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Poets, art ists aiid madmen
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Butterfly McQueen
played the role of Prissy
in Gone With The
Wind.
A life of
entertainment
■ Born in Tampa, Fla. in
1911 to a stevedore and a
domestic.
■ McQueen studied
nursing in New York until a
teacher suggested that she
would be a good actress.
■ In 1939 McQueen
appeared as the slave girl
Prissy in Gone With The
Wind.
■ In 1947 she dropped
out of movie-making
because she could not get
dignified parts.
■ From 1950 to 1953 she
appeared in the television
comedy Beulah, one of the
first shows to star a black
performer. She played the
best friend, pf the title
character, played first by
Ethel Waters and later by
Louise Beavers.
■ Around 1960,
McQueen bought a one
bedroom house in Augusta
and began spending
winters there.
■ In 1974 she returned to
films, appearing in Amazing
Grace in the role of Clarice.
Also in that production were
Moms Mabley, Slappy
White and Stepin Fetchit.
■ In 1986 she appeared
in Mosquito Coast starring
Harrison Ford.
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Like a war-only smaller
Historical Miniature Gaming Society recre
ates Battle of Augusta. Story on page 4.
• World/National News 2
■ Local News 3
■ People 4
■ ARTbeat 6
■ Editorial 8
■ A Closer Look 9
■ Living 10
■ Black College Sports 12
■ Church News 14
■ Classifieds 16-17
Remembering Thelma McQueen
Wadam
Butterfly
A Life of Artistic Growth & Love
By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Walter Ivey still has the SSO cam
era Butterfly McQueen gave him
when she discovered the 12-year
old boy’s passion for photography in
1959.
Ms. McQueen also gave him and
many other neighborhood kids their
first jobs. She was always giving.
She was preparing to go buy Christ
mas gifts last Friday afternoon when
a house fire took her life. She re
quested in her will that her body be
donated to science.
Friends were going to pick her up
around 4 p.m. She spilled kerosene
for her heater on her gown while
trying to warm her cottage before
taking a bath. In flames, she stag
gered to her front porch where neigh
bors and passersby unsuccessfully
tried to put out the fire. She died
about 10 o’clock that night at the
burn center at Augusta Regional
Medical Center.
“She never wanted to bother any
body for anything, but she was al
ways giving,” recalled Mr. Ivey
shortly after her death.
Mr. Ivey’s first encounters with
the famed Gone With the Wind ac
tress was as a young boy she hired
to pick up trash scattered by whites
in the predominantly black Belle
Terrace neighborhood she made her
home after giving up acting.
Although her role in the 1939
classic as Prissy, Scarlett O’Hara’s
simple-minded slave, made her in-
RACE MATTERS
Library of Congress removes
plantation exhibit after protests
Black staff members
at federal institution
object to “narrow
approach to planta
tion life.” Exhibit
organizer says his
motives have been
misunderstood.
By Don Waters
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
The Library of Congress has
abruptly removed a historic ex
hibit on slave-era plantation life
after some black staffers object
ed.
The exhibit, based on archi
tectural and portrait photo
graphs and interviews with
former slaves in the library’s
collection, was dismantled Tues
day before it had been complete
ly put in place.
Library spokeswoman Jill D.
Brett said the black staffers com
plained that the display “really
didn’t set the exhibit in any
historic context” and took “a very
Dec. 28,1995 - Jan. 3,1996 VOL. XV NO. 731 j
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TA., A-t^ , A
Metro Augusta’s Finest Weekly Newspaper
Ito.
Butterfly McQueen and her cat
"Miss Harlem."
ternationally famous, the 84-year
old Tampa, Fla., native preferred
it be forgotten.
“She was concerned about the
role. It demeaned her. It was
condescending,” said 83-year-old
J. Philip Waring, president of the
African American Historical Soci
ety.
“It was the custom in Hollywood
in that day to put down every
black actress that was on their
way up,” Mr. Waring said of the
small, subservient stereotyped
parts that were often the only work
that blacks could get in film or
television.
Ms. McQueen, who rarely spoke
of her acting career, particularly
as a 28-year-old proud woman por-
"Without question,
slavery was an evil,
but the thrust of the
display was to
show how slaves
rose above their
condition to make
accomplishments."
— J.M. Vlach, exhibit
organizer
narrow approach to the kind of
architecture and culture of plan
tation life without taking the
horrors of slavery into account.”
The exhibit’s developer,
George Washington University
professor John Michael Vlach,
said “without question, slavery
was an evil,” but that the thrust
of the display was to show how
slaves rose above their condi
tion to make accomplishments.
He said some of the displayed
interviews with former slaves,
conducted by the Federal Writ
ers Project in the 19305, con
tained references to whippings
and other cruelties by Southern
plantation masters and over-
traying a 12-year-old slave girl,
once shared her disgust for the
role in a 1986 interview.
“I hated it. The part of Prissy
was so backward,” she said.
But she had her reasons for tak
ing the role, some of which Mr.
Waring heard her discussing at a
reception at New York’s old Roxey
Theater in the early 1950 s when
he met her.
“I heard her say she had to do it
because it was the Depression and
she needed work, because she want
ed to show that blacks could act on
stage and on the big screen, and
because she wanted to open doors
for young black actors who came
after her,” Mr. Waring said of Ms.
McQueen’s explanation after a few
“smart-aleck” kids picked on her.
Time went on, and she settled in
her modest, comfortable Augusta
home. And with age, her attitude
toward Prissy softened, especially
during the film’s 50th anniversa
ry when she was praised by critics
and fans for her unforgettable dis
play of talent in the film.
Ms. McQueen, who went by her
birth name, Thelma, always shied
away from the attention she
could’ve capitalized on. Augusta
Mini Theatre Chairman Tyrone
Butler learned the hard way when
he publicly recognized her, and
she failed to respond.
Mr. Butler knew her reluctance
wasn’t because she was unappre
ciative or bitter, though. Shejust
didn’t like to be “made a fuss over,”
See BUTTERFLY, page 3
seers.
Vlach said he was surprised
by the criticism from the library
employees because the display
had been cleared by an interra
cial group of experts and had
been complimented by blacks
who had seen it while it was on
tour at universities and else
where.
He said the exhibit was
booked for appearances nation
wide into 1997. It was to have
been on display at the Library
of Congress through January.
Brett also said library offi
cials had not heard of any neg
ative reaction before several
black staffers complained.
Vlach, who holds dual ap
pointments in American stud
ies and anthropology at George
Washington, based the 80-pho
tograph exhibit on his book
“Back of the Big House: The
Cultural Landscape of the Plan
tation.”
The Washington Post, which
first reported the removal of
the display, quoted various li
brary sources as saying from a
dozen to 20 black’ staffers had
objected to the exhibit.
MR 808 henneberger
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER
UNIVERSITY OF GA
ATHENS PA
GA 30602 12/31/99
AREA HIGH
SCHOOL
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ROIJNDUPseeP g 3
ACLU seeks hearing
on Georgia’s new
congressional map
■ Massive shifts
of 31% of popula
tion into new
districts called
disruptive.
ATLANTA
(AP) The American Civil
Liberties Union has filed a
motion in federal court ask
ing for a hearing on Geor
gia’s new congressional
map, which eliminates two
of the state’s three major
ity-black districts.
A three-judge federal
panel released the new
map Dec. 13.
The ACLU filing Friday
in U.S. District Court in
cludes a report from the
Reapportionment Services
Office that said 2 million
Black legislators hopeful
state redistricting will be
nixed by Justice Dept.
■ Justice Depart
ment demands
more information
on last summer’s
redistricting
which slashed
majority-black
districts.
ATLANTA
(AP) Black legislators
say they hope a letter from
the U.S. Justice Depart
ment demanding more in
formation about Georgia’s
legislative redistricting
plan is a sign the map,
which dismantles 11 ma
jority-black districts, will
be rejected.
“From the questions they
asked, it looks like the state
is going to have a hard
ti me trying to answer those
questions as to whether
they intentionally tried to
dilute black votes,” Rep.
Billy McKinney, D-Atlan
ta, said Tuesday.
Rep. Bob Holmes, D-At
lanta, said the letter “indi
cates there are some ma
jor problems” with the
plan. “We hope they will
formally object.”
But Rep. Peg Blitch, D-
Homerville, chairman of
the Senate Reapportion
ment Committee, said she
saw little justification for
the letter.
“I cannot pinpoint one
request that I think is le
gitimate,” she said. “I just
think this is busy work.”
In a letter last week to
the state’s lawyers, the
government said it cannot
approve redistricting plans
for the Georgia House and
Senate until the state ex
plains further why the dis
tricts were drawn as they
were.
Members of the Legisla
tive Black Caucus dis
cussed the letter at a news
conference Tuesday.
Laughlin McDonald, an
American Civil Liberties
Union attorney, said such
letters often precede deci
sions by federal lawyers to
reject state redistricting
plans.
Rejection would require
the state either to redraw
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people, 31 percent of the
state’s population, will be
shifted into new congress
ional districts.
“We contend the plan is
far too disruptive,” said
Laughlin McDonald, an
ACLU lawyer who repre
sents voters who support
ed the state’s 1992 redis
tricting plan. “They make
wholesale changes that far
exceed the equitable pow
ers of the court.”
If the court grants a hear
ing, it would be a chance to
place the ACLU’s objections
in the official record,
McDonald said. The orga
nization plans a formal ap
peal of the new boundaries
before a Jan. 12 deadline.
The U.S. Justice Depart
ment is also considering an
appeal.
the legislative lines or en
gage in a long and expen
sive appeal.
The state has 60 days to
respond. The Department
of Justice has 60 days after
that to decide whether to
object to the plans.
That means a decision
might not be rendered be
fore April, when legislators
and their challengers must
qualify to place their names
on the ballot, and raises the
possibility of serious confu-
Nine state House
districts and two
Senate districts
shifted from
majority-black to
majority-white
under the plans.
In two additional
House districts
and one Senate
district, the black
majority was
significantly
reduced.
sion over legislative elec
tions.
Lawmakers met in spe
cial session last summer to
redraw legislative and con
gressional district bound
aries after the U.S. Su
preme Court ruled that the
state’s 1992 congressional
plan went overboard in cre
ating majority-black dis
tricts.
Lawmakers passed plans
redrawing state legislative
districts but failed to agree
on a new congressional
plan. A federal court since
has drawn a congressional
plan that dismantles two of
the state’s three majority
black congressional dis
tricts.
Holmes said lawmakers
were under no legal com
pulsion to redraw their own
districts and that doing so
“was an attempt to help
save some of the white Dem
ocratic committee chair
men” at the expense of
blacks.