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The SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
Wednesday, February 28, 1962
These Events
Shape Our Destiny
1. The Algeria Conflict
This seven year old warring
drama seems to be entering Act
Three with a climax in view as
DeGaulle optimistically predicts
a settlement. Will Raoul Salon, the
Secret Army leader, accept the
cease fire proffered by DeGaulle -
or will he increase his violent
efforts to unseat DeGaulle and
keep Algeria under French con
trol?
The outcome of this conflict
will influence other protectorates
seeking to become sovereign and
independent states.
2. Francis G. Powers
Francis Powers comes home and
is spirited away from a barrage
of questions. Within the outcome
of this two year old incident are
involved new policy shaping atti
tudes towards secret missions, es
pionage and international intrigue.
3. India
All eyes turn to India as her
210 voting millions go to the polls
to express their faith in Prime
Minister Nehru’s disciple, Menon.
How will the world’s largest de
mocracy, so near to Russia, fare
under the leadership of this 64
year old intellectual who despises
the West, and is a passionate foe
of colonialism.
4. The Phillipines
A political hou^ecleaning under
President Diasdado Nacupagal
promises to correct the naion’s
three biggest problems of corrup
tion, unemployment, and poverty.
5. Cuba
Oastro, the OAS “bad iboy,” has
been ousted and the economical
pinch applied as a punitive meas
ure. What of the Cubans and the
growing wave of hatred?
Mary Ray
18 Spelman Students Join Nationwide
Demonstration In Washington
Peace Group preparing to depart from Spelman.
On Thursday, February 15, a
chartered Greyhound bus took
thirty-three Atlanta students and
four adults to Washington, D. C.,
to join an estimated 6000 students
from all over the country in a
peace demonstration. The demon
stration, sponsored by peace or
ganizations such as the Fellowship
of Reconciliation, the Student
Peace Union, and Turn Toward
Peace lasted from 9 A.M. Febru
ary 16 until February 17 at 6 P.M.
A picket line was maintained in
front of the White House all day
February 16, through the night,
and until noon on February 17.
During the picketing, small groups
of students visited Senators Con
gressmen, foreign embassies, and
White House and State Depart
ment officials. On Saturday af
ternoon, the entire group of stu
dents walked three-abreast across
the Potomac River to Arlington
cemetery, filing in silence past
the tomb of the unknown soldier.
The Atlanta delegation was the
only group from the South, and
one of the first southern groups
ever to participate in a national
peace demonstration. The Atlanta
busload included eighteen from
Spelman (Barbara Adams, Dam-
aris Allen, Dorcas Boit, Rosemary
Braxton, Aingred Dunston, Oecile
Ganpatsingh, Barbara Martin, Lo
is Peters Marily Poles, Neena
Shelton, Patricia Smith, Roberta
Peace Group in Wahington
Spelman As Seen By
Students
Our African
I am very happy to have this
opportunity to be able to say
something in the Sjelman Spot
light.
I am greatly indebted to almost
everybody at Spelman and some
friends outside for the friendship
and kindness that has been ex
tended to me from everyone. In
spite of the occasional homesick
ness, the early breakfast and some
American customs, I must say that
many friends have helped me to
get adjusted fairly quickly. You
will excuse me at this moment
because I must especially thank
my roommate for her patience
with me. You cannot know a per
son too well until you have lived
with her under roof, nearer still
one room! I know what she goes
through living with me, but she
is so patient and understanding —
Thank you roomate.
So far I have liked Spelman’s
environment very much but the
weather, I must confess, to a per
son coming from an almost ever
warm country, has been real cruel
and harsh sometimes. I find it
quite strenuous to move about
with my big coat over my shoul
ders. I am not a very tall person
(5 feet, 2 inches) and I am afraid
that under this pressure I may
have lost some inches by the time
I go back home. However, this is
nature and we cannot blame any
one. When Spring comes I shall
enjoy it as much as I have dislik
ed winter. I used to feel homesick
much more than I do not, but I
remember I got a letter from my
brother early last semester and
this is what he said to me —
•“Do you still feel homesick? You
can go on doing so since it is not
an infectious disease” — I do not
feel so bad now since I have four
years to be homesick.
I am not going to try to com
pare the American educational
system with the British, but I
would like to point out a few dif
ferences I have noted. Under the
British system most of the general
work is done during your high
school education so that when you
go to college you are ready for
your field of concentration. For
the most part of the four or five
years you stay in college, you do
most of the work that has to do
with your major subject. This is
not so here. As I understand it
here you start concentrating fully
on your major in your fourth
year. Another point is that under
the British system the students
almost always do essay work and
can in one way or other, but not
always, get around a difficult
question by a convincing argu
ment. Whereais here most always
questions are objective and either
you know the answer or you do
not, period.
While I am on this point, I
would like to mention one
more aspect of education. You
all have become familiar with the
word cheating. I was very aston
ished when I first came here to
see that students were cheating.
Nevertheless, I have observed the
situation very well, I think, and
frankly I do not blame the stu
dents now because it is the grade
which is the “great director”. It
determines whoi will go to New
York for a conference, who will
have a Merrill Scholarship, who
will go on the exchange program,
who will be on the honor roll.
Why then should not these stu
dents get their grades the easiest
and quickest way? So much for
this.
Socially I have liked Spel
man. There is always something
to do — a party, a movie, a dance,
an interesting lecture, et cetera. I
found American dancing or steps
a bit baffling in the beginning,
but I am getting into the rhythm
now. I was afraid to begin the
Twist in case I upset my insides
but my “teacher” started me off
slowly and I am picking it up
gradually as I am doing with the
other steps.
Let me tell you something which
surprised me and after this I will
be through. I was almost struck
dumb when I first went to Sisters
Chapel and saw that we could
hold conversations as much as if
we were outside. It was pathetic
as it still is to see that it makes
noi difference to us what we do
wherever we are! Anyhow that
first time I waited to hear some
one caution us to remind us that
we were in the House of Prayer
but no voice came. The following
day it was the same. Days passed
into weeks and weeks into months
and like some other things I knew,
that “of course! That’s just the
way I thought it would be.”
More next time.
Constance Nab wire
Faculty members and students,
I would like to express my thanks
and appreciation for the warm
welcome I received when I came
to Spelman. All of the strange
ness I had anticipated was soon
dispelled and replaced with
friendliness, warmth, and under
standing. A cheery “Hello” from
a faculty member would often
dispel homesickness; a smile of
tolerance and understanding when
I poured forth in my strangely
accented English gave me en
couragement; and advice about
getting adjusted to the American
life has been most helpful.
The students have made me
one of them - I am a Spelmanite -
with our common bonds of inter
ests and friendship growing
stronger day by day. All around
me are associates with whom to
share every experience: my dormi
tory sisters, my “hall mates” and
most of all my roommate who is,
indeed, somehow like a sister.
This welcome, this warmth, the
friendly concern, this Spelman
spirit will always be guiding me
wherever I go - a part of me.
Thanks again to everyone!!
Esta Tulyomurugyendo Bezhura
AN EXCHANGE STUDENT
(Continued from pg. 3)
pressed and a bit taken aback
at first with your small student
activated classes. However, in
time I became adjusted to your
approach and rather liked it. In
fact, I even resigned myself to
making student reports, but I do
not relish the thought!
Seriously though, I should like
to take this opportunity to pay a
tribute to my Spelman instructors.
In my literature and music courses,
I found both challenge and satis
faction; through Dr. Boggs and
Mrs. Jordan, I discovered new
pleasure and meaning in these
favorite areas. I took away with
me a deeper appreciation, a broad
ened knowledge, and a more pro
found love that will always re
mind me of Spelman and its ex
cellent professors.
Humorous situations, deriving
from various courses, certainly
livened my stay. I found that I
had to learn the definition of such
words as “Boss” and “Heavy.” In
fact, I was most insulted and
went on a three day starvation
diet, before I realized that being
referred to as “heavy” should not
be taken literally
Outside of my friends, and the
warmth and acceptance which per
meated the air, one of my out
standing recollections will be your
many rules and regulations. I im
agine that I broke more rules in
two days here than in two years
at Wesleyan and I must admit
that I shall not regret returning
to my university’s relatively free
code of behavior!
I could not miss this opportun
ity to salute my room-ma'te; she
is a dear. I am most indebted and
grateful to her and to all of you
who did so much to make my stay
a pleasant one. I shall always
treasure my Spelman experiences
and have with me something last
ing and enduring —a warm feel
ing of friendship.
Chapel will always stay with
me personally as one of the most
moving and rewarding experi
ences on campus. Coming from a
school that has no chapel per se,
only meeting once a week in a
converted room, I deeply appre-
Peace
Smith, Betty Stevens, Leronia
Stokes, Phyllis Umstead, Alice
Walker, Lillie Walker, and Joyce
White), together with Staughton
Lynd of the History Department;
five from Morehouse, plus Doris
Steinmetz, wife of Harry Stein-
metz of the Psychology Depart
ment; one student from Clark, one
from I.T.C., and one from Atlanta
University; an Emory student and
a recent graduate from Agnes
Scott; five high-schoolers, includ
ing Howard Zinn’s daughter My-
la; and Vdnceht and Rosemary
Harding of the Mennonite Cen
tral Committee.
The purpose of the demonstra
tion was to ask the government
not to resume nuclear testing in
the atmosphere, and not to pur
sue its present plans for defense
shelters; and more generally, to
indicate to the President and his
aides that thousands of students
across the nation fervently sup
port a “peace race” and new Am
erican initiatives for peace. The
signs carried by the pickets bore
such slogans as: “Civil Defense Is
No Defense”; “Every Test Kills”;
“We Condemn Both Soviet and
U. S. Testing”; “Neither Dead Nor
Red, But Alive And Free” (Pres
ident Kennedy); and, “I’d Rather
Be.”
The Atlanta bus was made pos
sible by contributions totaling
(Coninued on page 6)
ciated your lovely building and
traditional hymns. Believe it or
not, I anticipated chapel! Some of
my most treasured memories,
ranging from weekly assemblies
to your never to be forgotten
Christmas Concert (take it from
me, I attenled all hree perform
ances!, are intertwined with this,
my favorite Spelman site.
One thing I came to realize, and
would hope that I could help
others to realize, is that when I
read that so many Negroes tested
an integrated lunch counter —
that a Negro was refused serv
ice, I do not see an abstract, im
personal concept anymore, but an
individual, a person much like
myself. I realize the “who” and
“what” that lies behind that small
article, and I am no longer merely
an objective sympathizer.
From my sojourn among you,
I have gathered new hope and
confidence. When people meet
people as individuals, old hates
and prejudices do not matter; they
tend to disappear, and that, I
believe, is the only hope of solu
tion, not only for the race prob
lem, but for the world.
In closing I should like to quote
Mattiwilda Dobbs, indisputably
your most illustrative alumni of
the last half century. I feel that
I also can say with Miss Dobbs
that, “Spelman gave me something
invaluable which has helped me
in my personal life, and this is an
assurance which enables me to
feel at home with peoples of all
races and cultures.”
I shall never forget Spelman,
my wonderful experiences here,
and above all my wonderful
friends. As you read this letter, I
am far away immersed in the busy
life of a Washington seminar stu
dent, living and studying the
many diverse areas of our federal
government. I want you to know
that my thoughts frequently stray
to Spelman with its most cherish
ed friends and memories; I eager
ly anticipate the time when I shall
be able to return to Atlanta and
pay all of you a visit. Unitl that
happy “hello,” I remain most sin
cerely yours,
Mary Katberyn Humm