Newspaper Page Text
Vol. I, No. 5
SPELMAN COLLEGE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Wednesday, April 18, 1962
Our Marian Wright Was Here
L. to R. -- Renee Adkins, Bettye Darden, Ann Ashmore,
Josephine Dunbar
Spelmanites To Take
Part In Project
Operation-Crossroads Africa is
conducting its fourth study-work
camp project during the summer
of 1962. The project is operating
in twenty countries of West and
East Africa in a study, travel, liv
ing, and work experience. Each
unit is being joined by an Afric
an co-leader and a group of Af
rican students. There is being
planned ample opportunities for
meetings and seminars with po
litical and government leaders,
educators, businessmen, labor
leaders and village chiefs. The
majority of the time will be. spent
living and working with tribal
groups in rural areas, thus mak
ing possible an extended oppor
tunity to study and gain insights
into the culture, folkways, relig
ion, and family structure of the
people.
Operation - Crossroads Africa
was conceived as an effort to re
late students of high leadership
potential and concerned faculty
members of all religious, racial
and national backgrounds of the
Western Hemisphere to the Afri
can continent in creative, positive,
and constructive ways; to help
them begin a relationship for a
mutually profitable future; to
stimulate and encourage their pur
suit of African studies and prepa
ration for future work with or
ganizations and agencies at work
in Africa; to enlarge our aware
ness and to deepen our under
standing of our need of the people
of Africa and their need of us.
Operation - Crossroads Africa
was organized three years ago by
Dr. James H. Robinson, an Amer-
(Continued on page 4)
dfnuduaf Opportunity Offered
Summer Pr
rogrcun
A unique summer experience
for college students, 18 to 23, is
offered by the 17th annual En
campment for Citizenship — a
six-week “workshop in democra
cy” — to be held in New York,
California and Puerto Rico from
July 1 to August 11, 1962.
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Honorary Chairman of the En
campment for Citizenship, has de
scribed the program as “one of the
best ways that I have seen to
bring before young people in a
vital and interesting way the dy
namics of democracy.”
Conducted on the campuses of
the University of California in
Berkeley, the Fieldston School in
New York City, and at Camp Tor-
tuguero in Puerto Rico, the En
campment provides an opportunity
for students to live, study and
play with alert young people from
around the world, as well as from
all sections of the United States—
representing diverse racial, relig
ious, ethnic and economic back
grounds.
Major areas of study include
government, civil rights and civil
liberties, international affairs,
economics and practical techniques
for civic and community action.
Field trips to government, labor,
management, farm, industry and
community organizations located
in New York, San Francisco and
San Juan supplement the lectures,
workshops and discussion groups.
A varied recreation program
makes use of the rich cultural and
recreational resources of these
areas ,and daily on-campus activ
ities include all summer sports,
folk and square dances, commun
ity sings, etc. A growing number
of colleges and universities grant
academic credit for attendance at
the Encampment or for special
projects undertaken during the
session.
Founders' Day
Activities
Impressive
Beginning Sunday with the
Shirley Verrett-Carter Concert,
setting the cultural tone, the
Founders’ Day activties were as
follows:
TUESDAY NIGHT, April 10,
The Health and Physical Educa
tion Department of Spelman pre
sented Students in Activity. This
years’ theme “Around the World”
was interpreted by many varied
dances and activities.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, in
Howe Hall the Grandaughters’
Club decorated plaques commem
orating the founders of Spelman,
Miss Sophia B. Packard and Miss
Harriett E. Giles. After the me
morial services the Founders’ Day
Luncheon was shared by faculty,
students, and guests. The special
features of the luncheon hour
were the inspiring speech by An
na Hankerson, president of the
senior class, and the introduction
of the new college song.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON,
the reknowned Dr. Theodore
Distler, president of the American
Association of Colleges and Uni-
(Continued on page 4)
Miss Verrett-Carter
Mezzo - Soprano
Appeared Here
Shirley Verrett-Carter, mezzo-
soprano, appeared here at Spel
man College in recital on Sunday,
April 8, 1962. Her visit here is
one in a series of several which
she will make to colleges and uni
versities during the 1961-62 sea
son. All of her campus visits, dur
ing Which she also offers a work
shop or master class for students
interested in vocal music, are
planned by the Arts Program As
sociation of American Colleges.
Miss Verrett-Carter was bom in
New Orleans, educated in Califor
nia, and completed her vocal stu
dies as a scholarship student of
Madame Marian Szekely-Freschl
at the Juilliard School of Music,
from which she received her dip
loma in music.
Numerous scholarships and
-awards have been received by
Miss Verrett-Carter. These in
clude the John Charles Thomas
Scholarship, Marian Anderson
Award, Berkshire Music Festival
Opera Scholarship, and the John
Hay Whitney Foundation Grant.
As winner of the Walter W.
Naumburg Foundation Award,
Miss Verrett-Carter made her de-
. . . And everybody felt her
presence. Marian Wright, of the
•class of 1960, and one of the most
outstanding students to graduate
from Spelman College returned
home on March 26 exploding a
“bomb” which we hope by this
time has infiltrated every Spel-
manite’s mind. She gave a very
stirring message in chapel at 8:00
in which our sleeping, -apathetic
brains were awakened to the in
adequacies which exist in our val
ues, our goals, and in our so-call
ed achievements. All d-ay the stu
dents commented on her brilliant
presentation which attacked the
very roots of the intellectual ap
athy which prevails here.
Marian is now in her second
year at Yale Law School. She
said that she did not realize
her ignorance or lack of intellec
tual association until she entered
an atmosphere like Yale’s, bound
ed by intellectuali-sm. Her senti
ment was directed toward the in
crease of intellectual concern here
at Spelman. “Read -everything you
can get your hands on. Don’t
wa-ste time. Take advantage of the
opportunities open now to Negroes
in various professional fields. De
velop- yourself to your highest po
tentials.” These w-ere highlights
of her address which hit us so un
mercifully.
In two discussion groups in the
afternoon and evening following
her chapel talk, students were able
to talk at length with Marian
about these inadequacies and
What we can do to overcome them.
The subject of grades was brought
up. Why Should so much empha
sis be placed on grades when they
do not hinder the student’s intel
lectual progress? In answer to this
it was brought out that grades
should not be of prime importance
to a college -student. One should
know his limits and capacities. A
reevaluation of education should
come about here as well as an
awareness of the great importance
of eduction today, a point which
can never be overemphasized.
What about our backgrounds?
Many of us come from communi
ties of limited intellectual and cul
tural outlets. It is true that the
small town and the South limit
the individual in college and in
graduate school, but we must ex
pand beyond the provincialism of
our backgrounds and make an
outright effort to partake of the
intellectual and cultural activities
here in the University Center.
How can we start and what can
we do to bring about a more in
tellectual atmosphere here at
Spelman? The first thing to do is
to start with yourselves. All of
you who are interested, gear your
intellect toward a goal. Even
though at first you may be in the
-but at Town Hall in New York in
November, 1958. Her European re
cital debut was made in the Kam-
merspiele Hau-s in Cologne, Ger
many.
In November, 1960, Miss Ver
rett-Carter received the Blanche
Th-ebom Award. She has perform
ed extensively in the fields of re
cital, opera, oratorio, with
the Philadelphia Orchestra under
Leopold Stokoiwski in February,
1960, and with the London Phil
harmonic, Joseph Krips conduct
ing. Miss Verrett-Carter can be
heard on Everest and Columbia
records.
minority, be strong in that posi
tion. Complain about anti-intellec
tual classes and facilities. Discip
line yourselves. Talk with foreign
students to get -a -cross-section of
world opinion on various issues.
Take advantage of the cultural
opportunities such as the museum
and galleries here which have
been recently desegregated. Go to
hear the excellent lecturers who
speak in the center. Demand that
research techniques be afforded
and that independent study be in
itiated in classes. But, in the pro
cess of protesting use the facil
ities available to you now. Read
and then read more, for this is
the key to intellectual: growth.
Marian mentioned that we have
three strikes against us already,
being a Negro, being a woman,
and then being a Negro woman.
The challenge is there, will you
take it?
Ida Rose McCree
Mrs. Brazeal
Spelmanite Earns
National Fame
Mrs. Ernestine Erskdne Brazeal,
wife, mother, teacher, church-
worker, club woman, community
and national leader has- been elect
ed third woman president of the
National Alumnae Council of the
United Negro College Fund and
a member of the College Fund’s
board of directors.
Mrs. Brazeal, a native of Jack-
son, Mississippi and Chicago, Il
linois, -entered the grammar school
of Spelman in the sixth grade and
continued on through both high
school and college. She graduat
ed from Spelman with highest
honors, an A. B. degree with ma
jors in history and English and
certificates in cooking and Sun
day school teacher training. She
obtained her M. A. degree in his
tory from the University of Chi
cago.
Mrs. Brazeal’s first job was at
Washington High School as a
Physical Education teacher.
Spelman then required four years
of Physical Education in order to
graduate. She came to Spelman in
1931 as a teacher in the History
Department. In 1943 she became
secretary in the Alumnae Office.
Mrs. Brazeal’s working time is
(Continued on page 3)
Students who are inter
ested in job opportunities
(under the sponsorship of
the Agricultural Technical
Assistance Foundation) in
the Congo, North Borneo,
Sarawak, and Thailand
should contact Mrs. Seaton,
109 Giles.
(Continued on page 4)