Portland Observar Thursday. February 22. 1979 Paye 3
Oral history presentation features Du ois
On March 8th, 9th, 10th and 1 Ith,
Herb Cawthorne will be featured in
an oral history program on the life
and teaching o f Dr. William Edward
Burghardt DuBois. The program,
called “ DuBois,** w ill be held at
PSU's Lincoln Hall Auditorium.
Cawthorne hopes the program will
help Io correct an im balanced
situation. "W e often hear complaints,”
said the 31-year-old educator and
w riter, “ about the quality o f the
teaching o f reading and writing in
the public schools. This concern is so
dominant that other equally impor
tant aspects o f communication are
neglected.”
Cawthorne has worked for years
to gain a better balance. Using what
he calls “ the positive and healthy de
pendence young students have on
oral language,” Cawthorne deve
loped the idea o f oral history pro
grams while teaching at the U ni
versity o f Oregon. “ I came to rea
lize that many students, particularly
Blacks, had a very strong reliance on
oral language,” said Cawthorne.
He went further to explain that
“ this is especially true o f Black
students because o f their African
oral heritage and a history in Ameri
ca which systematically discouraged
»the learning o f written communica
tio n ."
When the true greatness o f such a
fine personality as D r. W .E .B .
DuBois is presented on stage as
though he were living today, the
hope is that people will be motivated
to discover his thought by reading his
words. This is the purpose o f oral
history program.
“ DuBois” is produced by One
W orld A rts Foundation, Inc., an
organization created to expand ap
preciation o f the arts among Black
youth. One W orld is composed o f
Michael Grice who has prepared the
sident, says, “ We want to assist
young artists in the development of
their talents by giving them exposure
and helping them create their own
opportunities to excel in the arts.”
The scholarship One W orld w ill
award, he said, w ill go tow ard
helping deserving youngsters seek the
fulfillm ent o f their artistic talents.
“ This production w ill illuminate
the history o f an outstanding Black
Am erican by actually recreating
him on stage," Cawthorne said.
“ Through this perform ance, the
audience w ill come to understand his
endless struggle to account for his
living.”
In the M arch p roduction o f
“ DuBois,” the oral tradition is a
positive element. In much o f A fri
can society, the oral tra d itio n is
sacred. The age-old memories and
timeless wisdom o f an entire people
are woven together by the threads o f
oral communication. In American,
there is an overemphasis on written
communication. Therefore there is a
need to revitalize the power o f the
oral tradition. "D u B o is” provides
an opportunity for people to learn in
a unique manner.
Herb Cawthorne. w ith intensity and strength, practicing for
"DuBoia," an oral history program planned for March 8th, 9th, 10th and
11th at PSU's Lincoln Hall Auditorium.
script and directs "D u B o is ,” Ken
Berry who arranged the musical
score for the program, and Caw
thorne who portrays “ DuBois.” A ll
proceeds w ill go tow ard the One
W orld Arts Foundation Scholarship
Award.
About One World, Grice, its pre
“ DuBois” is a production which
will stimulate understanding o f Dr.
DuBois' relentless political crusad
ing and his vision o f a world without
color prejudice. It w ill v iv id ly
illustrate his staunch belief in Black
self-developm ent
and
higher
education.
“ DuBois” w ill capture the sacred
ness o f the oral tradition. It w ill illu
minate the time-honored words o f a
great Black spokesman.
“ DuBois” is scheduled for March
8th, 9th, 10th and 11th at PSU’ s Lin
coln Hall Auditorium . It is an oral
history program which you should
not miss.
Coalition responds to School Board resolutions
(Continued from page 1 col. 3)
some o f the language is more general
that we prefer, the Resolutions on
Training and on Standards o f Per
formance are a sincere attempt to
address the problems.
Student Discipline
“ While we can see that the Board
has addressed itself to the Coalition's
concerns in the area o f student
discipline, we find the nature o f its
response disturbing.
“ In his December 11, 1978 address
to the Board, Superintendent Blan
chard substantially agreed with the
findings and recommendations o f
the Coalition on Student Discipline.
In the light o f this agreement, it is all
the more surprising that instead of
taking the expeditious course o f en
dorsing the Coalition's recommen
dations, the Board simply asks the
Superintendent to cover the same
ground and develop recommen
dations on the identical topics. It ap
pears as though the Board strained
itself to avoid giving credence to the
work o f the Coalition.”
Minority Hiring
The key elements o f the
C o a litio n ’ s recommendation were
that the Board should: establish the
proportion o f minority students in
the district (currently 20 per cent) as
the goal fo r the p ro p o rtio n o f
minority employees; establish a five-
year tim eline fo r achieving this
racially balanced staff.
The Board’ s response: Does not
direct the Superintendent to use the
percentage o f m inority students as
the measure o f a reasonably balan
ced staff; does not specify a five-year
timeline.
“ W hile
the
C o a litio n
acknowledges the Board’ s concern
for hiring minority teachers and ad
ministrators, as well as its intent to
create incentives for teacher aids, it is
our conviction that unless specific
targets are required there is a danger
that any programs in this area w ill be
ineffective. Under the non-specific
resolution, hiring programs w ill con
tinue to be ineffective and w ill not
achieve any level o f a reasonably
balanced s ta ff in the forseeable
AN ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
featuring
HERB C A W T H O R N E
UeriMMg ahowt a I 4-adtna
A Npoh«MBM
n»i* pn-wntaOoa portra» > 'h r «ptrii d H 1 II DwBon
a trwi» greet author hsUorieo and pUitwal a r t h ‘N
( awthuriw be«« woe» Ihtftnte. and thrxtigh tht«
'h r . x d tradMtuo - » « a « e lo r D O N T MISS IT '
future.”
Minority Teacher Placement
“ The Coalition takes issue with
the manner in which the district has
chosen to com ply w ith Federal
guidelines. Rather than ‘endorsing’
the Superintendent’ s willingness to
consider alternatives, the Board
should direct the Superintendent to
develop an alternative program
which w ill address-the inefficient
scattering and isolation o f minority
staff that currently exists.”
Advisory Boards
"T h e Board’ s resolution in this
area meets the need that the
Coalition sees to make the existing
community Advisory Boards more
effective and more truly represen
tative. We trust that the Superinten
dent’s report w ill be made before
the end o f this school year so that
appropriate changes may be made
before the start o f the 1979-1980
school year.”
Communications
“ We appreciate how d ifficult it is
for the Board and Administration to
alter perceptions in order to ac
comodate a continuing involvement
w ith organizations such as the
C oalition.
Student T ransf er
“ The Coalition sees this issue as
teh heart o f the failure o f Portland
Public Schools to treat its minority
children, specifically its black
children, with equity. The Board and
Administration have not only failed
to address themselves adequately to
eliminating the basic inequity in their
present programs, but have refused
to admit that the inequity exists.
“ The Coalition has weigheo and
studied the alternatives to resolve
this in e q u ity and had advanced
"p a irin g ” as one avenue that the
Board could follow. Pairing has been
rejected out o f hand.
“ When the Coalition advanced its
pairing proposal, it was carefully
supported and documented. The
Board’s rejection o f it was shallow.
The Board sim ply said, it w on’ t
work, and expects us to accept that
as a reasonable arguement. No sup
p o rtin g reasoning, no documen
tation, no citing o f studies, just, ’ It
won’t w ork.’
“ The C oalition knows that this
means that the pairing concept won’ t
work because the Board does not
want it to work. The Board refuses
to consider any alternatives which
require the mandatory assignment o f
white children on the same basis as
blacks have been assigned for years.
“ It is time the Board and A d
ministration recognized the justice o f
the demands o f its citizens and
developed an equitable program to
integrate its schools.”
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