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AN OPEN FORUM FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE less than 75% advertising nHBF
Vol. 7
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Dr. Canute M. Richardson
After 30 years
Paine VP
steps down
Dr. Canute M. Richardson,
vice president of Paine College
will retire June 30, after 30
years of service to the college.
His memories of the years are
both bitter and sweet.
He recalls with great anguish
the day in 1970 when Dr. E.
Clayton Calhoun resigned as
Paine’s president after a group
of students had seized his
office.
“To me, it was the most
debasing sort of thing that I've
ever seen happen to a man who
was really unable to defend
himself in that sort of
situation. It was defiling to me
of some of the things
that were said about him.
“And for me to have been
there without being able to say
anything in defense of him or
in support of what they were
saying was a most unbearable
situation.
“I do not see how I could
have stood in his place without
some very positive action. At
that moment, I saw the
humiliation which was
afforded a man who had spent
16 years building this college,
and all of that went down the
drain board. Nobody
recognized the fact that he had
done an admirable job in
building this college in the
years that he was here; that he
was at least making sufficient
changes in the attitudes and
regulations which were at time
stifling on this campus.”
Another dramatic moment
came upon the death of Dr.
Lucius H. Pitts in 1974. “It
came on the same afternoon
Professor Jackson, left, gets orientation from Publisher
Millender.
Publisher Millender
gets a helping hand
Luther P. Jackson, Jr.,
associate professor at the
Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism, is
working this week as a reporter
and copy editor for the
Augusta News-Review.
While in Augusta for two
weeks, Jackson will be the
guest of Editor-Publisher
Mallory K. Millender, who was
his student last year at
Columbia.
Jackson’s visit honors an
agreement that he made with
Millender. “I’s you’ll put me
up for a couple of weeks,”
when I had had a long meeting
with him, and after a
three-hour absence, I was
called and told of his death,”
Dr. Richardson said.
And there have been a
number of faculty members
who have made their mark on
Dr. Richardson’s life. Not the
least among them was Mr.
Lawrence Harper who
influenced Dr. Richardson to
come to Paine in 1974 as a
professor of psychology and
tennis coach.
He remembers tile late Mr.
James Brown, history professor
and athletic director, and the
late Dr. Ruth L. Bartholomew,
English professor, as
outstanding members of the
faculty. “Dr. Bartholomew, in
spite of the fact that she was at
times very caustic in her
remarks, really believed in the
possibilities of the students
who came to Paine College.
“She insisted that the
quality of their work measure
up to what she considered to
be their potentials. Many
students did not agree with
her, but in the latter years of
her life,' he continued, “I do
think they began to recognize
her value and the quality of her
instruction.”
He called Dr. Evelyn Berry
one of die “most faithful ‘ of
all the members of the Paine
faculty, as an educator, as a
person constandy concerned
about what the college is
See ’’PAINE VP”
Page 5
Jackson said, “I’ll work for
you.”
The visit also represents
Jackson’s commitment to the
need for a strong Black press.
Like most Black reporters who
have worked for daily
newspapers, Jackson began his
career working for Black
newspapers.
He went to work for the
Newark (N.J.) News and the
Washington Post, but still
believes that white-owned
publications can not be trusted
to deal with the concerns of
Black communities. “We need
our own voice,” Jackson said.
P.O. Box 953
Mother, 33, is slain
as son, 10, watches
An East-Augusta woman was
shot to death Saturday night
by her common-law husband
while her 10-year-old son
watched.
Mrs. Irene Waters, 33, of
101 East Espinosa St. became
the subject of a search by her
son and husband when they
did not find her home
Officials say no bias
in local United Way
Local United Way officials
said this week they were
unaware of the National Black
United Way campaign,
organized because many Blacks
feel the United Way has not
been sufficiently responsive to
Blacks.
United Way Chairman
Robert S. Balk said the local
United Way has been
responsive to Blacks and said
that die reason more Black
agencies are not supported by
United Way is because they
For every dollar invested in
the Augusta Opportunities
Industrialization Center
(AOIC), the community has
received more than three in
return, according to Loyd
Smith, cashier of the C & S
Bank.
In his remarks Sunday at the
AOIC graduation exercises at
Tabernacle Baptist Church,
Smith said that in the last six
years 5818,212 had been
invested in the training and
placement of 1,139 persons.
These AOIC trainees, Smith,
continued, have returned to
the community 52,546,5.38 in
salaries earned, taxes paid and
un-needed subsistence
payments. “This is a return of
311 per cent on the initial
investment,” he added.
The ceremony marked a
homecoming for AOIC which
started in 1968 with meetings
at the Tabernacle Church.
Coach of U. S. tennis champs
comes from Augusta’s ‘Hill’
Black colleges have had their
fair share of acclaim for
excellence in basketball,
football and track, but it took
an Augustan to direct a Black
college to a national tennis
championship.
As tennis coach at Hampton
(Va.) Institute, Dr. Robert
Martin Screen has come a long
way since his boyhood days
when he played tennis in the
late Rev. Marion Zealy's
backyard “up on the hill” in
Augusta.
After finishing Weed
Elementary School and Haines
Institute. Dr. Screen went on
to Hampton, where he played
tennis, before getting a
master’s from New York
University and a Ph. D. in
speech pathology and
audiology from the University
of Michigan.
“He’s more of a scholar than
an athlete,” says his cousin,
Mrs. Georgene Caldwell of 746
Katherine St. She notes that
his second novel will be
published in October and that
tennis is only a sideline to his
teaching and researching in the
field of speech.
Yet Dr. Screen’s tennis team
has won him more attention
than have his scholarly and
literary pursuits. The acclaim
reached its peak in May, 1976,
Saturday evening.
According to police; reports,
when tlie pair returned home
about 10:30, the son remained
outside while the husband
entered the house and found
Mrs. Waters lying across a bed
talking on the telephone. The
youth told police he was
looking in the window when he
have not applied. In Augusta,
there are just two Black
agencies receiving
s u p p ort--Bethlehem
Community Center and Good
Shepherd Day Care.
A third Black agency made
an inquiry, Balk said, but did
not return the application.
Balk said a goal of
51,200,000 has been set as the
goal for the 1977 fall campaign
which included Richmond.
Columbia, Lincoln counties
and North Augusta. The figure
Graduates told
training pays off
* IB
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11 I
Emma 1. Darnell
according to Mrs. Ella Wiggins,
AOIC supervisor of counseling
In a brief history of AOIC.
Mrs. Wiggins said the agency
Dr. Robert M. Screen
when his “Pirates” captured
the NCAA (Division 11)
national tennis title over a field
of 22 teams in Maryville,
Missouri. Another high water
mark was reached in April
when he was honored as being
“Co-Man of the year” by
Virginia’s Peninsula Sports
Club.
In ascending to the top of
collegiate tennis. Dr. Screen
won many lesser
championship: since assuming
the head coaching in the
Augusta, Georgia
saw James Jesse, 28, of the
same address, pull a pistol and
shoot his mother.
Jesse then took the phone
and hung it up, the boy said.
His eight-year-old brother
was in bed and told police he,
too, heard the shot.
Jesse was arested and
charged with murder.
represents an 11;5 per cent
increase over last year’s goal.
The campaign kickoff will
be held September 1 2 and die
drive will continue until the
end of October. The money
raised during this period will be
used to support the 26 agencies
presently funded by the United
Way as well as three recent
additions to the
roster-Friendship Community
Center, Good Shepherd Day
Care Center, and Twilight
Improvement Association.
did not start its training
program until December 10,
1971. In the years since, she
continued, training programs
have been conducted at the
Augusta Blueprint Co. on Bth
St., 135 Sand Bar Ferry Road
and the present location at 430
Bth St.
In these years, the
graduation classes have grown
from 14 to 43. Sunday’s
graduates received diplomas for
acquiring cashier, clerical,
banking, nursing and retail
skills. '
Mrs. Emma I. Darnell,
lawyer and former
commissioner of the
Department of Administrative
Services for Atlanta, told die
graduates that when she
graduated, people thought that
intelligence “was a diploma, a
See “OIC”
Page 2
Spring of 1970. His team has
won seven straight
championships in the Central
Inter-collegiate Athletic
Association and three of the
last five Virginia state tennis
tournaments. In NCAA
competion the Pirates finished
6th, sth and 4th before last
year's championship.
One reason for Dr. Screen’s
success has been his ability to
recruit players from Brazil.
Colombia and other South
American countries. Eight of
the 12 players on the current
team are from South America
and only six of the players are
Black. “You don’t have the
Black kids to pick from in this
country,” Dr. Screen has been
quoted as saying. “It’s not
going to change until a training
ground is developed for good
American Blacks."
In other words, Black
sponsors of tennis players are
needed, such as the late Dr.
“Whirlwind” Johnson of
Lynchburg. Va., who
sponsored both Althea Gibson
and Arthur Ashe. Also needed
are more Blacks like Augusta’s
Rev. Zealy who encouraged
the kids in the neighborhood
to play on his backyard court.
That was the beginning of
Hampton’s national
championship.
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AWWItI*S ;/
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County Commissioner Ed Mulntyre (2nd from right) chats with (L-R) Eddie Williams,
director of the Joint Center for Political Studies, author Lerone Bennett and Pritchard. Ala.
Mayor A.J Cooper.
Mclntyre recently attended a meeting of rhe National Association of County Officials
(NACO) in Washington, DC where his resolution backing the General Management I
Amendment to the Introgovernmental Personnel Act was adopted
Woman’s Suicide Alleged
Demetra Whisnant of Rt. 1
Box 211 Highway 56
committed suicide by shooting
herself in the chest.
Richmond County deputies
found a .44 caliber pistol with
one empty chamber, three live
Wilkins seeks to ease pain
due to Silification’ speech
ML
IlMbh
Roy Wilkins
(l’\R I 11)
At the July, 1976 NAACP
Convention, Roy Wilkins
surprised his Memphis audience
by announcing that he would
not retire until this July,
charging that a “campaign of
vilification”had been launched
against him.
The Memphis speech opened
up a festering sore and the pus
ran out, making it possible for
the healing process to begin.
In the months since the
convention a crust has grown
hard over the Memphis sore,
and no one wants to keep that
wound closed more than
Wilkins.
Q. You said at the
convention last year that for
18 months some board
members had been carrying on
a campaign of vilification
against you. Who tried to vilify
you, and how did they do it?
A. Well, that was the phrase
which the media singled out. 1
wouldn’t say that it has more
than a passing reference. There
was no campaign, no series of
vilifications, what you had was
a nudging campaign, a
campaign of nudgings. and I
don’t know that that can be
documented.
Q. Why did you change your
mind and decide to stay on
after January 1?
A. 1 simply held the board
to its original agreement. (That
he would retire in July of
1977.)
Wilkins said that he had no
voice in choosing his successor.
He is determined not to
publicly voice his anger. When
asked how he felt about being
ignored on the subject after 46
years of service to the NAACP,
he said, “I have no feelings on
June 30, 1977 No. 10
rounds and two spent rounds
in the cyhinder.
A neighbor said Ms.
Whisnant kept five live rounds
in the gun for safety reasons.
Evidence at the scene
showed Ms. Whisnant fired one
Roy Wilkins officially retired this week at the NAACP
Convention in St. Louis. His last year in office wa< repl te ..irh
crises-his defiant refusal to retire in January 1977; two financial
crises in Mississippi, one of which almost rendered the
organization bankdupt: and the reported crisis of transition of
leadership.
News-Review- Editor-publisher Mallory K. Millender
interviewed Wilkins, his wife and national officials oi the NAACP
between September and March. Those interviews combined with
much research resulted in his master’s project. “The Lion at Bay:
Roy Wilkins in a Year of Crisis."
The following is die second part of a series of articles
excerpted from that project.
****************************************
that matter. I am not going to
discuss it.”
As he spoke, his face
quivered with emotion. His
voice, which had been strong,
suddently became weak,
trailing off to the point that
the final words were almost
inaudible. For an instant his
eyes became glassy. Then he
just smiled. And with that he
composed himself. It was the
only time during three
interviews that he was
emotional.. His whole demeanor
suggested that he wanted to
say so much, but circumstances
dictated that he say nothing.
Wilkins finally rationalized
that “some people consult
their incumbents as to what
they would like in a successor,
and some people do not. And
it is my theory that this
(Search and Screening)
committee did not wish any
influence to be brought to
bear.”
While Wilkins is outwardly
conciliatory in his comments
about the board’s actions, his
wife is not. She has called the
board’s handling of her
husband “cruet”
“The board functions not as
a one-man one-vote board, but
they have their so-called
caucus. So if you’re elected
from Region 11, which is in
New York, and choose not to
join that caucus, which
obligates you to vote in the
way they decide you should
vote-no matter what your
thinking or concept is-you
have no voice.
“The decision on how the
vote will be made is done
before they have the caucus
meeting. And they use threats
and intimidation.”
Mrs. Wilkins said that for
many people being a member
of the NAACP board of
directors means a great deal,
but they are told, “If you
don’t vote as we say, we’ll put
you out of the caucus and you
won’t be re-elected to the
board.” These are principally
people who are elected by the
board itself, she said.
shot through the left side
the living room and turned tl
weapon on,herself.
A note written by M
Whisnant was identified by 1:
mother.
» According to Mrs. Wilkins,
some board members wanted
; to rush Wilkins’s retirement
; “because they felt that he was
, tiie only impediment to their
having complete power. They
t felt the only way to handle it
I was to discredit him.
> “They wanted to meddle in.
They wanted to hire staff.
Some staff people were told.
‘Just wait until we get rid of
the old man, you’re going,
• too.’ See, this is an almost
pathetic desire for power. And
’ power to them is power over
> people. Now mv . question is
how' long last if the
membership knew it?”
How did the
“campaign of vilification”
affect Wilkins himself? Mrs.
Wilkins said: “Oh, very badly.
Very badly. I’ve never seen
any tiling like it before in my
life. You know he’s a very
sensitive person. And he was
really wounded. REALLY
wounded. He hasn’t gotten
over it yet, and 1 don’t think
he ever will.”
The effect, she said, is
shown not so much by what he
does as by what he doesn’t do.
“He used to spend all of his
time tinkering with his old
Triumph 111 sports car. It’s
down in the garage, and it
looks like new. He was away
most weekends for the
NAACP, but all the time he
had he’d spend with that car. I
used to say he took better care
of it than he did me.
“But he hasn’t been
interested in anything anymore
. . . It’s like this car I told you
about. He hasn’t had it out in a
year. He just seems not to be
interested in anything.”
Has the year affected him in
other ways, she was asked. Mrs.
Wilkins said, “I don’t think so.
But I’LL never forget it. I can
tell you that. And I just pray
that God will let me live long
enough to get them (certain
board members) where I want
them.” These last words were
accompaned by wry laughter,
void of humor and replete with
anger.