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THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
April, 1967
The Spelman Spotlight
Published monthly
by the students of Spelman College
Cynthia Smith, Henrietta Turnquest, Guest Editors
Anna B. Porter, Editor-in-Chief
Andrea Williams, Associate Editor
Henrietta Turnquest, Business Manager
Melody McDowell, Yvette Savwoir, Feature Editors
Cynthia Smith, Literary Editor
Margaret Mills, Cartoonist
Joyce Akridge, Berdie Ricks, Photographers
Layout Staff: Yvonne Jackson, Marjorie Rich, Eileen Bass, Joyce Young
Advertising Staff: Eileen Bass, Luella Nichols, Phyllis Johnson
Poet-in-Residence: Joan Gaillard
Contributors: Marilyn Hunt, Janice Holloway, Ruth Baety, Jane Smith,
Lillie K. Walker, Alice Graham
News Editor: Chris Singleton
Dr. Richard Carroll, Faculty Advisor
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Spelman Spotlight is published monthly by students of Spelman
College. We welcome articles and letters to the editor from our entire reading
public. These letters and articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
the Spotlight Staff or the majority of Spelman students. We also welcome
advertisements, but do not necessarily support the views of our advertisers.
Monthly deadlines will be posted.
Reflections on Founders’ Day
Spelman’s 86th anniversary was commemorated on April
11, 1967. What did this mean to the seniors, who for the first
time, donned their caps and gowns symbolizing the culmina
tion of four years of hard work and/or getting by? As I sat in
Sisters Chapel with my fellow classmates, I asked myself what
Founders’ Day meant to me after four years at Spelman.
I thought about the instructors who supported me in say
ing that Founders’ Day was a waste of time or that it was
another useless tradition imposed on the new Spelman woman
by the college administration. Is Founders’ Day really an
empty meaningless tradition? In order to place the present in
the proper perspective isn’t it necessary to appreciate the
forces that have lead an institution to its present situation?
I don’t know if Miss Packard and Miss Giles founded
Spelman Seminary out of purely Christian motives or out of
an attempt to alleviate their guilt. Nevertheless, Spelman
was founded. The Rockefellers may well have used money
made with the labor of our black brothers to endow Spelman
College. I regret the injustices my people suffered so that this
college might be financed. Spelman may have graduated
“freaks,” but Spelman has also graduated many outstanding
women.
Founders’ Day is a commemoration of Spelman’s develop
ment. It challenges, not only the faculty and administration,
but each student to make Spelman College a good black col
lege which encourages black women to take part in and help
create a brave new world. Founders’ Day, in a sense, should
bridge the gap between Spelman’s past and its future.
by Alice Graham
Eighty-Six Years—
HOW MANY MORE?
The predominately Negro college has recently been buf
feted about in conversation and thoroughly criticized in so
ciological studies. Some view these institutions as fossils left
from a bygone era when Negroes just couldn’t do any better.
Others (Reisman and Jencks, Harvard Educational Review)
have called them an “academic disaster area.” If we believe
the studies, the Negro college is certainly doomed and either
must change into something unrecognizable or close its doors.
Spelman College has survived eighty-six years in the midst
of war and social upheaval. Can we exist for eighty-six more?
Despite the cries of the prophets of doom, there is a need for
small colleges such as Spelman, Morehouse, Clark, and Morris
Brown. All students cannot enroll in the huge state and pri
vately endowed universities. These students, whatever their
color, must look to the small college for their education.
There are several things, however, that the smaller colleges
in general and Spelman in particular must do to stay alive.
These colleges must realize that as they improve their physical
surroundings, the excellence of the faculty and students who
work in those buildings is what matters. The small college has
more of an opportunity to devote attention to its gifted stu
dents. There can be high potential-low achievers in college as
well as secondary school. These students should not be neg
lected.
There should be a kind of cohesiveness between adminis
tration, faculty, and student body in the small college. All must
work together to achieve a measure of excellence.
Keepers of Tradition?
On April 2, Atlanta University opened its 26th Annual
Exhibition of painting, sculpture and prints by Negro artists.
Congratulations are certainly in order for those Spelman stu
dents whose work was accepted in the show.
The Annual Exhibition was originally started as a national
Negro art competition, and the most outstanding Negro artists
from all over the country sent their work to be a part of this
competition. In recent years, however, there has been growing
concern about the prestige of the art show. Because of the
tradition behind it, Atlanta University’s Annual Exhibition
ought to be one of the most outstanding competitions in the
art world. There are several factors, however, which have had
the effect of limiting its influence.
First of all the competition prizes are not very large, and
the University employs a policy whereby all of the prize-win
ning work in the various categories become the property of
Atlanta University’s art collection. This would be a wonderful
thing if the gallery had a wider outreach and drew more art
admirers, but located as it is in the basement of Trevor Arnett
library it draws few people, and many students are not even
aware of its existence. Another factor is that the judges of the
competition are usually regional judges who are conditioned
perhaps by certain ideas of what Negro art ought to be. In
recent years there has never been a Negro involved in the
judging, and certainly there are qualified Negro art experts
who would be equally able to judge the quality of the work
submitted.
Because the outreach of the show is limited and because
of the lack of an integrated panel of judges who have national
rather than regional points of view and also because of the
purchase prize policy, many of the more outstanding Negro
artists do not send their work to the Annual Exhibition be
cause they prefer the larger prizes and larger critical audience
they can get in other places. It is regrettable that our students
do not get to see in this show the work of such prominent
artists as Hale Woodruff or the work of some of the prominent
younger artists and sculptors like Norman Lewis, Jacob Law
rence, Richard Dempsey, John Rhoden, Geraldine McCul
lough, and Richard Hunt.
There was a time when the Annual Exhibition was the
only outlet for Negroes’ artistic talent and the University is to
be praised for its encouragement of Negro art during those
crucial years. Today, however, Negro artists are no longer
limited in this way and many opportunities are now open for
them to move into areas that were formerly closed to them.
Since Negro artists have these opportunities there are those
who would argue that the Exhibition should not remain a
Negro exhibition and that the University should not worry
about maintaining its prestige among Negro artists. For every
race, however, there ought to be some institutions that will
serve as keepers of tradition, as keepers of the cultural heritage
of that race. The Atlanta University art collection ought to be
one of the best known collections of the best of Negro art not
only of the past but also of the present, and the Annual Ex
hibition ought to be a gathering place for the work of the top-
ranking Negro artists in the country. More publicity ought to
be given to the art collection so that it might be one of the
main attractions in the center. If a revision in policy would
secure these ends, such a revision is well worth making.
—Cynthia Smith
CONGRA TULA T/ONS
To The
Teachers of the Year
DR. GRACE SMITH
Acting Chairman, Music Dept.
DR. VINCENT HARDING
Chairman, History Dept.
Letter
to
The Editor
Dear Editor:
Upon contemplating the na
ture of the average Spelman
woman, I became disquieted
by the lack of individuality,
for it seems to me that certain
faults we Spelman women
have stem from an acute case
of “Follow the Leader.” We
cannot venture above the
norm of pierced ears, perma
nents, tent dresses, and Kool
cigarettes. Nothing’s more im
portant than the trivialities of
Seventeen, Gordon Road and
U.P.A. parties . . . except
maybe outsmarting teachers
and parents.
Why is bid whist a pastime
and giggling a habit? Why is
marriage a goal and a ring
cast aside each weekend?
What is of value? . . . What
everybody else does?
The Spelman woman and
every other woman is falling
from her pedestal and wad
dling in the dirt. We have no
individual sense of values, no
individual goals, no personal
ideals. We have brains that we
can’t see through our make-up
. . . our vanity . . . our pride,
or lack of real pride. We have
more apathy and superficiality
than we have individuality and
yet women everywhere pattern
after us. Yes, we are apathet
ic. We don’t really care about
morals, humanity, war, death,
or God. Yes, we are super
ficial. Take away our fine
clothes, good looks, and pres
tige and we are nothing, ex
cept potential going to waste.
Good minds are rusting away.
We don’t use our heads; we
act on impulse and think with
our hearts. So what, the More
house men still love us . . .
don't they?
We at Spelman must set a
new pace for ourselves and
other women. We must get out
of the age old rat race to the
top of the social ladder, get
out of the bag of apathy, get
from behind the “Max Factor”
and show our beautiful minds,
and get out of the group to
save our individuality. Our
poise, charm, and beauty are
not enough . . . they are some
what superficial anyway!
What you see in the mirror
is not really you, but what
others see — unless you can
show the world that there’s
more to you than “Ambush”
and short dresses; than super
ficial thinking, superficial
charm, and superficial love.
Let it be known that you are
a unique, progressive, clear-
thinking INDIVIDUAL. DO
YOU REALLY, REALLY
KNOW YOURSELF? WILL
YOU EVER REALLY
CARE?
—Marilyn Hunt