Wildcats represent in Miami SEE PAGE 7
East Central Florida’s Black Voice
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DR. SINCLAIR GREY III: Why education is important for the Black community SEE PAGE 4
BLACK DAYTONA BEACH IN THE 1940S SEE PAGE 3
SEPTEMBER 10 - SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
YEAR 40 NO. 37
www.daytonatimes.com
Online college helps students go the distance BY PENNY DICKERSON DAYTONA TIMES
Kevin Finnie was a BethuneCookman University star running back in 1989. An athletic scholarship helped him break stats as one of former Coach Larry Little’s best rushers. But for Finnie, life and learning have since slowed down. Today, the 48-year-old father lives in Miami. He is a prostate cancer survivor who dropped out of college nine credits short of earning his bachelor’s degree. But thanks to B-CU’s newly certified online college, he re-enrolled in January to complete studies as a liberal arts major and minor in criminal justice. Finnie is scheduled to meet all academic requirements by December and will finally achieve his life’s missing link - an earned degree as a B-CU Wildcat.
Determined to finish
GORDON PARKS
Above and below: These two pictures, were taken 70 years apart of the same intersection.
Black Daytona, 70 years ago Exhibit showcases ‘Midway’ through Gordon Parks photos BY DAYTONA TIMES STAFF
CHARLES W. CHERRY II / DAYTONA TIMES
In 1943, Gordon Parks, a young African-American photographer with the Office of War Information in Washington, D.C., was sent to Daytona Beach to photograph Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. COURTESY OF GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION
T
he photographs of Gordon Parks artfully captured the lives of African-Americans in the mid-20th century with compassion and empathy. In 1943, a federal assignment brought the world-renowned photographer to Daytona Beach to capture photos of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman University. Parks stayed for weeks, capturing images of the Daytona neighborhood known as “Midway.” He photographed classes and sporting events at Bethune-Cookman College as well as everyday life in the neighborhood. From Sept. 11 through Jan. 15, “Midway: Portrait of a Daytona Beach Neighborhood’’ will be on display at the Yvonne Scarlett Golden Cultural and Education-
al Center. The exhibition includes 40 photographs taken in Daytona by Parks, who is perhaps best remembered for his photo essays in Life magazine. Parks died in 2006 at age 93.
Midway ‘Revisited’ In addition to the Parks photographs, “Neighborhood ‘99: Midway Revisited’’ photographs will be on display. Neighborhood ‘99 is a photography project made up of images of the same areas and intersections photographed by Parks over 50 years earlier. The images were produced in 1999 during a workshop led by photojournalist Eli Reed that provided Daytona Beach Community College students an opportunity to document these same neighborhoods from an updated perspective. A selection of Reed’s images and work by two of the student participants, Aaron Mervin and Jim Gavenus, were donated to the museum’s permanent collection at Please see PHOTOS, Page 2
Brittany Starling’s academic path parallels Finnie’s with a few exceptions. The 26-year-old St. Petersburg native enrolled at BCU in 2007 as a traditional student, but through 2012, her enrollment status remained intermittent. At one juncture, Starling left to attend South Daytona’s International Academy where she earned a cosmetology certification. Her initial goal was to obtain her Exceptional Student Education degree and become an ESE teacher, but “life happened.” She returned to Albany, Ga. to live with her mother and three college-enrolled siblings. As the oldest, Starling wanted to send a resonate message to them all: “We have to finish what we start.” Once again, the B-CU Online College enabled a student to achieve a dream. Starling is currently enrolled online in six courses as a psychology major who says, “I’ve grown older and my own experiences have influenced my decision to become a counseling psychologist.” These two stories illustrate the significance of B-CU’s Online College as the first college in the state and second HBCU to obtain certification as reported last week by the Daytona Times.
Stamp of approval “Certification is not a gatekeeper to high-quality programs, but as an HBCU that’s first in the state, this stamp of approval means you have been recognized as a member of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) certification team,” stated Dr. Arletha McSwain, dean for the Online College and professor of education at B-CU. McSwain previously held the position as the dean of extended learning and professor of education at Norfolk State UniverPlease see ONLINE, Page 2
Alfonso ‘Pangy’ Williams dies DAYTONA TIMES STAFF
Alfonso “Pangy” Williams, a lifelong Daytona resident, died Sept. 2 at Halifax Health Hospice of Volusia-Flagler, Port Orange. He was 69. Born May 29, 1946 to the late Eugene Williams and Irene WilAlfonso liams, he gradu“Pangy” ated from CampWilliams bell Senior High School in 1964. Williams was a former football
ALSO INSIDE
coach at Campbell Junior High, basketball coach for the Holly Hill Highlanders and baseball coach. Williams was also a member of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church and served as minister of music, an ordained deacon and assistant Men’s Sunday school teacher. He worked as the outside supervisor at Mainland High School, recreation director at the Salvation Army and was an insurance agent. He loved fishing and watching Westerns and was a mentor to many young men in the community. Williams, along with Robert
‘Buggy’ Reed, the late Herman Moore, Sr., and the late Ralph Robinson, was one of the first four community mentors recruited by Eldridge Van Geter, the legendary recreation director of the Cypress Street Recreation Center, to coach local area boys in the basketball league Geter originated in the late 1960s. “They got kids from the South Street, PPU (Palmetto Park) and Pine Haven housing projects, and put together a basketball league. The purpose was to get young men off the streets, teach them the game, camaraderie and discipline. They had to have passing grades and good conduct to play. ‘Pangy’ was one of the founding members,” explained Percy Williamson, Sr., director for Daytona
Beach Leisure Services. Known as the Neighborhood Basketball Association, the league was wildly popular locally for almost a decade. In 2002, Daytona Beach Leisure Services, the Daytona Times, WPUL-AM, and some of Williams’s former players got together to honor Williams and his cohorts. The Dickerson Center was filled to capacity and the ceremony was broadcast live on WPUL-AM. Williams and his colleagues received keys to the city from the late Mayor Yvonne Scarlett-Golden. Williams leaves to cherish his memory his sister, Eugenia Moss; caregiver and nephew Tony Ragans (Michelle), Jacksonville; caregivers Diane Welch and
godson Rod MacIntyre (Monica); niece Irene Edwards (Rolo); faithful friends Pastor and Mrs. Isaiah Paul; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. His sisters Dorothy Jones and Claudia Jones and his brother Alvin Vernon Willis preceded him in death. Viewing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11 at R.J. Gainous Funeral Home, 804 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd., Daytona Beach. A homegoing service will be Saturday, Sept. 12, at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Tony Ragans, c/o Alfonso Williams, 7190 Oxfordshire Ave., Jacksonville, Fla. 32219.
COMMENTARY: GEORGE E. CURRY: BLACK LIVES MATTER IS NOT A BLACK HATE GROUP | PAGE 4 HISTORY: ORIGINAL AUNT JEMIMA BURIAL PLACE FOUND IN CHICAGO | PAGE 5
7 FOCUS
R2 Magazine foundation to host baby shower, toddler’s expo The Parent Magazine Foundation along with Volusia and Flagler Parent Magazines will host the 2015 Ultimate Baby Shower and Toddler’s Expo on Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach. This show caters to pregnancy through the pre-school years, showcasing products, services and ideas for young families. The event will provide product education, parent resources as well as the highly anticipated annual Cutest Kids Cover Contest. There will be a fashion show, prenatal pampering lounge, games, prizes and giveaways all day. Free ultrasounds, kidzone,
PHOTOS from Page 1
the end of the project.
Courtesy of local museum The exhibitions are on loan at the center from the permanent collection at the Southeast Museum of Photography at Daytona State College. An opening reception takes place from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at the center, 1000 Vine St., Daytona Beach. “Gordon Parks’ 1943 photographs reveal a poor but proud and cohesive African-American community
ONLINE from Page 1
sity (NSU) where she provided leadership and academic expertise to support the design, development and execution of the distance education programs in keeping with accreditation and federal guidelines. As a result, NSU became the first HBCU in the nation to receive USDLA certification. “The USDLA certification of the B-CU online program recognizes the legitimacy and credibility of our online program,” stated Dr. Richard A. Buckelew, associate professor of history at B-CU. “This is based upon the vision and leadership of Dr. McSwain, and the work of a superior faculty characterized by professionalism and a commitment to academic excellence.”
Phenomenal expert The path to certification was an arduous process, but not too daunting for a leader of McSwain’s caliber. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Ph.D. in early childhood special education, she is a nationally known content expert on issues related to early childhood education, and early childhood special education while targeting males of diversity. McSwain has written grant proposals totaling over $6 million and serves as an early childhood special education program development consultant who mentors professional peers. She is the recipient of the 2013 Phenomenal Woman Award bestowed by the NSU WoMen’s Economic Development Center (WEDC) and the 2011 award recipient for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology-International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. She is widely published and part of a cohort of content experts who review personnel grant proposals for the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
High fives for McSwain “Dr. McSwain is awesome!” exclaimed Starling, who had grown accustomed to going on campus to see advisors and staff. “I contacted Dr. Mc-
SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
live entertainment, pony rides and petting zoo, and babymoon give-away. Mainland High School is located at 1255 W International Speedway Blvd. More information: www.ultimatebabyshowerandtoddlerexpo.com or 386-437-0300.
Volusia’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s is Saturday at Riverfront Park The Walk to End Alzheimer’s starts Sept. 12 at Riverfront Park on Beach Street (near Jackie Robinson Ball Park). Walkers will begin the two- mile walk with special guest, Daytona Beach Chief of Police Michael Chitwood. Progressive Medical Research will be hosting a special VIP tent at the walk to celebrate caregivers.
at a crossroads – still largely excluded from White America, yet in the midst of the momentous changes being wrought by a world war that initiated fundamental changes in American race relations and the status of African-Americans,” stated Leonard Limpel, a history professor at Daytona State College. (Read a related commentary by Limpel on Page 3.)
How exhibitions began In 1992, Parks was invited back to Daytona Beach in 1992 as the keynote speaker for the grand opening of the Southeast Museum of Photography. During that visit, he discussed his time spent in Daytona Beach in the Swain in early August and being out of state made things difficult, but she guided me and Dr. Arletha helped me. McSwain Whenever you call Dr. McSwain, she calls back in reasonable time and makes sure it’s resolved and handled in the right way. She genuinely cares about student’s success,” she added. B-CU leadership also sings McSwain’s praises for her contributions. “I am very excited that USDLA has acknowledged the excellent work of Dean McSwain and to the faculty for providing access to quality online programs for our students,” shared Dr. Makola M. Abdullah, provost and chief academic officer who oversees all academic and research programs at the institution. “This is an important step in realizing President (Edison) Jackson’s vision for B-CU.’’
Inside online learning The online college has 149 students enrolled in six bachelor and three master degree programs. One year ago, there were 54 online students. The most popular and longest established program is the Master of Science degree in Transformative Leadership program, which boasts 91 students. According to McSwain, distance education at BCU is defined as being able to earn a degree without having to come on campus. The university offers hybrid programs where students complete the majority of their learning online, but practicums or clinical work occurs on campus. Blended courses combine the best of both worlds: 50 percent on campus and 50 percent online. Additionally, the college offers “web enhanced” learning which is taught face to face but enhanced by Blackboard or similar technology utilities. “Our programs are coded in such a way that it is very clear to students as to what they are enrolling in. We have advisors and success coaches who ensure this and it goes back to training,” said McSwain. “Every online college dean has the major responsibility to let everyone know exactly what programs we
Registration and check-in will begin at 8 a.m. The official ceremony begins at 9 a.m. More information: Contact: Michelle Branham at mbranham@alz.org.
College program to feature Florida artist R. L. Lewis On Sept. 22, the Daytona State College Foundation’s Wisdom in Senior Education (WISE) program will feature R. L. Lewis, one of the 26 African-American painters who emerged during the 1950s and 1960s to become known as the Florida Highwaymen. In 2009, Lewis captivated a WISE audience of nearly 250 people who came to hear his account of the Highwaymen and witness a demonstration of his
creative method. Lewis will be introduced by Daytona State photography professor Gary Monroe, a leading authority on the Highwaymen who has authored several books on the artists. Monroe tells a story that relates the racist attitudes of the past, the nostalgia for a once unspoiled Florida, socalled “outsider art” and the entrepreneurial spirit of the original 26 painters. The Highwaymen were inducted into Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. Today, their original art can command thousands of dollars. A complete listing of fall presenters is online at DaytonaState. edu/wise. For more information, contact Kent Ryan at 386-506-4425 or RyanK@DaytonaState.edu.
Church to present anti-bullying workshop Saturday The Men’s Ministry of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church will host a workshop on anti-bullying from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept.12, during a fellowship prayer breakfast. The church is at 580 George W. Engram Blvd. The guest speaker is Jacqueline Waters, founder and CEO of “U” Niquely “U’’ Inc., noted for teaching methods for identifying and prevention of bullying will discuss the importance of identifying bullying traits. The workshop and breakfast are free and open to the public. For more information about the workshop, call the church at 386-255-1195.
1940s with the museum’s director at the time, Dr. Alison Nordstrom. According to Southeast Museum, she later researched images by Parks held at the Library of Congress and said he was “transformed through the magic of old photographs” to a “livelier counterpart of the Second Avenue she knew – to a time when Midway was beginning a great change.’’ After seeing these images, she immediately understood their importance and plans for an exhibition was underway. These exhibits can be seen at the Yvonne Scarlett Golden Center Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. have, what they are, and what they require. That’s one of the standards from USDLA,” she added.
Benchmarks and standards To obtain certification, B-CU had to meet 122 USDLA standards and was pre-certified in October 2014. For the next six months, McSwain led a team, including Franklin Patterson, head of Computer Information Technology (CIT) and the most integral members for certification approval: the faculty. Together, they worked through a self-study process that culminated with a three-day site visit by USDLA. Included were interviews with the 21, online college faculty members who endured rigorous and intense training to obtain certification. Online faculty members completed four learning modules including an orientation, computer literacy, Blackboard proficiency including a capstone project, and course design. Each must be passed with 90 percent accuracy. Their demonstrated expertise helped seal the certification deal. “The quality standards team was impressed by the initiative and commitment exhibited by each staff member of the university,” said Marilyn Gardner, director of business development for USDLA.
Faculty engagement As a content expert who is dually an educator, McSwain is well aware that the more engaged and trained faculty you have, the more engaged your online students will be. Her philosophy is personified by Kevin Finnie. “It was hard for me at first because back in 1989, we didn’t have all this technology. We were walking up to the blackboard and now I’m using Blackboard online,” said Finnie. “They even have videos that tell you how to do the practicums, but my instructors and folks like Sherry Paramour, Warren Vickers and Veronica Evans are great. Plus the college has tutors too.” Dr. Clarissa West-White is a B-CU assistant professor of English who teaches both online and faceto-face courses and sees the certification as a validation. “Receiving USDLA certification validates the late hours and the work that
This 1943 Parks photo looks east on MMB towardwhat is now the Richard V. Moore Center. GORDON PARKS
goes into creating interactive and engaging online course content for students who often despise English,” said West-White. “It lets me know that I am on the right track and that as innovation continues to evolve, so must my courses.” West-White’s affirma-
tions are echoed by her BCU colleague: “The BCU Online Certification program is valuable not only to online faculty but any faculty in the traditional teaching and learning classroom in Higher Education,” stated Dr. Kekeli Nuviadenu, associate professor of Speech Commu-
nications and Theatre Arts. “The idea of aligning all aspects of course design, including activities and assignments, to course learning outcome and objectives is pertinent to having more meaningful and engaging teaching and learning environment and process. Bravo, Dr. McSwain.”
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOR BLACK STUDENTS. NO EXCUSES. The classic guide from Florida Courier publisher, lawyer and broadcaster CHARLES W. CHERRY II PRAISE FOR ‘EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE’: “This guide for African-American college-bound students is packed with practical and insightful information for achieving academic success...The primary focus here is to equip students with the savvy and networking skills to maneuver themselves through the academic maze of higher education.” – Book review, School Library Journal • How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat! • How Black students can program their minds for success; • Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut; • Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’ …AND MUCH MORE!
www.excellencewithoutexcuse.com Download immediately as an eBook or a pdf Order softcover online, from Amazon, or your local bookstore ISBN#978-1-56385-500-9 Published by International Scholastic Press, LLC Contact Charles at ccherry2@gmail.com
Facebook ccherry2 excellencewithoutexcuse
for info on speeches, workshops, seminars, book signings, panel discussions.
Twitter @ccherry2
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SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 COMMUNITY DECEMBER 14 - 20, 2006
M A YNEWS OR
ed segregated housing) consisted of more than 225 dwellings. These new homes represented a marked improvement over the rickety abodes that most Black Daytonans occupied.
High voter turnout Daytona Beach was one of only a handful of cities in the preWorld War II South where African-Americans voted in large numbers. In 1927, Edward H. Armstrong, a White grocer originally from St. Louis, was elected mayor of the newly consolidated Daytona Beach by establishing a bi-racial coalition of voters. In all but two of the years between 1927 and 1937, Armstrong and his allies on the city commission controlled Daytona Beach’s government with the aid of Black voters. The mayor rewarded his Black supporters with city jobs and improved public facilities. During the New Deal years, Armstrong successfully obtained federal monies to construct a boardwalk, the Bandshell, public docks, an airport, and a city waterworks, which provided jobs for the hundreds of Blacks who were hired to work on these projects.
Military base GORDON PARKS
Bethune-Cookman College students peer through microscopes in February 1943.
BLACK DAYTONA BEACH IN THE 1940s A community at a crossroads: Part 1 Editor’s note: This commentary was originally written in “Midway: Portrait of a Daytona Beach Neighborhood, 1942” (Southeast Museum of Photography, 1999). It featured the photography of Gordon Parks. Gordon Parks’ 1943 photographs of Daytona Beach reveal a poor but proud and cohesive African-American community at a crossroads – still largely excluded from White America, yet in the midst of the momentous changes being wrought by a world war that initiated fundamental changes in American race relations and the status of AfricanAmericans. However, in 1943, most of those changes lay in the future, and racial segregation remained firmly in place. Daytona had not always been so rigidly segregated. During the late 19th century, several of Daytona’s more prominent African-Americans owned homes and shops in the center of town, along with Whites.
Black representation Daytona’s Blacks were active politically during this period as well. Two African-Americans, John Tolliver and Thaddeus Gooden, were among the town’s 26 electors who voted to incorporate the town in 1876. In 1898, Daytona elected Joseph Brook Hankerson, a Black barber who owned a shop on Beach Street, to the city commission. By the opening decade of the 20th century, however, racial segregation had enveloped the town of Daytona, which merged in 1926 with the beachside towns of Seabreeze and Daytona Beach to form the city of Daytona Beach. African-Americans, who comprised over 52 percent of Daytona’s 3,350 residents in 1905, were concentrated west of the Florida East Coast Railroad in the three adjacent neighborhoods of Midway, Waycross, and Newtown.
Northern influence Even with the onset of rigid segregation, Daytona’s racial climate remained milder than that of most other Southern cities. The majority of Daytona’s original White settlers of the 1870s and 1880s were from what had been abolitionist strongholds of the North, including Ohio, New York, Michigan, and Massachusetts. The arrival of Flagler’s East Coast Railroad in 1888, making the town accessible to wealthy visitors wishing to escape winter, resulted in continued Northern influence. Howard Thurman, the renowned Black theologian who was raised in Daytona during the early 20th century, concluded that the moderating influence of these turn-of-the-century snowbirds “made contact between the
Black hospital DR. LEONARD LEMPEL GUEST COMMENTARY
races less abrasive than it might have been otherwise.”
Bethune’s influence The presence of Mary McLeod Bethune and her school also had a positive effect on relations between the races in Daytona. In 1904, Bethune founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. Located in Midway, the school quickly endeared itself to moderate elements in the White community by emphasizing domestic and industrial training and “Negro uplift.” After receiving a letter from Bethune in the spring of 1905, the city commission unanimously passed a resolution that endorsed the school. Over the next several years, the commission approved installation of storm sewers and cements sidewalks in Midway, and employed Black policemen to patrol Midway and Waycross. Bethune soothed White anxieties by inviting visitors to come to her school and see “The Booker T. Washington Idea of Education Demonstrated” and to hear the “Old Plantation Melodies and Jubilee Songs.” In 1923, the school merged with Cookman Institute of Jacksonville to form the co-educational Bethune-Cookman College. At first, the college offered only high school and two-year college diplomas. It awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1943.
Racial oasis The college was an oasis of integration during the first half of the 20th century. Sunday afternoon programs were held in the chapel, and Mrs. Bethune made a point of inviting prominent members of the White community to attend. White guests would invariably enter the chapel and instinctively search for the “White only” section. From the stage, Bethune would beckon the visitors to “come right in and be seated anywhere; we have no reserved seating at my college.” Besides acquiring support from Daytona’s White moderates, Bethune provided leadership and inspiration to the town’s Black community. Howard Thurman noted that “The very presence of the school, and the inner strength and authority of Mrs. Bethune, gave boys like me a view of the possibilities to be realized in some distant future.”
For many years, Bethune’s school also provided the only hospital care for African-Americans in the Daytona vicinity. Built prior to World War I, McLeod Hospital existed until 1931, when a “Negro annex” of the public hospital, Halifax, opened nearby. Not until 1948 could Blacks be treated at the main Halifax Hospital facility, and even then they were relegated to the hospital’s “Negro wing.” Halifax would finally integrate during the 1960s. Anchored by Bethune-Cookman, Midway became the center of Daytona’s African-American middle class during the first half of the 20th century. By 1924, its main business district stretched for several blocks along Second Avenue, and benefited from a captive clientele – the byproduct of rigid segregation. Besides Bethune’s school, Midway’s main thoroughfare contained three physicians, one dentist, two churches, and an assortment of 41 small businesses. Since African-Americans were denied service in White eateries, Black restaurants had become especially prominent along Second Avenue; nine of them operated in 1924. In 1944, Second Avenue contained approximately the same number of Black-owned businesses, including nine restaurants. There were some new additions, however; a vocational school joined Bethune-Cookman College, as did a “colored” chapter of the American Red Cross, a Black Knights of Pythias Hall, an additional church, and a terminal for the all-Black municipal bus line. Despite Midway’s small but thriving middle class, most Blacks during the 1920s and 1930s held menial jobs in the city’s hotels and private residences, or worked as laborers in the lumber yards, railroad and turpentine camps, and on the farms and in the citrus orchards that dotted the area.
Boom and bust Daytona’s economy thrived during the early and mid-1920s, thanks to the Florida real estate and tourist boom. During these years, both Blacks and Whites flocked to the city. Between 1920 and 1924, Daytona’s population increased more than 61 percent, with Blacks accounting for almost one-half of the city’s more than 10,000 residents in 1924. As a result of Daytona’s merger with Seabreeze and Daytona Beach in 1926, the new, consolidated city of Daytona Beach boasted a population of about 15,000, one-third of which was Black.” Prospects were high, in early 1926, for continued growth and
prosperity in Daytona Beach, but the land boom collapsed later that year, and while the economy partially recovered in 1927 and 1928, the onset of the Great Depression at the end of 1929 marked the beginning of hard economic times for Daytona Beach and the rest of the nation. Suffering in the African-American community was especially acute. By the fall of 1932, the Black unemployment rate in Daytona Beach was twice that of Whites. Furthermore, Black families on relief received only about three-quarters of the financial aid that White families received. During the lean years of the late 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach’s population continued to grow, but more slowly than during the early 1920s. By 1930, 16,598 resided in the city – 33 percent of whom were Black.
Leading the way Despite the hardships, Black Daytonans endured during the great Depression, they fared better in many respects than African-Americans elsewhere in the South. Mary McLeod Bethune and the city’s mayor, Edward H. Armstrong, had much to do with the relative good fortune of Daytona’s African-American community during the Depression years. Bethune’s rising stature within President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal administration enabled her to furnish material benefits to Bethune-Cookman College and Daytona Beach. In 1935, President Roosevelt appointed the esteemed educator to the advisory board of the National Youth Administration (NYA) and as special advisor to the president on minority affairs. The following year, Roosevelt named Bethune to head the newly created Office of Minority Affairs within the NYA, a position that she held until the NYA was disbanded in 1944. Bethune thus became the highest-ranking Black official in the federal government, and became the leader of the “Black Cabinet” of African-American New Dealers who advised Roosevelt on racial matters. The National Youth Administration funded work and educational programs for young men and women aged 16 to 24. Bethune helped enable tens of thousands of African-Americans to attend college and many young Blacks in Daytona availed themselves of NYA-funded jobs. Using her friendship with Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, Bethune managed to secure $500,000 in 1939 for the construction of the Pine Haven housing project. This all-Black development (the city charter mandat-
The outbreak of World War II ended the Great Depression, as defense-related jobs became plentiful. For Daytona Beach, the war years brought considerable economic benefits. In 1942, the government established a naval air station and a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) base. (The name was changed to the Women’s Army Corps, WAC in August, 1943). Although Black Tuskegee Airman would become renowned for their wartime contributions in the face of extreme prejudice, no Black pilots trained in Daytona. However, many Black Daytonans served as laborers at the naval air station. The WAAC base was established at the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt and her Daytona Beach friend, Mary McLeod Bethune. By the fall of 1943, approximately 14,000 WAACs were training in Daytona Beach. Bethune was special assistant to Colonel Oveta Hobby, the commanding officer of the WAACs, and she was responsible for selecting Black women to attend Officer Training School. Although Bethune vehemently objected to the strict segregation enforced at WAAC bases, she did not resign in protest, but instead worked tirelessly to help hundreds of Black women become officers.
Large disparity Although Black Daytonans, along with the majority of the nation’s African-Americans, realized economic gains during the war and post-war era, the disparity between Blacks and Whites remained enormous. In the United States, median Black family income rose steadily during the 1940s and 1950s, but even with the increase, Black families averaged just over onehalf of what Whites earned. While the percentage of Black professionals and skilled workers increased, the majority of African-Americans were concentrated in America’s lowest-paying jobs. In Daytona Beach, the percentage of Black workers who held skilled or professional jobs increased from 11 to 15 between 1940 and 1950. However, by 1950, White Daytonans were more than three times as likely to hold such jobs as Blacks.
Working women In 1949, the median income of the Black families and unrelated individuals was under $900, compared to over $2,000 for Whites. Low wages for Black males meant that Black women often had to work so their families could make ends meet. In 1940, approximately 53 percent of Black women in Daytona Beach worked, and in 1950 about 46 percent. In contrast, only about 25 percent of White women had jobs outside the home in 1940, and in 1950 about 29 percent. Furthermore, about threefourths of the African-American women working in Daytona Beach at mid-century toiled in the low-end service jobs – mostly as domestics. Next week: Black expectations are raised in Daytona Beach.
Dr. Leonard Lempel is a history professor at Daytona State College.
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7 EDITORIAL
SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
Demonizing ‘Black Lives Matter’ Led by Fox News, conservatives are trying to discredit the #Black Lives Matter Movement by claiming incorrectly that it is a Black hate group that encourages the killing of police officers. On the Aug. 31 edition of ‘Fox & Friends,’ Elizabeth Hasselbeck asked, “Why has the Black Lives Movement – Black Lives Matter Movement – not been classified yet as a hate group? I mean, how much more has to go in this direction before someone actually labels it as such?”
Police ‘execution’ Conservative pundit Katie Pavlich, without a thread of evidence, told Fox’s Megyn Kelly on Sept. 2 that Black Lives Matter is “a movement that promotes the execution of police officers.” At a news conference on Aug. 30, the Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman acknowledged that no motive had been established for the previous day’s fatal shooting of Deputy Sheriff Darren H. Goforth outside of Houston. But that did not prevent him from linking the brutal cop murder to the grassroots group dedicated to curtailing violence. He said, “This rhetoric has gotten out of control.” So much so, he said, “to the point where calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happens.” Hickman added, “We’ve heard Black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too. So, how about we drop the qualifier and just say lives matter?” Of course, there is not a scintil-
GEORGE E. CURRY NNPA COLUMNIST
la of evidence that the Black Lives Matter movement has at any point remotely supported the killing of law enforcement officers. Rather, they have highlighted the troubling number of unarmed African-Americans killed by police officers. And for that, they should be commended, not condemned. After studying FBI data, USAToday found, “Nearly two times a week in the United States, a White police officer killed a Black person during a seven-year period ending in 2012…The reports show that 18 percent of the blacks killed during those seven years were under age 21, compared to 8.7 percent of whites.”
Lower numbers Despite the highly-publicized killing of police officers in Texas and Illinois, the number of law enforcement officers killed over the first eight months of 2015 is 16 percent lower than it was over a similar period in 2014, according to FBI figures compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. So far, 26 officers have been killed this year by firearms, down from 31 over a similar period last year. More officers – 38 – died this year in traffic-related incidents
than by gunfire and another 21 died from other causes. Felony killings of law enforcement officers decreased by 50 percent from 1992 to 2013, from 10,000 to 5,000 annually.
A distraction In an attempt to shift the emphasis from the unjustified police killing of unarmed African-Americans, conservatives are raising the issue of so-called Black-onBlack crime – as if that’s an issue that truly concerns them. Fox reporter Doug McKelway said on Sept. 1, “The often heard mantra that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ some say, falls flat when you consider just how many Blacks are killing other Blacks. That remains the majority of homicides across the country.” Larry Elder, a Black conservative, made the same point, the same day on the same network: “This is about people whining and bitching and moaning about nonsense. If they really want to talk about Black Lives Matter, the fact is that last year 6,000 Black people murdered other Black people. Where are they on that? And the number one preventable cause of death for young Black men is homicide at the hands of other Black men.” If Elder and McKelway wanted to be accurate, they would have pointed out that just as most Blacks kill other Blacks, most Whites kill other Whites. Yet, there is no mention of White-onWhite crime. According to 2013 figures com-
Bishop Desmond Tutu’s dream After the horror of the racist terrorist murders in Charleston, S.C., many of us have been crying out with questions about all the strife and violence permeating our nation. How long until America confronts its historic love affair with guns and violence and undergoes a healing process of first truth and then reconciliation about our profound crippling birth defects of slavery, Native American genocide, and exclusion of all women and non-propertied men from America’s dream and electoral process?
Face the truth Only when we face the truths of our past that continue to flare up in our present can we work toward true reconciliation and wholeness as a people and begin to close the huge gap between our dream of equality and our reality of massive racial and economic inequality. How long and what will it take to make America – America? In South Africa, many people
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT
and still hugely unequal schools for children of color – especialMARIAN ly if they are poor – are repeating pre-Brown v. Board of Education WRIGHT era practices. Our massive child EDELMAN and family poverty – which unjustly affects children and people NNPA COLUMNIST of color – and indefensible mascredit that nation’s formal Truth sive wealth and income inequaliand Reconciliation Commission ty continue two Americas of haves as a key component in the coun- and have-nots. try’s transition from the brutality of apartheid to the ongoing strug- Guns everywhere gle to build a fuller and freer deAnd guns, guns, guns everymocracy. where lethalize hate, terrorize inOur nation has not gone ner-city children daily in dangerthrough a similar truth process. ous neighborhoods, and darken Our “racial” wars – including slav- the future of millions of children ery, genocide, lynchings and re- in search of America’s elusive peated unjust deaths of Black citi- dream. There are no safe havens zens at the hands of law enforce- from the carnage of guns that kill ment officials and self-appoint- or injure a child or teen every 35 ed vigilantes or racist terrorists – minutes. have been manifestations of racial The recently publicized pobeliefs among us in various incar- lice killings of unarmed Black nations. boys and men have opened a new Today, a Cradle to Prison Pipe- chapter in exposing many old and line™ feeds our mass incarcera- still deeply engrained systemtion system. Our re-segregated ic problems of racism and clas-
RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE
piled by the FBI, of the 3,005 White homicide victims, 2,509 – 83 percent – were killed by Whites. Of the 2,491 Black homicides that year, 2,245 – 90 percent – were committed by Black assailants.
Friends, family It’s not just a matter of Blacks killing other Blacks and Whites killing other Whites – most homicides are committed by people who know their victim. The assailant is usually an acquaintance, spouse, or other family member. In its annual report on Black homicides, issued in January, the Washington-based Violence Policy Center found that in cases where the relationship between the killer and victim was known, 70 percent of the victims were killed by someone they knew; only 30 percent were killed by strangers. Furthermore, 52 per-
sism in America. And the murders of nine Black churchgoers in a Charleston, South Carolina prayer meeting by a 21-year-old White man remind us that the most aberrant and violent kind of racial hatred is still alive in our gun-saturated society – passing on the old poisons to new generation. While the removal of the Confederate flag and statues of Confederate war heroes symbolizing slavery and racial apartheid is a step forward, it does not confront the deeper historical national blight of slavery and the structural and cultural inequalities and racial seeds from our shared past that still permeate the tainted soil of our nation today.
Teach the truth It’s time for real truth and then reconciliation in America from the bottom up and top down. And it must begin with teaching truthfully American history. And while we can’t just imitate South Africa’s or Germany’s or Rwanda’s or other countries’ processes, we can learn from them in designing a process that fits America’s history and context if we are to redeem
cent of the homicides involved an argument between the victim and the offender. In an editorial, the New York Times accused “the Republican Party and its acolytes in the news media” of trying to demonize the Black Lives Matter Movement. It said, “They [Black Lives Matter] are not asserting that Black lives are more precious than White lives. They are underlining an indisputable fact – that the lives of Black citizens in this country historically have not mattered, and have been discounted and devalued.”
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA) and BlackPressUSA. com. Contact him via www. georgecurry.com.
our future for our children’s sake. I hope America can realize God’s dream for all humankind. I believe we can realize God’s and Dr. King’s and Bishop Tutu’s dream if each of us holds ourselves accountable and refuses to give up challenging our personal and collective prejudices and special privileges. I hope all of us will do whatever is necessary to pass on to our children and grandchildren a better and more just country and world than we inherited. But to do so, we must wake up, open our eyes and ears, avoid convenient ignorance, seek the truth, speak up, stand up, and never give up fighting for justice for all. How long? Not long, if a critical remnant among us is determined to do whatever is necessary to make sure that love trumps hate and that the truth of our history is taught and discussed and enabled to help make us free.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund. For more information, go to www.childrensdefense.org.
Why education is important for the Black community Education is without a doubt crucial to the success of our students to compete for jobs. Quality education that enforces and reinforces math, science, writing, and cognitive thinking will separate those who desire a prosperous future from those who are simply content with getting by. With so many people wanting our children to get a good education, the African-American community must never overlook nor neglect the importance of their history. That’s right; history that deals with more than slavery within as well as outside of the United States. Whenever an educational system fails to place a value on history, far too many of our students are deemed to make mistakes.
Great program As a strong proponent for edu-
DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST
cation, I came across a program in New York called the International Youth Leadership Institute (IYLI). In particular, I was drawn to the areas in which this institute instills in their students: history, culture, geography, and environment. These areas of concentration along with leadership developmental skills assist in educating (not training) our AfricanAmerican students to succeed. (I use the word “educate” because it comes from the Latin word, “educo,” meaning to “educe” – to “draw out”). If a system fails to
“draw out,” then it’s simply training our students to conform to a system. Dr. Michael Webb, one of the founders of IYLI contends that African-Americans must understand the following: The effects of enslavement and its aftermath directly affect our communities today in terms of unity, value, cooperation, and self-help; There must a method of unlearning systems that have failed our children, who are victims of residual effects; An analytical approach has to be implemented as to why things are the way they are; Resources around us need to be used to bring about intellectual and cultural freedom.
Low expectations A story reported in U.S. News
and & World Report (Jan. 2015) stated, “Educational expectations are lower for Black children, according to Child Trends, a non-profit and non-partisan research center that tracks data about children. Black parents, most of whom are less educated than their White counterparts, don’t expect their children to attain as much education as White parents expect. “Lower expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies, contributing to lower expectations from the student, less-positive attitudes toward school, fewer outof-school learning opportunities and less parent-child communication about school.” For so long, many of our children have been brainwashed into thinking education and intelligence is “a White thing.” This lie has done more damage and con-
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
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tinues to have a rippling affect on the progress of our children. No longer must this lie continue.
Demand the best The challenge here is for every Black parent to demand the best from the school system. In addition to that, every Black parent must challenge the system as well as their child to excel in education. Idleness and mediocrity cannot be accepted in any way, shape, or form. When education is valued, lives change which leads to communities changing.
Dr. Sinclair Grey III is a speaker, writer, author, life coach and radio/television and talk show host. Contact him at www.sinclairgrey.org.
Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC, P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, FL 33646, publishes the Florida Courier on Fridays. Phone: 877-352-4455, toll-free. For all sales inquiries, call 877-352-4455; e-mail sales@flcourier.com. Subscriptions to the print version are $69 per year. Mail check to P.O. Box 48857 Tampa, Fl 33646, or log on to www.daytona.com; click on ‘Subscribe’.
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SEPTEMBER 10DECEMBER – SEPTEMBER 16,2006 2015 14 - 20,
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MHISTORY AYOR
Original ‘Aunt Jemima’ found after nearly 100 years Buried in Chicago, Nancy Green, born a slave, rose to fame and fortune as the face of a syrup company. BY ERICK JOHNSON NNPA NEWS WIRE
Her name was Nancy Green. Away from the elaborate tombs and ornate grave markers bearing the prominent names of national celebrities, Chicago’s upper class and Black elite, she has been buried for nearly 100 years somewhere in Oak Woods Cemetery in Woodlawn. But for decades, no one knew where her grave was located. She never had a marker or headstone. She was born a slave, but rose to become a fascinating American success story. During her illustrious life, she was the original “Aunt Jemima,’’ whose face was on the label of millions of syrup bottles in American kitchens and supermarkets. In life, Green had fame and fortune. But in death, she lies in obscurity. While the exquisite crypts and graves of Chicago’s first Black mayor Harold Washington, Ebony magazine publisher John H. Johnson and Olympian Jesse Owens attract thousands of visitors, Green would remain six feet under for decades in an area more fitting for the forgotten.
Sold millions of products Amid the remains of politicians, business moguls, sports legends, and journalists, lie a woman whose legacy may suffer from a career portraying a “mam-
PHOTO BY ERICK JOHNSON/CHICAGO CRUSADER
The remains of Nancy Green, the original Aunt Jemima, lie in section R3, a less attractive area in Oakland Cemetery that’s also one of the oldest portion in the burial ground. my” archetype that many today view as demeaning to Black women. But in her time, Green parlayed her talents to sell a product to millions of Americans at a time when opportunities were few for people of color. With her success, Green is considered an important figure in Black history. Though without a marker, Green’s significant impact on American culture, Chicago’s rich Black history and efforts to desegregate Oak Woods Cemetery during the Jim Crow era, would fade long after the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights Movement have ended. Her mysterious and humble burial would earn her
fame in death that would rival the fame and reputation she gained in life.
No marker Longtime Chicago resident Sherrie Williams said she had been searching for Green’s grave for 15 years. Fascinated by Green’s life, Williams poured through records, documents and researched dozens of addresses to find Green’s remains. Her searches would turn up empty. On the popular website Find A Grave, Green has a page, but there is no picture of a marker or grave containing her remains. A search through the Chicago History Museum
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also turned up empty. “I was getting nowhere,” she said. “It was so frustrating and discouraging, but I kept searching.”
Finally found But the 93-year-old mystery began to unfold this spring when Williams, who is also president of the Bronzeville Historical Society, discovered an old obituary in the Chicago Defender that listed Green’s death as September 8, 1923. When Williams called Oak Woods’s front office with the date listed in the Defender, her years of frustrations finally ended. Green’s grave was finally found after 93 years. “I was speechless. I immediately drove to the cemetery to see her,” Williams told the Chicago Crusader. “I was so glad I found her.” Green is buried in section R3, Lot 291 in one of the oldest sections of Oak Woods Cemetery. Located in the northeastern corner of the 183-acre burial ground, there are no neoclassical crypts or towering obelisks here. Most of the graves have flat headstones, many of which have been eclipsed by grass or covered with dead leaves. Upon the discovery, Williams began a campaign to secure a marker for Green’s grave. On May 9, she gave a presentation on Green’s life and her burial during a Black Chicago history forum in Bronzeville. Buried in 1923, Green is perhaps the first prominent Black who was interred at Oak Woods, which was then a segregated cemetery that did not sell plots to Blacks. Another famous Black pioneer, journalist and activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, was interred at Oak Woods in 1931.
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Nancy Green would inspire an original image of Aunt Jemima on Pancake mix products.
In keeping with the cemetery’s rules for Section R3, Williams’ organization plans to purchase a flat headstone for $1,600 to honor Green. Williams could secure a larger memorial that would be more fitting to Green’s legacy, but to do that would be costly. Green would have to be exhumed and re-interred in a section that would allow elaborate markers and crypts. Although Oak Woods tried to keep Blacks out in its early years, Blacks in the 1920s and 30s would secure plots through White families and friends, a practice that reportedly helped Wells-Barnett secure her final resting place at Oak Woods. But for the most part, clandestine business practices kept Blacks from being buried at Oak Woods. In the 1960s, Leak and Sons Funeral Home and the NAACP led a march to desegregate Oak Woods
after the cemetery rejected the remains of a Black girl. Along with Graceland and Rosehill cemeteries, Oak Woods is considered to be one of Chicago’s most prestigious and coveted burial grounds.
Birth of an icon Green was born into slavery on March 4, 1834 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. As a young nurse, Green moved to Chicago after 1865 to work as a cook and maid for the Walker family, whose children grew up to be the late Chicago Judge Charles M. Walker and Dr. Samuel Walker, a wealthy physician who lived on the city’s North Side, according to an old article in the Defender. According to several reports, Green was a founding member of Bronzeville’s 165-year old Olivet Baptist Church, 3101 S. King Drive. During that time, the church had 10,000 members according to church officials and several news articles. As a domestic, Green was known for her homemade cooking and warm, affable personality. She was referred to two businessmen – Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood – who bought the Pearl Milling Company to sell readymixed and self-rising pancake flour.
‘Pancake Queen’ After watching a vaudeville show that featured a character named Aunt Jemima, the two men decided to market a product based on the fictional character. After hearing of Green’s skills and personality, they hired her to help sell their product. The men gave her a booth at Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition in 1893, where Green would help sell 50,000 orders for Aunt Jemima pancake mix. News reports said Green was such a crowd pleaser that special policemen were hired to keep the lines moving. Green was then
proclaimed the “Pancake Queen” and was awarded a lifetime contract with the R.T. Davis Milling Company, which was later purchased by the Quaker Oats Company in 1926. Green lived at 4543 S. Indiana Ave., in a 135-year old building that still exists today. According to news reports, Green died at 89 on Aug. 30, 1923 when she was struck by a car while walking near 46th Street in Bronzeville, then known as Grand Boulevard. The driver of the car, a doctor, said he was trying to avoid colliding with a laundry truck.
More Aunt Jemimas Since her death, several Blacks have portrayed Aunt Jemima. Over the years, Aunt Jemima’s appearance has been altered to reflect the changing attitudes about the character. On the label, the famous bandana is gone and her hairstyle reflects mainstream tastes. Last year, a lawsuit was filed in Chicago by Green’s heirs and descendants of Black women who portrayed Aunt Jemima, claiming they are entitled to a share of an estimated $2 billion fortune and a future share of revenue from product sales. Quaker Oats, the company that owns the Aunt Jemima brand, claims the character was never real. Now that Sherrie Williams has finally found Nancy Green, it bothers her that Green has not been properly memorialized – and may not be. To secure a headstone, a relative or descendent must approve the marker before it’s installed. For a person who died long ago, this may seem impossible. “I wouldn’t have a clue of where to look and where to begin,” Taylor said. “That’s an awful lot of work to track someone.”
This story is special to the NNPA from the Chicago Crusader.
SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
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SEPTEMBER DECEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 14 - 20, 2006
Miami’s Mark Walton (1), a freshman running back, runs into B-CU defensive back Jeremy Davis (19) during the game as defensive lineman Tony Williams (51) rushes onward.
B-CU at Miami stadium: On and off the field The first football game of the season at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens attracted plenty of enthusiastic Wildcats eager to cheer on their team. Although Bethune-Cookman lost the game to the University of Miami, it didn’t keep the Wildcats from showing their team spirit. The Hurricanes defeated B-CU 45-0 in a lightning delayed game. The attendance was 43,467. Among those attending Saturday was Daytona native Kim Gibson. The Daytona Times photographer, who is based in South Florida, captured the action on and on the field. PHOTOS BY KIM GIBSON/DAYTONA TIMES
Above: The B-CU defense tries to keep Miami away from quarterback Quentin Williams (3). Right: Angela Gibson and Ed Rouse show their team spirit. Below: Delois and Ron Gibson wave during the game.
B-CU cheerleaders are all smiles despite a devastating game loss.
B-CU’s 14 Karat Gold Dancers entertain the crowd at Sun Life Stadium.
7
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7SAFETY
SEPTEMBER 10 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
A SAFE ALTERNATIVE
FROM FAMILY FEATURES
Although a great deal of attention focuses on safety at school, for millions of kids the school day starts on the bus. More than half of America’s school children ride the bus, according to the National Association of Pupil Transportation, and school buses are the safest form of transportation to and from school. Still, there are steps you can take as a parent to make the experience even safer. NAPT offers these tips to help teach your child to be safe at the bus stop and as they get on and off the bus.
Getting ready for school • Have your children put everything they carry in a backpack or school bag so that they won’t drop
things along the way. • Encourage them to wear bright, contrasting colors so they will be more easily seen by drivers. • Make sure children leave home on time so they can arrive at the bus stop before it is due, ideally at least five minutes early. Running after or in front of a bus is dangerous.
Walking to the bus stop • Walk young children to the bus stop or encourage children to walk in groups. There is safety in numbers; groups are easier for drivers to see. • Practice good pedestrian behavior: walk on the sidewalk, and if there is no sidewalk stay out of the street. If you must walk in the street, walk single-file, face traffic and stay as close to the edge of the road as you can.
• Stop and look left, right and then left again anytime you must cross a street. Do the same thing at driveways and alleys. Exaggerate your head turns and narrate your actions so your child knows you are looking left, right and left.
At the bus stop • Have children wait in a location where the driver can see them while driving down the street. Never wait in a house or car. • Do not let children play in the street. Playing with balls or other toys that could roll into the street is also dangerous.
Getting on and off the bus • Warn children that if they drop something getting on and off
the bus, they should never pick it up. Instead, they should tell the driver and follow the driver’s instructions. • Remind children to look to the right before they step off the bus. • If you meet your child at the bus stop after school, wait on the side where the child will be dropped off, not across the street. Children can be so excited to see you after school that they dash across the street and forget the safety rules.
Mobile devices Cell phones and other electronic devices are often permitted on the school bus as long as: • They are in backpacks or other holders, keeping hands free to use handrails while boarding and departing the bus. • Sound is muted or headphones, ear buds or similar devices are used. • Content does not violate the law or school district policy and procedures. • Use does not create a distraction for the driver.
Teaching kids school bus safety is one way to protect them on the ride to and from school. However, school districts can take additional steps to make the bus safe: by switching from diesel buses to an alternative fuel like propane. Jenna Bush Hager, a teacher, author, journalist and parent of two, is partnering with the Propane Education & Research Council to educate parents and school districts about the benefits of propane school buses. School buses powered by the alternative fuel offer numerous safety advan tages. Propane school buses are quieter than diesel buses, making it easier for drivers to hear inside and outside the bus. This can have a direct impact on student behavior, and many districts have reported fewer disciplinary issues as a result. “As a former teacher, I know how important the ride to and from school is for our children. We know what happens before they arrive at school sets the tone for the whole day and can affect a child’s performance in the classroom,” Hager said. Using propane also helps reduce children’s exposure to potentially harmful particulate matter found in diesel exhaust, which some studies show may escalate breathing-related issues and aggravate asthma. Many students, including those in wheelchairs who enter from the back of the bus, wait at stops near where their bus’ tailpipe will be. With propane, students no longer have to wait in the “cloud of black smoke” from diesel exhaust. What’s more, propane-powered school buses cost less to operate than diesel buses. This allows school districts to invest the money they save on transportation back into the classroom, supporting teachers and a better learning environment.