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THE FEDERATION JOURNAL
June, 1946
THE FEDERATION JOURNAL
“Lifting As We Climb”
ISSUED BY
The North Carolina Federation of
Negro Women’s Clubs
editor-in-chief
MRS. ROSE D. AGGREY Salisbury
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
MRS. E. BEATRICE RIGGS HALL SaUsbury
MISS RUTri (i. RUSH... Durham
MRS. O. R. POi'E Rocky Mount
MRS. yiNNlE E BERRY Wilmington
Mho. NORMA DARDEN Wilson
MRS. EDNA B. TAYLOR Southern Pines
MRS. CJ. H. BYNUM Kinston
MRS. L. B. YANCY Henaorson
HONOR TO WHOM
HONOR IS DUE
Unique in the annals of Iredell County
Schools and Parent-Teacher Associations
was the signal honor recently given to
Mrs. Mary Charlton Holliday, Jeanes
Supervisor and outstanding civic leader
of Iredell County.
At the A. M. E. Zion Church, at 3
o’clock Sunday afternoon, March 31, a
memorial plaque, a sculptured replica of
Mrs. Holliday, was unveiled. This plaque,
the splendid work of the distinguished
sculptress. Miss Selma Burke, of Moores-
viile, was presented to the county super
intendent of schools as a gift from the
teachers and parents of Iredell County
as a token of their great esteem for Mrs.
Holliday.
Exercises in connection with the un
veiling included two addresses—one by a
representative from the teachers and the
other from the Parent-Teacher Associa
tion.
In honoring Mrs. Holliday, Statesville
honored itself by securing Dr. Mary Mc-
Cleod Bethune as the distinguished guest
speaker for the memorable occasion. In
her characteristic inimitable way Dr.
Bethune held the vast audience almost
motionless under the spell of a continu
ous strain of marvelous oratory made
beautiful by many years of unparalleled
experiences, and enriched by extraordi
nary contacts with the noblest spirits of
our generation.
Not often in the lifetime of any indi
vidual is the privilege given of listening
to such beautiful tributes, such note
worthy commendations of personal influ
ence as were given in honor of Mrs. Hol
liday. The Federation Journal congratu
lates this distinguisheJ woman for re
ceiving this unusual but well-deserved
honor.
Admiring friends and old acquaintances
of Miss Selma Burke, nationally known
sculptress, were delighted to see her again
and to congratulate her on her outstand
ing achievements. Her plaque of the late
President Roosevelt imveiled by Presi
dent Truman is an everlasting tribute to
Miss Burke’s extraordinary ability as well
(Continued on page 3)
THE VALUE OF CHEER
Good cheer is a great lubricant. It oils
aU of life’s machinery and makes it riin
smoother and more pleasant.
Good cheer is a great producer. It adds
wonderfully to one’s active ability and
increases mental and physical power. It
makes hosts of friends and helps us to
bo reasonable.
Good cheer will attract more custom
ers, sell more goods, do more business
with less wear and tear than almost any
other thing.
Good natured, cheerful people do not
waste their energies as fast as the grum
blers or too sober, or too sour folks do;
they work and live with less friction.
Good cheer is a simple habit and makes
life more livable. Were everyone to de
velop that simple habit no one would
hear of trials and tribulations.
SPARKLING THOUGHTS
It is not so much the size of the dog
in the fight as the size of the fight in
the dog.
The difference between perseverance
and obstinacy is that one comes from a
strong WILL and the other from a strong
WON’T.
All of us are:
Custodians of talents for which we are
responsible.
Agents of vast spiritual forces that lie
within us.
Managers of personalities that are
priceless.
Trustees of lives that make destiny for
others.
Guardians of certain public virtues.
Heroes to some youngster starting out
on the way.
The greatest successes in life have been
made out of a sorry lot of mistakes that
were corrected.
The measure of a man’s real character
s what he would do if he knew he would
lever be found out.
A good listener is not only popular
3verywhere, but after a while he knows
something.
One robbin doesn’t make a spring, but
one lark is often responsible for a fall.
Silence is the one great art of conver
sation.
Character, like charity, begins at home.
It cannot be instilled by daily teaspoon
fuls of education.
It is not the qualified voters,- but the
(Continued on page 5)
N. C. TEACHERS RAISING
STANDARDS FROM
CITIZENS IN ACTION
By BURKE DAVIS
C. N. C. Board Member S. C. H. W.
One of the most pathetic little secrets
in all the Jim Crow South is on file with
the N. C. Board of Education. It can’t be
revealed, apparently, because the Tar
Heel public might misunderstand. The
State has advanced so far in equalizing
educational opportunities that Negro
teachers have higher averages of gradu
ate training than whites, hence the secret
figure.
Diu'ing the war many white tehchers
fled the field, but Negro teachers, aided
by equal salary, hastened to summer ses
sions seeking graduate work, and by last
year their training average had risen to
823.3 (each 100 meaning a year’s high
school or college training). The last fig
ure. publshed for white teachers was
790.5.
Educational opportunity in the State is
far from equal, of course, but so far as
teaching is concerned the Negroes have
won a great victory. North Carolina is
the only State with a very large pro
portionate Negro population which has
dared the experiment of equalization in
education, and to date that experiment
has been amazingly successful.
From the Charlotte area alone about
50 Negro teachers went to Columbia
University last summer. There was no
such exodus of white teachers. The pres
sure on the newly liberated Negro teach
ers, of course, is largely economic. With
higher graduate training comes higher
salary brackets, and these teachers lost
no time in taking advantage of their op
portunity.
Progress like this is the natural prod
uct of the influence of men like J. Y.
Joyner, who was Superintendent of Pub
lic Instruction back in 1902, and in that
year said: “The State’s obligation is the
same whether the child is wrapped in a
white skin or black.” Slowly through the
years, despite the fact that North Caro-
ina’s one-party political system has al
lowed us not a single" originally-elected
Superintendent of Public Instruction since
1900, the Negro has gained in education.
The one lamentable thing is that we
have made such progress in this field that
officialdom in Raleigh fears to reveal its
extent to the public.
“Give me a task too big
Too hard for human hands.
Then I shall come at length
To'lean on Thee—
And leaning, find my strength.”
—^Wm. Humphrey Fowler,
The Struggle.