Community
Calendar
Fall Festival
The YWCA at Glade
Street will host a free Fall
Festival for members and
the public on Monday, Oct.
20. The event, part of the
center's celebration of
October as Member
Appreciation Month, will be
from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. in
the Pine Room at the center
at 1201 Glade Street.
Black Chamber meeting
The Winston Salem
Black Chamber of
Commerce 0 will meet
Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at
the Hewitt Business Center,
1001 South Marshall Street.
Gerry McCants will be the
guest speaker. His topic will
be "Getting the Most for
Your Advertising Dollars."
Contact Randon Pender at
336-575-2006 for more
information, or visit
www.wsbcc .org.
Carter G. Woodson
benefit concert
Carter G. Woodson
Charter School, 437
Goldfloss St., will host a
benefit concert at 7 p.m. on
Saturday, featuring con
scious rappers, The Last
Poets.
Performers will also
include Zonya Love
Johnson, who performed in
the Broadway musical, "The
Color Purple;" inspirational
jazz groups Total Silence
and Peace of Mind; the
Carter G. Woodson orches
tra; and a jazz band and
dance troupe. This is an
event for families and
friends from generation to
generation. Tickets may be
purchased at the school.
Special Occasions book
store and Herb's Bargain
Barn. Tickets may also be
purchased the night of the
event at the door. For more
information, call the school
at 336-336-723-6838.
Volunteer training to
assist older adults
The Shepherd's Center of
Greater Winston-Salem will
hold training for new volun
teers on Tuesday, Oct. 28
from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at
Salemtowne Retirement
Community. Lunch will be
provided.
Volunteers are needed to
assist with services for older
adults. Opportunities
include providing trans
portation to medical
appointments, grocery shop
ping, performing minor
home repairs and visiting
homebound clients. Mileage
reimbursement is provided.
For more information and to
register for training, please
call The Shepherd's Center
at 336-748-0217.
Substance abuse help
If you or a family mem
ber is struggling with sub
stance abuse, HELP is a
phone call away. The Twin
City Area Narcotics
Anonymous Helpline can be
reached at 800-365-1035 or
online at www.tcana.org.
For meeting schedules and
additional information for
this 12-step Recovery
Program, please call the
number of visit the Web site.
Photos by Todd Luck
Naasira Muhammad with her daughters , Melantha and Treszha.
History on the Move
Black history exhibit visits Winston-Salem
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Locals got a sample of a
massive exhibit that will
chronicle centuries of African
American history when it
opens early next year in
Philadelphia.
In anticipation of the grand
opening, a mini version of the
"America I Am" exhibit has
been making its way around
the nation inside the trailer of
an 18-wheeler. The tour
stopped in Winston-Salem last
week, drawing a crowd of
curious local people as it sat in
the parking lot of the Wal-Mart
on Hanes Mill Road. Wal-Mart
is sponsoring the exhibit,
which is the brainchild of
author and TV and radio com
mentator Tavis Smiley. The
exhibit attempts to answer the
question asked by W.E.B. Du
Bois more than 100 years ago,
"Would America have been
America without her Negro
People?"
To answer that question,
the exhibit uses video, audio
and historical artifacts that
highlight all that blacks have
contributed to this nation. A
video featuring Smiley wel
comes visitors to the exhibit,
which starts with Africa, then
explores the horrific Middle
Passage blacks took to the
The roving exhibit is housed inside a trailer.
Americas, and then slavery,
which is illustrated by the
shackles that slaves wore and a
barnyard trough that slaves
were forced to eat from on
some plantations.
The exhibit shows visitors
the progression of blacks. It
winds through the
Emancipation Proclamation,
Jim Crow and the Civil Rights
Movement, using video high
lights and things such as a
boxing glove belonging to leg
end Muhammad Ali and
recordings by singers Aretha
Franklin and Chubby Checker.
The final panel that visitors
see is labeled 'Triumph" and
features African-Americans of
today who have achieved suc
cess, including current presi
dential hopeful Sen. Barack
Obama. Visitors can leave
their own imprint by recording
a message on what African
American history means to
them.
Winston-Salem State
University student Lakeitha
Hayes was among those who
showed visitors around the
exhibit, which she says even
taught her a thing or two.
"I knew a lot about
African- American culture ...
but different things in here just
showed me a whole other per
spective of what was done in
the African- American commu
nity and what was done in our
culture," said Hayes.
Visitor Andre Little said
"America I Am" was reminder
of the struggles African
Americans have faced and
how much progress has been
Lakeitha
Hayes
made.
"This is real good. This is
eye-opening; it wakes you up
to the way things were back
then," said Little. "Change is
coining, change is happening.
People are changing towards
each other."
Naasira Muhammad said
the exhibit was particularly
meaningful to her since she
grew up in Charlotte during
the civil rights era. She
recalled the humiliation blacks
faced from downtown busi
ness owners and white busi
ness patrons back then.
Muhammad broughU her
s ? ?
daughters, Melantha and
Treszha, to the exhibit to give
c them a taste of history.
"Something like this
makes our children aware that
we have a rich and powerful
heritage," said Muhammad, an
instructional coach at Carter
. G. Woodson School, which
treated more than 100 of its
students to the tour.
Daniel Fuller and his wife,
Caryn, are driving the exhibit
all across the country. He says
the response has been great,
with one stop getting as many
as 1 300 visitors.
"I just feel personally this
story is not a story that's
taught in our public school
systems, never really talked
about," said Fuller.
The full exhibit will
encompass 12 galleries and
more than 10,000 square-feet
when it opens at the National
Constitution Center in
Philadelphia on Jan. 15. It will
then tour the country for four
years.
Muhammad says she's
excited about the full exhibit
and plans to go see it when it
comes to Atlanta.
"We have been building
this country. I am proud about
my legacy," said Muhammad.
"We have done so much for
this country and get so little
credit."
For more information
about America I Am. visit
wwwximericaiam .org .
A Muhammad Ali boxing glove is among the artifacts.
Daniel
Fuller
Some of items used to depict slavery.
FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (3.16) 722-8624 - MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED