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SPELMA N Fp L>e siM mi THE VOICE OF BLACK WOMANHOOD SPO TLIGHT VOL. XXX NO. 6 ATLANTA, GA. MARCH, 1977 Schomburg Collections Library Still Suffers Spelman Hosts Blue & White Ball By Tandra L. Dawson At west 135th Street near Lenox Ave. (in New York City), is a 73-year-old, delapidated Carnegie building, the coun try’s most outstanding collec tion of black art, literature and history is housed. Surrounded by abandoned tenements and threatened by its own crum bling walls, the Schomburg Collection, has been a longtim victim of racist discrimination practiced by the New York Public Library System. Glenderlyn Johnson, a leader of the Citizen Coalition to Save the Schomburg and a member of the Schomburg Library staff said in a Worker’s World interview that the New York Public Library (N.Y.P.L) administration has been the cause of the continued poor conditions of the Schom burg. “Since the collection became a part of the library system, the N.Y.P.L. administration had never lived up to its res ponsibility to insure the proper maintenance of the Collec tion,” Ms. Johnson said. The Shomburg had its begin nings in 1926 when Arthur Schomburg, an Afro-Puerto Rican, donated his collection to the N.Y.P.L. for a ten thousand dollar (10,00) grant from the Carnegie Cooperation. This was done on the stipulation that it remain in Harlem. Dr Lawrence Red dick became the curator in 1939 and resigned only nine years later, taking a position at Atlanta University. He claimed that the N.Y.P.L. had “virgually starved” the Schomburg. Jean Blackwell succeeded him and is the present curator. The library contains valuable photographs, magazines, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, microfilm, tape recordings, phonograph records, manus cripts and books of and about black people in Africa, the Carribbean and the U.S. There, is kept the manuscripts of Claude McKay and Richard Wright. Microfilms of more than 400 black newspapers Continued on page 7 By Nancy Hite On Saturday, January 29, 1977 the women of Spelman College hosted its annual Blue and White Ball. It was indeed a gala event. The lovely women of Spelman College were dressed in crepe de shine, silk, and matt jersy of a variety of colors. The men were equally as fine, there were three piece suits in pin stripe and solid colors. It was a night of stars, everybody was a star, students and faculty included. The ball was not just dan cing. It was studded with en chanting entertainment. The Morehouse Jazz Lab provided the music. The Lab did musical. numbers such as “Free,” the theme from “S.W.A.T.,” and “Cher Chez La Femme,” to name a few of the popular pieces that the joyous crowd danced to. The audience was also exposed to the talents of Joint Effort Productions Dance group, featuring Yvette Cason U.S, Foreign Policy Towards South A frica Over the past two years the world has watched the United States change her foreign policy toward Southern Africa from one of nonrecognition of black majority rule to recognition of black majority rule. Has this change of policy been due to a new humanistic view of the plight of the African in Southern Africa; or has the change of policy been due to a fear of not having a degree of influence in Southern Africa once it becomes com pletely governed by the black majority? The following article will attempt to answer these questions by providing insight on the past and present U.S. Foreign Policy toward Southern Africa. In 1969, under the direction of Henry Kissinger, the National Security Council, Interdepartmental Group for Africa convened to review the U.S.- Foreign Policy toward Southern Africa. The result of this meeting was five possible policy options for the Nixon- Kissinger administraton to take toward Southern Africa. The option that the American government decided to adopt was option two, known as the “Tarbaby Memorandum.” The premise of option two stated: The whites are here to say and the only way that constructive change can come about is through them. There is no hope for the blacks to gain the political rights they seek through violence, which will only lead to chaos and in creased opportunities for the Communists. We can, by selec tive relaxation of our stance toward the white regimes, en courage some modification of their current racial and colonial policies... (The Kis singer Study of Southern Africa, Mohamed A. El Khawas and Barry Coehn, pp. 105-106). With Mozambique and Angola fighting for and win ning their indepence from Portugal; with the present struggles for black majority rule taking place in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Namibia (South West Africa) and Azania (South Africa); and with the more intensed and influential presence of Russia and China in Southern Africa, the U.S. government has been forced to change its Foreign Policy toward Southern Africa. There had not been a visit by a Secretary of State or a Foreign Policy Advisor to Southern Africa in a decade. During the Spring of 1976 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a tour of several African coun tries to meet with heads of state and officials to discuss majority rule in Southern Africa. In the summer of 1976, Kissinger participated in what is known as “Shuttle Diplomacy” to insure that black majority rule would exist in Zimbabwe within two years. As a result of the changes in Southern Africa, Kissinger began to realize the recognition had to be given to Black leadership in Southern Africa and to the liberation movements. The U.S. had to change its policy for basically two reasons. First, the U.S. realized that if a civil war oc- cured between the white ruling regime and the black Africans in Simbabwe, the whites would lose control over the black ma jority. America fears that the black majority would turn to Russia and China for the technology to develop their resources. The U.S. depends heavily on Southern Africa for natural resources, consequen tly Kissinger realized it was necessary to negogiate with black Southern Africa leaders to plan for black majority rule. Secondly, the U.S. realized that Russia and China were playing key roles in various sections of Southern Africa, especially in helping liberation armies. The United States could not take a chance on losing all major influence in Southern Africa which would possibly mean that China or Russia would become the most dominant influence in Africa. On April 27, 1976, while in Continued on page 8