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THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
November, 1967
the Diary of a Historian
Dr. Drimmer
in Ghanaian garb.
University of
Ghana, Accra
Dr. Drimmer
From
Dr. Melvin Drimmer, Pro
fessor in the Department of
History at Spelman has re
turned from a year’s sabbatical
leave. During the previous
academic year, he studied Afri
can History at the School of
Oriental and African Studies,
University of London, on a
grant from the Ford Founda
tion and the Non-Western
Studies Program of Atlanta
University Center. His train
ing enabled him to be the first
American to do research using
the DuBois papers, at Ghana
Academy of Sciences, Univer
sity of Ghana.
In connection with his study,
Dr. Drimmer completed a
book entitled BLACK HIS
TORY, A RE-INTERPRE-
TAT ION, a collection of thirty
recent essays. Other plans are
being made to release a book
on W. E. B. DuBois which
will appear in 1968. So ac
complished is our professor,
that he was asked by the
American Historical Associa
tion to be a commentator in
Toronto, Canada, December
29, 1967 at its next meeting.
Printed below are some ex
cerpts from the diary that Dr.
Drimmer kept during this past
summer. The remaining ex
cerpts will be printed in the
next issue of the paper.
Rome: July 29 ... I finished
at 1:00 A.M. Bloke Modi-
sane’s great autobiography,
Blame Me On History. The
book interestingly mirrors the
development by a South Afri
can Negro of an attitude which
is heard today in America
about violence. A very reveal
ing and moving book . . .
Rome is loaded with thousands
of American women walking
in bunches and talking non
sense and money—there seems
to be little enjoyment of the
city . . . Rome has turned into
a high class Coney Island.
Went to the Sistine Chapel. It
was so crowded that I soon
left and went to the Via Vene-
to to sip some orange juice
and keep cool and watch peo
ple march by ... As I look out
the window of the plane I see
the desert of Eastern Algeria,
Niger, and Northern Nigeria,
30,000 feet below are sand
colored little mountains—it is
lifeless and very hot according
to my companion—120-140
degrees. At night he has seen
the flames of the huge oil re
fineries and wonders what the
men there do in the middle of
the desert.
There are many Italians on
this Alitalia plane—they are
on their way to Africa working
for construction companies.
Russians are on the plane also,
some in first class—and a few
Israelis, some Americans, a
few missionary types, a Japan
ese couple with their children,
a Syrian merchant, and some
African students returning
home along with some govern
ment types. So for the flight
itself, there is little difference
between this and American
flights. But there is a different
type flying on this plane—has
an air of a buccaneer’s galleon
—all going to Africa for for
tune—few women and chil
dren. Also plane has more pro
letarian types than found on
American planes —- workers,
students—and a few that are
well dressed—looks like bus
taking men to work. Israelis
have tough muscular look —
open-necked shirts, mainly en
gineers . .. Russians are fat
and short and dressed gener
ally in a very bourgeois man
ner (these went first class!) —
some other Russians are in
tourist class with us. This plane
is a “ship of fools”—with Ital
ians driving.
The plane landed in Lagos
we were ‘advised’ to have re
freshments in the terminal
while the plane was searched.
Inside we drank Coca-Cola,
saw Hausa traders selling com
mercial art, and met some of
my passengers who were going
to Accra, including an Ameri
can doctor from Minnesota
who had spent some years in
the bush, and a Ghanaian who
was a high official with UN
ESCO.
August 1: Settled at the Uni
versity of Ghana
Early impressions ... the
road so dark at night—there
are the cricket noises and bird
calls which I have never heard
before . . . this huge and imag
inative campus spreads out like
a city, some four miles square,
with two and three story build
ings and tile red roofs in a
Chinese style (?)... a red
Mercedes down the road while
an African woman carried a
pail of laundry on her head . . .
the lack of socks on the work
ers.. . the modern new dormi
tories being constructed on the
campus, with balconies, and
the African workers — like
English workers — having a
snack with the difference that
women in Ghana cook the
meals . . . the government offi
cial driving up in a car and a
policeman saluting and com
ing to strict attention ... the
numerous young people—boys
—doing clerical jobs . . . the
Chinese-made matches . . . the
picture at the Lagos airport, of
a Colonel Gowan, head of the
federal government, reading
“To Make Nigeria One Is A
Task That Must Be Done”—
the room at the Ghanaian air
port saying “Private V.I.P.’s
Only”—Most important . . .
the weather — a damp cool
breeze that permeates every
thing and makes all things
damp—it is the end of the
rainy season . . . weather out
side is much cooler than in
Rome.
Breakfast at the university
consisted of English style
breakfast — bacon, egg, tea,
toast, butter, marmelade . . .
This huge campus is on a scale
and with a style I have never
seen in America . . . the book
store is magnificent. . . com
pare it to our so-called book
store at A.U. Center . . .
Downtown Accra. The peo
ple live and work on the streets
—literally thousands—all busy
and eating and minding chil
dren and selling and working.
There are hundreds of stalls
and shops and street sellers . . .
Some of the buildings are mod
ern . . . but throughout the
downtown area there are open
sewers which smell, although
not as mad as one would think
... In the stores there are huge
quantities of Ghanaian made
products such as canned fruits,
beers, matches and cigarettes,
soft drinks, clothes, and even
Ghana assembled Datsun mo
tor cars . . . loads of Coca-
Cola signs everywhere . . .
Everywhere people busy and
working . . . tailor shops and
leather workers with their open
air stalls and sewing machines
going . . . also open air furni
ture factories ... the Ghanaian
craftsmanship is something to
see . . . spent some time ob
serving Ghanaian school chil
dren at play outside their
school, which looks like a
huge Quonset Hut. . . they
were having great fun—danc
ing and singing and playing
soccer, with girls and boys in
modified British style school
uniforms . . . also some chil
dren in Boy Scout uniforms. . .
later saw for the first time
Muslims praying in public . . .
strange to see in the middle of
a city men place down mats
and get on their knees and pray
while all around them cars and
buses and hundreds pass by
. . . Most of the men I have
seen in Accra wear western
dress; the women wear tradi
tional colored prints, and car
ry their babies strapped or tied
somehow to their backs ... al
so it is interesting to see all the
boys walking around with
shirts having the picture of the
late General Kotoko (he was
murdered in April, 1967, and
had been the leader of the an-
ti-Nkrumah forces which top
pled the government in Febru
ary, 1966). There are no signs
of Nkrumah around, by the
way, except the huge public
buildings which cost this coun
try a fortune and which now
lie empty ... in particular, the
so-called Job 600 building,
which cost about $30,000,000,
and was to house the secretari
at for Nkrumah’s Pan-African
movement.
(To be continued)
SIB
Forms
What does it mean to be
black in a swiftly changing
world, and within a society
which has for so long ridiculed
and humiliated everything con
nected with blackness? As
black people here in America,
a challenge has been issued to
us, a challenge which seeks to
discover whether or not black
people can or will assert and
reaffirm their identity, their
history, and their culture. A
group of students, under the
leadership of Ruth Mason, is
beginning to answer this call
on Spelman’s campus. This
group is the African and Afro-
American Society known as
Sisters in Blackness (S.I.B.).
There are many people who
question the need for such an
organization on an all black
campus. Our answer to such
an inquiry is that the need for
this organization, if for no
other reason, is evident in the
significance of a knowledge of
Negro History. An under
standing of the past is neces
sarily prerequisite to the un
derstanding of the present
events influencing blacks in
this country.
There is a great need for
black women to take part in
the events in our society. A
note of clarification is war
ranted here: we do not advo
cate violence or undirected
legal disobedience. We regard
such events as part of the
problem confronting our peo
ple—a problem that we must
study and on which we must
take a position. For too long,
we as students on this campus
have been and to an inexcus
able degree still are apathet
ic and non-responsive to events
that affect us all over the coun
try, as well as within the con
fines of our own school com
munity; S.I.B. is seeking to
eradicate some of these in
different attitudes; to help
black women discover and
learn the possible variations in
the roles that we will inevita
bly play as wives, mothers and
leaders in our society; to pro
mote concern for our people
both inside and outside the
realms of campus life; and to
learn what “blackness” is and
what it means to us.
We are anxious for all of
the members of the student
body to come to our meetings.
Even if you are against the
aims of our society, we invite
you to come and voice your
disagreement, for the diverse
opinion leads to truth and
well-rounded proposals.
—Phyllis Rutledge
