THE BETTER WE KNOW US
• • •
STATESVILLE-After retiring from 44
years of teaching school, Mrs. Jettie
Davidson Morrison, of Statesville
continued her drive in aiding her
fellowman. Retirement really meant a
change of direction, for now church and
community work are here priorities.
She began teaching in 1926 at Piney
Grove School in Harmony, N.C., prior to
her 18th birthday. From there, Mrs.
Morrison taught in various other schools
throughout Iredell County while spending
IS years as supervisor to the then Negro
schools in the county system.
Mrs. Morrison, in reflecting upon her
years of teaching school when asked
about the changes in the field of
education, slowly and carefully an
swered, “Seeing so many phases of
teaching, I believe that the concept of
team teaching is the biggest change. I
like it, Also special education has been a
big asset to education.”
When Mrs. Morrison retired in 1970,
her eighth grade class of Troutman
Junior High School, along with school
officials and fellow teachers surprised her
with a farewell party. At the time Tom
Poston, Iredell County School superin
tendent, presented an inscribed silver
revere bowl to her honor for "many years
of concerned dedication" to the students
of Iredell County. Receiving the bowl,
Mrs. Morrison tearfully exclaimed, "This
is just too much."
Now that time permits, Mrs. Morrison
spends her time, when not knitting,
working in her church and community.
She is a member of Scotts Chapel United
Methodist Church. She has served as
conference president of the Woman’s
Society of Christian Service for the North
Carolina-Virginia Conference of the
Central Jurisdiction. Also since the
merger of the Black and white churches,
she has served on the Western North
Carolina Conference, working with the
Ecumenical Committee. Locally, she is
coordinator of children's ministry.
Mrs. Morrison is one of those persons
whom one naturally thinks of when one
thinks of the North Carolina-Virginia
Conference. She has completely
represented her conference as Secretary
of Children's Work and as Vice-Presi
dent. To these offices she gave the same
kind of interest, devotion, service and
time that she has given to all of her
endeavors.
Mrs. Morrison has traveled across the
country in the interest of the Woman's
Society. She has accepted the invitation
and answered the call of the Society on
every level, from the local to the division,
to appear in various places and areas and
to give of her services.
Mrs. Morrison, who presently resides
at 204 E. Turner Street, Statesville, is the
widow of the late Charles Morrison,
village blacksmith at Stony Point for 50
years.
Be continuously active and concerned,
Mrs. Jettie Davidson Morrison, is most
worthy of knowing, for the better we
know her, THE BETTER WE KNOW US.
THE TRIBUNAL AID
A VIABLE, VALID REQUIREMENT
RESPONDING TO
BLACK NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME m, NO. 43 WEDNESUAY, MARCH 31,1976
$5.00 PER YEAR
25 CENTS PRESS RUN 8,500
MEMBER: North Carolina Black Publishers Association — North Carolina Press Association, Inc.
►oexaoooooooooooooooaopo^c
IBICENTENNIAL
BLACK HISTORY
[ “Lost-Strayed-Or Stolen ”
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The 1976 Editions of THE TRIBUNAL AID
will be dedicated to America's bicentenniaj
Celebration, with 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 against us, yet we have been able to Hve
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 m^or issues in
our history. There have been many misdeeds
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 win 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 BLACK FAMILY
PART II
Black history In the Western Hemisphere niost
probably begins with the discovery of the New Worid
by Christopher Columbus in 1942. Blacks are known to
have participated meanlngfnlly in a noml>er 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 tills 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.
FRUSTRATION, HERITAGE
Years of frustration of futility.
Life of a woman, black, just like me.
Seeing her husband, watching his face,
As he tolls without gaining his rightful place.
No place for her husband, deaf ears to his plea,
Denied for the reason, he’s black, just like me.
Though they set their goals, their standards high,
Their plans for a lifetime whither and die.
She pretends not to notice the pain that shows there,
As she watches his eyes try to hide his despair.
She nurses his children on the milk of their plans,
A vision for their future above any man’s.
1803: INKW YORK CITY
Blacks of New York
actually succeeded in
buring parts of the city and
CALIFORNIA,
FOLSOM LAKE:
“Negro Bar” Maker
Folsom Lake now covers
in destroying several the site of an old mining
homes. Some are arrested, camp anonymously associ-
but others remain at large ated with black gold
until they are caught and miners. Remains of these
convicted of arson, intrepid pioneers have been
1804: OHIO reburied at nearby Mormon
The
enacts the first of thefl
“Black Laws'
the rights and movements j # i i • I
Of Black America j
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 HiU-are not conventionally known as sites
involving chapters of Negro history.
families with females as
head of the family. This
condition is the result of
economic insecurity of
men and iliegitmacy.
There is also in the
“lower-class” a “church
centered’’ core of families
that endeavor to maintain
stable family relations
despite their economic
insecurity.
Occupational differenti
ation of the Black popul
ation in Northern city has
made possible the emer
gence of a substantial
middle-class. The middle
class is comprised largely
of clerical workers and
persons in the service
A future of joy, of success, and of hope,
Is not for these children, they too, must grope,
Through a life of frustration, of futility,
For they too, must pay. Since they’re black, just like
me.
Migration of Blacks to background and ignorance, occupations also profes-
Northern Cities has result- the Black man entered sional workers and busi
ed in much disorganization modern industry as an nessmen. Perhaps the most
in the Black family, unskilled worker. These important addition to the
, , , „ Because of a rural Blacks were among the middle class family in
Ohio legislature Island Pioneer Cemetery. ... , , ■;
° — ^ , lower-class families and Northern Cities has been
families of Industrial work-
the ers, especially Skilled
restricting iHistorical Landmarks' large extent
I
states soon follow suit. _____J found a large proportion of head of the family has the wife.
(Illinois, Indiana and Ore
sufficient economic security Although the husband or completely subordinate,
to play the conventional father in the middle-class There is a spirit of
deteriorated areas. In this workers. Among this occu- role of provider for his Black family is recognized democracy in the family
“lower-class", could be pational^ class the male family without the aid of as the head of the family, because much cooperation
the wife and mother is not Continued on Page 8-
gon later have anti-immi
gration clauses in the state
constitutions.)
1805: NEW YORK CITY
Birth of the great Black
tragedian, Ira Aldridge.
Educated in the African
Free School. Aldridge
made his stage debut in a
play called “Pizarro". later
Livingstone Collegers 122nd Observance
CALIFORNIA,
FREMONT PARK:
Fremont Park State Park”
John C. Fremont - soldier
tions, while Saunders
Jackson, likewise a servant
SALISBURY--This the can Council on Education,
Founder’s Day address Washington, D.C.
delivered by Dr. Broadus The occasion was one
N. Butler, director of hundred and twenty second
leadership development in observance of the birth of
president of Livingstone
College, Dr. Joseph
Charles Price, February
12, 1976. Many thanks to
Livingstone College and
studied in Scotland, played re . i
^ ■ ot fortune, explorer, writer.
Othello in London, and
politician - was a key figure
in the development of
California and in the war
which was fought against expedition ended
Mexico to make this vast Fremont and his
territory a part of the
Union.
Fremont led four explor
atory and mapping mis
sions into California, and
thus extending previous along Blacks on two of land he owned, Jackson
restrictions which had ^
established the proper age ^
and property qualifications premont's father-in-law,
as the only conditions to be sg,,3,jhomas Hart
met before residents would Bg^ton, accompanied the
second of these . expedi-
toured Ireland and the
Continent. In his prime.
Aldridge was ranked
among the world's great
actors.
1807: NEW JERSEY
The state alters its 1776
Constitution by limiting the
vote to free white males.
of Benton, volun
the fourth in order to raise
the $1700 needed to buy his
family's freedom.
After considerable hard
ship. the ill-fated fourth
with
party
finally arriving in California
via a southern route. Once
there, Fremont discovered
that, in his absence, gold
had been discovered
teered for education, Ameri- the founder and first Dr. Broadus for allowing us
be allowed to vote.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Drotning, Phillip T. A
Guide to Negro History in
America New York; Dou-
Amerlca New York: Pitt
man Publishing Corpora
tion 1967
Ploski, Harry A. Phe
bleday and Company, 1968 Kaiser, Ernest The Negro
Katz, William Loren Alamanac New York: Bel-
Eyewitness: The Negro in luether Company
was given permission to
prospect for gold and,
w ithin a few days, had dug
out nuggets valued at
$1700. He then returned to
Missouri, emancipated his
family as planned, and
disappeared from history.
Having become a mil
lionaire. Fremont, whose
political ideology was
abolitionist, was to exper
ience several ups and
downs
to share parts of his
address with our readers.
We feel that is a warning as
well as a challenge in his
address.
We offer the same to our
readers in two parts.
PART ONE
What is needed of us
now, especially now, is a
new unapologetic drive for
intellectual and spiritual
leadership and a renewed
dri ve within the main
currents of national and
community political, econ
omic and cultural partici
pation. These must be
combined with a determi
nation to be universal
people, to be fully
of every group and sector of
manking both here and
abroad. We must share our
experiences and learnings
especially with those with
whom we have shared the
deprivations and the hum
iliations of the two
centuries past. We cannot
alone overcome, nor can
they alone fulfill. That is as
it were meant to be, and
that is why our nation is
still bound to us for its final
historical realization.
All of the negative
conditioning which we have
nation and of mankind.
This should be no more! No
longer! Neither in our
institutions, in our civil life,
nor in our persons si. 'uld
we ever again withdraw
from the mainstreams of
American life, culture and
civil obligation.
We must be one, united
in commitment to the
highest ideals of nation
hood, and we must emulate
and be one with the
thinkers and doers who are
still seeking to have unity
endured in the process of and harmony prevail for
our being educated and all
of the lack of support of our
legitimate aspirations to
pursue the arts and
sciences of learning hjave
taken their toll by impeding
our opportunity to fully
demonstrate and mature
our earning poetentiality as
integrated into every high a group. More than that, it
reach of American life has impeded our opportun-
while lending the fruits of ity to fully use our abilities
our historical knowledge, and the learnings which we
talents and service to the have acquired In the larger
broadest uplift and benefit service and benefit of our
and among all mankind.
That has been our hidden
role all of the time, and now
is the time to openly fulfill
it in the highest.
We have given of
ourselves, our lives, our
souls and our minds-even
at times in subservience to
evil and wrongdoing--to
help develop th^s nation
and to set our native land
aright in its human aspect.
We must now refine and
Continued on Page 4
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1776 Honoring America s Bicentennial 1976