Oregon Advance Times_1968-02-15

Page 8 The Oregon Advance TIMES February 15, 1968 Black, White Students Have Weekend Seminar; Many Different Outlooks Revealed By Students by FRANCINE INGERSOLL A weekend seminar on all subjects related to Black Power drew 29 students, both black and white, from 11 schools. Jefferson, Grant, Cleve– land, Lincoln, Jackson, Wil– son, St. Mary's, Catlin Gabel, These were the hostesses at Valentine Cocktail Dance held on the River Queen Feb. 11 by the social organization, de Bonne Grace. Mrs. Arvella English Is president. , Woodburn, Corvallis, and the Free School were repre– sented at the Camp Adams Black History 400 Years of Slavery by ·cHARLO'ITE RUIBERFORD The slave trade involved anywhere from 8 to 20 mil– lion people. It lasted for 400 years, from 1450 to the 1800' s. Some stretch this date to 1968. There were approximately a million slaves in the United States: two million in the West Indies; three million in Brazil: and one-half million in South Africa, Europe and off-shore places of Europe. Approximately 40 per cent of those captured died before they reached their destina– tion. They either starved, died of the brutally severe punishments or from the dis– eases carried by the white man and in the overloaded slave holes. Slavery in one form or another has been practiced since the beginning of or- ganized man. In the biblical times of Moses as well as the great days of Rome, slavery existed. But there was no stigma attached to being a slave. Ancient slavery had little to do with race and was justified by the rules of war. As time went on justification switched from militaristic to religious. Christians and Moslems enslaved those of other beliefs. Christians, who finally dominated the slave area, felt justified in enslaving "heathens." As slavery gained ground in the New World, religion was used as the basis for en– slaving the African. Since he was not a Christian he could be enslaved. Between 1667 and 1682 the basis shifted to race. Although in the early 1600' s Maryland was the first state to make black people slaves for life, Virginia was the first to in.. corporate the race issue into law. Her law of 1667 stated that ''. • • the conferring of baptisme doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage or freedom." A series of laws throughout America stripped the black slave of all rights of per- sonality and made color a badge of servitude. There were some differ– ences in slavery in the Span– ish colonies and slavery in the English colonies. The British-Protestarit colonies were the most cruel. They violently opposed African cultures and religions more than the Catholic colonies. The Protestants aborted as many ties with Aftica as they possibly could. Mat)y captured Africans tried to take their own lives rather than being enslaved. A goodly number of people either suffocated or starved to death en voyage. History and movies lead one to believe that the slave days were filled with happy carefree black folks dancing and singing from the cotton fields to their roach-infested shacks that were c a 11 e d home. Anyone who is gullible enough to believe this gar– bage is to be pitied. There was nothing romantic or beautiful about slavery. The slave had no rights whatsoever. Those that worked in the fields were at the bottom of the pile. They were treated worse, fed worse, and clothed worse than their black brothers and sisters who had "earned" their way into the "Big ,House." The House Nigger (you are a "nigger" in the field or in the house) re– ceived some of the ad– vantages of Jhe ma st er. These people were often · the illigitimate offspring of the master. The slave had various ways of showing his discontent: from being exceptionally slow in his work to an open re– bellion. He may have had an exterior appearance of docility but this was used as an escape from the oppressive life as a slave. Next week we shall look at some of the slave revo– lutions and the reasons why they failed here and did not fall in the West Indies. There is a great parallel be– tween slave insurrections and those going on today. meeting. Brief accounts, back– ground information, and the views of the NAACP and the American Friends Service Committee were presented. This spurred discussion con– cerning the Model School system as it is in Portland, "Uncle Toms," white rac– ism, and many other topics. A student panel discussed their own problems in ar– riving at a racial identity. A letter w'as read that had been written by a Black at Guests Hail Korea Veteran Approximately 35 people surprised Specialist 4th class Ocie L. Webster, u. S. Army Feb. 9, at his residence 811 N. E. Brazee. Ocie returned from 13 months of active duty in As– con, South Korea. The event was to welcome and congrat– ulate him upon his separation from service on Feb. 5. He received a Medical Special– ist plaque from Hospital Sec– tion C-13 of the 121st Evacu– ation Hospital in South Korea. He plans to establish permanent residence here with his wife Sharon, a gradu– ate of Jefferson High School, class of '63. ·ocie has two sisters also living in Port– land; Jocie Rice, a twin, and Fay Shephard. Both are mar– ried and have families. When asked about Korea, he said, "Their standards are much lower than ours." "It certainly makes you appreci– ate what we have. I was proud to wear the uniform. It's a symbol of the liberty to practice what I believe in. However, I am not a soldier at heart." EASTSIDE COAST JANITORIAL BOOKKEEPING SERVICE SERVICE * STATE-FEDERAL * Complete INCOME Building TAX Maintenance Short or long Form let us help you! Phone: 282-0700 Phone 281-7252 COAST JANITORIAL SERVICE INC. Jefferson who had made the switch from a "sosh" to a true Black. All of this was discussed in detail. Two films were shown, "Interview with Bruce Gor– don" and one with the Indian, Buffy St. Marie. Bruce Gor– don is black and Buffy is red, and they are doing their thing in their own way. Saturday morning began with a discussion of sex and racism. Following this we broke up into about four small groups and each group discussed a different topic. The group I participated in discussed the Negro church and its role in the com– munity. After lunch, Colden Missionary Visits (Continued from Page 1) years when she first worked there. She gives much credit for this success to president of the republic, William V. S. Tubman. Brown led a discussion on Black Power as he sees it. James Hill also brought out many points of interest on this topic, and the subject was debated, argued, dis– cussed and talked about for some time. Alice Mills, a former speech teacher, then read some Black poetry. Small groups formed again and different topics were dis– cussed in each group. Pimps and prostitutes, Watts, sex and racism, family psy– chology were the topics dis– cussed under the guidance of group leaders. A presenta– tion of Leroi Jones' play, •'The Toilet," was presented Saturday night. It was not for tender ears and many of the students, white and black, couldn't understand it. Saturday night was closed with a big dance which was to help Black and White stu– dents mingle. Sunday morning, the Black students attended a Black caucus and the Whites at– tended a White caucus. After this the two groups reunited and ideas were interchanged. The Whites were going to go home and into their own communities and work with their own kind, or so they said. One White girl stated that she was going home to her own and be a contented White without lifting a finger. She said she could not see anything she could do in her community, since it was the Blacks she had wanted to help but they hadn't wanted her help. The Black students seemed to be more Black Sunday afternoon than they had been Friday night and much prouder of it. President Tubman gave her 500 acres for a mission school in the bush for her work among the tribes. Mrs. George says she is doing her best "to get black people in– terested in helping Liberia." • She feels that if "more of our people become interested in Africa, there would be better feeling and understand– ing between the two coun– tries." Mrs. George gave her rea– sons for first going to Li– beria. "The Lord led me there. It is the home of our forefathers." Costumes were the order of the day when Nigerian students took part in Operation Awareness at North Branch Y. Mrs. Verna Shepherd, second from right, joined the stu– dents for the occasion. I P VINGTaM AT 1-uo1 I. BROADWAY AT 14TH by Uoyd Cenf•r NOW PLAYING EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT! SPENCER TRACY a love story of today COLUMBIA PICTURES Presents A STANLEY KRAMER PRODUCTION SIDNEY POITIER KATHARINE HEPBURN guess who's coming to dinner and introducing KATHARINE HOUGHTON Music by OeVOL Wnllen by WILLIAM ROSE Produced and Directed by STANLEY KRAMER Film score available on Colgems Records TECHNICOLOR· !~ Cl) SHOW TIMES Friday-Saturday Feb– ruary 16-17, 6:00- 8:00-10:00 "****! Highest rating! An important contribution SUNDAY, Feb. 18, 2:00 - 4:00 - 6:00 - 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday February 19 - 20, 7:10 and 9:15 to motion pictures!'' -Wanda Hale. N.Y. Daily News "AWITTY AND GLISTENING FILM!" -Bosley Crowther, N.Y. Times .