DRESS FOR
BODY ART
With tattoos
and piercings
so common,
dress codes are
changing
Business/6C
Volume 32 No. 6
JCSU
events
2 include
I
Monica
and 112 in
concert/1 B
and 3B
TRUE TO THEIR
A
school: IT’s ^
HOMECOMING g
SEASON
^ mI #1
W()e Ci^arlote
$1.00
The Voice of the Black Community
Giving
voice to
black
history
Oral project
opens doors to
pity’s past
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
What began in tire 1990s as
an oral history project for stu
dents has turned into an
opportunity for the whole
community
“In the late 1990s it became
obvious that the Afiican-
American experience and his
tory was not being accurately
docmnented [in Charlotte],”
said Barbara Turman-
Ferguson, an African
Diaspora cultural advocate.
“I have children and
grand[children], and I
thought it was important for
them to be empowered by the
experience of African-
Americans in the communi
ty”
After seeing what needed to
be done, Turman-Ferguson
felt young people should be
trained to conduct int^views
in the community She began
with five students fiom
Garinger High School who,
with recorders, did inter
views in the community “If
they did the interviews, they
could live the experience
through the interviews and
be empowered,” Turman-
Ferguson said. “We didn’t
want to focus on hi^ profile
luminaries of the community
You can teU the stories
throu^janitors at schools, or
man at grocery store.”
Over the years the project
got bigger, and started to
include other people, includ
ing Melinda DeMaris, who
interviewed her husband,
who then went on to UNC-
Chapel Hill and Duke
University to make other con
nections, as well as Robert
Smith and Karen Flint, pro
fessors in the Departmait of
History and Afiicana Studies
at UNC Charlotte.
UNCC hosted a one-day
symposium in September
titled “From Brooklyn to
Biddleville: Memories of
Charlotte’s First Urban
Renewal Project.” The event,
sponsored by UNCGs depart
ments of history and Afiicana
studies, the Afro-American
Please see ORAUeA
Also serving Ca 28216 S14 PI
^ ... lasies B. Duke Library
c 100 Beatties Ford fid
•* Charlotte KC 28216*5302
Designs on
tomorrow
PHOTOS/ERICA SINGLETON
SaKenya Vaughns, a eighth-grader at Martin Luther King Middle School, draws a top as part of die
Fashion in the Schools program launched by fashion designer Cary Mitchell. Students will develop
and vote on a new school uniform - a first in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Middle school uniform project opens student opportunities
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Fashion designer Cary
Mitchell’s new design program
creates excitement at Martin
Luther King Jr. Middle School,
Mitchell has been called
“designer to the stars,” but with
his newest project the title
designer to students is more
appropriate.
Mitchell created Fashion in
the Schools, a program launched
this month at the school located
in the Hidden Valley community
in north Charlotte.
“The program was kind of a
spin-off from the experience
from designing the Charlotte
Bobcats’ new uniform,” Mitchell
said-
Known for his work with
designing clothes for fhe sports
community, Mtchdl, along with
an eighth-grade design commit
tee and a sixth- and seventh-
grade design viewing committee
will develop a school uniform at
that students can take owner
ship of
“The school is really excited,”
Mitchell said. “[Due] to the
Charlotte fashion designer Cary Mitchell (top, left) pulls the design
team together during a brainstorming session. The Martin Luther
King Middle School students are designing new school uniforms.
music industry, the words design
and fashion have real crossover
...they’ve made it cool.
Everybody wants to be a design
er because of Qiip hop stars) Jay-
Z and Ihiffy or whatever, so it’s
made it a buzzword.”
MitoheU meets wilh the design
committee at least twice a wedc.
They talk about fabrics, looked
at olher schools’ uniforms, ■ and
created handouts with clothing
templates for students to sketch
their own designs.
“The way you readi the urban
kid, to me, is really throv^
music, sports and entertain
ment,” Mitchell said. ‘Fashion
kind of crosses over into the
music genre now. It’s a way to
catch them ...to create a buy-in
for the uniform.”
Despite studies that have
shown the positive impact of
school uniforms. King Middle
Please see DESIGN/7A
Obama giving thought to 2008 presidential eampaign
By Brandon Perry
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
INDIANAPOLIS - After say
ing for months that he intended to
service his full six years ip. the
Senate, Sen. Barack Obama of
Illinois reversed field Simday
admitting for the first time that
he is at least considerii^ a run for
the White House in 2008.
Speaking on “Meet the Press,”
Obama said: “I am still at the
point where I have not made a
decision to — to pursue bi^er
office,” he said. ‘3ut it is true that
I have thought about it over the
last severalpnonths.”
Appearing on the cover of Time
magazine last week, Obama has
been urged to seek the
Democratic nomination, though
he has been in the Senate less
than two years, Currentiy he is
on a national publicity tour to pro
mote his new book, “The Audacity
of Hope.”
Earlier, Obama made a rare
stop in. Indianapolis.
The popular and charismatic
politician visited the Circle City to
support and attend a fund raiser
for Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth
and Baron HiU - Democrats run
ning as challengers in three of the
nation’s closest congressional
races (2nd District, 8th District
and 9th District, respectively).
Obama convened a brief news
conference to' discuss why voters
should support the candidates,
but much of the discussion was
devoted to his thoughts about var
ious issues.
Please see OBAMA/2A
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS
Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
visited Performance Learning Center in
Charlotte last week.
Readiiiig
out to
Uberio
Charlotte benefit brings in
$250,000for education
By Herbert L. White
Fierb.vvfiife@)hechQffoffeposl.com
A Charlotte fund raiser will help Liberian
girls continue their education.
President EUen Johnson-Sirleaf praised
Charlotte’s support for the Liberia
Educational Triist Fund during her visit
h^e last week. A private fund raiser tallied
nearly $250,000, which Johnson-Sirleaf said
will be used to support girls education in 1.1 le
Afiican nation.
“This additional money will enable us to
expand that and to also enable us to staii: oiu*
literacy program for market womeiL,”
Johnson-Sirleaf told The Analyst, a newspa
per in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital.
The trust fund collects money to build
•schools, hire teachers and provide scholar
ships for ht^acy programs. Fourteen years
of civil war destroyed much of Liberia’s edu
cation system. Peace was r^tored in 2003,
but education facilities are in short supply
In addition to the reception, Johnson-
Please see CHARLOTTE/2A
*eb0X
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Farrakhan
offers thanks
for support
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO - Nation of Islam leadei*
Louis Farrakhan has made his fii-st
public comments since
he issued a letter to his
followers last month.
saying he was s^ously •
ill.
Farrakhan, 73, called
in to a program on
Chicago’s WVON-AM
this weekend, saying he Farrakhan
wanted to thank those who have
offered him their best wishes, the
Chicago Defender reported.
“Let me thank God because he has
Please see FARRAKHAN/3A
nade ms ru’st
I
New technology can help homeowners
save money and water /6D
Life 1B
Religion 5B
Sporte 1C
Business 6C
A&E 1D
Classified 3D
INSIDE ReliaionSB B'usinessSC Classified 3D Recycle
To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.© 2006 The Chariotle Post Publishing Co.
• •Ol