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Humanities
February 13, 1981-The Maroon Tiger-Page 5
"Art And Literature Discussed At Emory"
By Cary Patrick
“Art is essentially
triumphant,” said former U.N.
Ambassador Andrew Young to
the keynote session of the
Conference on Black South
Literature and Art. “In whatever
way you express it, you work your
way out of negativity into joy.”
Some 1,500 persons attended
the many sessions of this
conference, held Nov. 20-22 at
Emory University, with some of
the activities at the Neighborhood
Arts Center near downtown
Atlanta and at the Atlanta
University Center. It was the first
time that all the literary veterans
of the Civil Rights movement and
artists from earlier times, back to
the Harlem Renaissance, had
gathered in one place to see
where the art erf the Black South
had come and where it may go.
Art is frequently a product of
adversity, said Mr. Young.
Predicting the political and social
climate of the next four years, he
said: “This is a good period for us
artists, because I don’t nthink
we’ll be very successful for a
while.”
Playwright Ossie Davis,
speaking to the large crowd, said,
“Each artist here recognizes that
he or she is a survivor. As we set
forth into the 80s, the. work of
consolidation must be done. We
know black is beautiful - now
what are we gonna do about it?”
Referring to the struggles of the
60s, he said, “We must
remember the rage. We’re still on
the outside looking in.”
the Atlanta University Center; former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young; playwright Ossie Davis;
David Wilk, director of the literature program of the National Endowment for the Arts; Benjamin
Hudson, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Atlanta University; and Sondra O’Neale,professor
of English at Emory and organizer of the conference.
“Black people have always
been an endangered species,”
warned Margaret Walker in her
address. “We write because we
are compelled to write of our
humanity. But our strength is in
our values of morality and spirit.
We learned to sing a song in a
new land.” The movers and
shakers of the rights movement,
she reminded, were persecuted
Unite!!!
By Wendell Williams
At almost every football
game in the south you’ll notice
someone waving and displaying
the confederate flag in
celebration of a score or victory.
As I watched the Georgia vs.
Florida football game on televisi
on, the camera, at several times
during the game, showed fans
waving the flag back and forth.
It was during one erf those
occasions that if finally dawned
on me that the Confederate flag is
to black people what the Nazi
Swastika is to the adherents, of
the Jewish faith, yet we don’t
seem to realize this fact-or if we
do, we don’t seem to particularly
care. This is dangerous because,
like the Swastika with respect to
the Jews, the Confederate flag
represents a tragic history of
oppression and surpression of
black people in America.
Jewish people raise all out
hell when the Swastika is
displayed in public, and they go
to great lengths and measures to
keep neo-Nazis and their
Swastika in as little lime-light as
possible. Uieir organized and
united opposition has been a most
effective deturent to the spread of
the popularity and power of neo-
Nazism, yet we as black people
tolerate the overt display of the
Confederate flag during public
sporting events.
Many white southerners
obviouslyc talf^ pride imtheiri
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heritage of the old Confederate
South. Doubtless, many of these
same peoppe would like nothing
better than to return this country
back to the “good old days” as
they see it.
Neo-Nazis will never realize
the economic and military power
their heroes once enjoyed under
Hitler, and it is erf a direct result
of the dedication - and perhaps
mere importantly -- the unity of
the Jewish people.
We as Morehouse Men and
the future leaders of the world
must lead the crusade against the
displaying of the Confederate flag
in public because there exists an
undercurrent erf anti-liberal and
pro-conservative feelings among
a large segment of the white
population-perhaps no longer
just an undercurrent with the'
election of Reagan and recent key
judicial decision-which seems to
because they wrote books; words
have great power.
Other keynote speakers
included Albert Murrary, Patricia
Funderburk and Toni '>.(?**
Bambara, who intoned a litany of
warning for the troubled times
ahead: “Where are our armies
and our navies?”
The days of the conference
were filled with workshops on all
the literary forms, as well as
panel discussions, dance classes
and readings by at host of major
authors, including James Alan
McPherson, Etheridge Knight,
Sonia Sanchez, Ishmael Reed and
Toni Cade Bambara. Each session
was attended by at least persons.
There was an all-night open
reading at a local restaurant, and
evening entertainment at a hotel
included dance exhibitions and a
tribute to Holt Fuller, editor of
First World and pioneering editor
erf Black World, the first black
intellectual journal. All during the
conference, exhibits of prints,
drawings and folklore objects
were showing in various places on
the Emory campus, and there was
a continuous book fair.
An important conference
within the conference brougnt
logetner many editors of the
small black press in discussions
sponsored by the Committee on
Black South literature and Arts.
Folklore’s influence was
highlighted by visitors from the
Penn Conference Center at
indicate that this country s power _
.. . . J -T ■. j »Froemore, S.C., the John Henry
elite wants to return these United — “ „ ^ Jt . c
States of America back to the
“good old days,” or at the very
least, take away the civil rights
gains of the ‘60s, thereby
effectively reducing our status to
nothing more than second class
citizens.
In these times erf economic
ills and stagnation we can no
longer afford to underestimate
the symbolism erf the Confederate
flag, nor can we continue to
tolerate the overt and public
. display erf the Confederate flag.
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Memorial Foundation erf West
Virginia, and Miles College.
Oscar Brown Jr., an entertainer
who uses folklore and art as
material and is star of the PBS
series “Jump Stree,” spoke at
the conference.
Popluar discussiem groups
included a look at the “Upsouth
Perspective,” which is the
evidence erf Southern experience
in the national black literature.
the characteristically Southern
influences in black writing, and
on “The Necessity for Black
Biography.” Among the panelists
were Alice Walker, Ernest
Caines, Nelson Stevens, Dudley
Randall, Kalamu ya Salaam,
Ruby Dee, Geral Barrax, Kristin
Hunter and Robert Price.
The Artists in the schools
workshops and panels were
designed to explain new curricula
directly addressed to black
students and their experiences.
Part of the discussion centered on
a warehouse and distribution
system for black-oriented books
that tend to be unavailable
quickly in today’s book market.
Among the speakers on these
panels were Ellease Southerland,
Gloria, Mimms, Lorenzo Thomas,
Trudier Harris and Edward g
Cabbell.
The numerous theatrical
events included performances by
the Congo Square Theatre and
Act One of New Orleans, the
“M” Ensemble Company of
Miami and the Ethiopian Players,
performing such works as “Black
Experience,” “Ritual Murder,”
“Bucket of Blood,” “El Hajj
Malik” and “Sugar Mouth Sam
Don’t Dance No More. ’ ’
Also appearing at the
conference were Ohene Darko,
president and chief executive
officer erf the Continental Africa
Chamber of Commerce, and
Jacob Sou, director of the
Cultural Regional Action Center
of Africa. Mr. Darko spoke of the
opportunities for writers, artists
and teachers to work in Africa,
possibly with grants or financin'
and Mr. Sou discussed exchange
programs between theatre groups
in the Black South and those in
Africa.
Sondra O’Neale, professor of
English at Emory and organizer
erf the conference, suid it was very
successful and would lead to
There were also panels on “The several important results. An
South as Content,” examining artists’ and writers’ colony may
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be established, perhaps at the
Penn Conference Center, and a
National Editors’ Conference will
be a permanent outgrowth from
the Black South meetings.
Essays, video tape shows and
audio tapes will be available, and
an anthology will be published
containing works written for the
conference. (For information on
this and its cost, write to Dr.
Sondra O’Neale at the English
Department, Emory University,
Atlanta, Ga. 30322, or call (404)
329-7996.
The conference sponsors
were the Southern Black Cultural
Alliance, the Committee on Black
South Literature and Arts, Emory
University and the Southern
Collective of African-American
Writers (SCAAW), which will,
establish six new chapters as a
result of the Emory conference,
one of them in Los Angeles.
The conference was funded
by grants from the National
Endowment for the Ats, the
Southern Arts Federation, the
Committee for the Humanities in
Georgia, the Georgia Council for
the Arts and Humanities, the
Fulton County Arts Commission,
the City of Atlanta Department of
Cultural Affairs, the Travelers
Insurance Company, and Emory
University, including the
university’s Afro-American and
African Studies Program, the
Presidents Commission on the
Status Of Minorities, and the
Department of English.
0m«ga Wins
National March
By Darrell Parson
David I. Dent
Psi chapter of Morehouse
College became the National
Marching Champions of Omega
Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated on
December 22, 1980, at the
Omega’s Sixtieth Grand Conclave
held in San Francisco, California.
Representing Omega's
seventh district, the march team
consisting of Deanse Brabham,
William Campbell, Gerald
Brown, Kevan Jackson, David
Ferguson, and Glen Cherry -
ccqlaced first in the competition
with March teams throughout the
nation.
Psi Chapter has won state
and district marching competition
in Augusta, Georgia, and Biloxi,
Mississippi. Additionally Psi
chapter has won the Spelman
College Greek week marching
competition for the past two
years.
For the past three years, Psi
chapter has been • naaed
“Chapter of the Year.”
“Psi chapter has been on the
move for years and now that we
have obtained the ultimate, we
have not stopped moving,” notes
Psi chapter Basilus Deandie
Brabham. < e. . - > c . -. .
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