
Second class mail privilege at Durham, N. C.
Duplicity In Co-Eds’ Request
When North Carolina College’s Women’s Assembly approved
the idea and the committee to survey local and surrounding night
clubs selling and allowing “hard liquors” on their premises, they
made a step which will prove vital for future NCC co-eds.
The six-girl committee, as it now stands, will only make a
survey to learn the reputation of the clubs, and it is not certain
that their findings will be suitable to NCC officials. There is a
possibility that the survey might serve to bring stricter rules con
cerning night club attendance for NCC co-eds.
On the other hand, the report might reveal pertinent attributes
of night club life that were not previously known. In either
case, the college officials should not take the committee or the
survey lightly.
NCC has many rules for her co-eds that are not in keeping
with a progressing college. There was a time when NCC was
hailed a good place for training Negro women for the traditional
roles—first for Negro women and second for women in general.
In their early days, the present rules were probably valid, but
today, thank God! they will no longer serve their original purposes.
They must not—indeed—serve to keep the NCC co-ed from her
long needed liberation. If they do, NCC will find itself no longer
a place for educational training, but, rather, for something else.
Our is a defiant generation. The modern woman and co-ed
will not stand to be relegated to stereotype patterns of the “second
sex;” they seek to be first and last human beings. And it is in
this realm that the present request by our co-eds i^ important.
Certainly they do not have an overwhelming desire to go to night
clubs; they simply want to. reaffirm their right to have the choice
of going or not going.
A Revert To Primitivism
An historian once remarked that man would soon reach the
epitome of civilization and then this manly virtue would descend
until man is back to primitivism. For this view some other his
torians labeled the lone historian a pessimist, and others, believing
that man with his enormous, brilliant brain will prevail, passed
over the statement as a spurious conclusion. But should those
doubtful historians visit NCC,they would, no doubt, find that
lone historian’s view true because around here “everybody’s doing
the dog” and all sorts of other dances symbolizing animals. i
On any given Friday or Saturday night, onp has only to
visit the recreation room of the New Residence Hall to see this
revert to primitivism. Once the rock ‘n’ roll music, with its ele
phantine beat, comes piping out of that portable howling dog
(apologies to RCA Victor), the basement of that 20th century
architecture is turned into a zoological garden. There is one
slight difference: the place does not reek of urine, but rather of
Chanel No. 5 and Old Spice, with a smell of sweaty underarm
fumes.
There are three basic dances performed in this garden: the
“dog”, the “monkey,” and the “mockingbird." In doing the “dog,“
one wags his tail until it brushes the ground, shakes his head and
shoulders as if going mad, and very often makes use of a fire
hydrant, a tree, or any other standing object.
The “monkey” dance is a classic; One does not only wag his
bottom and hop around, but peels and eats his banana, slings his
limp arms and hands on his hips, and hears no evil, sees no evil
and speaks no evil. This dance is done in groups as well as among
individuals and couples.
That “mockingbird,” harmless to everybody according to a
recent best selling book, simply wags his tail feathers, flaps his
wings, and bobs his head.
On one occasion, when a girl was dancing all three, her part
ner apparently felt that she was dogging, monkeying and mocking-
birding too much; for he pulled out a shotgun, aimed it, cocked
it and fired away—that dance was called the “cross-fire.”
That such gross dancing fads with their primitive aspects have
engulfed this campus is unquestionable. We are concerned about
why they started and what we are to do with them now that they
are here. Perhaps the groups and persons around here interested
in promoting “high culture” have the answers for us and are prob
ing the situation themselves.
.
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THE FIGHTER
. . a print by Willie Nash
Charles Jarmon
Past Oppressions Temper ^^New Negro
The Negro in American soci
ety is made to appear as being
a people without a heritage,
rich enough to assure him the
rights of a first-class citizen.
But no! this can not be the case,
for the Negro since 1619 has
provided America with a vital
source of strength. At first,
areas of barren land were made
into fertile fields of tobacco,
cotton, corn, and other products
that were essential for a nation
that depended on the resources
of her soil. As America began
to move from a basically agra
rian society to a more indus
trialized nation the Negro was
there to cut her timber, to build
her railroads and construct her
roads. He was there to work
in her mills and factories. The
Negro shed blood fighting in her
wars. His part in helping to
make America grow has been
overlooked; consequently, he
has been placed in the shadows
of America’s mainstream.
But to the Negro, America
was not to forever remain indi-
ferent to him. In the effort to
claim his inherent rights, he has
found that he can only have his
merits recognized by being
stubborn enough to challenge
those who for meaningless rea
sons dispute his claim to his in
alienable rights.
Today the Negro has sat-in,
marched, picketed, been in and
out of court rooms, and has used
many other forms of demonstra
tions to accentuate his feelings
of protest. This social moverhent
is a product of young Negroes
who have not developed a toler
ance level for accepting the back
seat.
James Baldwin, a noted
American author, during a visit
to North Carolina College last
spring gave a vivid picture of
the young Negro of today as
contrasted with their parents of
yesterday. He stated that the
younger generation has never
learned how to say “yes sir” to
the white man, nor has he been
overburden with having to chop
cotton. This within itself indi
cates that America is producing
a new Negro.
The indignities that are suf
fered by the Negro throughout
the country' brings to mind a
mirror of thoughts that reflect
the Negro’s position in a society
that is still harboring on un
equal lines, lines that are as un
equal today as they were during
the days that Booker T. Wash
ington spread his fingers in At
lanta, Georgia, to symbolize the
black conditions of this day.
TODAY our schools and col
leges are reflections of the
American philosophies that are
geared to destroy the man who'
dares not move in a changing
and dynamic time. As products
of these progressive institu
tions, the Negro has found in
grained in his mind and body
an incessant drive that keeps
pushing him on and on with
such dignity and force that no
man can afford to ignore. He
realizes that stopping or merely
slowing down would mean a
destruction of the path that has
already been built and would
be a bWckade to the path that
will lead him to the full owner-
See NEW NEGRO Page 3
LETTERS
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Echo will gladly accept letters
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other members of the college
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