Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Feb. 21, 2002, edition 1 / Page 43
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Rosa Parks honored at birthday movie premiere HE ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT - Rosa Parks, vhose act of defiance made ter a heroine in the Civil lights Movement, was hon >red recently at a gala event elebrating her 89th birthday ind the premiere of a movie ibout her life. The stars of the made-for TV movie, "Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story," spoke iriefly before the event. Angela Bassett, who plays 'arks, said she was awestruck he first time she saw her. "I never thought perhaps hat one day they'll do a story >f her life and I'll get to play t," saitf Bassett, who starred n "How Stella Got Her jroove .Back" and "What's ?ove Got to Do With It," the itory of Tina Turner's life. "The Rosa Parks Story," vhich will air on CBS Feb. 24 luring Black History Month, ilso stars Cicely Tyson as 'arks' mother. Parks was not present for he news conference but was o attend the screening later vlonday night. Tyson wished Parks a lappy iirthday and said, "No >ne understands the strength if silent power. ... Her silence ipoke." Bassett because she spoke in the manner that she did, today we all have our rights," Tyson said. The film chronicled Parks' life beginning from when she was a girl in Montgomery, Ala. It was directed by Julie Dash, whose previous films include "Daughters of the Dust" and "Love Song." Dash said doing the movie was the "highlight of my life and my career." Rather than choosing to direct the movie, "I feel like this film chose me," she said. , Parks, then a seamstress in Montgomery, was headed i home more than 46 years ago when she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus PHOTOGRAPH COI RTESY A&E Rosa Parks walks up courthouse steps in Montgomery, Ala., in 1956. When Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in 1955, she changed the course of civil rights. seat to a white person. Her Francis James, who plays lyjftaces," James said. "Rosa Parks Institute for Self arrest led to the Montgomery Parks' husband. Raymond, Parks was a hero from an Development and the Detn bus boycott. Parks now lives talked 'about how Parks unlikely place." Institute of Art. Proceeds froi in Detroit. inspired them. The event was sponsored the event went to the Rosa am, Bassett and actor Peter "Heroes come from unlike- by the Rosa and Raymond Raymond Parks Institute. Schools rom page D2 axes to support education - particularly :hat of Negroes - various groups also founded private schools for elementary ind high school age students (unknown terms in those days). The AMA was one :)f the most prominent. By 1900, it had seven outstanding graded schools for African Americans located from the North Carolina coast to the Piedmont. For example, Peabody Academy in Troy was founded in 1880 and as late as the 1920s was the only black high school for Montgomery, Randolph, Anson, Stanly. Richmond and Moore counties. African Americans educated in AMA schools also opened private normal and "ungrad ed" schools for their people. Over time, some of these schools evolved into preparatory schools for his torically black colleges and universities. These included Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute in Alabama: Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Atlanta; Howard University in Washington, D.C.; Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee; Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach and of course N.C. Agricultural and Technical University in Greensboro, St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C. Central University in Durham and others. The prep schools offered the same college preparatory courses as in white schools, such as English composition, algebra, history. and foreign languages. Nor were they cheap; back in the 1940s these schools charged up to $500 per academic year for tuition, room and board. From their earliest days, these black prep schools also offered domestic, industrial and manual study. At Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia. N.C., Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown became famous for her mandatory classes on manners. Believing that cultured people were better able to overcome racial prej udice. in 1940 she even published a book titled "The Correct Thing to Say, to Wear, to Do." During Brown's tenure at Palrher, more than 90 percent of its students went on to college and 64 percent pursued post-graduate degrees. With the coming of integration to Southern schools, the need for black prep schools began to trail off. Palmer Memorial closed its doors in 1971, after having prepared more than a thousand young African Americans to continue their education and take their places in society. As outdated as "col ored" water fountains and the image of slavery promoted by "Gone With the Wind," black prep schools now live only in the memories of their former students. Palmer was reopened as the Charlotte o- c:.? imwMin uiuwii .Jiuic immuiiv, aiic in 1987. For further information call (336) 449-4876, e-mail chb@ncmail.net or go to the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Web site, www. ah.dcr. state, nc. us/sections/hs/chb/c hb.htm. I N.C. Division of Archives and History Faculty and students of the Palmer Memorial Institute Celebrate Black History The past is our blueprint to the future. "Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace." -Southern Community BANK AND TRUST Small Enough To Care Winston-Salem ? Clemmons Kernersville ? Yadmnville (336) 768-8500 Membw iESSl www.smallenoughtocare.com ? Touchtone Banking 1-800-813-7623 FDIC We Salute Black History Month /iy/it 6ti/l ) iThe^s^^torel o Adding Dignity, Value, <6 Choice 4003-A Country Club Rd. Winston-Salem, NC 27104 336-760-6335 Hie deliver to the funeral home of your choice. Time Warner Cable Salutes Black History Month He had the vision to dream, ...the courage to lead, ...and the compassion to serve. TIME WARNER V CABLE I 9 1410 Trade Mart Blvd. (336) 785-3390 Winston-Salem, NC 27127
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Feb. 21, 2002, edition 1
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