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Page 6 - Spelman Spotlight
Review of Roots
American Collegiate $oete anthology
International Publications
is sponsoring a
National College $oetrp Contest
Spring Concowrs 1*7? - -
open fo all college and university students desiring to have their poetry
onthologized. CASH PRIZES will go to the top five poems:
$100
$50
$25
Fourth
First Ploco
Second Ploce
Third Place
$10 Fi(,k
AWARDS of free printing for ALL accepted manuscripts in our popular,
handsomely bound and copyrighted anthology, AMERICAN COLLEGIATE
Deadline: March 31
CONTEST RULES AND RESTRICTIONS:
1. Any student is eligible to submit his verse.
2. All entries must be original and unpublished.
3. All entries must be typed, double-spaced, on one side of the page only.
Each poem must be on a separote sheet and must bear, in the upper left-
hand corner, the NAME and ADDRESS of the student as well os the
COLLEGE attended. (Full name & address on envelope also!)
4. There ore no restrictions on form or theme. Length of poems up
to fourteen lines. Each poem must have a separote title.
(Avoid "Untitled”!) Small black and white illustrations welcome.
5. The judges* decision will be final.
6. Entrants should keep o copy of all entries as they cannot be returned.
Prize winners and all authors owarded free publication will be notified
immediately after deadline. I.P. will retoin first publication rights for
accepted poems.
7. There is on initial one dollar registration fee for the first entry and a
fee of fifty cents for eoch additional poem. It is requested to submit no
more than ten poems per entrant.Foreign language poems welcome.
8. All entries must be postmorked not lofer than the obove deadline ond
fees be paid, cash, check or money order, to:
INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS
4747 Fountain Avenue (Dept. ACP)
Los Anqeles, CA 90029
By Angelle Cooper
The television
dramatization of Alex Haley’s
best-selling book, Roots, not
only revealed a history, but
made history as well! Credited
with the largest viewing
audience of any televised
program, this week-long saga
confirmed the possibility of
valuable as well as enjoyable
TV entertainment. However,
perhpas of even greater im
portance was its breakthrough
as a positive Black film.
Despite its noticeable
deviation from Haley’s book,
the film successfully portrayed
the true history of a Black
family from their African roots
through their emergence from
slavery in America. This
authentic version of “the way
it was” gave Blacks as a race
and America as a nation a
chance to relive and
understand the Black
experience. This ac
complishment was achieved
not only through Alex Haley’s
skillful literary ability, but
through the contributions of
the film’s cast as well. Of
particular interest was the
portrayal of Chicken George
by Singer Ben Vereen and that
of Kunta Kinte by novice film
star Le Ben Burton. Also noted
was the film’s sound track
which was composed bv
Quincy Jones.
The overwhelming reaction
which accompanied the
television version of Roots
leaves one both happy and
proud of the film and its ac
complishments. It proved the
public’s interest in accounts of
the past, recorded in the
present and their concern for
future films of similar
achievements. However,
above all else, Roots initiated
a hope for more views from the
Black perspective.
Student Opinion
In an attempt to get a
general idea of what some
A.U.C. students thought of the
televised dramatization of
Roots, the following ques
tions were asked:
1. What were the main ideas or
positive aspects of the
program?
2. Do you think the program
had any negative aspects?
3. What effect do you think the
film had on Blacks? On the
general public? on the TV
media?
4. Did Roots portrayal of
Black history enlighten you in
any way?
Although the answers to the
preceding questions varied to
some extent, the overall con
clusion reflected similar
positive attitudes towards the
TV production of Roots. Most
students found the program
both enjoyable and
enlightening. They felt that
the film would influence more
Blacks to take a personal
interest in the origin and his
tory of their families. They
also expressed an understan
dable appreciation of the
positive characteristics of our
race, such as family unity,
respect of elders, and Black
intellectualism and
humanitarianism, which the
show revealed. The film’s
portrayal of the attitudes of
poor whites, as well as slave
owners, towards Blacks and
their enslaved state received a
similar reception.
Some students resented the
film’s deviation from the book
for the sake of sensationalism,
even though it was not very
damaging to the program’s
success. Others expressed
similar attitudes towards the
Black male-female relation
ship which the film depicted.
However, most of the students
conformed with those of the
majority of television viewers
who praised Roots for its
truth and positivity.
BASIC EDUCATIONAL
OPPORTUNITY GRANTS
1977-78
New applicants may secure
BEOG forms from the Lobby
of Packard Hall Basement.
TY COBB EDUCATION
FOUNDATION
Students who are residents
of Georgia and who have com
pleted at least one (1) year of
“B” quality or higher work, are
eligible to apply for Ty Cobb
Scholarships. Married ap
plicants are not eligible for
scholarships.
Applications must be filed
immediately with the Board
of the Ty Cobb Educational
Foundation at 6354 Lons
Island Drive, N.W., Atlanta,
Georgia 30328.
FINANCIAL AID FORMS
parents’ Confidential
Statements (PCS) for 1977-78
have been forwarded directly
to parents. Renewal Spelman
College Financial Aid Ap
plications have been mailed to
all current (1976-77) aid
recipients. New aid applicants
may pick up Financial Aid
Forms from the Lobby of Pac
kard Hall Basement and com
plete before May 1, 1977.
My Self
Look at me
Feel my soul
Hear my eyes talk to you
Do you know me?.
I am a young Black woman
Struggling to find my reality.
I have not found me
In the masquerade of the latest
fashion
Nor in the drugs I clung so
tightly to.
The people I so dearly love
have turned around and offer
me
Nothing but mere darkness
The world I discover each day
Only pushes me further away
Is it all an illusion?
Am I to naive to see?
Have I not lived in folk ways
In the rush of the city?
The low and high lives
But they all seem to be places
That exclude me and my being.
No one seems to know this soul
I am nursing
All seem to be too comfortable
With too little
Tell me, am I seeking too much
or am I accepting too little?
Help me understand life better.
Cheryl A. Jones
Class of 1977
Howard University
Sometimes as women
only...
not always as black souls
do we chafe under shackles
pulling against our need to be
sometimes as women only
do we gasp in narrow spaces
and remain locked behind
walls
too rough for etchings from our
souls
we must whisper
when we wish to scream
assent
when we wish to defy
dance pretty
(on tiptoe)
when we wish to stamp our feet
ceremoniously
before the charge
our perennials are
cute primroses
our rich dreams
petticoat fantasies
our anxieties
only worrisome neuroses
coming and going
with the pull of the moon
we shape our blackness into
halos of bouffant hair
becoming queens, instantly—
certain of our just cause
chanting the names of martyrs
whose past deeds define us
well.
but as women only
are we sometimes marked
beyond adornment.
white lines run
east and west
north and south
cracking on our flesh
like earthquakes that no
longer tremor
sagging breasts that have
known
the gripping pull of hungry
mouths
are lifted cosmetically
by sharp staves cutting into
our souls
our woman’s struggle does not
make us <
queens, instantly
for our chant is not yet a well-
sung anthem
and our martyrs remain
unheralded,
unnamed.
sometimes as women only
do we walk painfully
the distance set
between master and slave.
gloria gayles
Associate professor of
English
Morehouse College
dew spreads out
over the grass like
a blanket warming the earth.
a note or two from a bird
sprinkles in the air.
sunlight, shooting darts of
orange and red and blue
sprays through the earth’s
windows,
a day begins.
nature has created an at
mosphere of beauty.
all the universe is free to
extend itself.
every being is infinite in its
solitude.
YET
on this stage
dew, the bird, sunlight, and i
converge.
and each one’s realities
are another’s mystery,
i continually interplay,
and my individual
mysteries
attract these universal
seekers.
i ease into them,
the seekers and the mysteries
at once come
from all directions
and contradict one another,
and all this
creates what is real,
it is not that man is good
or bad
or that
one force
has another resisting force
or that
the earth has rotated,
revolved
and returned to us
another morning.
but it is the revelation, and
unconsciously each being
nods in silent
agreement,
that
all is one..
and as we merge in and out
and
among and between
we give rise to the truth of
existence—
there is no truth—
there is only existence.
—lei charlton
Class of 1977
Spelman College