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Alex Haley, a professional writer, became curious about certain
African-derived words that were passed down through seven
generations of his family. This initial quest resulted in Haley’s
tracing his ancestry back to The Gambia of the 1750’s and the ab
duction and shipping to colonial America of a forebear called by his
family, “The African.” Haley, using a narrative history technique,
delves into the mind and emotions of this forebear, Kunta Kinte, and
how he instilled a pride of African origin in his family. “Roots”
relates how this pride of origin was orally transmitted through seven
generations.
The book describes an Africa of much beauty, an Africa whose
climate can provide fertility and a bounty of food and then an aridness
and sun-filled days that sear the soles of bare feet and produce a
scarcity of food.
Haley describes the mind of an African youngster growing up in
his village. Through this youngster’s eyes one experiences the
African culture with its devotion to family, religion, and village. The
reader then feels the cruel wrenching away of Kunta from his village
as he is captured by slave traders, his inhuman treatment during his
trip to the American colonies and finally his sale as a slave.
Haley, with great artistry, relates through the eyes of his Black
ancestors the brutalities inflicted upon them in a slave society: the
hardships, the fears deriving from the insecurity when one’s life is
controlled by others, and the cunningness used for survival. Fear,
Haley shows, was a two-way street as white owners continually
feared Black slave uprisings.
This genealogical journey is most memorable because it also
relates how kindness, dignity, love and affection, and an aspiration
for a better life and freedom did flourish under the most difficult and
debasing circumstances.
Haley’s narrative history is an affirmation of life as he traces his
family from its slave days to his grandfather, who became the first
Black man to own a business in western Tennessee; to his mother,
who was the first in his family to be graduated from college; to his
father, who served as dean of Agriculture at AM&N University and
was an educator for forty years; to his two brothers, one a U.S Navy
architect, the other, the general counsel of the United States Infor
mation Agency; his sister, a teacher of music, and himself an author.
He ends his story with this affirmation: “So Dad has joined the others
(Haley’s ancestors) up there. I feel that they do watch and guide, and
I also feel that they join me in the hope that this story of our people
can help to alleviate the legacies of the fact that, preponderantly, the
histories have been written by winners.”
Alex Haley
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History Is An Experience
By Athea E. Hickson
“You do not know what
you are missing, if you have
never had it,” said an Afro-
American History teacher at
Clark College.
Eugene Walker gave his
views about the study and the
meaning of Afro-American
History in an interview Friday.
“Afro-American History is
a history of the black experience
based on a black prospective,”
said Walker, stroking his beard.
Walker agreed with many
that Afro-American History was
placed in the spotlight during
the Civil Rights Movement.
“As a result of sit-ins,
boycotts, freedom rides and
marches the nation was made
aware of blacks presence,” he
said. “This meant that the
nation wanted to know more
about blacks and blacks about
themselves.”
Walker went on to explain
that blacks should study Afro-
American History so that they
can be aware of their past, and
also that they will know there
was a struggle. Also, if you do
not know your past then you
cannot make plans for a better
future.
Walker said that since the
Civil Rights Movement is over
there is less interest in Afro-
American History. “The initial
concern about Afro-American
Books On Parade To Be Held
Members of the Trium-
verate will be picking up books
on the following days: February
11 and February 25, Monday,
March 7 and Tuesday, March 8.
On Friday, March 11,
“Books on Parade” will be held
in the Quadrangle, Clark
College. For further information
contact: Lydia Clark, President;
Jimmy James, Vice-President;
or J. H. Lottie, Advisor, of the
E.S.D. Triumvirate of Clark
College.
Agnes Scott Holds Forum
On March 11, 1977, the
E.S.D. Triumvirate will again
sponsor the annual book fair.
The theme for this year is
“Books on Parade.” The
purpose of the book fair is to
raise funds for the upcoming
UNCF CAMPAIGN. The E.S.D.
Triumverate is asking that you
consider giving as many books
as possible for this event, so
that they might be able to help
some worthy student receive a
college education.
Eugene Walker
History came about because of a
crisis in race relation, he said.
“In 1976, and in the absence of
that crisis there is no urgency to
know about black folks.”
Even though there is little
interest in Afro-American
History, Walker feels that it will
never be a thing of the past.
“You have a black and also a
white American history and any
scholar will have to look at both
because they are different,” he
said.
Walker graduated from
Drake High School in
Thomaston, Georgia. He
received his B.A. from Clark
College and his masters from
Atlanta University.
“Man, Society and Culture
in the Next 50 Years” is the
topic of a talk by Dr. Amitai
Etzioni, Columbia University
sociologist, Feb. 28 at Agnes
Scott College. The free, public
lecture is at 8:15 p.m. in Presser
Hall.
In his talk Dr. Etzioni will
focus on structures of control
and coordination that are
evolving in organizations and
the implications for human
personality and societal
organization.
Dr. Etzioni is director of the
center for Policy Research, Inc.
He has consulted for govern
ment agencies as well as for a
large number of local gover
nments and municipalities.
Among his research projects are
studies for the U.S. Department
of Labor, the National Science
Foundation and the President’s
Commission on the Causes and
Prevention of Violence.
He has written widely for
professional and popular
journals here and abroad, in
cluding The Wall Street
Journal, The New York Times
and The Washington Post.
Books he has written include
“The Active Society: A Theory
of Societal and Political
Process,” “A Comparative
Analysis of Complex
Organizations” and “Political
Unification.” His work,
“Genetic Fix,” a report and
commentary on a meeting of
geneticists, was nominated for
the 1973 National Book award
in Science. His books have been
reviewed in major newspapers
and journals, including The New
York Times Review of Books,
The American Sociological
Review,. Foreign Affairs,
Psychiatry and Social Science
Review and American Political
Science Review.
Dr. Etzioni earned his
doctorate from the University of
California at Berkeley and his
masters from The Hebrew
University in Jerusalem.