Black Theatre Festival will be 'marvtastic I ? By JEM YOUNG THE at?a* r --? yit-' Forget March Madness. The real firenzy for members of the North Carolina Black Reperto ry Company hits in July and ends the first week of August At stake is the company's bien nial National Black Theatre Festi val. The festival wiD draw an esti mated 40,000 theater enthusiasts, critics and scholars to the city for five days of productions by the best black theaters in the nation Mote than 20 companies will h?e a chance to showcase their tal ents at more than 13 venues across the city. This year* lineup includes legendary actress Ruby Dee starring in her play "My One Good Nerve: A Visit with Ruby Dee.** Based on Dee's book by the same name, the play is a compilation of short sto ries, humor and poetry and has gar nered stellar reviews on both coasts The festival, slated to kick off with a star-studded gala Aug. 2, is a little more than a month away, and Larry Leon Hamlin, NCBRC's artistic director and founder, is slatting to feel a little pressure. "You should see us at 2 a_m. or 3 a.m. gathered around a table," Hamlin said with a chuckle The phones aren't ringing off the hook, and we can get some real work done You can really go over things with a fine-tooth comix" , This year marks the 10th anniversary for the festival and the 20th anniversary of Hamlnrt reper tory company. For the Rcidsville native, both milestones are nothing short of "marvtastic'* - Hamlin's own creative combination of the words "marvelous" and "fantastic " The idea of holding a festival was born in the late '80s when Ham lin was researching an article on black theater companies in the South for a magazine Hamlin thought there were only 50-60 black companies in the nation. To his sur prise, he found more than 200. And most of them suffered from a chronic lack of funding and a gross ly inaccurate reputation for lacking professional talent. "I was touched by the screams of frustration from the Made the- ~ ater companies," Hamlin said. "Most didn't have office space, money or even the bare necessities.'' Hamlin also found that bbdt theater companies were closing at an alarming rate, and most of the companies teetered cm financial Sme NBTT am A9 75 cwh Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point Vol. xxv no.44 si r7 Chronicle ? ? :t 5 1974 - Celebrating 25 Years - 1999 I Thousands ' gather for AME Zion conference Bishop stresses need for church leadership By DAMON FORD THE CHRONICLE Last week, thousands of members of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church gathered in Winston-Salem for the 109th Ses - sion of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference. The six-day conference was filled with meetings, committee reports and worship ser vices. The Rev. James Sloan and his congre gation at Goler Metropolitan AME Zion served as the host church. "I thought (the conference) was a tremen Hniis siiaws hv wav of attendance and issues dealt with," said the Rev. Horace Walser, presiding elder of the . Winston-Salem Dis trict. The conference started off with educa tional workshops Tues day morning and ended Sunday with a morning worship service at the Benton Convention "The highlight of the conference is the opportunity to fellowship with other believers and members of the AME Zion Church," - said Anita Harvell, a conference delegate from Union Bethel AME Zion in Charlotte. "The unity of all our brothers and sisters in * the Lord is definitely something to be proud about." Nearly 135 churches make up the Western v AME Zion Conference. The churches are * broken down into six districts in Statesville, > Salisbury, Lincolnton, Charlotte, North > Charlotte and Winston-Salem, which has 21 Z churches in and around the city. ' i Across the world more than 1 million peo ple are a part of the AME Zion church. The beginnings of America's oldest black church go back to 1796 when a group of slaves were told they were no longer able to worship with their masters. Historic black figures such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were staunch See AME Zion on A11 ? 4 ? Bishop ??? t Photo by Damon Ford AMI Zion ministers march into tho Bon ton Convention Confer for Sunday'* doting worship service. Thousands of members of the church gathered in Winston-Salem last week for the denomination's annual conference. 1996-1899 End of Crad* Proficiency PeccenlBBee forWIneton-SaieCTVForeyth County ttjgipi African Amencan , . White I , It's' 1988 1999 1996 ^1998 Graded to Grade 4^. 35.1 P,, 45.4 78.9 85.3 1 *~'i! WfH f ' I 45.0 54-5 82.3 86.7 ' JSMWWWie m 472 4&2 83.9 82.4 ' (VXlfTn nffcfr 7 42.5 50SB 80.3 86.0 >^totKte8'43' ^ l77 5 82y Blacks are narrowing the gap with whites on test scores By T.KEVIN WALKER ; ' THE CHRONICLE ^ It's been a long time coming, but school system officials say change is finally afoot. Year by year and percentage point by percentage point, African American students here and across the state are closing in on the test scores of their white counterparts. The school system - after being dogged by months of not-so-glow ing publicity - decided to create some positive advertisement for themselves, holding an early morn Brown ing news conference last week to tout the impressive strides black stu dents have made over the years. "Our African American students have been gaining faster than our white students in almost every grade level," said Superintendent Don Martin. Martin is referring to the per centage of black students who have been proficient on end-of-grade math and reading tests. The end-of , grade tests are administered yearly in Martin grades three to eight. The figures that the school sys tem released show that the percent age of black students who are profi cient on the tests is growing fhster than the percentage of whites who are proficient. / The results are not a shot in the dark, officials say. Using a "longitu dinal comparison." which officials say is the most unbiased way to pre sent the data, the data measures the growth of the same students over a three-year period, from 19% to 1999. "There is no masking of poor scores here." Martin said, speaking to those who may find the figures too good to be See Tests on A10 Johnson 1 Black farmers appeal settlement Group says loophole in decree renders it moot BY DAMON FORD THE CHRONICLE : i- A group of black farmers is appealing a con troversial settlement aimed at making up for years cjf discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agri culture. The Durham-based Land Loss Prevention Project and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, based in Washington, D.C., issued a notice of appeal earlier this month of the $350 million consent decree approved by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman. Stephon Bowens. executive director of LLPP. See Block Farmers on Al I Orant Photo by T Kevin Walker A Qrwp of youth* pnteiko thoir iwinj tUo*