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I UI I I V I I . W. . y
Exclusive Interview Lee Elder..
The Pressures? I’m Feeling The Pressure Kignr Now.
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Vol. 4
Visiting Here
Frank Yerby Answers Critics Os His 'Coolness’
Toward Paine, 'Abandonment’ Os Black Struggle
by Mallory K. Millender
Augusta native Frank Yerby,
whose books have sold over SO
million copies, came home for
a visit last weekend.
He was last in Augusta in
1946 -for two days. It was
only his second visit since he
graduated from Paine College.
He has lived in Europe for 30
years.
Yerby’s books have been
translated into 17 languages in
21 countries.
As a student at Paine, he had
the highest average that had
been made in 57 years.
He talked at length about his
reasons for coming home,
about his strained relationship
with Paine College, about
people who criticize him for
abandoning the Black struggle,
and about his views on mixed
marriages.
Yerby said his real reason
for coming to Augusta was to
see his aunt, Mrs. Albert
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MRS. ALBERT BAMPFIELD
Bampfield who is now
83 years old. Another reason is
Shaw Receives Board
Os Education Appointment
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ARTHUR H. SHAW
P. O. Box 953
that his own health is
“relatively poor.” “1 am not
somuch worried about
something happening to my
aunt, he said, as I am about
something happening to me,
and not being able to come
home. My ticker (heart) is bad.”
“I have had some rough
times in recent years, hellish
operations, and constant high
blood pressure.”
He said that since arriving in
Augusta he has been most
distressed by the condition of
housing for people who are not
wealthy.
“It some how makes it
worse to ride through a nicely
paved street and see broken
down shanties. I’ve seen things
that were here when I was a
kid.” He will be 59 in
September.
On the positive side, he said
he was happy to see Blacks
having access to public
accomodations. “The people of
Augusta have reached a state of
kindly hypocrisy which is a
vast improvement.”
WOUNDED
Yerby said he was “wounded”
by late Dr. Ruth Bartholomew
who was for years chairman of
the English Department at
Paine.
“A young white woman
down at the Univeristy of
Florida wanted to write her
master’s thesis on my novels.
Apparently she checked with
Paine College and she was told
(by Dr. Bartholomew) “We
have no interest in claiming a
writer of decadent
pornographic literature”
“I had no way of
checking to find out whether it
has her individual opinion or
whether it was shared by the
president, the faculty and the
majority of Paine College.
“So then for a long period
of years, I simply was in a
position where I couldn't
assume that I personally would
be welcomed at Paine College
or that letters from me would
be welcomed or that anything
would be welcomed.
“The reaction that 1 had
gotten from my alma mater
was that it didn’t want to be
bothered with Frank Yerby. It
was tragic because it was an
individual personal opinion
from a crazy old woman who
was not right in the head. It
put me in a hell of a spot
because I couldn't even check.
I couldn’t write to Paine
College and say do you all feel
like this? Maybe I should have.
But 1 was hesitant.”
When Dr. Lucius Pitts
became president of Paine in
1971, he changed all that. “Dr.
Pitts started writing me himself
which is what somebody else
should have done.
“Then they did another thing
that drove me up a wall. They
let him die, and I had to find
out about it in TIME
MAGAZINE. I was preparing
to come here. Then all of a
sudden his letters stopped.
Nothing. Absolute total
silence. I had planned to come
here for two weeks last year.
Augusta, Georgia
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Mr. and Mrs. Lee Elder (left) were surprise guests at a reception for novelist Frank
Yerby given at the home of Paine College President Dr. Julian Scott. Others pictured
(L-R) are Dr. Scott, his son, Lamar, Yerby and County Commissioner Ed Mclntyre.
(See related photos page 3)
Dr. Pitts had reserved a room
for me at the Thunderbird.”
Would Frank Yerby have
become Frank Yerby had he
not studied at a Black
institution? “I don’t know, I
think I was greatly helped as
far as Paine is concerned, by
Miss Emma Gray, by Mrs.
Marguerite Steffan, and
another young white woman
whose name I can’t remember.
“I am sure that I was
oriented and focused in away
that could never have occurred
Arthur Herndon Shaw is
being congratulated by friends
and citizens of Augusta for his
appointment as coordinator of
music for Richmond County
Board of Education.
His experiences in music
began at Tuskegee Institute
where he served as band
assistant and choir assistant. He
has served as band director at
A.R. Johnson Junior High
School, T.W. Josey High
School, Glenn Hills High
School. It was from T.W. Josey
that he was appointed to the
supervisory position.
He has performed at the
Metropolitan Opera House, on
the Eddie Fisher Show, and for
five weeks he was presented at
Radio City Music Hall and with
Helen Hayes at Franklin
Roosevelt’s “Little White
House”.
He is affiliated with the
following organizations:
Georgia Music Educators
Conference, Music Educator’s
National Conference,
Nathanional Education
Association, Richmond County
Association of Educators,
Georgia Association of
Educators, Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity, Prince Hall Mooses,
Elks, and Shrines.
He was bom in Moultries,
Ga. and received his early
training in that city. He earned
the bachelor’s degree at
Tuskegee Institute, the master
of music education degree was
awarded him from Vandercook
College of Music in Chicago.
He is an active member of
the Bethel A.M.E. Church
where he serves as minister of
music. He is married to the
former Yvonne Henry and they
have two children, Tara and
Kiki.
yt a bigger school. The
atmosphere would have been
too impersonal.”
THEY DON’T KNOW.
Os his proudest
achievements, he said, “I have
1975 - The Year
Os Lee Elder
When The News-Review
called Lee Elder’s room at the
Thunderbird Inn Monday
night, County Commissioner
Ed Mclntyre answered the
phone, and asked, “Where are
you calling from? Dr. Scott’s
house (President of Paine
College)? A reception for
Frank Yerby? Well, I’ll bring
Lee over there.’’
A few minutes
later he arrived with Elder and
his wife, Rose. So the guests
who came to talk with perhaps
the world’s most prolific
writer, now had a chance to
talk a couple more hours with
perhaps with most sought after
athlete in the country.
Elder, who will make his
debut in the Masters in about
three weeks granted The
News-Review an exclusive
interview which will be
presented in a series leading up
to the Masters.
NEWS-REVIEW: You have
said in TV interviews that now
that you have won a major
tournament and qualified for
the Masters that the pressure is
off. How is this possible when
probably more than anybody
else in the Masters, you’re
going to have TV cameras
trained on you, spectators
focused on you, and Black
people, generally, will have
their hearts in your golf clubs?
ELDER: I was not primarily
saying that the pressure was off
as far as the Masters was
concerned. I was primarily
saying that the pressure is off
as far as the Black man
qualifying for the Masters.
There is no doubt about it. I’m
feeling the pressure right now.
Deadline
Mondays,
Please
March 13, 1975 No. 51
been able to reach a segment of
the American white public who
ordinarily don’t read Black
writers. I feel that I have been
THE most effective Black
writer in history. I have been
able to sneak in food for
thought in every one of my
And I know that I will feel it
greater as time gets nearer and
nearer, because this is
something that is history
making. It’s something that
I’ve wanted for an awful long
time.
The Masters has been on the
minds of every Black golfer on
the tour. That’s because almost
every race has participated in
the Masters with the exception
of the Black man. I feel that by
my qualifying for the Masters I
have relieved the pressure off
the other Black guys as I have
relieved it off myself.
I know for a fact that during
Masters Week it will be
something like nothing that has
ever happened before in the
history of sports with the
exception of maybe alter
Henry Aaron hit his
record-breaking homerum.
Almost every major magazine
and newspaper that you can
speak of has been following me
from the time I rejoined the
tour this January. So I know
that it (the pressure) will not
lighten up now. The closer I
get to the Masters, the more
hectic it will be.
I’m just hoping that I can
get my game into the shape
that I want it in. Right now
I’m not playing as well as I’d
like to be playing. But still I’m
playing well enough where I
can be a good representative
for my people.
By the time the Masters rolls
around I will have had seven or
eight tournaments under my
belt, and I should be ready.
NEWS-REVIEW: Do you
feel that with the pressure you
will be representative of the
real Lee Elder in the Masters.
ELDER: It will definitely be
an awful tough week. 1 know
that I will have many of my
See "ELDER” Page 6
novels.
“Why should I write novels
that tell Blacks what Blacks
already know and what whites
aren’t going to read?
“I am one of the few, if not
the only Black writer in
history, who has deliberately
got out to compete with white
writers on their own grounds.
And I’ve beat them too. One
critic said that I have made the
best seller list more than any
other novelist. I have sold over
50 million books in 17
languages in 21 countries.
To those who say that he
has abandoned the struggle, he
says, “I’ve fought the struggle
more effectively than they
have. And since they are
people who are totally lacking
in subtlety, they haven’t been
able to realize that the the idea
of fighting a battle is to win it,
not to talk about it.
“I have written 27 novels
and, if you haven’t read 27
Frank Yerby novels, then you
should shut up. I haven’t met
anybody yet in Augusta who
has read either “Speak Now”
or “The Dahomean.”
“The Dahomean,” was
praised by all the major
American newspapers, it was
called by at least seven or eight
major critics, a “masterpiece”.
Editorial
Black Press Catalyst To
Economic Development
With Black people shunted aside by the Nixon
administration, in some measure taken for granted by
the Democrats - who think they have no place to go -
the two major political parties, somehow reflect the
society around them. It is in this climate that the Black
Press of America observes its 148th birthday. It is in this
state of national crisis that the Black Press finds itself
and faces, perhaps, its most challenging moment.
With unemployment hitting a high for the majority of
Americans, figures show Black Americans at three times
the figure. The Black youth hits a four-times level, far
beyond what economists rate as “depression figures”.
Despite this, however, Black people have managed to
survive, becoming in the meantime, highly skilled
economic strategists with limited resources in a land of
plenty.
As President Ford and economists urge more active
spending to help alleviate the recession, statistics show
that Blacks have long been consistent supporters of a
viable and active economy. Having literally invested in
the whole of America, Blacks spend, porportionately,
more than any other group in America. This priming of
the economic pump by Black Americans has been
refined over the years by the guidance provided by the
Black Press.
As never before, Blacks have become sensitive to
those corporations and companies that have recognized
their social responsibilities in turning back to minorities
portions of the financial strengths of this country.
The Black Press, founded to protest the evil of racism
and slavery, nourished on a crusade to bring legal
equality to its readership, now finds itself fighting to
bring Black Americans into the economic mainstream.
The Black Press, through its pages and its personnel,
has taken the message to the corporate board rooms,
seeking economic parity. It is no longer a seat at a lunch
counter or a soda at a dime store fountain. It is now
room for a Black supplier, a Black insurance broker and
an offer to merchandise goods and services in its widely
read columns.
This is the role of the Black Press today, speaking to
its readership as only it can. This is the articulate and
credible spokesman for 25 million Americans who still
find the American dream something to be hoped for and
fought for.
The Black Press will continue in this role, because the
complete and ultimate freedom of this country depends
upon the freedom of us all. That is the challenge that
faces the Black Press, still true in the spirit of our
founding fathers, John B. Russwurm and the Rev.
Samuel E. Cornish.
And some people have said
that it is the most effective
novel written about Black
people in the history of letters.
So they criticize me on the
basis of what? They just don’t
know.
In “The Dahomean,’’you won’t
find any cringing, slavish
Blacks. You’ll find the
psychological study of one of
the proudest, most warlike
people in history. They
wrapped their chains around
their necks and broke their
own necks before they would
let themselves be enslaved.
“I get so sick of people
making judgments on the basis
of my early works which did
what they were supposed to -
they were entertainments.
The person who has not read
“Speak Now”, ‘‘The
Dahomean”, “The Odor of
Sanctity” and “The Voyage
Unplanned” simply knows
nothing about Frank Yerby.
You simply can’t judge a
59-year-old man based on
books he wrote when he was in
his early 20s. They base their
reviews on the “Foxes of
Harrow” and change the
See “YERBY” Page 4
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