THE BETTER WE KNOW US
• •
BUREAUCRACY AND
GOVERNMENT INEFFI
CIENCY
“Our government in
Washington now is a'
horrible bureaucratic mess.
It is disorganized, wasteful,
has no purpose; and its
policies — when they exist -
are incomprehensible or
devised by special interest
groups with little regard for
the welfare of the average
American citizen. This is
not an inherent, unavoid
able aspect of government.
“We must give top
priority to a drastic and
thorough revision of the
federal bureaucracy, to its
budgeting system, and to
the procedures for analyz
ing the effectiveness of its
many varied services. Tight
business-like management
and planning techniques
must be instituted and
maintained, utilizing the
full authority and personal
involvement of the Presi
dent himself.
BUSING
“I do not favor manda
tory busing of children from
their own home communi
ties to distant schools
against the wishes of the the disadvantages of man-
children. This well-inten- datory, wholesale busing.
‘During my administra-
tioned idea has contributed
little to the equalization of
educational opportunity,
has often resulted in a
decreased level of integra
tion over the long term, and
has divided and sidetracked
our efforts toward improv
ing education for all
children. It is a simplistic
and often unsuccessful
approach to an extremely
complex problem. It is
possible to devise a plan
which provides many of the
benefits and avoids many of
tion as Governor, we
evolved in Atlanta, with the
cooperation and approval of
the federal courts, the black
and white community
leaders, and black and
white parent groups, a
busing system which works
as well as any in the nation.
It has four basic elements.
First of all, any child who
desires to be bused can be
bused to another school at
public expense. Second,
the busing must result in
increased integration.
Third, minority groups
must be adequately repre
sented in policy and
administrative positions to
insure fair allocation of
buildings, supplies, and
educational opportunities
to all children. And fourth,
no child is involuntarily
bused to a school outside
the home community.”
When I'm President, 1
will be sworn to uphold the
law and if Federal Courts
rule differently from what 1
believe, I will support the
court.
FEDERAL JUDICIAL
REFORM
“The Attorney General
of this nation must be
removed from politics and
given the full prerogatives,
independence, and autho
rity of his or her own office,
plus those allotted tempo
rarily to the Special
Prosecutor during the
Watergate scandals. The
Attorney General should be
appointed for a specific
period of time and should
be removed from office only
Continued on Page 3
THE TRIBUNAL AID
A VIABLE, VALID REQUIREMENT
RESPONDING TO
BLACK NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME III, NO. 41
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3,1976
$5.00 PER YEAR
3ft CENTS
PRESS RUN 8,500
MEMBER: J^Jorth Carolina Black Publishers Association — North CaroUna Press Association^ Inc.
4 loeesooooooseooeeoooBooo^ k
BICENTENNIAL
BLACK HISTORY
“Lost-Strayed-Or Stolen ”
Extracted From
THE NEGRO ALMANAC
1) y Fay Ashe
The 1976 Editions of THE TRIBUNAL AID
will be dedicated to America’s bicentennial
Celebration, witii emphasis on contributions
our Race has made in the making of America,
from birth to the present. ,
In 1976 there should not be a need to lift
these contributions from isolated sources. Our
past should be interwoven into the fabric of
our civilization, because we are, except for the
Indian, America’s oldest ethnic minority.
We have helped make America what It was,
and what it is, since the founding of Virginia.
We have been a factor in many major issues in
our history. There have been many misdeeds
against us, yet we have been able to live
through them and fight back. This is living
proof of our history.
Our role in the making of America is neither
well known or correctly known. Many positive’
contributions have escaped historians and
have not found their way Into the pages of
Fay Ashe, Black History Editor
many history books.
We will strive to give readers. Black and
white, many little-known facts about our past
and it is hoped that a proper perspective of our
history will be of value to persons who may
believe that as Black People we have an
unworthy past; and hence, no strong claims to
all rights of other Americans.
THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
Social Improvement And Independe
bM toaae
BIsok history ta the Western Hemlgphere jBost
probably begins with the discovery of the New World
by Christopher Colambus in 1942. Blacks are Imown to
liave participated caeanlngfiilly In a number of later
explorations made by Europeans in various parts of the
United States and Spanish America. Facts such aa
these at once fashion a new dimension for Black history
within the mainstream of American history. Inasmuch
as one of the primary purposes of this feature is to
record some historical achievements of the Black, it
becomes most important to offer the reader
chronological accounts through which he can
conveniently familiarize himself with the broad sweep
of American Black history. The years covered here are
1492-1954.
1793: MULBERRY GROVE
GEORGIA
As the eighteenth century grew to a
close, there was a beginning of genuine
racial consciousness. For the first time in
our history, because of the war. Black
men who had been held in one place
moved about, sometimes in considerable
numbers. They were free to exchange
ideas with men from other places, and
because of units formed during the war,
they became accustomed to being
together and acting together. Because of
the war there had to be some political and
social advances for Blacks,
There was an organized effort to
improve the social conditions of Blacks.
On January 1, 1794 delegates from nine
societies organized in Philadelphia, the
AMERICAN CONVENTION OF ABOLI
TION SOCIETIES. Some of the state
organizations were very active and
interested in cases that came before the
courts. The various branches, however,
were not satisfied with mere liberation of
Blacks, and the organizations did
cost me thousands
dollars for the labor and anything they could for the promotion of
sustenance of tree men, welfare of Blacks in their respective
Eli Whitney patents his "hich 1 might have saved communities. Each society was expected
invention of the cotton gin. purchase of Negroes to report to the convention the number of
at times when they were tVeedmen in its States and on their
very cheap. employment and conduct.
1794: PHILADELPHIA
Dedication of the First
African Church of St.
Thomas, the first Negro
Episcopal congregation in
the United States.
1794: PHILADELPHIA
Uuring this post-revolutionary period
Blacks had to seek ways to secure for
themselves a measure of independence.
One of the first Blacks to make the search
for a form of intellectual and spiritual
independence was JUPITER HAMMON,
a slave on Long Island. HAMMON was
greatly inlluenced by the writing of
Charles Wesley and William Cowper. In
1761 he published “AN EVENING
THOUGHT. SALVATION BY CHRIST
WITH PENETENTIAL CRIES". In 1778
he published a twenty-one stanza poem
■TO MISS PHILLIS WHEATLEY".
These were the first compositions printed
by a Black within the limits of the United
States. For a long time these works were
eclisped by the works of PHILLIS
WHEATLEY.
PHILLIS WHEATLEY, another Black
in search of intellectual independence
was born in Senegal, on the West Coast
of Africa, about 1753, and brought to
Boston on a slave ship in 1761.
PHILLIS became the special servant for
Susannah Wheatley and was taught to
read by a daughter in the family. Within a
few years she was composing verses. In
1773 she went to England to care for
Nathaniel Wheatley, and while in
England arrangements were made to
publish her little book “POEMS ON
VARIOUS SUBJECTS" and “RELIGION
AND MORALS". Other poems were
written, among them “LIBERTY AND
PEACE". Her achievements helped the
cause of Blacks.
BENJAMIN BANNEKER was the first
American Black to challenge the world by
the independent power of his intellect.
Having an inventive mind. BANNEKER
made a clock that not only kept time but
also struct the hours. In 1789 when a
commission was appointed to survey
Federal Territory, later the District of
Columbia, Banneker became a member
of the group. In 1791 he began to issue a
series of Almanacs. BANNEKER was
referred to at home and abroad as proof
of the INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY OF
BLACKS.
GUSTAVUS VASSA was not an
American Black, Vassa was born in Benin
in 1745 and at an early age he was
kidnapped and taken to America. He
worked on a Virginia plantation and later
became a servant of a British Naval
Officer. Vassa saved money while in the
service of a Philadelphia merchant to
purchase his freedom. Later he went to
Historical Landmarks
Of Black America
Extracted From
THE NEGRO ALMANAC
FaV Ashe
Organization by Richard |_
Allen of the Bethel Church,
a Negro Methodist Episco
pal Church. Allen and
Absalom Jones are well
known to the citizens of
Philadelphia, having been
commended by the mayor
for organizing Negroes to
minister to the sick and
bury the dead during an
outbreak of yellow fever.
1795: VIRGINIA
George Washington ad
vertises for the return of
one of his slaves although
he stipulates that the notice
for his retrieval not be run
North of Virginia. This
same year, John Adams
writes: “I have never
owned a Negro or any other
slave (even) when it has
No more substantial testimony to the role of the Black
in the growth and development of America can be
found than the numerous historical landmarks in
various regions of the country which are associated with
Black Americana. Many of these-llke the Alamo and
Bunker HUI—are not conventionally known as sites
involving chapters of Negro history.
ARKANSAS: HELENA
The Battle of Helena
Among the defenders of
this Mississippi River port
where members of the 2nd
Infantry Regiment of Afri
can Descent. Black soldiers
fought shoulder to shoulder
with whites in repulsing a
confederate siege of the
city in July 1863. The
experience of one Black
unit stationed there - the
56th U.S. Colored Troops -
is typical of many which
confronted Negroes during
the war. Disease was an
even more potent enemy
than combat. Only a
handful of men lost their
lives as a result of armed
conflict, whereas literally
hundreds fell victim to
disease and poor medical
treatment.
ARKANSAS, Little Rock
Philander Smith College
Opened in 1877 under
the sponsorship of the
Methodist Episcopal
Church, Philander Smith
(then known as Walder
College) was renamed five
years later after receiving a
large donation which en
abled me school to
construct a permanent
brick edifice.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Drotning, Phillip T. A
Guide to Negro History in
America New York: Dou
bleday and Company, 1968
Katz, William Loren
Eyewitness: The Negro in
America New York: Pitt
man Publishing Corpora
tion 1967
Ploski, Harry A. Phe
Kaiser, Ernest The Negro
Alamanac New York: Bel-
luether Company
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
*%r It
PRINCE HALL
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
nee
England where me made his home. He
joined the Anti-Slavery movement and in
1790 presented to Parliament a petition
for the suppression of the slave trade.
In 1789 Vasa published in two volumes
“THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF
THE LIFE OF OLOUDAH EQUIANO, OR
GUSTAVUS VASSA". In his narrative he
vigorously condemns the Christians for
their enslavement of Blacks. Only a
person who had achieved a measure of
personal independence could have
condemned slavery in the language used
in this Narrative.
PAUL CUFFE was one of the most
outstanding Blacks during the post
revolutionary period to search for
economic independence and group
self-respect. He was born on one of the
Elizabeth Islands near Bedford, Mas
sachusetts, his father was an African and
his mother was of Indian descent.
Still in his youth, he persuaded his
brothers to drop their father’s slave name
and use his Christian name for their
surname. Interested in navigation
CUFFE became a sailor on a whaling
vessel when he was only sixteen years of
age, and at twenty he went into business
for himself. After some misfortunes he
was able to purchase a good-sized
schooner, and by 1806 he was the owner
of one ship, two brigs, and several
smaller vessels, besides considerable
property in houses and land. In the
History of Black Americans, PAUL
CUFFE is remembered primarily for
three things: (I) In 1780 he and his,
brother John raised questions about
paying taxes in Massachuttes when
Blacks were denied the privilege of
voting, as a result, Blacks were given the
suffrage in the state in 1783. (2) When a
school was needed near his home,
CUFFE at his own expense built a school
for the children in the vicinity. (3) In
1815, CUFFE took nine families with him
to Sierra Lenone at his expense, hoping
that he might improve their conditions.
PRINCE HALL, was the son of an
Englishman and a mulatto woman of
Barbados. At the age of 17 he worked his
way from Bridgewater, the capital of the
Island, to Boston. In Massachusetts he
was impressed by the lowly state of the
people and he worked to improve their
welfare. He entered the Methodist
ministry and took a firm stand on all
questions relating to freedom and justice.
In 1775, after vain attempts to get
recognition from the American Masonic
Bodies, PRINCE HALL and fourteen
other Blacks initiated in a British Army
Lodge attached to the regiment stationed
near Boston. In March 1784, these men
applied to the Grand Lodge of England
for a warrant. The warrant was issued th
following September to “AFRICAN
Contlau*d oa Vac* *
1776 Honoring America's Bicentennial 1976
iPtaoai