Newspaper Page Text
RUNNING \
CIRCUMSTANCES <
| feel like running. Have you ever felt like just talking flight
And just run, run, run until the wings of life take hold and
You fly? ‘
Anything, anything that helps me to get away.
| feel like running,
like the wings of a dove, | feel like running until | fly.
| just need to get away from the pain, from the heartache,
from the loneliness, :
| feel like running. ;‘
. Have you ever felt that way? _
. Needed to get away from the
circumstances of life.
) | feel like running. ,
& - | feel like running.
. ¢ P o | just wanted to get away,
Sl bl just run until the wind of
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< W Through my hair, pressing against
@y e L\_ my body as | force my way
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. (O The circumstances.
| feel like
: running. .
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: » %%;B felt like running?
*Z= *A It seem:s like if | \
e B just ran, that | would
: .- i get away, and feel that
: ¥ pain
i No more.
' | feel like running.
Surely. on the other sid
of the world that pain could
not reach me there. . :
Maybe over there behind that mountain that pain is not
allowed
| feel like running. ;
Have you ever felt that way! :
Then | would run somewhere that | could not go,
and why should | when | Have not left
myself behind?
So | stay and | wait, | stay and | hope, | stay and
| pray. ;
Then the sunlight begins to flow in as daylight |
approaches and | know that | must stay for another |
day, because the wings of a dove Is not mines to have.\
So | say and I'll run another day.
But today | feel like running. X
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The History of Black Americans in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta NAACP traces 86 years of history
from active beginnings
By Lillian Wan
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
The Augusta chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) has been a vital
political and social power group through
the years. It began with the help of a pow
erful leader of education at that time, Miss
Lucy Craft Laney, who is credited with
co-founding the Augusta chapter in 1917.
* Per historian J. Philip Waring’s com
ments (noted in his column “Going
Places” in the Augusta Focus issue of Aug.
31, 1989, p. 12), Ms. Laney was inspired
to do the start up based on Dr. W.E.B.
Dußois’ Crisis magazine article on the
1917 Silent March. The initial meeting to
file an Application for Charter was held
on February 9, 1917 at the home of Miss
Laney. Twenty-eight members were listed.
Officers elected were: Mr. Wilson
Jefferson, president; Dr. R.C. Williams,
vice president; Prof. W.A. Bell, secretary;
and Mrs. G.N. Stoney, treasurer. The
national NAACP issued its Executive
Authorization on March 12, 1917 and
noted that when the group was “fully
organized and actively engaged in the
work of the NAACP,” then their applica
tion for charter would be considered by
the Board of Directors. The Augusta
chapter officially chartered in 1935.
The quest for justice for blacks in the
legal system necessitated financial and
other assistance by the local NAACP
since the group’s early existence. In the
spring of 1920, the local NAACP took up
the prosecution of a white man who had
raped a seven-year-old colored child. A
lawyer was hired to assist the solicitor
general at a cost of $250 to the NAACP.
A conviction was secured with the rapist
sentenced to four years in the Georgia
Penitentiary.
The Augusta group reported to the
national NAACP headquarters in its May
13, 1921 letter that it had reached 225 in
membership. That report also noted the
local NAACP as supporting an anti
lynching campaign representing the
“Deestreek Skule” for several years.
From the 1930 s through the 19505,
Blacks could only safely be members of
the NAACP if they were employed as
ministers, business owners or workers at -
Blackowned businesses like Pilgrim
Health and Life Insurance Co. The local
churches that were most involved in the
NAACP in the *3os were Trinity Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church, and Union
394 Spspghckhßagniyt Chusches: During,
the 19505, local teachers were forbidden
from being members of the local NAACP
which was listed on a “ban list” by the
Richmond County school system.
Past presidents of the local branch
include the Rev. Major J. Sherard, Dr.
Charles S. Hamilton, the Rev. Otis Smith,
attorney Harry James, Dennis Williams
and Rev. Dr. Alexander Smith. Current
president since January 1, 2001 is Dr. John
Maben. Dr. Maben is proud of his her
itage of being the nephew of an early
NAACP member, Mr. Noy Maben, who
is listed in 2 1931 membership report. For
more information on the local NAACP
chapter, located at 1101 11th St., call
(706) 724-0390.
Charter members of NAACP
The Augusta chapter of the NAACP
applied for a charter with a listing of 28
people, their addresses and their profes
sions. The names and occupations as orig
inally typed on the lists are as follows:
Wilson Jefferson, mail clerk at the U.S.
Post Office; R.C. Williams, physician;
W.A. Bell, teacher at Paine College; Mirs.
G. N. Stoney (no occupation listed); John
W. Gilbert, teacher; Mrs. R.C. Williams
(no occupation listed); Thomas D. Ryans,
janitor; J.P. Waring, business; A.N.
Gordon, physician; Bishop R.S. Williams,
minister; H.H. Sweet, insurance; L.H.
Harper, physician; Mrs. J.A. Walker (no
occupation listed); J.A. Walker, minister;
Miss L.C. Laney, principal of Haines
Inst.; G.N. Stoney, physician; ].A.
Norflett, business; A.C. Griggs, teacher of
Haines Inst.; Albert B. Bampfield, -
RW.M.C,; TH. Dwelle, minister; ].C.
Collier, physician; J.F. Thompson, farmer;
M.]. Newton, U.S. mail c. of the U.S. Post
- Office; R.A. Bryan; mail clerk of the U.S.
Post Office; C.B. Harrison, mail clerk of
the U.S. Post Office; L.B. Wallace, mail
clerk of the U.S. Post Office; T.P. Bomar,
mail clerk of the U.S. Post Office; and M.
B. Gray, teacher of Paine College.. .
The Augusta Focus gratefully
acknowledges the efforts of historian/
author Dr. Kent Anderson Leslie for pro
viding copies of Augusta chapter NAACP
records as copied from the files kept by
the national NAACP library. The 1917-
1931 information can also be found at the
Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black
History, the Augusta Museum of History
and the Augusta State University Reese
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