\
THE BETTER WE KNOW US ...
"Today I am the exact opposite of
what I thought I wanted to be five
years ago," says Mrs. Betty J. Hanes
of Winston-Salem as she reflects on
her career with Wachovia Bank and
Trust Company.
A retail training specialist, Mrs.
Hanes conducts Wachovia's retail
accounts and retail lending programs
for Personal Bankers.
"I spend two weeks out of every
month teaching," says Mrs. Hanes as
she explains that when she graduated
from college in 1971, the last thing
she wanted was to be a teacher.
"I had tried practice teaching in a
high school and decided that wasn't
for me. I didn't realize what a diffe
rence there is in teaching career-
oriented adults. But back then, I
just wanted a job in which I could use
my accounting degree without having
direct involvement with the public,
and I found it as a credit analyst at
Wachovia."
A year later, according to Mrs.
Hanes, she was ready for a change
and transferred into management
training. "This was the real turning
point in my career for I discovered
that what I really enioyed was work
ing with people. I became a Personal
Banker and thrived on the challenge
of establishing personal relationships
with my customers and helping them
solve their various problems. It's
hard for me to beleive there was ever
a time when I didn't want to work
with people."
Her success as a Personal Banker
led to her being chosen to train for her
position. "I completed my certifica
tion as an instructor at a very good
time," says Mrs. Hanes. "Wachovia
was in the process of centralizing and
coordinating its statewide training
programs, and I was given the
responsibility of up-dating and tailor
ing the Personal Banker programs I
would be teaching. I started out up
dating the materials, and I've been
updating them every since. The
banking industry is prone to constant
change, and I enjoy the challenge of
keeping my materials up-to-the-
minute."
Drawing on her own experience,
Mrs. Hanes has personalized her
programs so that the trainees become
familiar with almost any situation
they may encounter as Personal
Bankers. "We don't stop with the
technicalities of how to do the job,"
she emphasizes, "we help them deve
lop professional expertise so that
when they complete the program,
they really and truly are Personal
Bankers. This isn't some kind of
gimmick; we have the real thing for
our customers."
Mrs. Hanes, who was promoted to
banking officer last January, says that
she feels there are numerous career
opportunities for women in banking.
"However, regardless of race or sex,
to be successful in any career, you
have to work hard, have initiative and
be patient. Things don't happen
overnight; it takes time. Perhaps the
most important thing of all is not to be
afraid to move in new directions. Look
at me. I'm doing exactly opposite of
what I orginally started out to do, and
I'm loving every minute of it."
As to her own future, Mrs. Hanes
admits that she is always looking
ahead. "I heve already identified
what I would like to do next within the
bank," she says, "but I realize I need
to do graduate work in preparation for
that step. It may take me a long time
to get there, but 1 know where 1 am
going."
In the meantime, Mrs. Hanes will
busy with a brand new challenge -
that of combining a career with
motherhood. "My husband, Jerry,
and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival
of our first child in November," says
Mrs. Hanes. "I am planning to take a
two months' leave of absence, and
then my mother, Mrs. Margaret
James, will babysit for me so I can
return to work. I am confident that I
can be career oriented and still be a
good wife and mother who is devoted
to her family."
Mrs. Hanes also plans to remain
active in civic and community organi
zations. A graduate of Johnson C.
Smith University of Charlotte, she is a
member of the J.C. Smith General
Alumni Association and is vice
president of both the Winston-Salem
Chapter of the alumni association and
the Delta Omega Chapter of Tau
Gamma Delta Sorority.
She is also hostess of the Persona
lity Club of United Metropolitan
Baptist Church, a member of the
senior choir and journalism com
mittee and is former president of the
Youth and Young Adult Fellowship.
TRIBUNAL
VOLUME I\. NO. 14
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8,1976
.00 PER YEAR
A VIABLE, VALID REQUIREMENT
RESPONDING TO
BLACK NORTH CAROLINA
MEMBER: North Carolina Black Publishers Association
North Carolina Press Association, Inc.
25CElVrS
TU i 4 THI, TRIHIIXAI AmwlM shouUI iic lnter>v>v(>n into the fabric of our ci- ajjainst us. yet we have been able to live throus:h
The 19^6 Editions o! I Hh I KlDlil^AL AiiJ will hlioum nr uuri . c *U l l- lh**m jml fiirhl L Thw livinir nr«nf nf niir
be (leairated to America s bicentennial Cele- vili^tion. In cause we are. except for the Indian. h^iht lm k. I h.s .s l.vinjj proof of our
bration. with emphasis on contributions our Race Am ria s o ( t st«t ni minority. Our in the maklii|i; of America is neither
has made in the making of America, from have help*d make America what it was. ^,.|| |novMi or correctly known. Many positive
birth to the present. and what it i^. since the founding ol Virginia, cdntributions have escap“d historians and have
In 1976 there should not lie a need to lift these Vk t* havt* be‘n a factor in many major issues in ,,,^1 f(iunl their wav inl» iht* pages of many
contributions from isolated sources. Our past our history. There have been many misdeeds hist«»ry IwMiks.
Faye Ashe, Black History Editor
e* will 'strive lo give readers. Black and
white, many little-known facts almut our past
and it is ho|>ed that a propt‘r jMTS|M*clive of our
history will be of value to |M*rsms who may
bellt“\e that as Black people we have aft urt-
v^orthy past: and hence, no strong clainls to
ail rights of other Am4Ti'uns.
FLORENCE SCHOOL AND COMMUN ITY
"What is now the Florence Primary
School has gone through many
changes since its beginning as an all
Black School in the Florence Commu
nity. Mrs. Joanne Delaune, School
Historian was unable to establish the
exact date of the first school. She has
through her research been able to
compile the history of the Florence
School and its community. Mrs.
Delaune spent many hours going
through school records, books and
interviews with local citizens. On
May'20th her research ended with the
presentation of the book to the P.T.A,
which is now in the school library. All
facts cannot be presented here, but
you are invited to visit the Library and
■ read the History of the Florence
School and community.
Continued From Last Week
Leon R. Harris born October 18,
1886, in Cambridge, Ohio, was given
away from the only home he knew, an
Ohio orphanage at the age of eight
years to a white family in the
Kentucky hills. Being a free man he
left them at the age of 12 only to find
he was alone, no family to turn to thus
he knew his education would have to
be achieved. But a determined man,
he managed three terms at the Tus-
kegee Institute. There his trade was
agriculture. Unable to graduate he
wandered north to Iowa in hopes of
attending Dr. George W. Carvers
Schnnl. Having no relatives nor
money, rtls' HSScr tdt & home ancr
identity found him married at a very
early age. He was married to Ger
trude, the 16th child of an Iowa
farmer. This step ending his formal
schooling, but not his thirst for
knowledge.
With need to support his wife, his
jobs varied from construction to
farming. While employed with one
construction company in Danville,
Va., Harris experienced a quite un
natural rainy season. Mr. Harris
boarded a train heading south to High
Point. Arriving at the train station,
Mr. David Blair a collector of Internal
Revenue was looking for someone to
fill his silo's on the Blair Dairy Farm
(a mile or so from High Point). Mr.
Harris agreed to take the job and this
is how he became aquainted with Mr.
Lyon. The Blair's Manager. Mr.
Lyon was a graduate of the Agricul
tural College of New Hampshire, and
he wanted to start farming on his own
in the south. The two liked each other
so when Harris was asked to work for
him, he agreed. Mr. Lyon rented a
farm in the Florence community from
Dr. H. C. Pitts, a dentist in High
Point. The house on the old Bristow
place was where the Harrises would
stay. He then sent for his wife
Gertrude and their five year old
daughter, Henerietta.
The need for a place to worship was
one of the questions Leon Harris
asked his first visitors, the Lindsay
boys (Edward & Charles). Being told
that preaching was once a month,
Harris asked "but you do have
Sunday school?" Being told "no, just
preaching days." The Harris went to
church that following Sunday anyway.
With them they took their Sunday
School quarterly and a song book.
They slipped inside the quaint little
Florence community church (Metho
dist). Gertrude sitting down at the
organ started playing a familiar hymn
they began to sing. The singing in
the church aroused Pressly Raper
who lived nearby (property next to
playground - Rody Lancaster pro
perty) "Having Sunday school, he
asked?" "Yes", Gretrude said. "We
will have Sunday school every Sunday
Want to join us?" "You bet I do",
said Uncle Press. "You all just hold
back a minute til I go get my folks up
here - Praise the good Lord, he
shouted.
The next Sunday more than 30
people attended Sunday School and it
lasted over two hours. Uncle Press
told all the white people that'he's
the same as a precher". He knows all
about the Bible and his wife plays the
organ. This Sunday School exper
ience was the beginning work Leon
Harris considered a privilege doing in
the Florence community. Their
Sunday school was so interesting that
the people hated to see the hour to
come when they had to leave. Then
one Sunday, when all the folks left the
church for a baptism, Mr. Harris in
vited everyone back to the church for
night Sunday school. Everyone came
CONCLUSION
back and that started a community
get-together which grew again into
Tuesday nights as Well. They called
their meetings "Bible readings." This
was carried on something like a spell
ing bee. The four front seats were the
honor seats. Individuals would read a
verse, in return Mr. Harris would ask
for comments. The person best ex
plaining the verse read would get to
sit in the honor seat. No one was
every slighted because they could not
read. Those who could not read
would have their verse read to them.
Brother George Wood and his wife
w‘*re the first white visitors to partici
pate, no white people who ever
attended Bible readings ever refused
sit in the honor seats beside a black
man.
That fall, the Black School Com
mittee asked Leon Harris to teach
their school. He did not want to teach
for he told them "I do not know
enough." He said he could never
pass an examination, get a certificate
and besides he loved the outdoors and
hardwork of farming. But the people
would not accept No, for an answer.
John Joyner, Carl Charles, Jim
Williams drove to the field the next
day where Mr. Harris was plowing.
Carl Charles did most of the talking,
Professor Harris they called him,
we've come to take you to Greens
boro to get your certificate. Now sir,
they said "We know you can teach
and we need you." From that day on,
Leon Harris stepped out from behind
his plow handles. He took the exami
nation and was given a first grad cer
tificate. The Florence community was
very proud because no teacher with a
first grade certificate had ever taught
in their school. That was a four
month term that year in Florence
school. The 1890 building on Bundy
Road. Renovated under Harris gui
dance the community made this
building as modern as possible. The
enrollment was 80 students. That
second year the enrollment climbed to
over 100. Mr. Harris nailed planks to
the seats across the center aisle and
made the larger children sit on them,
while the tots sat on the floor on the
edge of the platform where his desk
stood.
Teaching the children was not
enough for Leon Harris, there were
older people in the community who
had not had an opportunity to learn
to read or write. He told them to
come to the school house with a lamp
on Monday and Wednesday nights for
classes. Aunt Nancy Raper, Uncle
Press second wife was the first one
there. She wanted to learn to read
her Bible. Within two weeks 20
adults came, some in their 20's,
30's, and some even older. Those
adult education classes went from
three R's into modern methods in
farming.
Mr. Harris had produce that same
year - a big crop of Irish Potatoes.
The first big crop every produced in
that area.
The classes in that little school
house changed the hum-drummed life
of these people, for theirs was a life of
new interest and progress. He taught
on simple subjects - history, geo
graphy, health, current events any
thing he thought would interest his
listerners.
A white farmer who had orginally
come from the Blue Ridge wanted
lessons from Mr. Harris, and so Mr.
Harris taught every member of his
family. That same year the commu
nity had a corn shirking, the biggest
corn shucking ever held in that area.
Everyone attended (both black &
white) and when all the corn was
shucked procedure was, a big dinner.
In those early times separate quarters
for the black from the white was the
usual, but this was not the case for
the Harris' and Rapers. Uncle Press
asked the blessing that day in the
white dining area. The longest bless
ing that Leon Harris had ever heard.
Uncle Press prayed for everyone, sick
and well, all the schools and all
the churches.
One Saturday while getting some
grinding done at John White's mill,
Mr. Harris was approached by one of
the Mendenhall's, Robert Borum,
Mr. Ferguson of the school com
mittee. "Professor, you've done alot
for us around here, no one has every
took the time or trouble to teach the
old folks anything. We are glad you
are here and we hope you never
leave." Professor Fouse, Superinten
dent of Guilford County Schools came
out for his usual visit, one day. He
got as far as the door and said
"Where did all these children come
from." Harris told him that these
children all lived in our district, and
that we needed a new and larger
school building before next term.
Leon Harris had heard of the Julius
Rosenwald fund and investigated.
The next time he went to Greensboro
he called on Professor Foust. He
suggested the plans for the new
school. The school committee and
Mr. Harris decided that Florence
school should be built next to the
Florence church being the center of
the community's life, and that the
new school's location be ideal in case
of other contiguous districts to be
consolidated with Florence. This
building should not be less than three
rooms, and the cost would be evenly
divided between the county, Rosen
wald fund, and the people of this
community.
And so it was, spring came when all
the black and white people worked
together to build this new third
Florence school. It was to be called
the Florence Rosenwald School
because of the money from the Rosen
wald Fund. Wil Fuller, John Joyner,
Carl Charles, Roy Cole, Jim Williams,
Mr. Jeffers were just a few of the
people building this school. Trees
were donated from Mr. Fin Hiatts
place, 'good Old Oak." Every sill in
that school house was hand hewn.
The school was almost finished
when Harris' received word that
Gertrude'a father had passed away,
and her mother need to be cared for
because she was blind. The Harris'
knew they would have to go to Iowa
soon. The war in Europe was bring
ing higher wages in defense plants,
and they would be needing more than
$30.00 a month that he received for
teaching.
The day the Harris family left was
long remembered by the Florence
community. As they drove by the
school, final touches were being made
ContfBMd im •
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1776 Honoring America's Bicentennial 1976