Meredith Herald
Volume IX, Issue 17 February 3,1993 Raleigh. North Carolina
Convocation speaker challenges
students to examine past and future
News Itriels
• On Saturday, three Camp
Lejeune Marines attacked a
Wilmington man outside of a gay
bar in Wilmington. The suspects
showed no remorse for their crime.
The victim, Crae Pridgeo, called
for PresideiU Clinton’s lifting the
ban on gays in the military imme
diately.
• Clinton met with the nation's
governors over the weekend. On
Monday, he told them that he would
give them more flexibility in pro
viding health care to indigent resi
dents under Medicaid.
• The White House and Con
gress are working on a plan that
would insure immunization against
childhood diseases for all preschool
children. Public health experts es
timate that about SO percent of pre
school children receive all their
immunizations.
• Governor Jim Hunt and Jim
Gardner spent more than $12 mil
lion in the 1992 governor's race,
according to finance repcHts filed
with the State Board of Elections.
This was the most expensive
governor's race in North Carolina's
history. In the U.S. Senate race,
Terry Sanford and Lauch Haircloth
spent $5.4 million.
• The Dallas Cowboys defeated
the Buffalo Bills, 52-17, in Super
Bowl XXVII. This was the Bills’
third straight Super Bowl loss.
• According to Madison
Avenue's top advertising experts,
Lee Jeans and McDonald's ran the
best commercials during the Super
Bowl. The experts were disap
pointed by the commercials for
Crystal Pepsi clear cola, Gillette
Series and the Subaru Impreza. The
commercials cost $850,000 per
half-minuie.
*The groundhog saw his shadow
Tuesday, signifying six more weeks
of winter.
by Christina Peoples
Convocation, entitled “Recover
ing a Lost Heritage," was held on
MondayinJonesAuditorium. Con
vocation was the beginning of a
series of special events throughout
Black Emphasis Month. The
speaker, Dorothy Spruill Redford,
spoke of herlO-year search for her
heritage after the mini-series Roots
aired. The culmination of her ef
forts came in a reunion of 2,500
descendants of slaves and slave
holders and her book, Somerset
Homecoming, which reported her
findings and experiences.
Redfordhasleamedfour key con
cepts that shaped her study and her
life—if no one wants to talk about
something you think it is wrong; if
you want your history included you
have to be about the business of
doing it yourself; you can make a
difference and affect a change; and
sometimes a vision is yours alone.
by Sarah Muss
The Association for Black Aware
ness (ABA) is working with the
Office of Student Activities in pro
moting February as Black Empha
sis Month (BEM).
Cheryl Smith, Program Director
for the Office of Student Activities
and Leadership Development, de
fined Black Emphasis Month as the
promotion of African-American
awareness on campus. She said this
month educates the Meredith Com
munity on the contributions of Afri
can* Americans and also enables stu
dents to learn, grow and become
exposed to new ideas.
Redford’s search began because no
one gave names and faces to the mass
of ancestors simply termed “slaves.”
When her daughter asked her about
their heritage, she did not have an
answer and realized that she had never
really inquired. Redford first sought
the oral history of her mother and
finally understood the people behind
her mother’s belief system. She had a
renewed sense of history and a fresh
knowledge of herself .and she real
ized the importance of family elders.
The realization set in that her heri
tage was not going to come to her and
if she wanted her history included, she
knew she had to do something about
it Redfordconsultedcensusinforma-
tion, a published genealogy and pn^
erty deeds which led her to Somerset
Plantation in Creswell, N.C., where
her ancestors had resided as slaves.
However, the slave quarters were gone
and all that remained of her ancestors
presence was a sign verifying that
their lodging had existed.
Angel Artis, BEM chair for ABA,
said the goals of this club as well as
Black Emphasis Month are to let a
(wedominately white campus be intro-
ducedto new andold traditions. Some
events that will be occurring this month
are listed below.
Wednesday. February 10,10 a.m..
Jones Chapel—Worship Speaker:
Pastor Jackie Allen Lewis, Mt Zion
Baptist Church
Tuesday, February 16, 7:30 p.m.,
Carswell Auditorium—’’Night ofCul-
ture,” anassortmentof Africandances
TXiesday, February 23.8 p.m., Jones
Auditorium—^Drama; The Life of Zara
Neale Hurston
Redford felt that her ancestors
needed more recognition as part of
the plant^on than a sign on an empty
plotofland. She organized a home
coming of all the descendants of the
slaves and slaveholders of Somerset.
Over a year and half period, a net
work of people contacted the descen
dants and extended a warm welcome
to this special celebration of the life
and the culture who had not only
existed, but had meaning to the fu
ture generations. An actress, a jazz
band, an art exhibit, and a college
chorus volunteered their services to
highlight the event.
The homecoming at Somerset was
covered by the national media. The
coverage led to the publication of
Redford’sbookSom^rje/Homgcom-
ing. This book stressed the impor
tance of everyone’s seeking out their
roots while they are young. Accord
ing to Redford, the need to lookto the
future should never overshadow the
importance of the past.
Inside the
Herald...
Point/
Counterpoint
debates Hillary
Clinton's role
Comedy night
news
Basketball update
Campus to celebrate
Black Emphasis Month