Portland Observer, August 21, 1985, Page 3
Teacher writes textbook about
South Africa
Black college
grads: give!
Graduates o f the nation's 107
Black colleges and universities are
being asked to contnbute over $8
m illion this September to increase
financial support for Black higher
education through a creative fund
raising project initiated by the Coun
cil o f National Alum ni Associations.
" I he inure than KUO,<«M> graduates
o f historically Black colleges are being
urged to send a minimum o f $10 to
their respective alma maters on Sep
tember 30 to show that they are w ill
ing to pay financially to keep their
schools open and to preserse this part
o f our saluahle h istory," said H il
liard I . I ackey, C N A A sice president
and national coordinator o f the fund
raising project named "Paycheck
*85."
“ Just imagine the number o f de
linquent accounts that can be paid
and the number o f scholarships that
can come from $8 m illio n ,” said
lackey, who also serves as director o f
alumni affairs al Jackson State U n i
versity in Jackson. Miss.
"W hat better way is there to honor
Black colleges and universities than to
hase the graduates o f these institu
tions give back a small amount to
the institution thai gase them so much
in life .”
The fundraiser is being held in con
junction with National Historic Black
College Day, which has been cele
brated annually in Washington, D.C.,
since 1980 to focus attention on the
need to preserve Black institutions o f
higher learning.
These Black colleges have gradu
ated more than 80 percent o f the
Black graduates even though Black
colleges have only 43 percent o f the
Black college enrollm ent," lackey
added.
“ That doesn’ t mean that Black
institutions are superior to historical
ly while colleges and universities,"
Lackey continued. "T h a t simply
means that Black institutions have
developed a special ability to graduate
disadvantaged students without a
sacrifice to their academic achieve
ment.
"Studies have indicated that the
grades o f Black college graduates in
advanced degree programs at white
institutions match those o f Black
students who were graduated from
the traditional white institutions.”
Black colleges, in addition to grad
uating the m ajority o f all Black grad
uates, have virtually trained all o f the
Black leadership in this country,
Lackey said.
Eighty-five percent o f the coun
try's Black lawyers were graduated
from Black colleges, 85 percent ol all
Black physicians, 75 percent o f all
Blacks with earned doctorates, 75
percent o f a ll B lack o ffic e rs in the
A m erican arm ed services, 50 p e r
cent o f all Black executives, and 80
percent o f the Black judges.
Despite the tremendous success
records o f Black institutions, these
schools are still being hampered by a
severe lack o f funds, inflation, merg
ers and school closings, he acknowl
edged.
Contributions for the fund raising
project should be made payable to the
respective institution, these schools
are still being hampered by a severe
lack o f funds, inflation, mergers and
schiMil closings, he acknowledged.
by Nathaniel Sett II
Jefferson High School teacher Bill
Bigelow's first major publication.
Strangers In Their Own Country: a
curriculum guide on South Africa,
was released last week by Africa
W orld Press.
The high school textbook is
composed o f 29 leaching guides and
student handouts. The material in the
hiHik is divided into two sections.
One, a teacher's guide and the other a
student handout, Bigelow said In the
student handout section you have
maps, role plays and other things o f
that nature. The teacher section gives
all kinds o f assignments for debates
and what have you.
" It 's like a co o kb o o k," he said " I t
certainly could be used by someone
who has a minimum amount o f
knowledge about South A fric a ."
Bigelow began th in k in g about
writing the book in 1978.
"W hen I started teaching about
South A frica my first year at (.¡rant
High School," said Bigelow, whose
teaching area is history. " I lixiked al
the textbook and it had one
paragraph on South Africa. 1 said,
'This w ill never do .' " Thus the seed
for Strangers In Their Own Country
was planted. And seven sears later,
the results o f hundreds o f rewrites and
sending the manuscript to 20 different
publishing companies has shown the
fruits ol Bigelow's labor.
" I wanted the book to be as
accurate as it could be and I wanted it
to give a feel o f South A frica to o ,"
Bigelow explained. " I |evcn| included
one story on how it feels to he moved
in the middle o f the n ig h t."
The South A frican government is
notorious for nefariously moving
Black South Africans to what they
call "trib a l homelands."
Bigelow defends the role playing
aspects o f the book by saying, " The
role playing makes it come alive lor
the student. 1 can tell a student how
hard it is (to be a South African) but
if they experience it, it becomes more
real."
One aspect o l Bigelow's role
playing restructures the white power
structure.
The m ajority o f South Africans,
Blacks—some 22 m illio n — live on 13
percent o f the land and the whites
who are the m inority control 87
percent o f the land. However in
actuality the racist apartheid regime
control all o f South A frica because
they are in power. They don't have
the physical numbers hut through
collusion with other governments, the
United States included, South A frica
has acquired nuclear weapons.
Bigelow said the text does present
the South African point o f view. “ I
don’ t try to hide th a t," he added.
" M y attitude is in presenting an ob
jective view o f South A frica I don’ t
have to tell the kids anything [about
injustices o f the present government!
When they hear the South African
government [speak for itself] they
become more critic a l."
Bigelow told a story about how a
class m Ohio set up a demonstration
against a Krugerrand gold com dealer
after studying the text.
In conjunction with the handouts,
Bigelow designed the study guide with
films in mind, f he book gives a listing
ICont. on Page 4. Col. 6)
- &
c
4 20% off
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Reg $46 00
O
I
(Photo Richard J Brown)
BILL BIGELOW
o f films and an address where they
can be ordered. I he sisual effects add
to the rcalness o f the text, he added
Bigelow said some o f Portland's
public schools are using the book but
he hopes to get it in all o f the public
schools in Portland because ot the
value o f the text.
Bigelow has visited A frica but not
South Africa. While in Zimbabwe,
Mozambique and Tanzania in 1981,
he got a real sense o f how to share his
views with the reader But the most
important thing was to he tactual and
truthful, he said.
Bigelow also gives credit to faculty
members at Jefferson High School
lor their support and help And esen
though the book has just come out,
he is already rewriting lo r the second
edition. But that does not mean he
wants to give up teaching.
" I never want to give up teaching,"
he said. " I hai’s what keeps me fresh;
it gives me ideas.”
Bigelow has co-authored a labor
textbook with a triend They are
liHiking for a publisher now and the
University o f Denver, Bigelow said,
promised to publish a textbook on
i
n J36°°
Haircut included
We went curly
yesterday.
contribution to the struggle tor
freedom in South A ln ca by enabling
people in the United Stales in have a
better understanding ol the issues
involved and to indicate the lines ol
action which will help lo bring
Freedom and Justice to mv unhappv
co u n try."
Central America if he wrote it
One o f South A frica ’s most noted
poets, Dennis Brutus, had this to say
about Strangers In
Their Own
Country:
" I warmly commend this work to
teachers, students, and the general
public. I believe it can make a major
H ow C oors keeps
Anthony El more
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