Published each Thursday since January 18,1973 ?V, . |51 " , ?| ? T-i Carolina Indian Voice w 2 8 i i U Pe o MC Robeson County "Building communicative bridges in a tri-racial setting" . 1 I1 1 u ' ' 1 _ I LRDA Board votes against concept of moving SATW Most of the LRDA meeting on Monday night was devoted to a presentation from David Carter and Helen Loddear. Mr. Carter, Chairman of the Robeson Historical Drama Association, the sponsoring agency lor the outdoor drama "Strike at the Wind," addressed the board first. Mr. Carter said that he was speaking to the board about "the concept of the relocation of Strike at the Wind or the survival of Strike at the Wind." He explained that David Weinstien, mayor of Lumberton, has spoken to the Historical Association's board relative to a proposed site in Lumberton for the re-location of the drama. His mayor's proposal for "talking with the Lumberton City Council about the move" was contingent upon letters of endorsement from several Indian entities, litDA was one of them. Carter spoke to the status of Strike at the Wind. He said the drama now located in the Red Banks community in the western part of the county, had helped the community through theatrical support. "Two years ago the board (and through the past five vears) realized that the drama always ends up in the red," Carter explained. "Until last 'year. That was the first year that the drama finished the season in the black...the board was able to cover the cost of ,the 4 drama." There is a budget of $128,000 needed for the production. Grants have been applied for but no monies have been issued. The drama is runned, according to Carter, on a fund raising basis. He spoke of the annual art dinner to be held Tuesday, July 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the PSU Chavis Canter. A painting by Lumbee artist EUis .Sampson will be auctioned at the dinner. Proceeds will go to the drama. Tickets for the art dinner are $25. In an attempt to make ends meet. Carter said, the board has lowered the cast members of the drama from 65 to 40. Local auditions were held, he said, but were not well attended by locals. Auditions were also held in Winston Salem and the Raleigh area. "We will have professional people this year," Carter said. The director is from Ohio and has been hired as a professor at PSU. "He has brought a new concept to the drama, new stage, live stock, etc. All of these things will help the drama." Carter >?poke of the attendance over the past 15 years. There ?.is some increase in attendance last year, he said, with about 4,000 people attending. Cater said the reasons for the lack of attendance, he believed, was marketing...letting people know about the drama. "The problem is that there is no money to market the drama as it should be marketed. Helen Locklear of the Real Estate Exchange in Lumberton spoke to the concept of the relocation of the drama. "How to keep Strike at the Wind alive," she said was the goal. The Robeson Historical Drama Association Board has voted to look at the concept of relocating the drama. A proposal was made to the North Carotins Indian * SFtJLKliA HOAJtl) PAC,H Whatever Happened to ... tohnie Preston Bollard ggl by Barbara Brave boy-Lockiear SPECIAL TO THE CAMOUNA BfDIAN VOICE Out Prospect way fWs Juniper Swamp and on the swamp's edWlives Mr. Johnie Preston Bullard, and the octogenam^Bys, "Let pie tell you the secrets of my 84 year-old life...1st me tell you of olden days when life was simpler than it is today..." Mr. Bullard was one of six sons and daughters born to Lilly Lockiear Bullard and John Bullard. Two of Mr. Bullard's brothers died in infancy. He grew up on the lean his parents owned. 1 "Life on the farm was hard, but it wasn't hard. We Bullards were dirt-loving people. We loved the earth," he savs. ' ; He attended Prospect School in grades one through seven where he attended four-month sessions during November through February. He fondly remembers the school's principal, Tbm Oxendine; also his favorite teachers, Mary Ellen Moore Dial and Emma Lockleaf Collins. ; He entered the Normal Indian High School and daily walked the five mile trek to attend classes in a wooden dormitory on the Pembroke campus. It was a time when Russell Livermore, a prominent merchant had just established a general goods business in Pembroke snd area farmers were patronizing the new i merchant ; jiaving left general patronage of J.W. Carter in Maxton. ?Z So it was after getting out of class each day, Mr. Bullard would wait out front of the local school building and see a patron riding a mule-drawm wagon, flag him down and hitch a ride home to the Prospect community. -: He completed the 11 years required study at the school and enrolled in the Normal School program where he studied for a year before earning a "temporary" A teacher's certificate. His first teaching assignment was at Prospect School where he taught third grade during toiir-rrwinth sessions. - ia hi* first class of students was Adolph L Dial. Mr. Bullard says after a few days into the seaaion he went to the office of Principal Lonnie Jacobs and told him that ha had to get Dial out of his room. His principal inquired as to why he was making the request to have the young Lumbee Indian student removed. "There's not a thing in that room for that boyt Ha needs to be somewhere be can work," came the answer. Consequently, Dial was moved up a grade level. It was in the middle of his four-year leaching assignment St his alma mater that he met a fellow teacher. Cauie Bell Jacobs. The couple courted under the watchful aye of her father and after a two-year courtship eloped one night to Dillon. SC and were married. He was 24- she, 22 years old. "Our two selves went alone to get mvried. I paid five dollars for the marriage license. Afterwards we had lofl between us a nickel apiece. We bought us a drink apieca and headed home to my mother's home where we lived for about four months.'' Mr. Bullard ehuddoa. . The couple then moved to a farm he'd bought nearby and to a wooden boese Joined by wooden pega. The groem resigned his teaching position at Proapacl aftar four yearn of teaching and re-antared tit# Indian hl^minl flei L?aI ufk^aa lam >%iiaaiia/4 a 4%aaae_ imaa kmm mil mr* a nonnii qcfhjoi wntn nv pwiufy i iwytir ivicnvr ? wrtiflaata. The bride maanwhda taught at Pmbrohs i Orsded School. In ItM. with coriiflcala in hand, Mr. Bullaid returned > for another year's teaching at Fhtptd Ithooi. Mm. 9 iKmn bittMifl i fulllim# hoiwiiisiwf nul niu|ii?r BHSeeeeea w^ww wwswvtfe re ? ww^wrew ee^^^m ^^mwvwv" DSeUtt | lam rea^ 1* e iMbMHMb* MAgf DDDI^IMI i( III si mi kbod ID DD^flifeoffiiDf HAID County Them he became the hum teacher of students la imdaa una thieugh aia. la additiaa m Ida taishlag dtrifea, ha says ha waadfad a potbelly stnva and afimi played Mama to some five-year-old students in the one-room building. He taught in the school under the supervision of school superintendent K.A. McDonald. There was no school principal. And when the Macedonia and Diaha Dial Indian Schools merged to form Hswkeye School, Mr. BuDard says because of his exemplary performance, he was assured a position at the newly formed school. "A principal wt<> can't wurfc with you, Johnie, " McDonald said, 'i work with me." Mr. Johnh V Mhirrl It was at Hswheye School, white teaching third grade, Mr. Bulkrd says he taught Julian Rem. "Lord! Hist ldd was smart in the worid." Mr. Bollard remembers of Pierce. After teaching at the all-In than school for four yean. Mr. Buiiard retired from the teadag profeaakm and returned to farming the earth he eo much loved. His beloved wife. Cattie, died. She had given him 17 years of marriage, three eons and a daughter. The daughter died as a newborn child. His second wife, Mabie Stewart Buiiard. was to give Mm two more sons. In the early lMCs Mr. Buiiard became a practicing ; Christian. Ifce young Methodist eaye he was called to the , ministry, but was unable to become an ordained minister I because the denomination of his affiliate church required s eeminary degree holder for ordination. Mr. Buiiard held no such degree and personal stop?atones during that time prohibited him bum attending the eeminary, he ?J* Instead, Mr. Bulkrd says he studied Rules and Lawe of the Methodist Chursh undor the ooqmund of D.F. Lnwry tor a designated bafth of Usee and mat awarded a Lasal Urease to preach aa aa aaaeeiata pastor. His flrst i)iiiliini(9 wis H( Churah Hb idrviid ? IbbbbuI Gfovv slid MvlHodiil (^hufrbdi fit* eo-touadad Ooilas Chspel wham ha, tea, sacvad in sddltiaa to Biipad Mathadiat Chuieh wham ha has iiatlaususiy eervad as aasssisto pastor to Bamwadi Harvey Unity sad Hubert Maagwm MJltHKfi mxiUXMI IJAJU) mm* ? 1 '?