The SPHINX | Spring 1968 | Volume 54 | Number 1 196805401

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The Sphinx Volume 54 Number 1 February, 1968 Pages 13 and 14 have a section cut out of them and pages 15 and 16 are missing The best copy available was scanned

The young man and w o m a n p i c t u r e d at right are a m o n g t h e t h o u s a n d s of s t u d e n t s who graduate each year f r o m c o l l e g e s and universities affilated with the United Negro College Fund.

They are the

advance guard of a n e w generation of Negro youth who possess the knowledge and skills required to enter the mainstream of our economy.

As intelligent and educated Negro Americans, they hope to be able to live productive and creative lives . . . to contribute to our society in ways their parents never dreamed possible.

W e believe they will succeed.

But the future of these young graduates must be balanced against the plight of millions of boys and girls living in the substratum of every city in this country.

If we as Americans are to give substance to the phrase, "equality of opportunity," every capable youngster must be given an equal chance to realize his full educational potential. And this attainable goal must be shared by vastly larger numbers of gifted Negro youth — as soon as possible.

The challenge is urgent. It must be met now. The alternative is to deny more than 20 million people the rights to share fully in the benefits of our society . . . to sustain a pattern of rejection, despair and hopelessness for a great many college-age youth.

As a noted historian recently observed, " T h e rate of economic and social change in the United States is so rapid that a handicapped group falls even further behind if it progresses more slowly than the rest of the population."

This is precisely what is happening to Negro Americans.

The 33 institutions affiliated with the United Negro College Fund cannot possibly educate all of the Negro and other deprived youngsters who could benefit from a college education.

But they are educating one out of every six Negro students attending the nation's 2,238 colleges and universities. And they are the only group of institutions in the country determined to seek out, motivate and educate substantially larger numbers of deprived youth now denied the right to a full education.

Their mission, in brief, is to identify potentially capable students and to extend quality education, particularly to those high school graduates who are restricted by poverty or handicapped by inferior public schooling.

Every thoughtful American can play an important role in this, the most important educational endeavor of our generation.

By supporting the Fund, you will be acting — directly and purposefully — to help thousands of promising students continue their education.

By contributing to the United Negro College Fund, you will be helping equalize educational opportunities — without which there is no equality in employment, housing or any other meaningful aspect of American life.

Support THE UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND 55 East 52nd Street / New York, N.Y. 10022 Education is the "great equalizer of the conditions of men . . .

the balance wheel of

The

Sphinx

Volume 54

Number 1

February, 1968

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. P.O. Box 285 Lincolnton Station New York, N. Y. 10037

Editor-in-Chief

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Directory for 1966-1967

George M. Daniels

Editorial Assistant Ernest B. Boynton Jr.

Jewel Henry A. Callis

2306 E Street. N.E., Washington, D.C.

Officers Contributing Editors Malvin R. Goode, Martin L. Harvey, L. W. Jeffries, Eddie L. Madison, Frank L. Stanley, Sr., Art Sears, Jr., L. H. Stanton, Charles Wesley, Randolph White, 0. Wilson Winters, Laurence T. Young.

Editorial Advisory Committee Frank Ellis, Malvin R. Goode, Marshall Harris, John H. Johnson, Moss H. Kendrix, J. Herbert King, Belford V. Lawson, Samuel A. Madden, J. E. Martin, Lionel H. Newsom, Gus T. Ridgel, Floyd Shepherd, L. H. Stanton, Felix Warren, Laurence T. Young.

Staff Photographer Henry Crawford

The Sphinx is the official magazine of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 4432 South Parkway, Chicago, III., with editorial offices at 282 Convent Ave., New York, N. Y. Published four times a year: February, May, October and December.

Address all editorial mail to P.O. Box 285, Lincolnton Station, New York, N. Y. 10037.

Change of Address: Send both addresses to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, 4432 South Parkway, Chicago, III. Manuscripts or art submitted to The Sphinx should be accompanied by addressed envelopes and return postage. Editor assumes no responsibi'ity for return of unsolicited manuscripts of art.

Subscription: $2.00 per year.

Opinions expressed in columns and articles do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and use of any person's name in fiction, semi-fiction articles or humorous features is to be regarded as a coincidence and not as the responsibility of The Sphinx. It is never done knowingly. Copyright 1965 by The Sphinx, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of the editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited.

The Sphinx has been published continuously since 1914. Organizing Editor: Bro. Raymond W. Cannon. Organizing General President: Bro. Henry Lake Dickason.

Second class postage paid at New York, N. Y. Postmaster: Send form 3579 and all correspondence to P.O. Box 285, Lincolnton Station, New York, N. Y. 10037.

General President — Bro. Lionel H. Newsom General Secretary — Bro. Laurence T. Young General Treasurer— Bro. Leven C. Weiss General Counsel — Bro. Morris M. Hatchett Editor, The Sphinx — Bro. George M. Daniels

3826 W. Manor Lane S.W., Atlanta, Geirgia 30311 4432 South Parkway, Chicago, III. 4676 West Outer Drive, Detroit, Michigan 470 Lenox Ave., New York, N. Y.

Vice Presidents Eastern — Bro. Frank J. Ellis Midwestern — Bro. Gus T. Ridgel Southwestern — Bro. Earnest L. Wallace Southern — Bro. Luke H. Chatman Western — Bro. C. P. Johnson

1929 W. Lanvale St., Baltimore, Md. Kentucky State College, Frankfort. Ky. 2018 Van Cleve, Dallas, Texas P.O. Box 1311, Greenville, S.C. 29602 17823 88th, N.E., Bothell, Washington 98011

Assistant Vice Presidents Eastern — Bro. Conrad Cathcart Midwestern — Bro. Edwin Patton Southwestern — Bro. James E. Glover Western — Bro. Clifford S. Webb Southern — Bro. Harold L. Taylor

1084 Parkside, Cleveland, Ohio 2183 W. 27th St., Los Angeles, California 90018 Morehouse College, Atlanta. Ga. 30314

Historian — Bro. Charles H. Wesley ......

Dir. Ed. Activities —Bro. Thomas D. Pawley, III

1824 Taylor Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Mo.

Chr. Alpha Phi Alpha Building Foundation, Inc.— Bro. William M. Alexander

4272 Washington St., St. Louis, Mo.

REGIONAL DIRECTORS Eastern Region Massachusetts — Bro. James Howard 105 Greenwood St., Boston, Mass.

Rhode Island — Bro. Ralph Allen 179 Doyle Ave., Providence. R. I. Connecticut— Bro. W. Decker Clark 66 Dry Hill Road. Norwalk, Conn.

New York, Northern New Jersey — Bro. Albert Holland 31 Hickory Hill Rd., Tappan, N. Y. Pennsylvania. Delaware, Southern N. J. — Bro. Frank Devine 6202 Washington Ave., Phila., Pa. Maryland-Washington — Bro. Thomas Hunt 911 Spa Rd., Annapolis, Md. Virginia — Bro. Talmadge Tabb 324 Greenbriar Ave., Hampton, Va. Midwestern Region Indiana — Bro. Montague Oliver I l l E. 19th, Gary. Indiana Northeast Ohio — Bro. Charles Nunn 10926 Pasadena Ave., Cleveland, Ohio Central Ohio — Bro. Oliver Sumlin 2724 Hoover Ave., Dayton. Ohio Northwest Ohio — Bro. Robert Stubblefield 1340 W. Woodruff, Toledo. Ohio Southern Illinois — Bro. Harold Thomas 1731 Gaty Ave., East St. Louis, Illinois West Missouri and Kansas — Bro. Edwin Byrd 2533 W. Paseo Dr.. Kansas City, Mo. Wisconsin — Bro. Hoyt Harper 5344 N. 64th. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Southeast Ohio — Bro. Paul Turner 2335 Gardendale Dr., Columbus 19, Ohio Western Michigan — Bro. William Boards, Jr 680 W. Van Buren St., Battle Creek. Mich.

Northern Illinois — Bro. J. Herbert King 4728 Drexel Blvd., Chicago, Illinois East Missouri — Bro. Clifton Bailey 3338A Aubert Ave., St. Louis 15. Mo. Iowa — Bro. Ernest Russell 3927 Amherst St.. Des Moines. Iowa Southwest Ohio — Bro. Holloway Sells 699 N. Crescent Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio Kentucky—Bro. Herbert Olivera Kentucky State College, Frankfort. Kentucky West Central Missouri — Bro. Jimmy Buford 3548 Park Avenue. Kansas City, Mo. Central Missouri — Bro. Thomas D. Pawley, Jr 1010 Lafayette, Jefferson City, Mo. Regional Secretary — Bro. Cramon Myers 404 West 44th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana Southwestern Region Southwest District — Bro. Floyd Plymouth 1940 Leona, Las Vegas, Nevada Oklahoma — Bro. Vernon L. Foshee 725 Terrace Blvd., Muskogee, Oklahoma Louisiana — Bro. Elliot J. Keyes 7462 Benjamin St., New Orleans, Louisiana Arkansas — Bro. T. E. Patterson 1624 W. 21st St., Little Rock, Arkansas Texas— Bro Reby Cary 1804 Bunche Dr., Ft. Worth, Texas Southern District — Bro. Payton Cook 5139 Palin St., San Diego, Calif.

Southern Region Alabama — Bro. Kirkwood Balton Georgia — Bro. Henry Collier Florida — Bro. Herbert Starke Mississippi — Bro. T. J. Ranee North Carolina — Bro. G. H. Vaughn South Carolina — Bro. Luke Chatman Tennessee — Bro. George W. James

1303 Main St., Birmingham, Ala. 1527 Mills B. Lane Ave., Savannah, Ga. 724 N.W. 27th St., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 407 Washington St.. Brookhaven. Miss.

1708 Shady Ave.. Winston-Salem, N. C. P.O. Box 1311. Greeneville, S. C. 1527 E. 3rd St., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Western Region Northwest District—Bro. Clifford E. Donley 347 - 29th, Seattle, Washington Washington — Bro. Odell Lewis 330 - 22nd Avenue, East, Seattle, Washington Arizona — Bro. William Corbin 2401 W. Cherry Lynn Road, Phoenix. Arizona California—Bro. Carlton Dias 949 Broderick St., San Francisco, California Central District — Bro. Clifford W. Basfield 2245 E. 11th, Stockton, California

Well teach you to speak a foreign language in thirteen weeks.

Free!

You name it, we've got it. The biggest selection in town. Urdu and Tagalog and Swahili and Hindi and Quechua and Spanish and French and Portuguese. To list a few. All free for the learning. And when we say learning we don't mean ordinary speak and listen and read learning. No sir. When we teach you a language we teach you to cook in it, teach in it, play basketball in it, build sanitation facilities and farm cooperatives in it. We teach you to climb mountains and span rivers in it, to have patience and understanding in it, to do something important in it, to look at yourself and the world in it.

We teach you to make friends and get along with people in it. And we evensupplythe friends and people. Yes sir. With every foreign language you get, absolutely free, an invitation to spend two years in a matching foreign country.

So hurry! Hurry! Don't delay. It's the chance of a lifetime. No catches. No gimmicks.

Nothing to pay. You see, it's all part of a promotion for a product we're interested in pushing. Peace.

Write: The Peace Corps, Washington, D.C. 20525. {Z \ PUBLISHED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE IN COOPERATION wjj

WITH THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL

TOP OF THE MONTH

Contents Features African Identity and the American Negro Willard R. Johnson

10

Who's Irresponsible!

Jim Hill

12 The author of African Identity and the American Negro, Dr. Willard R. Johnson, is an expert in African affairs and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His article was made possible by the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa.

Departments Alpha Directory Communique Alpha in Action

Columnists Art Sears, Jr Eddie L. Madison, Jr

For years the Fraternity has been trying to persuade undergraduate Brothers of the advantages of speaking out, of letting their gripes, real and unreal, be known to the older Brothers, and those who have the power and authority to do something about them. Too often, as past records indicate, undergrads have a tendency to suffer their frustrations in silence while the Fraternity continues to go along its weary way, still burdened by many of its worn-out and cumbersome traditions that no longer fit this day and age. In Who's Irresponsible! Bro. Jim Hall, Phi Chapter, has a lot to gripe about as he answers criticism of graduate Brothers (Billy Jones and William Alexander) whose articles appeared in the December issue of The Sphinx.

3 8 17

7 16

May — A Special Issue The May issue of The Sphinx will be a three-in-one issue. Its contents will include rather unusual fraternal bill-of-fare, a major article on Africa by Bro. St. Clair Drake of Roosevelt University, a look at some of the unsavory practices of guidance counsellors at Negro colleges and universities, and several presentations dealing with the economy of Negro businesses in the U. S.

Deadline: Since this will be an enlarged issue, all news, photographs, columns and convention highlights must be in the office of The Sphinx by March 25.

ALPHA P H I ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. — the first Negro college fraternity — was founded December 4, 1906, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Beginning with its seven founders more than 30,000 men have been initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha. Interracial since 1945, there are now 131 undergraduate chapters on college campuses and 199 graduate chapters in 38 states, the District of Columbia, West Indies, Europe and Africa.

Its members have served and continue to serve with distinction in widely diverse areas and furnish responsible leadership in hundreds of communities. In the emerging economic advance, in their business enterprises, in the professions, in government and in civic life it is Alphadom that comprises the heart of the Negro market.

A close knit organization, bound together with common loyalty in the struggle for human dignity; with common causes for cultural enrichment; and with historic accomplishments in educational advance — Alpha Phi Alpha stands dedicated to the principles on which this nation was founded, Alphamen, everywhere, constructively help in achieving America's promise.

"Since Alpha Phi Alpha was founded at Cornell University in 1906, it has espoused many good causes and achieved many victories of benefit to the country, but its most important service has been in the development of the scholars and creative leaders who will assist our country in meeting the challenges of the 1960's."

JOHN F. KENNEDY

5

PHOTO BY HAROLD HALMA

A m e s s a g e of importance to all people at The Rebellious Age. There comes a time in your life when it seems absolutely right to rebel against old ideas. Against all the things that seem to be stacked up against your generation.

Unfortunately, religious faith is one of the things that may get discarded right about now.

But should it be?

Your Faith echoes the very feelings you probably have right now. About

4?

injustice. Inhumanity. Poverty. Cruelty.

Prejudice. Hate.

That's why your Faith is the very thing you should be working with.

It can strengthen you. It can make things happen. In yourself, and in all the world around. But only if you let it.

And only if you put it to work.

President John F. Kennedy said: "God's work must truly be our own."

What do you say?

Presented as a public service by:

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.

WHAT HAPPENED TO HUMANITY? ART SEARS, JR.

I've been thinking apprehensively about a girl I met in Southeast Asia, nearly two years ago.

I remember her well: a sloe-eyed, golden skinned Asian, about 19 years old. Her pretty face and attractive figure virtually floated into the sitting room when she brought me my regular gin and tonic.

Somehow she learned that that was my favorite. So each evening, when I returned to my temporary home in Saigon, she automatically entered with the drink.

Her black hair gathered at the nape of the neck in a rubber band, cascaded down her back to the hip line, so lustrous it was difficult to discern the division between hair and the black satin, two-piece pajamas many Vietnamese women love to wear.

Almost soundlessly the young girl would pad into the room, place the cocktail on a table near me, and, just as silently, pad out of the room again.

When our eyes met, there was always a warm look of friendliness and welcome reflected in her face. It was infectious.

And yet, we were never able to exchange a single word of conversation. She spoke Vietnamese. I spoke English.

Our smiling and bowing routine lasted nearly a week during the summer of 1966, when I accompanied Bro. Whitney M. Young, Jr., on a visit to meet Negro troops in Vietnam.

I never learned her name. Nor the name of her mother or father. The three of them directed operation of a roomy villa, complete with spacious grounds surrounded by barbedwire topped cement walls, and a double gate which was locked at dusk.

The villa was situated very close to the heart of Saigon.

Cleanliness there was incredibly complete, considering the servants were rarely seen.

The servant family lived in a series of rooms clustered by themselves in the rear yard.

Each evening, when I returned "home," my soiled clothing had been laundered, pressed and returned to my room.

The several times I ate dinner there, the young girl appeared, scrubbed and radiant but calmly collected, to serve the food. Her quiet efficiency was unnerving because 1 wished so badly to thank her for the fine service I received.

It was a sorry second choice to leave a trip when I departed and to ask my host to please give the family my thanks.

Shivers of fear for the family traveled my spine as the recent South Vietnam-wide warring in cities began.

What happened to them? Are they all right? Is their home still standing? Are they alive or dead?

And I remembered the middle aged gatekeeper at a neighboring villa. He and his young companion became fast acquaintances of mine because of my habit, when there's time, of walking the streets of foreign lands I visit, to see and to experience local life firsthand.

Afterwards, I would make it a point to walk by where they spent their waking moments opening and closing the gates for visiting dignataries, and pause at least long enough so that at least our eyes communicated a welcome to each other.

For we, also, were unable to communicate through language. And perhaps it's because (I have since thought) those who have long suffered, or those who have been on the bottom, share without discussion, the same kinds of hurts and fears. Universally.

I remember and wonder about the children — the bright, black-eyed, fearless knot of children who met us one day as we alighted from a helicopter in the Mekong Delta region, to the south of Saigon.

These children did know words of English — two sentences' worth, at least: "Hello, Joe" and "okay." They fought to hold my hands as they chattered like magpies.

(Years earlier, I recalled, as the Vietnamese children clamored about me, the same thing had happened in Africa.

A crowd of kindergarten children, there, had rushed me and kissed me on the hands while others tried, for whatever their reasons, merely to touch me.)

Where, where were these little Vietnamese children, I wondered, when recently the thunder of war clapped and the sky reverberated with rat-a-tat-tats?

I wonder if the little boy who played a game of hiding by diving underwater, in a muddy Vietnam river, as I tried to take his picture, remembers. I wonder if he even has a memory, now. I wonder if the taste of sugar cane. like he was chewing when last I saw him, is still as sweet.

I wonder also about the dozens and dozens of girls who people the bars of Saigon, many offering a way for our GI's to forget, for a little while, the constancy of battle and killing.

For these girls, and these children and the families are fighting for existence, too. Only they're not hurting or harming anyone in their efforts.

I wonder is it really better they face the horrors and devastation of war. I wonder if they deserve it. I wonder when it all will end. I wonder what has happened to the milk of human kindness . . . I wonder. I wonder. I wonder . . .

It's becoming more difficult to sleep peacefully. For the faces of those human, little people of Vietnam hover there in the darkness of my room — waiting with their bright black eyes and warm smiles . . .

In my mind's eye, I fear that even now, many of those charming smiles and bodies are being detonated into millions of fragments. And even those fragments seem to hang here in my darkness . . . grim, gripping and disturbing.

Communique Men Who Merit A Headline

Some super breed of stalwart heroes, somehow immune to the ills of ordinary men and women? Legendary figures of extreme strength and endurance, whose physical needs are unlike those of mortal men? Romantic creatures of fiction? Who are these men of Zeta Zeta Lambda Chapter who merit a headline as they serve overseas?

That Alphas are ordinary people is their glory and their burden. They sweat in the heat of a blazing tropical sun; their bones ache in the piercing chill and dampness of rainy winter nights. They know the hunger, the thirst, the loneliness, the fatigue, the anxiety that are daily adversaries trying to weaken them. Still they are dauntless. Why? Because to each one of them, service is the key to the meaning of an Alpha in service overseas — men who merit a headline.

There is Bro. Yenwith Whitney, an engineer, and his wife, Muriel. They accepted an offer to serve in Africa under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in the French Camerouns where they taught at the Cameroun Christian College. Remaining in Africa for seven years during which time independence from France and England created the Federated Republic of Camerouns, Brother Whitney has since returned to New York and now works as associate secretary of education of the Presbyterian Missions organization representing schools in Africa and the Far East.

An Alpha man overseas is Bro. George Sealey who, along with his family, spent five years in Nigeria for the Peace Corps. Afterwards he taught in the New York City Public School System. He has since returned to Africa.

In 1956 Bro. Theodore Childs, a physio-therapist, on a Polio Foundation fellowship made a study of conditions in Paris, Rome, Greece, Israel, and Africa, where much of his time was spent in Kenya. Returning to New York, he worked at The City College and as trainer with the Baltimore Colts, then later with the New York Jets following coach, Weeb Eubank. Brother Childs is now at Long Island University as head of the Department of the Physically Handicapped.

Meet Bro. L. Charles Gray, pastor of the St. Albans Presbyterian Church, who in 1967 went to Guyana to serve as interim pastor of the Presbyterian Church there. A writer, Brother Gray has written of his expreiences in Guyana.

Bro. Louis Hughes and family, originally scheduled to go to Nigeria with a Harvard University sponsored group, is now serving with his family in India while on leave from the New York City Community College.

Bro. Clifford Hay has been appointed Deputy Equal Opportunity Officer for the Defense Department under the Air Force and for the Eastern Region.

Bro. Harold Dottin entered Omega Chapter.

OUT W e s t e m ImOOe

S

Picture this: The Western Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is composed of Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Colarado, Wyoming, Idaho,

Montana, Utah, and Washington; represented by 24 active Chapters (17 graduate and 7 undergraduate); enlarged over the last year with activation of four Chapters: Gamma Xi at UCLA, Alpha Epsilon at University of California at Berkeley, Epsilon Zeta Lambda in Portland, Ore.; and Alpha Xi at University of Washington, which through a floating charter includes other Seattle area colleges and two schools in Oregon. Establishment of an Alpha Chapter at the University of Arizona in Tucson is underway. San Francisco's Gamma Chi Lambda is the largest Chapter in the Western Region, with Beta Psi Lambda in Los Angeles the second largest active-member Chapter.

Dpflth ClflimS

D. W. Edmonds

'Golden Eighteen' At Alpha Rho

Odds

Ends &

Other Things

^ r o ' Daniel ^ . Edmonds, first man initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha by the founders, and a charter member of Mu Lambda Chapter of Washington, D. C , died recently after a long illness. Cashier at Howard University for 31 years, Brother Edmonds taught at Howard University Academy, a secondary school formerly run by the University, from 1913 until he became University treasurer in 1919. He retired in 1950. A 33rd degree Mason, he was also a founder and former director of Howard's Federal Credit Union.

A bumper crop of nineteen new brothers to Alpha Rho Chapter at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga., has been reported. Wearing the Black and gold are: Edwin Barrett, Charlotte, N. C ; Oscar Bracks, Jr., LaMarque, Texas; Walter Davenport, Raleigh, N. C ; Nathaniel Davis, Jacksonville, Fla.; Emerson Godwin, Buffalo, N. Y.; William Hicks, Worthington, Ohio; Linnell Jones, Tampa, Fla.; William Keaton II, Bearden, Ark.; Martin Killingham, New York, N. Y.; Sherman Lundy, Columbus, Ohio; John Mitchell, Berkeley, Calif.; Clifton O'Neill, Newport News, Va.; Kelly Price II, Orange, Texas; Thomas Randle, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Henry Roberts, Fort Smith, Ark.; Michael Roberts, Perry, Ga.; Johnnie Simmons, Alexandria, La. and; Dewell Smith, Menifee, Ark.

^ a ^ ^ ' ^ ^ *s l ^ e P U D U C a t i o n date for the 1968 edition of the directory of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Published every three years, it will list the names of all active brothers as of April 15, the final deadline for publication.

Ballots will be prepared and distributed to all active Brothers (1968 Grand Tax) from the General Office on April 1. The ballots are to be returned to a locked U.S. Post Office Box in Detroit, Mich., by or before August 1.

Nominees for General President are: Elmer C. Collins, Frank J. Ellis, LeRoy Patrick, Ernest N. Morial. Chairman of the Election Commission is Bro. Clifton E. Bailey of 338a Aubert Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63115.

The 1968 Regional Conventions are: Eastern Regional Convention at Wilmington, Del., on April 5, 6, 7; Southern Regional Convention at Greenville, S. C , on April 11, 12, 13; Midwestern Regional Convention at Louisville, Ky., on April 25, 26, 27; Southwestern Regional Convention at Lake Charles, La., on April 11, 12, 13; and Western Regional Convention at Sacramento, Calif., on May 17 and 18.

The 62nd Anniversary Convention -— General Convention — will be at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in Detroit, Mich., on August 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

9

AFRICAN identity and the AMERICAN negro Africa is becoming increasingly important and relevant to the masses of black Americans. The ignorance among exslaves and their children of African achievement, the blindness of African survivals in their culture which marked the first generation of free-born blacks, and the outright embarrassment over and prejudice against any association with Africa so evident among Negroes during the last quarter century has begun to give way to a positive identification with Africa. If not 10

Africans, by youthful militants, and through them, the black masses. It is still more a mood than a movement, but one which begins to take organizational form.

The rise and initial success of African nationalism inspired and quickened this mood; the more recent troubles in Africa have weakened but not destroyed it. With the deterioration of conditions for black people in the U.S., relative in some areas and absolute in others, militancy among blacks grows apace, and this sustains the

.BY WILLIARD R. JOHNSON mood. The goals of this militancy are not yet clearly formulated but traditional ideals continue to figure among them.

The methods are somewhat new: appeals to the masses of blacks to discard the fatalism, deference and fear which have marked their relations with white America, and to place their hope in their own strength and organization. A positive orientation to the heritage, physical and cultural, of black people is deemed by these militants to be crucial to such an enter-

prise; no such orientation can ignore the source and major repository of that heritage—Africa. This is an attempt to mobilize for self-assertion a people heretofore denied much in the way of autonomous mass organization or a heroic and prideful self-image.

Most attempts in history to mobilize masses of a deprived and persecuted people have required, or at least have produced, an ethic or credo which clearly identifies the enemy or obstacles to overcome, and which rationalizes new found beliefs in the power of such people to change history, and charts the way to do it. In short, such efforts have required an ideology. The mood of black assertiveness and pride, and the identification with Africa which nourishes it, prefigures, albeit inchoately, a nascent ideology of militant black nationalism in America.

Unlike many former expressions of black nationalism, few separatists figure in this one. The Nation of Islam is peripheral if at all connected to this movement. Nor are there many exponents of a back to Africa theme, in any but a symbolic and psychological sense. The movement is led by Americans seeking to develop a community of blacks in America, but not "of" America. They presume to test the avowed pluralism of the American credo but are not really very much concerned about general American problems.

They are preoccupied with purifying their system of values, establishing their program and organizing their followers.

Some of the recent efforts along these lines derive from the civil rights movement. Former leaders of SNCC have attempted to establish throughout the South, for example, centers for the study of the Afro-American heritage, making explicit use of African history. Though there is less and less evidence of program among the new leaders of SNCC the rhetoric and issues increasingly involves Africa.

The organizations making the most explicit use of African symbolism and identification have sprung up in areas in which major riots have occured. Perhaps the best known is that of Watts, recently publicized in a national magazine, calling itself "US". The youth wing is called "The

Simbas" (Kiswahlili term for lion) and is organized into self-defense units. These youngsters are tanght Swahili because, according to their leader, "African languages embody the culture and give expression to the African ideal of the primacy of the community over the individual. "Self defense is seen by this group as a fundamental requisite to black advancement in America. It is only part of a broader program for US, however, one which seeks to also develop self-responsibility and selfreliance.

Courses in African and Afro-American history, particularly "heroic" history, and literature, are central activities for US. East Coast Groups of a similar nature also put most of their effort into such instructional and discussion programs. In Washington, D.C. there is the New School of Afro-American Thought which currently runs a basic seminar on Our Problem for all staff who will in turn offer courses to the community on subjects ranging from African Languages (Yoruba, Swahili and those of European origin) African history, music, dance and arts to courses in remedial math and computor programming.

In this respect these organizations do not differ fundamentally from the hundreds of "freedam schools" which have been organized in Negro communities (and white ones too) in the last couple of years, designed to educate Negroes, very young ones especially, to the work of the civil rights movement and to the richness of their heritage as black people. These groups go beyond the "freedom school" formula, however, in seeking to form people who think "Afro-American." They seek to combine "Soul," "Negritude," and "the African Personality" into a viable world-view and a cultural foundation for assertive blacks.

Such an effort proceeds at the New School, but is even more intrinsic to New York based groups like AWARE, or its subsidiary The People's Parliament, or the Yoruba Temple. These groups are led

by American blacks who have adopted African names, who wear African-style dress and who observe various African ceremonies and rites.

Perhaps their rationale for doing so is

the same as that offered by the leader of US in Watts, which celebrated Nwanza (taken from Zulu and Xosa practices) during the regular Christian holy season: "An image must stand on something . . . that is why we say that tradition is the source . . ." "We must root culture in tradition and reason . . . We don't take traditions from Africa necessarily in their pure form . . . they must be modified by reason to fit our own situation." "What we need for organization and development is identity, purpose and direction. Africa provides us with the basis for our identity . . . (acquiring) pockets of power provides us with our purpose."

The intention of most of these groups is to go beyond the establishment of an idelogical instrument to achieve the transition of the Negro from a dependent, alienated and "psychotic" state to one of psychological autonomy, confidence and well-being. The intention is to find or consolidate cultural forms of permanent value, or practically so, ones which are distinctively "black."

Few already claim success in this regard. The leaders are young: few of them have any direct personal experience in living in black communities abroad, but a number have. A few have taken courses on African Affairs at the university level.

African students are important contacts for many of them, but these students seem nowhere to be very deeply involved in their work.

The Africa which these spokesmen embrace remains an abstract and mainly historical one. But unlike most groups, and many individuals at this conference, or previous Negro organizations involved with Africa, these new groups find the study of Africa to be very functional to their own immediate activities, and to the black masses with whom they work. If they have a "correct" vision of the future, these masses will come to approach the problem of influencing the formation of United States policy towards Africa in a different style, with different preoccupations than we may express in this conference.

It is worth pondering the question: which group and approach will advance black people farthest?

11

.BY JIM HILL

An Ohio University Undergrad Brother Confesses his disappointment of Graduate Brothers who "don't have time" for those who need their assistance.

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Being an undergraduate Brother who is very much interested in Alpha Phi Alpha, as well as his own chapter, I found two articles in the October issue of The Sphinx that were of great concern to me and to many of my chapter Brothers.

The two articles that I am speaking of are those that discussed the undergraduate program in Alpha Phi Alpha. The two reports by two of Alpha's more distinguished brothers were very stimulating to me as an undergrad; however, both articles only represented the graduate side of the picture.

In the report by Brother William Alexander {The Traits of Alpha's Young Mavericks), it was stated that the article was "to stimulate an inter-change of ideas involving persons in every walk of life of the Fraternity." Since this was the desired reaction to the article, I would put forth a few ideas from the undergraduate side of the coin. First of all let me say that I am sure my opinions are not held by all undergrad Brothers or their respective chapters.

My views are entirely personal, but they do reflect many of the same ideas held by some of my chapter Brothers.

I was pledged and initiated at Phi Chapter on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Six days after I was activated the campus charter of Phi Chapter was revoked by the University and, as a result, Phi became an inactive chapter with the General Organization. The men of Phi Chapter, who received abuse in the form of degrading letters from anonymous senders, had two alternatives they could take after the revocation of their charter was announced.

The first being throwing up our hands in disgust and disappointment and admitting that the university had gotten the best of one of the oldest, and the only, Negro fraternity on Campus.

The second alternative, the one which I am happy to say was taken by the men of Phi Chapter, was to "keep the faith" and work harder than ever to regain campus recognition and to clear our name with the General Organization.

Before I go any further let me interject a comment that I feel is relevant to this article. There was a statement in a Sphinx article concerning an undergraduate chapter that was expelled from the campus of one of the oldest institutions in the midwest for "violation of just about every code that could possibly have been violated." If this statement was referring to Phi let it be known that we did not violate, or even come close to it. If the author of that article (Undergrads 'Live it Up) was referring to another chapter besides Phi, my apologies go to him for misinterpreting his claims. But, as Brother Billy Jones so adequately stated in his article, "that for whomever the shoe fits, let him wear it."

We at Phi Chapter tried the shoe on and found that it fits although there were some imperfections from being worn the wrong way.

Of course there were several graduate Brothers that could have served in the advisory capacity but never functioned in this manner. Calls were made and letters were written to various graduate Brothers all over the state to try to get help and

advice for our problems but many times we found that our pleas for help were unheeded. \I7_

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When there is no one to whom you can go for advice you have to do the best you can, and do what you think is right. Sometimes what you thought was right ends up being the worse possible route you could have taken. But then it is too late and the mistakes are made. Then you find people criticizing your actions and telling you what you should have done.

It is not only the undergraduates that sometimes have their guards down. Again, I'd like to put on those shoes with the imperfections. I was, along with three other Brothers from Phi, one of those Neophytes "stranded without pins, pass cards, shingles, and histories." However, it is not because my chapter did not send the money into the General Organization, but because one of our graduate advisors had the materials and didn't take the time to send them to us—even after many letters were written to him concerning the matter.

I would like very much to feel that graduate Brothers everywhere are more than willing to help with the undergraduate program and would not be "forced to come to grips" with the undergrads' problems.

Let me conclude by saying that the Mid-Western Region should be thankful for its new vice president, Brother Gus T. Ridgel. He has shown the men of Phi that he is really interested in us and our chapter. We would also like to salute all other graduate Brothers who have helped us. To those who haven't, we would like to say there is no better time than right now to take an interested part in any undergraduate chapter that needs some advice from your experienced minds.

Times have changed and the campuses of today are very different from those that were attended by many of the graduate Brothers. Ideas have changed and the ways of doing things are different. Grad Brothers should meet this new generation of Alphas; help them to face the new problems that challenge them on the "new" campus.

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INTO OMEGA CHAPTER The late Bro. Dr. William Ewart Anderson of Epsilon Chi Lambda Chapter in Elizabeth City, N. C , was an outstanding Alpha for nearly half a century. He served from 1963 as Dean of Elizabeth City State College, taught high school and held positions of principal and supervisor in Oklahoma, served in administrative capacities at Alabama State College in Montgomery coached in Oklahoma and Anderson Field at Langston University, Okla., is named in his honor.

He helped found Atlanta's Eta Lambda Chapter in 1920.

Bro. Dr. R. P. Daniel Bro. Dr. Robert Prentiss Daniel, president of Virginia State College since 1950 and one of the keynote speakers at the 60th Anniversary Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1966, died on January 5, Dr. Daniel, an educator since 1925, served over the years in many phases of public life and received many awards and honorary memberships. A native Virginian, Bro. Daniel was educated at Virginia Union University at Richmond, Teachers College, Columbia University; and Union Theological Seminary of New York. He was granted honorary degrees of LL. D. by Virginia Union University and Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Ga. At the time of his death he was a member of Nu Lambda Chapter.

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COMMISSION BOUND Bro. Thomas R. Hunt has been appointed a member of the Maryland Commission on Interracial Problem and Relations for a term of six years. Appointed by Governor Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland, Bro. Hunt is program analyst in the Support Services Division, Annapolis Division, Naval Ship Research and Development Center. A native of Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Bro. Hunt is the chairman of the Commission's Employment Committee and also serves on the Housing Committee and the Legislative Committee. Bro. Hunt and his wife, Mary, a teacher at the Arundel High School, and young daughter, Dawn, live in Annapolis.

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Alpha* in* Action Bro. Dr. Anselm Joseph Finch of Jackson, Miss., has retired from active duties as an educator.

Considered one of the best known teachers

in Mississippi, he taught in many schools during his 42 years of service and friends consider him to be an untiring school bulder, making possible the first Negro high school in Wilkinson county.

A poet, writer

orator, and an educator, Brother Finch holds life membership with the National Education Association.

He is also a member of the American

Association of School Administrators, and Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity for research and professional leadership.

Brother Finch was one of four

Negroes who helped persuade the Mississippi legislature to accept Jackson College as a state institution.

Delta Sigma Lambda of Pine Bluff, Ark., gala affair for 1967 the Autumn Ball —

was a super success.

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The 61st Anniversary of the

founding of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was observed by the Arkansas Council in the auditorium of the J.C. Corbin Education Building of A.M. and N. College in Pine Bluff.

Principal speaker was Bro. Frank

L. Stanley, Jr., of the Urban League staff.

Founders' Day Observance of Gamma Chi Lambda Chapter was held at San Francisco's Pilgrim Community Church.

Epsilon Chi Lambda Chapter of Elizabeth City, N.C., has buried an old myth: theTdea that vitality, concern, fresh approaches and strong leadership are prerogatives of the undergraduate.

In a time when members of

fraternal groups are questioning their role, the 11-member Epsilon Chi Lambda is an example of what a fraternity must be in the American society.

Who are some of the people of this Chapter?

They are:

Bro. Demint F. Walker, a charter member of the 14 year old Chapter, is now an Alpha Life Member. Long-time principal of an Edenton elementaryhigh school named for him, his school's elementary department recently was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Bro. Thomas L. Caldwell was 1967 CIAA "Coach of the Year."

A charter

member and past president of the Chapter, he is head coach of the Elizabeth City State College outstanding "Vikings" football team.

Bro. Leonard R. Ballou, a charter member of the newly established Museum of the Albemarle, has produced a historical study of the development of education for Negroes in Pasquotank County, N.C., as well as an organ composition for the 75th anniversary of a local college.

He has

also written a handbook concerning American Negro musicians from 1695 to 1900.

While Bro. Charles L. Foster is completing his first term as assistant director of North Carolina State Education Department, Bro. Ernest A. Finney, a new member of the Chapter, completed an educational study

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which has been recognized by the South Carolina Board of Education as a distinct contribution to that state's instructional program.

Seven Beta Pi Chapter students at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., elected to Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities are: Bros. Simon P. Chandler, Jr., of Chattanooga, Tenn.; David L. Griffin of Kansas City, Mo. ; Melvin Hamlett of Detroit, Mich. ; Clarence Weaks of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Kapel Kirkendoll of Jackson, Tenn.; Corey Odom of Jackson, and George Walter Williams III of Chattanooga.

Recently, Beta Pi accepted fifteen Neophytes, making an over-all Chapter membership of 44.

The January issue of "Image of Alpha" reports that "Theto Rho Lambda's Vice President has been very active in his role as coordinator of the NAACP in the State

of Maryland.

The recent statement by Judge William

Bowie of the Prince George County Circuit Court that 'all Negroes carry knives and fight with knives' and his apparently bigoted attitude in his conduct of Judicial procedure has been blasted and questioned by the NAACP and other civil rights oriented organizations.

Brother

Black has led a series of pickets, has spoken on television and met with Governor Agnew in attempts to effect the removal of Judge Bowie from the bench.

Brother Black asks citizens to send telegrams and letters

to their legislative representation and to the Governor of Maryland in support of the NAACP stand against Bowie."

Bro. Ronda Allan Gilliam, Theta Rho Lambda's Founder, first President, Alpha Life Member, attended the January Inaugural Ceremonies in Liberia of President William V.S. Tubman.

While in Africa, Brother Gilliam

will visit Senegal, Dakar, Adidjan, Accar, and other African nations.

On his return he plans to visit Rome, Geneva, Paris, and London.

Brother Gilliam is a historian and retired archivist from the National Archives who has made a hobby as well as a profession in the study and documentation of historical information, especially in the areas of African and American Negro History.

Down in Dothan, Ala., the Theta Gamma Lambda Chapter is now attempting to win back Alpha dropouts.

To do so it recently held a luncheon-

meeting at a local Holiday Inn.

We just want inactive Alphas to

consider the benefits of being an active Alpha and in light of re-study and re-examination of their original interest in the Fraternity will rejoin, explains the Chapter president.

So far, this effort to reclaim

local inactive Alphas has been successful, Bro. Earl C. Jones reports.

Gamma Iota Lambda of Brooklyn and Long Island, N.Y., sponsored a theatre party not too long ago which netted a little more than $100 for the Chapter's scholarship fund.

Theta Rho Lambda is finalizing plans for the 1968 Black and Gold Banquet for 600 persons.

Last year's affair was recorded and along

with a tape recorder was presented to Founder Bro. Dr. Henry A. Callis.

Chapter's Valentine Cabaret to benefit the Alpha Outreach Program was held at the Queen of Peace Family Activities Center in Arlington, Va. And in April, Theta Rho Lambda will hold a Spring concert, with provision being made for underprivileged children to attend free of charge.

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Drop out of school now and that's what they'll call you all your working life

Nobody looks down on a man with a good education. People respect him. They treat him right because they know he's got what it takes. You know it. Everybody knows it. A good education always shows. And so does a small education.

Which will you have?

Remember: respect is only one of the things a good education gets you. It can also get you a good job. A good salary. And a real chance to enjoy more of the goodd things in life. life

So if you're in school now... stay there! Learn all you can for as long as you can. It can really make a difference. If you're out of school, don't give up. You can still get plenty of valuable training outside the classroom. And it's well worth the effort.

For details, see the Youth Counselor at your State Employment Service. Or visit a Youth Opportunity Center, which has been set up in in many many cities cities to to help help you. you.

To get a good job, get a good education

^)

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