! .6 f
r*
THE FEDERATION JOURNAL
"Listen to our Clarion Watchword—We are Lifting As We Climb”
VOLUME 11
JANUARY, 1954
NUMBER 1
ADDRESS DELIVERED
by
Commission Samuel E. Leonard
on the occasion of the
Dedication of Three New Buildings
at the
State Training School for Girls
Dobbs Farm, Kinston, N. C.
This School had its beginning prior to
1925 when the North Carolina Industrial
School for Negro Girls, Efland, North
Carolina, was founded. For many years
devoted and consecrated women were ac
tive in propagandizing the need for such a
School. Money was not so plentiful as it
is today, particularly among our Negro
folk, yet somehow, with the leadership of
the North Carolina Federation of Negro
Women’s Clubs, this group managed to
raise funds sufficient to purchase 150 acres
of land in Orange County, near Efland,
construct a wooden building that would
house 20 girls and staff, drill a well, ob
tain pigs, chickens, and a cow and have a
going concern in 1925. It was a private
School but it was never intended by those
women who had labored so hard that it
should continue to be so. It was their idea
that if the School were actually in opera
tion and were offered to the State that the
State would take it over and make it a
State Institution. In order to be able to
offer the property to the State, these wom
en arranged to lift the mortgage of
$2,000.00 and assume this debt by notes.
It was all in vain, however, for as the
Legislature met every two years, the ever
renewing request was made only to find
that the subsidizing to the extent of
$2,000.00 a year was all that was ever
done. I do not have the date of the closing
of the little School and I wonder what has
become of the few records, but the good
women found it not feasible to continue
so the efforts became history. Incidentally,
the land with the decaying building is
still owned by the Federation but no re
turns are being realized from it.
In the 1943 Legislature a bill was inti-o-
duced which became Chap. 381, Public
Laws 1943, and which was entitled “An
act providing for the establishment of an
Institution for the care of Delinquent
Negro Girls.” The bill passed both houses
and was ratified March 2, 1943. Thus the
efforts begun in the early “twenties” be
came a reality. The sum of $25,000 was
the initial appropriation named in the bill
but as will be shown later, additions to
Continued on Page Nine
AMONG OUR CLUBS
The Business and Professional Women’s
Club of Salisbury held its Annual Bazaar
Thursday evening, December 3, at the
home of Mrs. John Nicholson. Many beau
tiful, useful and artistic articles were dis
played for sale, and the proceeds are used
toward the State Scholarship Fund. Some
of the articles were corsages made from
nylon hose material, fancy aprons, cro
cheted glass holders, pot holders, hand-
painted kitchen curtains, ear rings, hand
kerchiefs, lamp shades, embroidered
luncheon sets, fancy pillow slips, artistic
dish towels as well as home-made candy,
date sticks, cookies and pound cake.
This Club follows not only the activi
ties that comport with its name, but each
member has an interesting hobby; and
some members have enough different ar
ticles they have made to open a hobby
shop, showing weaving, jewelry making,
leather craft, basketry, tatting and knit
ting.
The Business and Professional Women’s
Club counts among its members women
who are outstanding in a variety of worth
while activities. Of the twelve members,
the following are teachers; Mrs. Mary
Perkins, President; Miss Rosebud Aggrey,
Secretary; Mrs. Nonie Johnson, Mrs. Lil
lian Simpson, Mrs. Abna Lancaster, Mrs.
Mazie Holt, Miss Marie Weeks, Mrs. Mabel
Payden, Miss WiUie Mae Clingman. Other
members are Mrs. Leathia Nicholson,
Rowan County Assistant Case Worker;
Mrs. Julia Taggart, School Nurse for City
and County; Mrs. Lois Reeves, Living
stone College Nurse now on leave for ad
vanced study.
Miss Clingman is owner and operator
of a confectionery shop; Mrs. Payden is
co-owner and part time operator of the
Salisbury Cleaners; Mrs. Taggart is co-
owmer of the Taggart Dry Cleaning busi
ness.
Moore County Clubs
by MRS. AMMIE P. FOSTER
The club women of West End are keep
ing their motto in action. They are really
“lifting as they climb.” Their club daugh
ter whom they adopted is now in the
sixth grade.
The Morrison Training School Club
group continues active. Mrs. P. R. Brown,
Vice-President of Moore County Clubs,
has the cooperation of other members of
the staff who seem to enjoy club work.
Adder Club ladies are planning an in
teresting program for the current year.
Continued on Page Eight
SET ME UPON MY FEET
Address delivered at the Annual
Convention at Elizabeth City
by
MISS RUTH G. RUSH
(Retiring President)
In. the book of Ezekiel second chapter,
verses one and two, we read as follows:
“And he said unto me. Son of man,
stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto
thee.
And the spirit entered into me when he
spake unto me, and set me upon my feet,
that I heard him that spake unto me.”
Let me again repeat those words as a
springboard for what I may have to say
in way of challenge to this organization
and to our friends assembled here tonight.
“And he said unto me. Son of man, stand
upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
And the spirit entered into me when he
spake unto me, and set me upon my feet,
that I heard him that spake unto me.”
Our observations of young infants re
veal to us helpless, squirming, fumbling
bits of humanity. Groups of children stud
ied as they grow evidence a general pat
tern of postural control—control of head
and neck first, then the chest, back, and
lower trunk, and finally the legs. Standing
with support by the end of the first year is
a real achievement, but it becomes an ex
citing adventure when the baby stands
alone. Then for walking, all that is needed
is to be set upon their feet.
Organizational growth may be likened
to that of the child—we pass through the
stages of kicking, creeping and crawling
and finally there comes the day when we
hear a voice saying “stand upon thy feet.”
If we respond to the voice and allow the
spirit to enter us, we will find that we are
set upon our feet and can walk—no longer
the infant but grown into maturity.
With standing on one’s feet, there come
new responsibilities—not always easy to
accept but nevertheless present and chal
lenging. If we fail to accept the responsi
bilities we drop to our knees and return
to crawling.
What are the challenges which come to
Negro club women today—May 1, 1953?
I cannot discuss them all—they are too
numerous. However, I would have you
think with me about several which I con
sider pertinent to our every day living and
to our way of life.
Paramount in our thinking today is this
problem of segregation. Segregation is a
vicious evil and harmful to our fundamen
tal way of life.
In our national life, we are awaiting the
Continued on Page Seven