vxZ5
Winston-Salem Chronicle
AN AMERICAN MONTHLY
PUWhhtj by IPm IWimwi Balmm Owkte
PUBLISHER Ernest H. Pitt
OESIQN/LAYOUT
Scarlett Simmons
Kathy Lee
PRODUCTION STAFF
Charlotte Newman
Veronica Evans
SALES STAFF *
Thomas Williams, Carol Daniel, Mike Pitt
Famous Black Quotes
That man over there says that women need
to be helped into carriages, and lifted over
ditches, and to have the best place everywhere.
Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over
mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And
ain't I a women?
Sojourner Truth
Black women are not here to compete or
fight with you, brothers. If we have hang-ups
about being male or female, we're not going to
be able to use our talents to liberate all of our
black people.
Shirley Chisholm
I am convinced that the black man wiM only
reach his full potential when he learns to draw
upon the strengths and insights of the black
woman. ? ^
Manning M arable
America doesn't respect anything but
money. . . What our people need is a few mil
lionaires.
Madame CJ. Walker
Too many of us are hung up on what we
don't have, we can't have, or won't ever have.
We spend to much energy being down, when
we could use that same energy ? if not less of
it ? doing, or at least trying to do, some of the
things we really want to do
Terry McMillan
Next to God we are indebted to women,
first for life itself, and then for making it worth
living.
Mary McLeod Bethune
On the Cover :(top left)The Mohotela Super Queens enter
tain at FESPACO *95 closing ceremony (below)Cheick
Oumar Sissoko receives the Etalon from President
Compaore (right)Roc Marc Christine Kabore Prime
Minister of Faso delivering the opening address.
(see related story page 6)
I N OUR SCHOOLS AW/
In the Spirit of Rosa Parks
This is an original piece by Tameka Jones adopt
ing the persona of Mr Rosa Parks when she refused
to give up her seat.
Rosa Parks: God hath chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which arc mighty;
Corinthians 1:27. You know, life has been a chal
lenge for me since the day I was born. I believe it was
a Thursday evening, December 1, 1955 when I decid
ed not to be a victim of the black struggle. So, after
I'd been shopping and working as a seamstress in a
downtown department store all day, I had been some
kind of tired. Well, on my way home, I boarded the
bus and went back to the colored section where only
Negro men and women were allowed to sit. Then, a
white man boarded the bus. He came towards me and
told me to get out of my seat! Well, I looked at him
and stayed right where I was. You see, I was too tired
to move and I was also tired of being pushed aside
because of the color of mv skin, tired of bcinji a
"nigga" and "darky," tired I tell ya! So, they arrested
me and put me in jail, but I am here to tell ya, no Jim
Crow laws could rob me of my dignity, or my
essence as a human being. After I spent a few unfair
hours in jail, I was released on a bond paid by local
civil right leaders and given a trial date of December
5, 1955. But, glory to God there was a man by the
name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that helped form
TAMEKA JONES
Carver High School
the Montgomery Improvement Association. We
marched on many long roads and boycotted the seg
regated busing and other segregated public facilities
in Montgomery, Alabama.
After waiting with hope and eagerness to be
treated equal, three hundred and eighty one days later,
the boycott and the long walk to freedom brought the
abolition of segregated busing and public facilities. I.
was the "common" black woman in tunc with the
struggle of my people and with the help of God we as
a people have conic a long way and still have a long
way to go. But in this day we can scream and shout
that we shall overcome!
Our History: A Journey to the Motherland
(Phi Omega Inc. I Phi Omega Chapter Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority held a SAT/Tutorial Program
Essay Contest students were asked to write an essay
on the topic "Why it is Important to know Black
History and African Heritage I
I believe African-Americans should be proud of
our heritage. Being African is nothing to be ashamed
of. My roots are in Africa, but 1 learned to identify
with this part of my heritage when my mother and I
visited the powerful continent of Africa.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to visit Benin
SHAHNELL COLLINS
Atkins Middle School
City, Nigeria. My mother, Bobbie Collins, made this
possible, and I am very grateful to her for this experi
ence. I learned to be proud of my heritage through
first-hand experience. When my feet touched that
dark, rich soil where my ancestors walked. I felt at
home. My body felt weightless. The feeling was so^
awesome, words cannot express it. 1 knew that I
belonged here.
Being in Africa was the most blessed place the
Lord could have made possible for my mother and I
to visit. The airline company that served us is African
owned and operated. It was so fascinating to sec so
many African people in positions of authority. Also,
the clothes the people wore were so beautiful. The
colors and patterns in the cloth were strong like the
sun.
I learned a great deal about Nigeria through
hands-on experience. The official name of the coun
try wc visited is the republic of Nigeria, and the capi
tal is Lagos. The spoken language is English along
with the local languages. Nigerian exports are
peanuts, peanut oil and agricultural products.
Dancing and enjoying music are popular pastimes.
Many of them perform in costumes.
Today more than 4,000,000 Nigerian children go
to school. I met very wealthy Africans and those who
were of low estate.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to cross
the Middle Passage back to Africa as a free person. I
was aWe to see what I have read about in books. Our
United States have been fashioned by the contribu
tions of African -Americans. I am proud to be named
among this great heritage. In the armed forces, medi
cine, law, religion, sociology, philosophy, politics,
agriculture, education and business, African
Americans have had a hand in making this nation
what it is today.
I
Did You Know. . .
i
?154# ? The Second settler in Alabama was
! Black. He accompanied De Soto's expedition.
i
?1758 ? The first black college graduate in the
Western Hemisphere was Frances Williams.
j
?1773 ? The first black baptist church was
\ , organized by George Leile in Savannah, Georgia.
\
?1717 ? The Itrst free school. The African
Free School,'' operated in New York City.
?1839 ? 3,777 Blacks owned slaves, according
to a national census report.
?1930 ? The New York Times began capitaliz
ing "n" in the word Negro.
?1938 ? The U.S. Supreme Court declared that
all states must provide equal education facilities.
?1954 ? Segregation in the public schools was
ruled Ortconxtftufonal tty the U.S. Supreme Cowl.