AFAM NEWSLETTER

AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES African & African American Studies East Tennessee State University Vol. II Fall 2007 No. 4

AFAM Graduate The First Betty Hill Goah Gets Book Published AFAM Scholarship Awarded Lisa Rolle-Evans, in December 2006, became Lisa Mullins, a graduate the first recipient of the Betty Hill Goah AFAM of the ETSU African & African Scholarship. The award became effective in American Studies Program January 2007. Recipients are required to minor in and a history major, revised African and African American her master’s thesis on Diane Studies, and must take at least Nash for publication. Her one AFAM course per semester recently released book, Diane until the 21 hours required for Nash: The Fire of the Civil the minor are completed. Ms. Mullins Rights Movement, published Rolle-Evans is a senior at ETSU, by Barnhardt & Ashe, will be with a major in sociology. Ms. discussed when Ms. Mullins speaks on “Women Rolle-Evans has also been in the Civil Rights Movement” at ETSU on elected as the first president of Rolle-Evans October 4, 2007. Her lecture will be followed the African Diaspora Society by a book signing. The event will begin at 6:00 (ADS), which was recently approved as a new p.m. at the Carroll Reece Museum. student organization. See the article on ADS in this newsletter.

A New Student Organization to Promote The AFAM Program During the spring semester of 2007, nine students contributions to world culture and development. met on a weekly basis to plan and organize a new Secondly, ADS will assist in promoting the African student organization, The African Diaspora Society and African American Studies Program (AFAM) (ADS). The founders of the organization are Roger through the recruitment of AFAM minors and the Antone, Lovisha Cantrell, Felicia Deberhardt, Lindsey development of stronger ties among its current Garth, Ash-Lee Henderson, Taurus Hinton, Monika enrollees. Thirdly, ADS will develop humanitarian McKinney, Katheryne Moore, and Lisa Rolle-Evans. ties with Africa and other parts of the world where The purpose of ADS is three-fold. First, the Africans have made a major impact, with particular organization, through the dissemination of emphasis on North America and South America. information and sponsored activities, will enhance Students who would like to join ADS should the public’s knowledge of African cultures and contact the organization’s faculty advisor, Dr. civilizations—past and present—and African Drinkard-Hawkshawe, at (423) 439-6688. A Trip to Tanzania

I know one can family and the political writings scenic trip we passed so many teach African of Julius Nyerere. In 1962 Nyer- banana plantations that it was literature with- ere became the first president not surprising to also go by a out repeated of an independent Tangan- research center dedicated to trips to Africa, yika and two years later found bananas. In keeping with today’s but reading in- himself president of the newly global economy, greenhouses spires the desire formed Tanzania. It was to Tan- grow flowers for export, and Marcia Songer to see for one- zania that I went last December. nearby mountains are the source self. Because of After landing at Kilimanjaro of the currently fashionable new Bessie Head’s description of Airport, the very small group gemstone, tanzanite. Contrasted glorious sunsets in When Rain with which I traveled spent with the idea of global trade, Clouds Gather, I went to Bo- the night in Arusha, a regional however, were the innumerable tswana. My most recent African capital where the UN is holding loaded donkeys we saw headed visit, my fourth to Sub-Saharan the International Criminal for a weekly Maasai market. Africa, owes its original inspira- Tribunal for Rwanda. From There among the most distinctive tion to the short stories of Ernest there we traveled by Land items were sandals made from Hemingway augmented by the Cruiser to an area called Sinya, old tires. Almost every Maasai scientific writing of the Leakey next to the Kenya border. On the warrior wears them. Our location for the next three nights was a tented camp sitting ADS’ Humanitarian Ties with 3000 feet above a great valley. Africa Initiated October through December is the short rainy season, meaning Pastor Zipporah Kimani, epidemic, hordes of children not only short in months but a native of Kenya, which is in are homeless; and so many also short in the duration of East Africa, recently visited the parents die of AIDS, numerous the rains. Last year, however, United States and older children find the rains were heavy and long, was a guest speaker themselves serving making everything green. It also at ETSU on June 6, as surrogate parents. filled Kenya’s Lake Amboseli for 2007. She spoke to In Kenya, 6.7 percent the first time in years. After three AFAM minors and of all adults are years of drought, the rain was the African Diaspora afflicted with AIDS very welcome, but it also made Society about her and thousands of our transportation over unpaved mission to establish children are born roads more difficult. orphanages in Kenya, HIV positive. These One of the purposes of going where approximately Pastor Kimani conditions motivated to Sinya, a private wildlife 1.4 million children Pastor Kimani to reserve on 135,000 acres of are orphans, due, in large part, establish family-oriented Maasai land, was to see Mt. to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. orphanages. Each orphanage Kilimanjaro although we were Pastor Kimani discussed many has ten to fifteen children at an warned that three days was of the social attitudes that operating cost of approximately not enough time to guarantee a contribute to the spread of HIV/ $50,000 annually. The African sighting. Fortunately, we were AIDS in her country. Among Diaspora Society (ADS) plans to lucky. On the first evening, our other things, she said that sex support Pastor Kimani’s mission guide alerted us that part of the is not discussed and people to aid Kenya’s homeless children mountain was visible. At 19,340 do not want to change. As a through the establishment of feet, it is the highest freestanding consequence of the HIV/AIDS family-oriented orphanages. peak in the world, but it is

 African & African American Studies often shrouded in clouds. As we surrounded by a fence made all her children. As difficult as watched, the clouds cleared and from wait-a-bit acacia, a kind life seemed in this village, the eventually we could even see the of acacia with hooked thorns. women wanted to sing for us. cap of snow. It was spectacular, Anyone getting caught on it Their typical songs involve a lot but we never saw it again until must “wait a bit” before getting of jumping. We were invited to we flew out of Arusha and got untangled. Inside the compound join them, but even though we above the clouds. was a smaller fenced area for caught on to the rhythm, we Another purpose was to visit the cattle. Because cattle are so never seemed to jump at the the Maasai in real villages rather important, the Maasai love flies right time! than those made for tourists. The because flies are a sign of wealth. Leaving Sinya meant leaving Maasai are pastoral and nomadic. A poor household has few cattle a remote part of Tanzania where Every Maasai warrior carries a and thus few flies. Incidentally, a life seems relatively unchanged by machete, a spear, and a pole. At Maasai man may be asked how the encroachment of the modern one time they painted their bodies many wives he has, but it is rude world. Maasai who live nearer red to scare wild animals away to ask how many cattle. large cities now can send their from their herds of cows. Then While the men tend the children to school. Some give up they found it was easier to buy herds, the women make the huts, the nomadic life and build their red cloth and wrap themselves all of which are plastered with a traditional huts in places where in it. Cows are all important to mixture of cow dung and mud, they can have vegetable gardens. the Maasai, who traditionally sometimes mixed with ash. The No more effective argument for live on beef, milk, and blood, roofs are thatched. In this remote eating one’s veggies can be made which they extract from a cow’s village fires were kept burning than comparing the physique of neck with an arrow. The wound in the huts all the time as a a town Maasai to the tall, narrow is closed with a wad of dung and deterrent to insects and animals. build of the nomad. mud after a gourdful of blood is The doorways lapped to keep To be continued in the next obtained. This operation can be animals out, and except for tiny issue of the AFAM Newsletter repeated every month or so with windows, the only light inside no harm to the cow. The Maasai was from the fire. Water was so Professor Marcia Songer teaches typically drink the blood mixed hard to come by that the women African Literature in the AFAM with milk and believe it makes and children kept their heads Program. She serves as an associate them strong. shaved for hygienic reasons. professor in the English Department and Associate Director of the ETSU A Maasai village may be 8 Beds appeared to be built right Honors Scholars Program. or 10 huts, but they all belong into the walls of the huts, with to one man and his many one sleeping area for the man wives. The one we visited was and another for the woman and

African & African American Studies  How We Got Over: Black Faith Tradition and Social Advancement By Adam G. Dickson

Preface The African American church has tremendous significance to the black community. It has been the only institution to withstand the effects of overt racism and covert discrimination. From a planning perspective, all political, economic and social development that has taken place within predominantly black communities began within the church. This paper outlines three cases of ministers—Richard Allen, Charles Octavius Boothe, and Martin Luther King Jr.—who led their communities to advance, despite adversities, toward earthly and heavenly achievement, from the late 1700s to the modern Civil Rights Movement.

The black church is the nucleus of the black aspects of the individual due to the migration community. DuBois stated that “the Negro church of white urban dwellers out of the central city of today is the social centre of Negro life in the United to the suburbs. The concentric model of urban States, and the most characteristic expression of development, developed by Park, Burgess, and African character.”1 Many black communities McKenzie in 1925, suggested that cities that fit are rampant with poverty, high crime, drug this model contained a thriving Central Business addiction, and an overall sense of hopelessness. District (CBD); and housing, mostly for the But the church is the only institution of its kind working-class, was placed around the CBD. Many to encourage and inspire the masses to reach northern cities experienced a massive influx their potential despite their circumstances. Many of African Americans to these communities, other organizations have been created to address which either led to the creation of neighborhood issues in black communities, but the church has churches or strengthened the role of the existing had the historical role in manifesting its mission churches within the neighborhood. As the black by engaging in community service, since the Civil population increased, many white homeowners War and Reconstruction. John J. DiIulio, a Senior left their residences in search for another life Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said, “The in the suburbs. As white homeowners left their black church has a unique and uniquely powerful neighborhoods, jobs left the CBD, and hope left youth and community outreach tradition.”2 By the citizens of black communities. serving the community and its needs, the church The church committed itself to the Herculean became more than a center for spiritual salvation, task of encouraging people, despite their but it became a voice for an improved quality of circumstances, to maintain an ardent, steadfast life for its constituents. DuBois gave a description hope and strive toward success. The true of the many uses of the church: significance of the black church is that it promoted This building is the central clubhouse of a a sense of self-worth and dignity among black men community of a thousand or more Negroes. and women at a time when every other segment Various organizations meet here—the of society saw them as either second-class citizens church proper, the Sunday school, two or or even worse, property. Linking their African oral three insurance societies, women’s societies, traditions with Eurocentric theological concepts, and mass meetings of various kinds … At black communities related their experiences to the same time this social, intellectual, and those in the Bible. Enslaved black Americans economic centre is a religious centre of great understood the children of Israel and their desire power.3 to flee Egypt in search for the Promised Land. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the black church has Blacks during the Jim Crow era could empathize been forced to deal with the social and economic with the faithful sect of early Christians who were

 African & African American Studies persecuted for proclaiming Christ as Lord and Richard Allen and the A.M.E. Church Savior. These unique and coincidental similarities The earliest example of the role of the church reassured many blacks that God would protect in the black community is the African Methodist and meet their needs. This confidence was not Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and its founder, Richard always an outward display of self-esteem, as many Allen. In 1794 Allen was a member of the Methodist slaves were beaten or killed for actions such as Episcopal (M.E.) Church. Allen and other black simply making eye contact with slave owners or members of St. George M.E. Church in Philadelphia overseers. The type of confidence exhibited by the were asked to leave the altar where they were American slave was steeped in an understanding praying because of their skin color. According that, even in the darkest of trials, God gave grace to the M.E. Bishop, the altar was not a place in to His people to help them overcome the situation. the church for black people to gather.4 Lincoln These Biblical interpretations developed a reported that Allen and the members, “known for community ethic that truly established the idea of their industry and Christian deportment,” were American perseverance. Men and women of God denied their requests to be allowed to finish their led the charge to further the ethic of community prayers when they were pulled from their knees.5 and economic determination throughout the 19th This action led Allen and a considerable black and 20th centuries. following to leave the M.E. Church and form the Richard Allen responded to the unmet needs of A.M.E. Church. Its headquarters, Mother Bethel blacks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by forming A.M.E. Church, was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. This story exemplifies the true dual identity of The A.M.E. Church was able to accomplish its the black church. On one hand, the church was endeavors of spiritual morality and social justice inspired by deep prayer and faith, but it was also due to its location north of the Mason-Dixon line. inspired by action against social injustice. The Later, after slavery ended in 1865, the Baptist Church formation of the A.M.E. Church was an opportunity became the predominant Christian denomination for black churchgoers to worship as they pleased, in the Southeast. With Booker T. Washington as but it was also an opportunity for Allen and fellow one of its more influential members, the Baptist parishioners to demonstrate their true character Church followed his doctrine of accommodation and debunk a number of racial stereotypes. As and led the black South in the practice of self-help an A.M.E. pastor, who later became the first and business ownership. elected A.M.E. bishop, Allen strongly defended One of the notable ministers of this time period actions that gave a positive perception of the black was Charles Octavius Boothe of Alabama, who community. Allen began his ministry as a moral reformer, standing on themes such as temperance, combined Washington’s accommodation doctrine 6 with a deep desire to combat racial inequality. Some marital fidelity, abolition, and thrift. In 1809, sixty years later, the black Baptist church would Allen, along with fellow A.M.E. ministers James again rally its congregations toward a mission of Forten and Absalom Jones, formed the Society for individual freedom, but the method for progress the Suppression of Vice and Immorality. The goal was not accommodation, but rather direct action. of the organization was to supervise the morals of Under the leadership of the Reverend Dr. Martin the black community. The members of the Society Luther King, Jr., black clergy in Chicago utilized saw it as their responsibility to address these issues their leverage to bring economic opportunity as a way of presenting a positive image of black to their communities. Allen, Boothe, and King men and women and to dispel negative racial preached a message of hope and eternal life, but stereotypes. Allen used direct language to express they also understood the earthly condition of their his beliefs. He gave frank advice on the lifestyle of people by addressing the spiritual, physical, and black men and women: mental health of the community. Labour with thy hands and thou will provide things that are honest, and with a good

African & African American Studies  conscience enjoy them. Flee for thy life from not realized during the first half of the Nineteenth the chambers of the harlot. Know, O young Century, and dreams of inclusion after the Civil man, that her steps take hold of hell. Secret War were quickly shattered as the church became crimes shall be dragged to light and seen by the sole center for esteem and vision. the eye of the world in their horrid forms. The solemn record is standing: Whoremongers Charles Octavius Boothe and and adulterers, God will judge. Go not to Accommodation the tavern; the song of the drunkard will In the years following the Civil War and the soon be changed to weeping and wailing institution of slavery, Americans dealt with the and gnashing of teeth. Drunkenness hurls issue of the future of black men and women. As reason from the throne, and when she has four million former slaves explored their options fallen, Vice stands ready to ascend it. Break for social advancement, the church became their off, O young man your impious companions. only refuge. It is important to note that the United If you still grasp their hands they will drag States government established the Freedmen’s 7 you down to everlasting fire. Bureau, an agency dedicated to providing This morally strict message was the church’s way displaced Southerners, black and white, with of encouraging blacks, especially freedmen, to set basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. an example of black people as contributors to the The common assumption is that the Freedmen’s larger community and not deviants. This type of Bureau addressed only the needs of the former declaration was the reaction to a double standard slaves. The truth, however, is that during the where the entire segment of the population was Reconstruction-era Congress fiercely debated the labeled because of the actions of a few. merit of a federal agency that would help solely Under the leadership of Allen and his the black population. Some members of Congress successors, the A.M.E. Church continued to stressed the fact that millions of poor white live by its motto, “To Seek for Ourselves.” The yeoman farmers’ lives were destroyed by the war, A.M.E. Church Review, in 1884, and institutions and that they needed an opportunity to reestablish of higher education were founded. The A.M.E. themselves as well. In 1865, Congress established Church Review has been a leading journal for the Freedmen’s Bureau Act, which stated that the ordinary citizens and scholars since the 1800s.8 newly formed agency would be: Articles in this publication dealt with issues such a bureau of refugees, freedmen, and as economic development, racial solidarity, moral abandoned lands, to which shall be development, and self-help—the issues of greatest committed, as hereinafter provided, concern to the black population. Realizing that the supervision and management of all they were not welcome in predominately white abandoned lands, and the control of all churches, many members of the A.M.E. Church subjects relating to refugees and freedmen decided that disparities might exist in terms of from rebel states, or from any district of educational opportunities. Therefore, they decided country within the territory embraced in to live by their motto, “To Seek for Ourselves,” by the operations of the army, under such rules starting black colleges and universities. Wilberforce and regulations as may be prescribed by University in Wilberforce, Ohio, became the first the head of the bureau and approved by the university owned and operated by the A.M.E. President.10 Church in 1863. By 1907, the A.M.E. Church gave Under the act, whites and blacks received aid more than 1 million dollars to educational efforts in the form of food, clothing, shelter, jobs, and 9 and supported 22 schools. Despite encounters education. with race prejudice, black communities labored intensely within the institution of the church to Although the Freedmen’s Bureau aided both establish an image of dignity. Hope for equality was races, Congress did not do enough to bring about

 African & African American Studies racial harmony, particularly in the South where rejection of racial harmony. Although religion has the racial conflict was most pronounced. The always had its place in black life, black men and period of Reconstruction only intensified fear and women understood that politics was the life blood resentment between the races. By 1877 hundreds of the United States; an institution in need of their of black men were murdered under the banner of presence. When they were overtly rejected by their the Ku Klux Klan. Southern states had developed white counterparts, blacks seemed to retreat to an a system of laws known as Black Codes which institution that they knew belonged to them; and slowly restricted rights guaranteed either by they knew they controlled their church. Congressional laws or Constitutional amendments. Charles Octavius Boothe of Alabama exemplified By the 1880s, a black man invited trouble if his this model of accommodation-oriented preaching affiliations were strictly political. His involvement and living while at the same time promoting a in the body politic conveyed an impression of “A message of advancement. The Baptist preacher know-it-all” or “An uppity Negro.” The sentiment professed an evangelical gospel of blacks behaving of most white Americans was that blacks had better and portraying a life of moral conduct and no place in the political realm. The black man’s good citizenship.13 Blacks developed these beliefs desire to participate fully in the political process hoping that they would find inclusion in white was considered a threat to white dominance. society. Boothe referred to this “Pull yourself up by It was much more advantageous for black men your bootstraps” concept as an uplift phenomena and women to “know their place” and not freely among post-bellum blacks to improve their express themselves: status.14 Black uplift, or self-help, was interpreted Today the young Negro of the South as black men and women having institutions who would succeed cannot be frank and and a social structure that they established and outspoken, honest and self-assertive, but owned. Boothe’s contribution to community and rather he is daily tempted to be silent and economic development was his desire to take the wary, politic and sly; he must flatter and be gospel to the majority of black men and women pleasant, endure petty insults with a smile, who constituted the black underclass in the South. shut his eyes to wrong … His real thoughts, He believed that explanations of God should be his real aspirations, must be guarded in presented to the black rank and file in a plain and whispers; he must not criticise, he must not simple fashion. Boothe published Plain Theology complain. Patience, humility, and adroitness for Plain People in 1890 to help plain people in must, in these growing black youth, replace the study of the first principles of divine truth.15 impulse, manliness, and courage.11 He, along with other black ministers throughout Realizing that the once progressive pendulum Alabama, created a school in Selma in 1878 to had swung back toward hatred and intolerance, train future black ministers. In order to publicize the black community clung heavily to their the school, Boothe and his fellow ministers started faith for daily survival. Certain sects of the a newspaper, The Baptist Pioneer. The Baptist black community concluded that it was God’s Church had the most extensive educational self- will for them to live under the Black Codes and help program. By 1907, Baptists developed 107 subsequent Jim Crow legislation. They suggested schools at different educational levels and owned that suffering was a part of life for God’s children. property worth more than $600,000. Boston Many Southern ministers began to preach to their University economists, Glen and Linda Datcher parishioners a message of accommodation—that Loury, reaffirmed the power of “an uplift tradition” they needed to worry more about their souls than in their essay, Not by Bread Alone. They suggested social issues.12 One cannot help but ponder if the that a spirit of self-help, rooted in a deep-seated black Southerner’s extremely deep interpretation sense of self-respect, was widely embraced among of religion and reluctant shift from political blacks of all ideological persuasions well into the th 16 participation was due to white society’s bitter 20 century. Perseverance in the midst of racial

African & African American Studies  oppression was not only a testimony to the glory King organized a legion of ministers in Chicago, and grace of God, but it was an indication that Illinois, to begin a project known as “Operation personal integrity and dignity would eventually Breadbasket.” King said in his book Where Do defeat racial discrimination. We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, that the Although Boothe did not topple Jim Crow, primary purpose of Operation Breadbasket was nor risk his life in a direct confrontation “the securing of more and better jobs for Negro 18 with the white power-structure, he and his people.” The ministerial coalition called on those generation of black evangelicals put in place businesses that relied on a black consumer base. the institutions and values that nurtured They asked for data that outlined the numbers the leaders of the movement that would of total employees, the total number of minority one day batter down the walls of legal employees, the departments and job classifications discrimination.17 of employees and the salary ranges of the job classifications. After receiving this information, The philosophies of both Allen and Boothe had they presented a proposal that stated that the a tremendous impact on African Americans for number of jobs for minorities should be based on most of the Twentieth Century. Their outlook on population figures. King suggested, “If a city has character and dignity from a spiritual perspective a 30 percent Negro population, then it is logical reassured the black community of equal status in to assume that Negroes should have at least 30 the United States. They knew that they possessed percent of the jobs in any particular company.”19 the will and intelligence to accomplish any task. After submitting the proposal, the hope was that the business would agree. But if negotiations Martin Luther King and Direct Social broke down, the group of ministers would Action engage in what King referred to as “a massive By the 1960s, a developing black middle class call for economic withdrawal from the company’s exhibited traits of esteem and strength, but their product and accompanying demonstrations.”20 quest was to repeal the legal discrimination that Ministers went to the pulpit and urged their kept them second class citizens. Participants in congregations not to buy a particular product until the modern Civil Rights Movement, led by the the company understood the needs and concerns Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, of their customer base. In the twelve cities where successfully marched and demonstrated for the Operation Breadbasket was launched, the team cause of equal opportunity. In 1964 Congress of ministers saw impressive success as many passed the Civil Rights Act to ensure equality companies embraced positive equal opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, national origin programs. In Atlanta, for example, black buying or gender. One year later in 1965, amid senseless power increased by $20 million through the use of violence directed at individuals who believed in selective buying and negotiation.21 democratic practices such as voter registration, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Conclusions Act into law. Many pundits assumed that King The previous examples demonstrate the and the soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement had historic role of the black church in spurring accomplished their goal, and rhetoric detailing community and economic development. Allen racial disparities would quickly fade away. King, and Boothe employed a strategy of constructing however, noticed continued inequities, such as a separate America—an America where the black substandard housing, gaps in educational levels of community would possess academic, economic, the rich and poor, higher unemployment in black and social institutions comparable to those of urban communities, and generally inadequate white society. Their initiative and determination health care among the poor everywhere. reinforced a self-help ethic in segregated America. King also noticed that many urban blacks were The racial standard of the day forced them to not treated fairly as consumers. To address this, resort to methods many considered as submissive

 African & African American Studies or promoting inferiority. But with a firm 7. Ibid. understanding of self and their accomplishments, 8. Butler, J.S. (1991). Entrepreneurship and Self-Help they were able to weather the storm. King took Among Black Americans. Albany: State University of the strength and pride of the segregated society New York Press. and pricked America’s conscience to promote 9. Ibid. the idea of a united nation. King’s use of direct 10. Pierce, P.S. (1970). The Freedmen’s Bureau: A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction. St. Clair Shores, MI: protest evidenced black America’s desire for equal Scholarly Press. opportunity. He was able to take the sophisticated 11. DuBois, W.E.B. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: network of clergy in the black community and A.C. McClurg and Company. develop a political, economic, and social agenda 12. Crowther, E.R. (1993). Charles Octavius Boothe: An that would attempt to enhance the quality of life Alabama Apostle of “Uplift.” The Journal of Negro in depressed communities. History, 78, 110-116. 13. Ibid. References 14. Ibid. 1. DuBois, W.E.B. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: 15. Ibid. A.C. McClurg and Company. 16. Loury, G. & L.D. (1997). Not by Bread Alone. The 2. DiIulio, J. (1998, January). Living Faith: The Black Brookings Review, 1-13. Church Outreach Tradition. Paper presented at a meeting 17. Crowther, E.R. (1993). Charles Octavius Boothe: An of the Manhattan Institute, New York, NY. Alabama Apostle of “Uplift.” The Journal of Negro 3. DuBois, W.E.B.(1903). The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago: History, 78, 110-116. A.C. McClurg and Company. 18. King, M.L. (1967). Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos 4. George, C.V.R. (1973). Segregated Sabbaths: Richard or Community? Boston: Beacon Press. Allen and the Emergence of Independent Black Churches. 19. Ibid. New York: Oxford University Press. 20. Ibid. 5. Lincoln, C.E. (1984). Race, Religion, and the Continuing American Dilemma. New York: Hill and Wang. 21. Ibid. 6. George, C.V.R. (1973). Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Emergence of Independent Black Churches. New York: Oxford University Press.

African & African American Studies  Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth: Man With A Mission By Katheryne Moore

Boom! I could almost Rev. Shuttlesworth has devoted his life to the hear the explosion struggle to achieve justice and equality for all of dynamite as Rev. people. He, along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Shuttlesworth described Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, and other ministers the destruction of his were co-founders of the Southern Christian Birmingham, Alabama, Leadership Conference (SCLC). He also served as home in 1956. On a member of the National Board for the Congress Christmas Eve, racists of Racial Equality (CORE), and many other civil chiseled a hole in the rights organizations. side of his house and Now, at the age of eighty-five, Rev. Shuttlesworth placed sixteen sticks of is still going strong. He travels extensively to Katheryne Moore dynamite where the head lecture for the cause of human justice. His voice of his bed fits against the is still strong, and his message very profound. wall. His house was blown to smithereens; but he During his recent lecture at East Tennessee State was not injured, although he had been in the bed University, he referred to himself as a lawyer at the time. without a portfolio because, as of 1965, he had As I sat there listening to Rev. Shuttlesworth, filed more cases in federal court than anyone prior I had a flashback of myself as a young civil rights to his time. Moreover, he had more convictions activist at Shaw University, in Raleigh, North than he could keep track of. He received five Carolina, in January 1960. While standing outside convictions as a consequence of his participation my dormitory at midnight in the snow after in the Freedom Rides of 1961 and five convictions receiving a bomb threat, I experienced the trauma as a result of his role in the sit-ins that swept created by hate. A few minutes earlier, a telephone the country in 1960. Strangely enough, he never threat of a school bombing had come from an anti- actually sat at a lunch counter for the purpose of civil rights advocate. He warned that my dormitory, desegregating the facility; but his influence on the Estee Hall, would be blown up at midnight. I and demonstrators and his support of their activities fellow students waited outside for hours, but the caused legal authorities to file trumped-up charges explosion never came. Rev. Shuttlesworth was not against him as part of their efforts to crush the sit- as lucky. Nevertheless, the bombing of his home in movement. did not deter his civil rights efforts. The day after Rev. Shuttlesworth’s efforts were, indeed, the bombing of his house, and in the wake of significant; and they have been widely recognized. Alabama outlawing the NAACP, he organized the Among the many recognitions of his work are Alabama Christian Movement for Civil Rights. honorary degrees: the President’s Citizen Award, In reference to the political arena, Rev. bestowed by President William Jefferson Clinton, Shuttlesworth said: “Bush’s ‘dead or alive’ and an 8½-foot bronze statue of him in front of mandate may have been all right in the Old West, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. but it is not worth a dime now.” Although he has spent most of his life fighting On slavery, Rev. Shuttlesworth stated that for civil rights, Fred Shuttlesworth is and has always Southern white people intended for slavery to been, by profession, a pastor. In his ETSU lecture, continue forever. I suppose this accounts for he said that the best type of preacher is one who the fact that in old plantation wills, plantation can preach on Sunday and picket on Monday. He owners bequeathed their slaves to as many as five revealed his major role as a preacher of the Gospel generations of future heirs. when he said, “The first civil rights conference

10 African & African American Studies was held thousands of years ago. It took place way was no longer young. His answer to me was, “Stop out in the wilderness. It was recorded on a tablet making excuses.” There was nothing else I could of stone. It was held between God and Moses.” say for I knew that he was right. The responsibility He also stated that, “our spiritual skies are too to address injustices is not restricted to any age low, and that is why we are always crashing into group. We all have a job to do, regardless of each other. We don’t climb to the heights of God’s age, because injustices and hatred still exist. On mercy, love, and grace.” January 2, 2007, I visited Raleigh, North Carolina, He continued, “No matter how long oppression where I had attended Shaw University when I was has been in the world, there has always been a teenager. I was amazed at how little things had someone to cry out. We now depend on young changed. While at the North Carolina Museum people to do what we elders have done, but who of Art, I came face to face with blatant racism will be strong enough, and who will be brave similar to what I had faced while a student at enough to fight for freedom in the ‘Land of the Shaw, years ago. An elderly white man refused to Free and the Home of the Brave’ tomorrow?” ride the elevator with me, simply because of the color of my skin. This incident made me realize Later, as I shared some of my civil rights that although we have made much progress in our experiences of the sixties with Rev. Shuttlesworth, mission to create a color-blind society, much is yet I asked him, “Who will cry out for us if young to be done. people refuse? He replied, “You! You are to cry out.” I told him that I had paid my dues when I Katheryne Moore is an AFAM minor, with a major in was part of the young generation, years ago. I told journalism. She is also an associate pastor of the Lee him that I had been through the fire, and that I Street Baptist Church in Bristol.

THE 2006-2007 AFAM PROGRAM IN REVIEW

Lectures The 2006-2007 academic year was marked by American Political Thought, in three well-attended special lectures. On October the Political Science Department. 24, 2006, Dr. Uchenna C. Nwosu, His power-point presentation a professor in the ETSU College provided the audience in the of Medicine, spoke to students Carroll Reece Museum with an in- and faculty on the tradition of depth analysis of the November self-government in Nigeria, Dr. 2006 elections. The multitude Nwosu’s native land. The lecture of questions reflected the great Dickson was held at 6:00 p.m. in the East interest of the attendees who Tennessee Room of the D.P. Culp continued their discussion during the reception Nwosu Center. After Dr. Nwosu’s talk that followed the one-hour lecture, from 6:30 - and slide show on Ibo culture, 7:30 p.m. there were many questions and lively discussion, The third and last speaker, followed by refreshments. Dr. Nwosu’s lecture was Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, civil followed by Mr. Adam G. Dickson’s presentation rights activist, spoke to a on February 6, 2007. He discussed, in detail, the standing-room-only crowd in results of the 2006 Congressional elections and their the Carroll Reece Museum on significance for African Americans, in particular, February 22, 2007. See Katheryne and the nation, in general. Dickson, who teaches Moore’s article on his lecture in in the AFAM Program, offers the course, Black this newsletter. Shuttlesworth

African & African American Studies 11 AFAM Course Schedules, 2007-2008 Spring 2007 Fall 2007 AFAM 3989 Cooperative Education AFAM 4900 Special Studies AFAM 4950 Senior Seminar ENGL 3400 African Am. Lit. I CJCR 4670 Race, Gender, and Crime GEOG 1012 Intro to Cultural Geography ENGL 4032 African Literature GEOG 4307 Regional Geography of Africa HIST 3901 African Am. Hist. Since 1877 HIST 3020 Am. Ethnic & Cultural History MUSC 1035 History of Jazz HIST 3900 African Am. Hist. to 1877 PSCI 4030 Black Am. Political Thought MUSC 1035 History of Jazz SPAN 4957 African/Afro/Hispanic Cinema SOAA 3119 Minorities Spring 2008 Fall 2008 AFAM 3989 Cooperative Education AFAM 3989 Cooperative Education AFAM 4950 Senior Seminar AFAM 4900 Special Studies CJCR 4760 Race, Gender, and Crime AFAM 4950 Seminar ENGL 4032 African Literature ENGL 4047 African Am. Literature II HIST 3270 History of Africa HIST 3900 African Am. History to 1877 HIST 3901 African Am. Hist. Since 1877 MUSC 1035 History of Jazz MUSC 1035 History of Jazz SOCI 3110 Minorities PSCI 4030 Black Am. Political Thought

Faculty News

Marcia Songer Dr. Mel Page

Dr. Dorothy Drinkard- Hawkshawe

Professor Marcia Songer Dr. Mel Page teaches African Dr. Dorothy Drinkard-Hawkshawe, teaches African Literature History in the AFAM Program Director of AFAM and history in the AFAM Program, and and is a history professor. At professor, served as keynote serves as Associate Director of the 2007 annual meeting of the speaker at the initiation cer- the Honors Scholars Program. American Historical Association, emony of ETSU’s Phi Kappa In December 2006, she visited he presented a paper on “Novels Phi Honor Society on April Tanzania in East Africa. The and Counterfactual History,” 3, 2007. She spoke on “The first in a series of articles on as part of a roundtable session Talented Tenth: Honor and her African travels appears in on “Teaching with Historical Responsibility.” She urged the this newsletter. Fiction.” The AHA conference new members of the honor was held in Atlanta, Ga., in society to use their talents to January. serve humanity.

East Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution and is fully in accord with the belief that educational and employment opportunities should be available to all eligible persons without regard to age, gender, color, race, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation. Printed by East Tennessee State University Press. TBR 220-011-07 1M

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