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ik’Uyr TODAY
f ■ W/a News Service of Tri-Ad Consultants. Ltd
f ’ by Vincent Tubbs
Hill ■lll ■■■■■■!■■>!■> 1.
'A Soldiers Story ’
is on the right track
In the last quarter of
the Orwellian year of our
Lord—l9B4—Hollywood
will finally get on the
‘right track’ concerning
the role of Black soldiers
in American history.
In releasing “A
Soldier’s Story” by
Charles Fuller, the
Pultizer Prize winning
playwright, Columbia
Pictures will take an im
portant first step to
correct the deliberate
cinemographic, socio
political, and military
slight of more than two
centuries.
For although Black
soldiers have fought in
every U.S. conflict from
the War of Independence
to the latest Marine Cor
ps encounter “over-there
somewhere-or-other” we
have had little more than
a glimpse of them
engaging the enemy
“foreign” or “domestic”
on the big screen or
television.
Past depictions catered
to the notion of presen
ting Black soldiers as
“manservants” only
there to cook, clean-up,
pray or sing a spiritual
when the going got
rough. In many instan
ces, life, liberty and limb
were sacrificed for their
white counterparts. No
where was this more
evident than in the 1949
film, “Home of the
Brave” starring James
Edwards as a big, tough
combat marine, reduced
to hysterical paralysis af
ter seeing his white army
buddy tortured and
killed.
Under Stanley
Kramer’s imaginative, if
not bold direction, this
film made an enormous
impact on movie aduien
ces. Films dealing with
racial problems were
seemingly th rage during
the 40’s, and Kramer’s
film honestly, if not self
servingly, gave them what
they wanted.
A decade later in 1959,
Sidney Poitier, then the
resident one-man Black
repertory company in
Hollywood, made a
cameo appearance as a
union soldier in “The
Soldier of Fortune”
starring Clark Gable. In
this one, the master-slave
alliance is continued in
the guise of Poitier, who,
having left the planation
and joined the Union
Army, confronts his for
mer master (Gable) in a
Union prison camp where
he is being held captive.
Obviously remembering
how ‘good’ his former
master had been, Poitier
plots his escape...and the
list goes on.
Save
a life.
Learn
CPR.
American
Red Cross
+
Together,
we can
change things.
It appears that the
‘‘Hollywood rhythm
method” is one Black
soldier per decade, since
it wasn’t until 1967 that
“The Dirty Dozen” ap
peared featuring Jim
Brown as the cashiered
officer-victim of racism
trying to beat the gallows
by volunteering for a
suicide mission behind
enemy lines. The MGM
melodrama was a box
office blockbuster,
ranking among the top
ten money making war
pictures of its time. It was
also selected the best pic
ture of the year by the
motion picture academy
and has remained one of
the most popular war
flicks shown on
television.
And so, not sur
prisingly, we did not see
the over-due Black sok
diers in “Hollywood”
style combat until the
Vietnam syndrome
became an art form ten
years Iter in which Fran
cis Ford Coppolla’s
‘‘Apocalypse Now”
showed how Black
teenage fugitives from the
ghetto learned math the
hard way—with the body
count! Coppolla is still
counting the loot!
Whether the imminen
ce (or presence) of Big
Brother’s red letter year
(1984) had anything to do
with Columbia Pictures
breaking the ten year
cycle by bringing “A
Soldier’s Story”, a
Pultizer Prize winning
play, to the screen is
anybody’s" guess. My
guess is that with the
historical “The Right
Stuff” orfiginally
promising to fill
Hollywood money belts
the eminence grise of
1984 had less to do with
bringing WW II Black
G.l.’s to the big screen
than the ‘big buck’.
Facts about war and
Black soldiers are likely
to prove to be not just
stranger and strongr than
fiction, but also more
profitable, as “The Dirty
Dozen” and “Apocalyp
se Now” have proven.
Charles Fuller, who
orginally wrote the stage
version of “A Soldier’s
Story,” is factual and
deadly serious in his
presentation of a com
pany of Black combat
bound soldiers under the
fanatic command of a
Black sergeant. The suc
cess of this venture lies in
Fuller’s ability to explore
Black consciousness
during wartime—it is Jim
Crowism in reverse and at
its unpromising worst,
showing these men at war
with their environment,
themselves and only
finally with enemy.
But the movie goer is in
for some welcomeci
variations on the Ji T .n
Crow theme. One is th
element of mystery. A
second and most impor
tnt elment is the conflict
within the ranks of the
■ Black company which
results in a “who kil.
cock robin” situation of
truly provocative dimen
sions. These dimensions
heighten (and deepen too)
the entertainment poten
tial of “A Soldier’s
Story” and will no doubt
open up a whole new
genre of Black adventure
stories for film ex
ploitation adventure
stories which officer’s
and gentlemen’s
agreement have, to coin a
phrase, “Black Balled”.
If such is the case, then
Columbia Pictures is in
deed on THE RIGHT
TRACK!!!!!
/ a&k
\ \
DAVID DUPREE,Man of the Year for the local chapter of Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity, is congratulated by Federal Judge Alcee
Hastings, the featured speaker for the Kappa Founders Day Program
Sunday at Paine College.
Alumni weekend activities announced
Alumni Golden Agers
of Paine College, class of
‘34, will be celebrating
their 50-year-reunion
during Alumin-
Commencement weekend
set for May 11-13.
Registration will be
held at 11 a.m. Friday in
the lobby of the campus
center, for all alumni
planning to participate in
the weekend activities. At
1 p.m., the Golden Agers
will hold their annual
meeting in the Trustees
Room of the Warren A.
Candler Library, to elect
officers for the upcoming
two-year term.
The Alumni Educators
and Artists are scheduled
to hold their first annual
meeting at 3 p.m. in the
Sadie Gray Rays Con
ference Room in
Haygood-Holsey Hall.
Several presentations
concerning educational
Sears has a
credit plan to ‘ ;
suit most any fIMK
need
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♦*
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Sears pricing policy: It an item is not described as reduced
or a special purchase, it is at its regular price A special
purchase, though not reduced, is an exceptional value
Satisfaction guaranteed or your rr
issues will be made by
Paine faculty and alumni.
The National Alumni
Association Board of
Directors meeting is
scheduled for 7 p.m. in
the Odeum.
The annual alumni
meeting will be held on
Saturday morning at 10
in the Odeum. The alum
ni banquet is set for 7
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keynote speaker for the
annual banquet is Florida
State Rep. William A.
Clark.
All reunion class mem
bers are invited to join
the commencement
processional during the
convocation on Sunday
at 3 p.m. A reception will
follow the ceremonies.
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1 evil
Dr. Jugurtha to speak
for Black Alumni series
The Augusta College
Distinguished Black
Alumni Lecture Series,
sponsored by the AC
Black Student Union, will
conclude May 11, as Dr.
Lillie Butler Jugurtha,
assistant professor of
English in the AC Depar
tment of Languages and
Literature, will present a
lecture entitled “The
Pursuit of Happiness” at
noon in Meeting Room
Two of the College Ac
tivity Center.
Dr. Jugurtha, a native
Augustan, was named
1971 valedictorian of
Augusta College while
earning her B.A. in
English. She then atten-
Augustan's
nominee wins
Freedom A ward
The George
Washington Honor
Medal for Excellence in
the category of Com
munity Programs was
awarded to the Penn
Community Service, Inc.,
Frogmore, S.C.
Nomination for the
award was made by
Augustan VA Chaplain
A.C. Redd, who is also a
trustee. The award was
presented to Executive
Director Emory S. Cam
pbell. last month.
Pen Community Ser
vice, Inc. is the oldest
organization in the South
serving the needs of
minority citizens. Foun
ded in 1862, Penn Center
was the first school
established in the South
to educate freed slaves.
Today, more than 100
years later, Penn Center
is still serving the state
and nation.
Its 49-acre campus is
on the National Registry
The Augusta New-Review May 12,1984
ded the University of
Chicago, where she com
pleted her M.A. before
coming back to Augusta
College as an instructor
of English in 1972.
In 1975, she attended
the University of Georgia
on teaching and research
assistantships, as well as a
Faculy Development in
Georgia (FDIG) grant,
completing her Ph.D. in
English in 1980. Dr.
Jugurtha was promoted
to assistant professor
and, effective Sept. 1, she
will be an associate
professor of English. In
addition to being AC’s
valedictorian, she was the
recipient of the English
of Historic Sites and the
York W. Bailey Museum
houses artifacts of
national and inter
national significance. It is
perhaps the only
repository of information
on Sea Island traditions
and folklore relating to
the Black Citizenry.
For
MOVIES
TITLES
and
SHOW
TIMES
Call:
722-4507
I ADULTS ONLY|
Page 3
award, and was named
Outstanding Alumna of
the AC chapter of the
national honor society
Phi Kappa Phi.
A special feature of
this “grand finale”
program will be the
presence of all previous
speakers of the lecure
series, including Joseph
Greene of Thomson, the
newest member of the
Board of Regents of the
University Systemof
Georgia. Also planning
to attend is Bob Cannon,
University System Vice
Chancellor for affir
mative action and a for
mer faculty member of
Augusta College. The
previous speakers of the
lecture series, in addition
to Greene, include: State
Rep. Charles Walker;
Eugene Hunt, branch
manager of the C&S
Bank; attorneys Ben
Allen, Lourdes Coleman,
and Wilbur Johnson;
Henry Ingram, president
of International Formal
Wear; Thomas Kelly, ac
countant at the Medical
College of Georgia;
Vivan Pennamon, prin
cipal of Morgan Road
Middle School; and Lt.
Col. Robert Parha, chief
of Ft. Gordon’s In
stallation Services and
Supply Division.
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