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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1985)
A f » ) The Portland Public School District enthusiastically joins in the special recognition of Black History. The significant contributions of Black people, through the ages, have enriched the lives of all people on this earth. We are honored to be assisting in the education of some 7,491 of Portland's young Black people who hold the key to our future. Some may ask.............. Why Black colleges? by Yvonne Whaley W h ile recently doing research on Black E d ucation , I came across a U N C F article entitled “ W hy Black Colleges.” Some pretty strong points were staled in defense o f the histor ically Black colleges One set of statis tics helped to underscore their right to exis* as nothing else that I read did: M o re than 50 percent o f the nation's Black business executives and elected officials are graduates o f Black colleges, as are 75 percent o f Blacks w ith earned P h .D 's , 75 percent o f Black m ilitary officers, 80 percent o f Black federal judges and 85 percent o f Black physicians. I felt really good about having gone to ole Morgan State. A day or two later I received in the m ail a copy o f another article on Black colleges entitled. " T h e Dilem ma o f the Black Colleges.” T h e a rli- cld, sent by a friend, had "N . Y. Daily News 8 / 2 8 / 8 4 " handwritten on the margin. Now, I know The News gen erally espouses reactionary rather than liberal views, so it was w ith a greal deal o f curiosity that I began reading. Curiosity was rapidly laid to rest. I bristled at the au th or's statement about "B lack C h au vin is m ," fumed about charges o f "reverse racism ," and scoffed at the philosophy o f "in d o c trin a tio n instead o f educa lio n ," etc. A t the end o f the article was the credit: M ich ell M eyers. The author o f the piece that advocated the elim ination o f Black colleges was the former assistant and national director o f the N A A C P ! M a n y invectives came to m ind, and " tu rn c o a t” was probably the mildest o f them. After reason took over from anger, I reread the article. M y initial percep tion o f the thesis was altered only slightly Were his charges really true? " . . Black colleges, because o f his toric patterns of discriminatory funds, and racism in society at large with few exceptions, have turned out to be something very m uch less than qual ity educational institutions." Meyers goes on to criticize the schools for IP I p 4 Pleure turn lo Page I I ) \Ne Salute Slack History W eek Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852-1889) Born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guinea, he earned > passage to the United States as a sailor and arrived in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1876. After laboring ten years, Matzeliger invented and patented an auto matic Shoe-Lasting Machine in 1883. The patent was purchased by the United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston, which revolutionized the shoe industry, creating thousands of jobs and cutting shoe prices in half. He was posthumously awarded a gold medal by the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. A statue was erected in his honor in Lynn, Massachusetts, the shoe capital of the world. Untiljustice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color ofmens skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact. — Iyndon B.Johnson I .S. Bank is proud to jo in the members o f the com m u nity to Salute Black H istory Month. us.Banki Memhrt th* F 1» I C Imagination Makes the Difference This ad sponsored by An Equal Opportunity Employer Page 4, Section II, Portland Observer. February 20,1986
