Black Journal; 2

The program from NET. The National Educational Television network. (THEME PLAYS) The end. Good evening John Ball. It's been a month of change for the black activist movement both in leadership and in policies. In recent days usually conservative Urban League head Whitney Young as endorsed black power. The old guard of the n double a CP led by Roy Wilkins has beaten back a determined challenge to its leadership by a growing faction of young Turks who walked out of the Atlantic City Convention.

Their leader Whichita attorney Chester Lewis blasted the organization as an appendage of the white power structure unable to free the black man in America. Major changes took place in the Congress of Racial Equality last week. The scene was the national Kora convention held in Columbus Ohio. Core members got together to develop programs that would lead to the creation of a black nation state with black controlled businesses politics and education. The convention theme was black unity Corps invited guests that had represented the entire range of thought concerning the black struggle. Your permission Roy Wilkins executive secretary of the NAACP. Address the kora convention. I'm 66 years old. And I have been in the civil rights movement. Since I was in high school. I have.

Never been afraid. In any gathering I my people and I am not beginning today. I consider that I am in the House of people who are going the same way I am going. Although they may have a little different route. People who disagree with some of the things I believe in and I disagree with some of the things they believe in. But we're all going in the same direction and all seeking the same go. And for that reason I'm very happy. To accept the invitation to bring greetings to this convention of the Congress of Racial Equality. It is no secret that under the incoming in his regime core is committed to a philosophy of what has been called loosely black nationalism. It is never clear except in the most outspoken circles whether this term means the building of pride and race and the assurance and achievement that such pride

instills or whether it means actually the building of a black nation. Let me hasten to say at once and then be done with it. That if that concept which emerges is that of the building of a separate black nation the mood the beliefs and the tradition of the NAACP would dictate no cooperation on that theme. There remain however many areas in which there can be either working cooperation or paralleled complementary action. Continuing the theme of black unity that convention delegates were addressed by Urban League executive director Whitney Young Jr. and others we are in a war. Anybody who doesn't believe you ask the Black Panthers of California I just left Oakland and I left Los Angeles and last two or three weeks and I know what war means. We are in a war and in a

war like any other war our war is against racism and against injustice. Whitney Young describes a recent speech he delivered to the National Association of Home Builders really a reactionary group if you know anything about the homebuilders. When I got through one man stood up and he said you know Mr. Young. I saw a lot of things you said but I must confess I've lost sympathy with your people. I was a great liberal. And I loved your people very much but since the riots and the shouts of Black Power I've kind of lost something. And I said to him I didn't want to debate with him the merits of the logic and his indictment of the whole group because of maybe a few excesses by a few people but all I wanted to know is what had we lost since he'd lost sympathy and I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and I said now would you tell me precisely all the things you did before you lost sympathy. How many

open subdivisions did you bill? How many black people did you employ and at what level? How many black people did you help get into your your choice exclusive club, your neighborhood, your school? I said now say it slowly so I can document for posterity I've weighed loss, now that we have lost your sympathy. [Laughter] And he said 'Well, well I, uh, we didn't do any of those things' and I said 'well nothing from nothing leaves nothing. [Laughter Applause] Ya know Did it ever. [applause] Did it ever occur to you that if you'd been doing all of those things when you loved the my people so much that we might not've had the riots that summer, you see until you can come and tell me this then tha-that's why I say don't-don't talk about law and order. There will never be order And there should never be order in this society until there is justice." Core convention achievements are discussed by Roy Innis associate national director and Willford Usree National Core chairman.

"Well I think the success of our conference relative to, uh, unity... is not to be measured by the opinion of one speaker relative to a particular idea that we're endorsing. Uh, I think it has to be measured against the broad, uh, base of people that we brought in such as an ambassador from Tanzania, um, a Muslim minister, namely Muhammad Ali the heav- the World Heavyweight Champion. [Name] from Los Angeles, the founder chairman of us. Um, and many other people who came and representing a whole cross-section of ideas that are operative in the black community and I think it was clearly demonstrated that we are the organization that has the ability to convene people from such a broad cross-section of opinion." "But we want the most important thing to come out of this would be the open

dialogue between black people and different groups. Uh, for years we've been blastin' at each other's. We've been hearing about each other through the press. Uh, very incompletely and, uh, inaccurately. We have a dialogue now. We can hear each other, not seeking so much agreement at this stage, but to just have a dialogue. Later after having dialogue we can find those points of agreement and then try to build unity in there." This theme of black unity who has upset however, the Brooklyn CORE delegation along with others walked out of the convention and Floyd McKissic who remains CORE national director although on a leave of absence told Black Journal today "During growth every organization experiences dissension, no pain no progress and basic CORE ideology however is the factor in the present dispute the current leadership emphasizes economic policy and working through the system. Those who walked out believe that

black people can not fit into capitalistic America and because of this basic dispute no program resolutions were acted upon at the convention and it was recessed until August." The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee also completed a major reorganization of the post of chairman recently held by H Rap Brown was abolished and a governing body of eight deputy directors was formed to serve under programme secretary Phil Hutchens. We talked with one of these new appointees, John Wilson, about the reorganization and the future of SNCC. "New structures is-is-is trying, the new structure will try to offset that so that the press won't be able to make villains out of you know Carmichael won't be able to make villains out of Hutchins, they won't be able to make villains out of Rap, they won't be able to make villains out of me, anybody else, you see? and they- It would be harder for them to get in on all seven of us. And what makes it and the reason why, because last year when Rap went to jail it was a big vacuum in the field, you know, and everybody was wonderin' well who would follow- who would take Rap's place

you know why I was in jail or what would happen, or what would happen, you know, and-and what happened was that black people in the country didn't see anybody else speaking for SNCC but Rap so they don't want to hear anything unless it came from Rap or anybody else. So we decided not to do that again. This year we're gonna try to work basically in problematic areas. Last year people said we had no programs, it was not true. The program basically last year was a building of black consciousness in the country. And you do that through speeches and rhetoric and that's what we did. And uh, this year we're going to try to move from a solid, firm a programmatic base dealing with any war activities, dealing with freedom schools, dealing with building of a mass political party. on the principles of the Black Panther and, uh, using the Black Panther as a symbol." The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has problems within its ranks as a result of the Poor People's Campaign there is growing disenchantment over the leadership of Reverend Ralph Abernathy now serving a jail term in Washington. As predicted last month on black Journal

the confrontation between the poor people and Washington police came with the destruction of Resurrection City. Whether this had the unifying effect that Abernathy sought is doubtful. In fact a new group has been formed by the five ethnic groups who participated in the Poor People's Campaign. It's called the National Poor People's Coalition. And it's interesting to note that not one SCLC official is included on this group. There are speculations that Abernathy may be replaced by Mrs. Coretta King. But then many SCLC members believe the organization should be headed by a strong male figure. Mrs. King continues to play a major role organizing women for social justice and has joined forces with Congressman John Conyers, Stokely Carmichael and others in the National Committee of Inquiry which will evaluate presidential candidates, report its findings to the black community. The black press has covered these changes in black leadership but so far as cautious and taking a position with any one group. National Newspaper Publishers Association

recently held its twenty eighth annual convention in New York City. The organization represents some 75 black newspapers throughout the United States. The most pressing questions that publishers ask themselves do we really represent black America. "Well, I-I think that those who are attending this convention, cannot escape the realization here, among publishers, uh, that they have gone They have come very much middle class oriented. In that they too need to make a new approach to the grassroot community. Th-they-they are much shocked and surprised at some of the frustrations of the ghetto as some of the white newspapers were." Several of the presidential candidates visited the meeting but it was the invited appearance of Gov. McKeithen of Louisiana that caused the raising of eyebrows among some members and initiated discussions on the philosophy of the black press. Tom Becu executive editor of The Chicago Defender speaks to this point.

"The negro press must begin to define its readership. It can no longer adhere to the general conception that all negroes would adhere to a certain philosophy projected by the black press and in addition it must begin to develop a new readership. People who have been reading black newspapers for many years will continue to read back newspapers but that market is a dying market, and to subsist it must develop a new market. It must reach the young negro, the educated negro the negress coming out of school." Percy Green editor and publisher of the Jackson Mississippi advocate has a different view. "We've got to realize that we need help. And that the so called whitey, is a man that can help us because he has the power, he has the authority and more than anything else he has the money. And you can't beg, oh, you can't slap a man in the face with one

one hand and beg him with the other and expect 'im to help ya." The number of black newspapers in the United States has remained fairly constant in recent years and black publishers are beginning to realize that to grow they must speak for the grassroots as well as for their middle class readers. But in most cities the black press is still the only game in town and like all establishments its challenge has to be relevant, to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate of the community it professes to serve. And now some news stories as reported in the black press. Professor Harry Edwards who plans to boycott the Olympics by American black athletes is the subject of an article by sports columnist Larry Casey in the Chicago Daily Defender. Casey says it's not clear whether members of Edwards ad hoc committee want to stage the boycott during training at Lake Tahoe or when the games actually get underway in Mexico City. In any event Casey says there will be an unusually large number of white backup athletes at Lake Tahoe.

The Chicago Daily Defender reports in a syndicated article that San Francisco publisher Dr. Carlton Goodlip tried to obtain a television outlet for black investors and lost his case at an FCC hearing. But according to the Defender as a result of his efforts a black may well be the next appointee to the Federal Communications Commission. The Defender said that of over 170 radio stations beaming to black audiences in the United States only seven are black owned, no TV stations are black owned. The Atlanta Daily World with a circulation of 30000 reports a protest by Dr. Horace Tate executive secretary of the Predominantly Black Georgia Teachers and Education Association. Dr. Tate charges that Afro-American principals and teachers are being phased out of the Georgia school system as a result of desegregation while white teachers remain on the payroll. He said black principals should be in charge of the schools where the majority of the pupils are black. The State Board of Education has investigated the matter and will report this week. For school boards and parents the summer of 68 is a time to take stock and lay

plans for the coming school year. For a special report on the pressing problems of education. here is Ponchitta Pieree of Ebony magazine. "The agony of public school education with underfunding and overcrowding with its often medieval and mediocre teaching standards has been experienced by many black children throughout the nation. Let's look at one black community that has successfully moved to counteract educational erosion. The city of Boston, where to many critics, the prevailing public educational system had served only to intensify a mood of dissatisfaction. [Music- I can't get no satisfaction] [Music continues]

To meet this void a group of black parents has formed a busing program known as Operation METCO. Supported by federal and state funds and a private grant operation METCO busses of some 420 youngsters from the Roxbury ghetto to the less crowded schools in the affluent suburbs. In charge is Mrs. Ruth Batson to tells whom she holds accountable for the educational breakdown. I hold accountable people in institutions of higher education and I hold accountable business people and I do this because they get the product, the product being the student, they either get the product or they don't get the productふ In schools of higher education they know who who comes into their schools. They know who cannot pass the College Boards and it is incumbent upon them to say to a local school system this is happening, why is it happening and to look into why it's happening and not to collaborate with a local system to perpetuate a bad system. I think we're businessmen when they know that young

people can't pass a simple test. It's incumbent upon them to find out why they can't do it why they don't perform on the job and find out where the educational system is missing. [Back round noise, school children singing] Kathy Latimer who owns nine vivid years of life was selected for METCO along broad economic geographical line. Each morning she traveled 11 miles from her Roxbury home to the wealthy suburb of Brookline [children singing] [children singing] In operation just two years, METCO at first ran into resistance from some suburban parents but no such problems exist today. Many of the participating suburbs claim to have cheerfully offered a home away from home for the youngsters of Roxbury. [Background, Mrs. Goebel asking a class questions] [Mrs. Goebel continues asking questions]

The fourth grade teacher is Mrs. Jacqueline Goebel. [Mrs. Goebel teaching] [Mrs Goebel calls on Kathy Latimer] "Kathy came to Brookline with a very poor academic record She was practically a non reader. And wasn't given much credit for the ability that is obviously within her. Having been in the Brookline schools for two years she has gained at least three and a half years academically and nearly all subjects. She's a very excited student and for that reason very exciting to have and fits in well in the Brookline situation. The average child in the Brookline schools isn't the type I'm describing when I describe Kathy. They're all excited and very enthused. Tend to

have a lot of ability. She keeps up with them well and she has put into the class well. I think Kathy is the most aware of anyone of the fact that she is negro. A lot of this I think comes from the home. There is an emphasis on the fact that she is a negro in the home and that she should be proud of it. I think the fact that she has been in the classroom has been good for the children. She, and they both, are now able to say that she is a negro. Which at the beginning of the year, I know noticed all of them avoided. I also notice now that when they're drawing their friends doing something or their favorite activity in the classroom, if Kathy is playing with them Kathy will have a brown face and when she draws herself now, she also makes herself brown. When she first came she always made herself white. Now she feels comfortable being a negro in the situation that she's in." Another proud example of black community initiative in education is a privately funded new

school for children located in Roxbury itself. Without the problem of most decentralized schools, which are dependent on a board of education for their funds, the concept here was to create a so-called magnet school. One that would attract children from all parts of Boston. This is exactly what has happened according to the teacher/author of Death at an Early Age, Jonathan Kozol, a member of the new school's board. [Children arguing] "I think the key element however and the thing which perhaps separates the new school from from unsuccessful ventures of this sort is that the parents here are not merely a presence, an observer and an investigator on the scene, the parents here are really running the show. They have the final say and I think this says a great deal not only for the real

qualities of black power at its best and for the intrinsic capability of those whom we have stupidly designated as the culturally deprived but I think it also tells us an awful lot about the whole phobia concerning bussing. Nobody in America so far as I'm concerned would object to having their children bussed into a black neighborhood if it weren't for the fact that they know damn well that we've been cheating the negro kids for ages. If it weren't for our guilty awareness that the schools in the ghettos of America largely stank, white people would not be so disturbed about having their children sent in. And when you do have a beautiful place like the new school, a school which is hopeful, a school where teachers are happy, a school where kids are having fun and things are happening, then you have a problem of keeping the white families out." But the cruel fact remains that over 25000 children in Boston are still receiving second class education. It is these children whom the Ruth Batson's and Jonathan Kozol's are concerned about. For it is these children who become transformed, even

liberated, once they are given a chance to grow. 'Some of the things that we think are important can be measured by achievement tests and so forth but when I see children anxious to go to school for example, when I see a little girl who's 8 years old, call me up in the morning and upset because she's missed the bus and asking me how she can get to school, when I see a child who had asthmatic attacks all one year, whose mother reports that he hasn't had any this year. And when I hear the kind of things about the kind of things that the children are doing then I see results that would not be measured in a classroom.' [Three Blind Mice plucked on violins] To be a child, a poet once said, is to believe in love. To believe in loveliness, to believe in belief. It is to turn pumpkins into coaches lowness into loftiness, nothing into everything. [Children continue plucking violins]

Two possible solutions; bussing, decentralization. Bussing is at best a limited answer and in the large cities with hundreds of thousands of students attending segregated schools that would skyrocket the already burgeoning education budget. So far Washington Philadelphia Boston Atlanta and Los Angeles have moved toward decentralization. But in most cases only limited authority has been delegated to local parent control boards. In New York City three school districts were decentralized on an experimental basis but they have been plagued with troubles. Local boards have not been given effective control over personnel budget and curriculum. To make decentralization work on a public level, boards of education must be willing to

transfer meaningful authority to local boards to effectively operate and improve their schools. Teachers unions and professional organizations must sacrifice some of their control on such issues as job security transfers and accreditation at the same time local boards must meet their responsibility with a sense of urgency and fair play." [Man singing song] [Song continues] For children, summer is a time not for school but for fun. Here with a look at children's games down home and up in here is Leon Bibb, "Children's games are much the same the world over. The only important difference is that while the games may be played in the same way the rhymes change from country to country and within a country from section to section. There are games for school rooms, playgrounds, and the city streets and the games draw

their character from their locale. But whatever the surroundings the enthusiasm for the game reamains the same. I met Br'er Rabbit in the pea vine and I ask him where was he going? That's from down home. On a recent visit to the Vineland elementary school in North Carolina, we found that southern games had much to do with animals and birds, things close to nature. For instance they played a game called the rabbit and the hound. The hound chases is a rabbit. [Children playing] The rabbit runs to find a nest. If the hound catches the rabbit. The hound becomes the rabbit... and so it goes [Children playing] [Singing here comes a bluebird through my window]

[singing continues] [singing continues] [singing continues] [singing continues] [singing continues] [Singing conintues with skipping rope] [Singing continues with skipping rope]

Up north, not like down home, in the cities. The games children play are not around trees and birds and animals. They instead reflect the day to day hard life experiences of the children of the city. [Singing] [Singing continues] [Singing contiues] That's a play party game of hide and seek game. There are many that come from all parts of the country rual and urban. Uh, for instance, uh 'Hello, hello hello sir meet me at the grocer' [kids join in the song] [singing continues] [singing continues]

[singing continues] [children playing] [Singing] Miss Mary Mac Mac Mac all dressed in black black black black. [Children continue singing the song] [Child counting]

[Children playing] [Singing] All here, all here, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, all here. [singing continues] [singing continues] [singing continues] [singing continues] [Singing rock a bye baby] [Singing continues] [Singing Miss Mary Mac] [singing continues] [singing continues]

[Children playing] That was Leon Bibb. Next on Black Journal. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS with William Greeves's. "Among Afro Americans who made the news recently are the nine blacks who have just graduated from West Point the largest number in the traditionally lily white military academies history. The nine are Larry Jordan of Kansas City Missouri, John Martin the 3rd of Washington D.C., Wilson Roy Jr. of Columbia South Carolina, Bennie Robinson Jr. of Los Angeles, James Howard of Youngstown Ohio. Ralph Tildon in Harrington Delaware, L'Roy Outlaw of Severn Maryland. Ernest flowers Jr. of Gary Indiana and Victor Garcia of St. Alban's New York. Since 1870 only 56 blacks have graduated from West Point. Three important and long overdue Roman Catholic appointments involve Afro-Americans. In New

Orleans, Norman Francis is the first black and the first layman to become president of Xavier University the only predominantly black Catholic University in the western hemisphere. In Chicago Ralph Baker a black has finally been named principal of a Catholic parochial school the first in the history of the local archdiocese and perhaps in the nation. And father Harold Salmon has become the first black pastor in the Archdiocese of New York. He will head Harlem's largest parish. In Dallas, Mrs. Elizabeth Duncan Coons became the first black to be elected president of the National Education Association. The world's largest professional organization. Mrs. Koons teaches retarded children in Salisbury North Carolina. In Georgia Maynard Jackson Jr., a 30 year old black lawyer pulled the political surprise of the year locally. Jackson will run against incumbent Herman Talmage for the United States Senate in

September's Democratic primary. At long last black explorer Jean Baptiste du Sable is to be honored by Chicago the city he founded. He died in 1818 and a marker will be placed on his grave in St. Louis. du Sable at one time owned extensive real estate in what is now Chicago's major business district. So much for tonight's PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." Medical researchers are probing the problems of an inherited disease of the red blood cells. A birth defect known as sickle cell anemia similar type blood diseases have been found among other racial groups but sickle cell anemia is found primarily among black people. Why? No one really knows. There is at present no cure for sickle cell anemia. Normal red blood cells are round or disk like in shape. In sickle cell anemia the red blood cells assume a crescent or sickle shape. They also contain an abnormal type of hemoglobin, the red coloring matter which is essential in supplying

oxygen to all the body tissues. And sickle cell trait is a related condition, here only a small percentage of the red blood cells have the sickle shape. One in 400 black Americans suffer from sickle cell anemia. One in ten black Americans suffer from sickle cell trait and can pass the disease on to their children. [Children playing] 20000 black children suffer from sickle cell anemia. Hundreds will die before their 13th year. Some because the disease will be improperly diagnosed. Others because they will never see a doctor and their parents are unaware of the symptoms. This is an actual blood test showing microscopic footage of the red blood cells of a sickle cell anemia victim. At Howard University College of Medicine Dr. Roland B. Scott has been working with sickle cell anemia children for some 20 years. "The patients not only have an abnormally shaped cell,

but these cells are also deficient in number. During a crisis, the child usually becomes a little paler perhaps, the appetite falls off, he may become listless, uh, weak and of course may develop the characteristics of most crisis, namely pains. A sickle cell anemia, of course is what we call a genetic and, or a hereditary disease. And um, this means of course that it has to be present in your ancestors and the nearest ancestors of course are the parents and we have an illustration here in the Ballard family where the mother has sickle cell trait and the father also has sickle cell trait. Now in sickle cell trait. We have a condition where a few of the red cells in the body do sickle. However these patients are not anemic. In other words they have a normal number of red blood cells and the hemoglobin content in the red blood cells is

also normal so that these individuals rarely have symptoms and as a matter of fact many of them do not know that they have the sickle trait. The danger is that if a woman with sickle cell trait marries a man with a sickle cell trait then in the case of the offspring there's a possibility that about one fourth of the children will be normal like this little girl here and another quarter will have sickle cell anemia and then about a half of them could have the trait like Sandra here so that the danger is in marriage and having children. 'I still would have married my husband, maybe wouldn't have had as many children if we had known because I didn't know until just before

Brian was born, my last child, that there was a possibility that any children that I might would have sickle cell anemia, no doctor ever told me. And he was my fifth child before I found out that, um, all the children might have sickle cell anemia. Three of them have sickle cell anemia, the oldest girl, Beatrice, is 24. Brenda is 20 she's the only one who doesn't have the anemia. Chip's 15, Brian is 12, and they both have anemia They are just regular like the other boys as far as I can see I don't know if I would do over protect them I don't realize it but I'm sure I did with Beatrice. She was the first child and she was about 4 years old before the next child came along, and she just got all the attention. But she has a congenital heart murmur and I was more worried about the heart murmur than I was about the anemia when really the anemia

is what I should have been working about." "Well, now when I have a crisis I get real nervous and I get a pain right in the middle of my stomach, right here, And instead of getting better it just gets steady worse and it use to be that the only thing that would stop it was that I had to go to the hospital and they'd give me a couple shots. Something for pain and something to put me to sleep, and it wouldn't bother me again for almost a year, so.." Basic research on sickle cell anemia is being done at the National Institute of Health and Bethesda Maryland. Here Dr. Mike Yomiuri aamod a research biochemist has built a scale model of the hemoglobin molecule the oxygen transporting substance that gives blood its color. The model is made up of amino acids protein units consisting mainly of carbon oxygen and nitrogen. These amino acids are linked together to form this hemoglobin molecule. Dr Miryam I discovered that in sickle cell hemoglobin there is an irregular

formation in two of the amino acids which link up in a looping type pattern. There's a loop encloses the hemoglobin molecules in the red blood cells to stack up on top of each other forming long slender sickle like strands of red blood cell therefore become cycled into shape. I feel that. The. Packing can be made to crumble under. I understand the pressure there is professor of medicine in Detroit by the name of Dr. Richard being. The CHAIRMAN. Of the Department of Medicine and Wayne State University. It just occurred to him that very simple. Simple matter to put a nation into high fashion chamber which is made out of plastic.

And then. Tells me that he goes up to 25 pounds 25 atmospheres and down in all in five minutes. And how. He has a number of successful cases. There were a sickle cell crisis has been treated up to now is only symptomatic. Just give any sort of drugs to kill the pain. And. Then. I feel this is. Not a. Scientific method. Right. It could easily be two. Because. I have to keep it from time to time. Far from here for there are already concerns we have to get right down to. The DNA molecule. Passes I've said that I need a cat. We know. We know what half

an. Hour on from now and was going to do it and in fact we have had to counter-sue since we don't know. 50000 black people in this country suffer from sickle cell anemia. Two and one quarter million black people have the sickle cell trait. They are carriers who can pass the disease on to their children. Black Journal urges at all its black viewers have a simple painless and inexpensive blood test to determine whether they have sickle cell anemia or sickle cell trait. Next from black Journal black theatre with William Green. Back in the days when we were called Negro and worse the black performer was off. Taken for a ride in the rear of the affable bus a bus that usually went nowhere this conveniently condescending image began to change in 1821 with the first Black Theatre in

America the African company the group gave performances of Shakespeare and other classics at their own theatre in lower New York and in an interesting switch provided a petition at the back of the house for white patrons. But these were white hoodlums whose harassment forced the closing of the playhouse. Black talent flexed its muscles again. A decade later when IRA Aldridge moved across Europe in the form of his ancestors the MORs and his portrayal of a fellow Europe surrendered to the strength of his talents and he surrendered to Europe never returning to America. It was a hundred years until another more appeared. Paul Robeson. It is because. It is the Mary Sue who let me know to name it to you. Cheery story. It is the cool Robson's voice funded across the Broadway stage during two hundred ninety six performances of Othello which established a

record for the longest run of a Shakespearean play on Broadway. But along that avenue it was so appropriately named the Great White Way. The works of only 11 black playwrights have been mounted including those of Langston Hughes Richard Wright and the late Lorraine Hansberry 1964 was the big year for Afro-American actors and playwrights off-Broadway 10 plays were produced involving blacks. But the man of the year was the Roy Jones who was burning talent startled and irritated white audiences in 1968. One hundred and fifteen years after Uncle Tom and his stereotype died in his cabin Black Theatre has emerged as an unshakeable art form. It has been made cohesive by actors like William Marshall was performed in both the Shakespearean stage and in motion pictures. He was interviewed by a black journal for you in terms of. My own role. I can't do enough. I really have to find

ways of making a greater contribution to it. And it's very difficult as a black actor within the commercial aspect of the entertainment industry to do this because again it's always a great struggle in terms of making sure that the content is is commensurate with. Dignified and honest reflection of yourself for your people. I think that you know I think I know that it's essential that black people as have other people who've come to the United States to find a better way must build their own fears and. They must start in their own communities and draw upon the rich folklore of their people. And its greatness as a theory and as such riches there in terms of new new stories. It would be a new history. It's not it's not new but it would be new to people who would view it once it's brought to the fore and brought to their attention.

It has to be there. In the community. Conor are right. These actors are getting stronger. Their members a past community theater in Watts Los Angeles producer director van Tylwyth I know when you when you do that thing with like. Like this whatever you do do it with. A few years ago they would have been doing town or death of a salesman or some other play written by a white expressing his culture. Today such plays appear irrelevant. These actors know who they are. This is totally black history but it

happens with everything else going on. Their objective is no longer to prime themselves for Broadway but to create their own theatrical environment all across the country blacks are patronize in their community theater is the reason for this is that finally they are seeing themselves as they really are and not the way whites would like to portray them. Dylan's author of a son come home is one of the most gifted playwrights out there. We asked him about the future of black theatre. Constance aside this one says America allows us to do something to black people black people talk about us but you say that the play said that you have written and

produced puts him in a category as revolutionary to the people at this moment. Sort of a second type of activity which stresses the type of entertainment and scrapes with people but a relevant thing in the penalized people. As well know. What I don't know. Is. Whether. Yes my car. While you in will never get married you stay together for over 10 years. Michael let me ask you know questions like that. One. It's just none of your business but you could be married now living alone in this room.

Will had a wife and child and Chester you know that well you could have gotten a divorce mother. Why. Because it just didn't that's why. Yes I had really had cancer. Why don't you tell me if. You could have written. So I could have known how you could have known. Because well it was like a father to me mother the only one I really know. Proud. You chased him away as soon as you got bigger but don't say that you like me choose between you and we'll. Smother. The crowns you had with him the mean tricks you used to play the lies you told your friends about we'll wasn't much. And I thought I had a sense of humor I used to call him. Just

plain we'll. But we was his family and all of us. And you drove him away. He never lifted a hand to stop. Listen I wish you were big enough you did everything you could to get me and we're separate and I like Michael I'm listening. I was thinking Sunday I could rent a car come down I guess you can drive to see a show. I guess back in plenty of time to rest for work Monday on Michael I'm sorry I can't do that. But you like your mother what we could have dinner open how Michael and I don't ever do anything like that no more. You mean you wouldn't come to see me play. Even if I were appearing here in Philly. That's right Michael I wouldn't come. But that. Said.

The Lord. It's my life mother. Good. Then you have something to live for. Well you're a man I'm Michael. I can no longer live it for you to the best with what you have. Just in time for dinner. We don't want to keep meeting. Hello I amMichael how are you. Michael might

have heard much about you from your mother. She prayed for you. I have to tell him. I will. Son come home by Ed Boland performed by Estelle Evans.

Roscoe Orman and Kelly Marie Berry. Today there are over 30 black community theaters throughout the country offering authentic new plays which reflect our lives and their numbers are growing. Black is beautiful black hair is beautiful. Make it in our black Journal News by Dateline Philadelphia Dr. Nathan Wright chairman of the National Conference on Black Power announced today that the organization second convention will be held in the City of Brotherly Love from August 29rh through September 1st. The conferences theme will be black self-determination and unity through direct action. Atlantic city black businessmen are angry with the NAACP for locating its convention on the white owned boardwalk. They say that the black owned interest could have housed and fed the delegates in New Orleans H Rap Brown has filed suit in federal court calling for the integration of all jails in Louisiana. Brown contends that Louisiana governor John McKiffen has promised to jail him for treason for he Brown has a personal stake in

the matter. Look at presidential politics. This is NET The.

National educational Television Network