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T he P ortland O bserver • S eptember 15, 1993
T h e M is e d u c a t io n O f T h e N e g r o : P a r t
by Professor M cKinley Burt
I pointed out in the first article
(Sept 1) that this title, taken from the
book by the same name, simply re­
flects a social situation with historical
roots—but that such was not always
the case At least in the sense that
e a r lie r b la c k s m o u n te d u n ite d
countervailing forces to offset such a
crippling and degrading form of so­
cial control A further point was made
with an infeverence that many Afri­
can Americans are naively persuaded
the establishment will or can bring
about the. massive corrections needed
And seemingly have lost faith in their
own abilities to educate themselves
And to direct their future.
My references to a thoroughly-
documented and quite sophisticated
African education effort that cata­
pulted that continent far ahead of the
rest of the world w as to demonstrate
a millenniums-old capacity to maser
the intellectual components of cul­
ture and civilization. This was ac­
complished 4000 years ago in con­
tiguous areas now know n as the sepa­
rate states of Egypt. The Sudan. Ethio­
pia, Somali, and W estern Saudia
Arabia. But. hold that for now: let us
take a quantum leap forward to a
more recent time, and on this very
continent. We have not always been
Alice Scannell. a gerontologist
and the director or Portland State
U niversity's Senior Adult Learning
Center, discusses the aging process in
two four-session seminars.
Family Caregiving: Planning for
the Needs of Elderly relatives meets
Tuesdays beginning September 27
so helpless
In the introduction to my book,
a ’Black Inventors of America." I
quoted General Saxton, a Union sol­
dier assigned to the army o f occupa­
tion in the South after the Civil War
1 paraphrase here from his original
reports found in the official military
archives (I found much material here
with the help o f the National Guard
liberian, as well as at the Howard
University M oorland Library ).
"The newly-freed slaves in areas
under my com m and have shown an
extraordinary ability to set up the
necessary infrastructure to go on w ith
their lives. This includes the govern­
mental agencies to operate schools,
build and m aintain roads, supervise
elections, m aintain law and order,
form fire brigades, and other wise
adm inister their affairs in an effective
m a n n e r." (A lso see C a rte r G.
Woodson, Dubois, Gcnoverse. Merier
& Rudnick. et a l) .
Several o f these authors describe
the black m inister who in the 1860s
set up his ow n school, built desks and
benches and even salvaged books and
paper from old abandoned plantation
m ansions. T his rem arkable man
waited not on the bureaucracy but
proceeded to “teach my self Latin and
Greek from these texts as well as
algebra and geometry so that 1 could
better educate my charges For our
biology lessons. I went into the woods
and captured insects, frogs and the
like and mounted them for exhibits ’.
O f course, he also worked to support
his family and to feed some of the
little children who had no parents and
slept on the floor of his little school
We really had what it takes at one
scriptions It began to dawn that there
w as much higher degree of literacy
among African Americans of that
period than has been acknowledged
by historians, the carpetbaggers and
racists. As 1 traveled around the coun­
try on the lecture circuit in the 1970s,
blacks in the audiences would invite
me toiheirhom cs to see family papers
and sketches on ideas for inventing—
Several of these authors describe the
black minister who in the 1860s set
up his own school, built desks and
benches and even salvaged books
and paper from old abandoned
plantation mansions
w
ti me. didn't we? We need these people
today.
Now. I began to research and
assemble this type o f material long
before I began teaching at the univer­
sity I. like many in my lecture audi­
ences, was amazed at the prolific
output of early black ¡m entors, some
of w hom w rote their ow n patent dc-
some gcnerated as far back as 70 years
earlier A number of whites would
confide that older members of their
families would often recite instances
oP’sinart negroes" w hose accomplish­
ments were "incomprehensible."
T hough over the years 1 have
w ritten in m ore detail o f these evi­
dences o f a black com m itm ent and
PSU O ffers Seminars On Aging
and continuing O c to b e r5 ,12, and 19,
from 6 to 8pm in Room 296 of Smith
Center (1825 SW Broadway) on the
PSU campus.
"Family members often become
concerned about the changing needs
o f elderly relatives,” says Scannell.
Recognizing this, the sem inar will
introduce useful techniques for im ­
proving family communication and
for initiating discussions that involve
collaborativcdccision-making. It also
w ill present information about how to
assess a family m em ber’s need for
serv ices, how to tap into the service
system, what kinds of housing and
serv ice options exist for older people,
and what to expect from Medicare,
Medicaid, and Social Security
Memory Im provem ent S tratc-
d riv c to w a rd educational excel­
le n c e -b o o ts tra p , public o r w h a t­
e v e r - they are reiterated here b e­
c a u se so m any in the education
estab lish m en t (black and w hite)
have bought into the previously
w ell-financed concept th at such
"ed u catio n al excellence” can be
im posed from the top dow n N ever
have so many bright eyed, enthusi­
a stic (b u t otherw ise unem ployable)
e x p e rts based their pedagogical
careers, pensions and health insur­
an ce on the idea that there exists in
this country a helpless black m ass
th at they have been properly edu­
cated to save from extinction
A bounding w ith self-fullfilling
prophecies and quite ignorant o f
h is to ric a l-fa c ts , th is g ro u p e x ­
presses consternation that for the
m ost p art things have grow n worse.
A s funds grow shorter in a shrink­
ing econom y, the education gurus
seek financing for even further ill
advised experim ents w hich defy
reality. T he people need to be aided
in doing w hat they have alw ays
done w e ll-a sse ssin g th e ir p ro b ­
lem s and developing solutions O f
course, their language and a rtic u ­
lation is not necessarily th at o f the
pedants w ho feel so threatened by
p a r e n ts a n d o th e r c o m m u n ity
people Is the system suddenly
sin cere about p a re n ta l in v o lv e ­
gies for M id-life and older A dults
will meet W ednesdays beginning
Septem ber 28, and continuing O c ­
tober 6, 13, and 20. from 6 to 8pm
in Room 296 Sm ith C enter (1825
SW B roadw ay).
The fee for each of these two
seminars is $85 Contact the Senior
Adult Learning Center at Portland
State at 725-4739
m ent'’
There are a number of current
issues we w ill deal with as this series
progresses. I am reminded o f the ri­
diculous "B lack E n g lish ” debate
(which may resurface) as I see the
“phonics vs Whole Language con­
troversy is getting, media play de­
cades after the revelations of the book
a'W hy Johnny C an 't Read.”
Im su re g la d I w asbrought upon
phonics, otherwise 1 couldn’t have
read the comic strips to other kids in
Kindergarten I bet all o f those from
sim ilar hom es o r w ho a tte n d e d
Montessori and parochial schools or
other‘sensible instituüonsareequally
pleased
One more observation about that
early black population with such a
commitment and drive for education
that establishment legarthy and ne­
glect could not defeat it (until lately).
The IQ tests administered by the m ili­
tary during World War 1, showed that
blacks in many states scored much
higher than w h ile s We arc not deal­
ing with any genetic inferiority or
need for proposed federal interven­
tion with drugs. Who was it that said
“Let my people go"? Did it before,
didn’t they?
61 Pacific First Branches Converted To
Washington Mutual
W ashington Mutual completed
the largest bank acquisition in O r­
egon history when it converted 61
Pacific Fist Bank branches to W ash­
ington Mutual financial centers over
Labor Day w eekend
After the conversion, which in­
volved more than 100.000 households
and more than 200.000 deposit ac­
counts. W ashington Mutual w ill serve
about one out of 10 Oregon house­
holds and operate the fourth largest
branch network in the state
Beginning after the close of busi­
ness on Friday. September 3, Pacific
First accounts signs and branches in
Oregon were converted to W ashing­
ton Mutual at locations stretching
going on back in New York or South­
ern California. W e're really focused
right here in the Pacific Northwest "
The conversion means morccon-
vcnience, products and serv ices for
former Pacific First customers, who
will be able to do business at any
W ashington Mutual location Pacific
First offered only limited deposit and
lending products: W ashington Mu
tual oflers a full line of checking,
sav ings and money market accounts,
its own line o f mutual funds and
annuities, residential and consumers
to th e N o rth w e s t.” said K erry loans, and travel planning.
W ith the acquisition of Pacific
Killinger, th ebank’sehairm an, presi­
First.
W ashington Mutual strength­
dent and c h ie f executive officer.
ened
its
position as a leading home
“ W e’re not worrying about w hat’s
from Portland to Medford and from
Newport to Bend.
Following the conv ersion W ash­
ington Mutual will be operating 76
financial centers and seven home loan
centers in the state Systemwide, the
bank will be operating 22? financial
centers and 26 home loan centers in
Oregon and W ashington W ashing­
ton Mutual is the Northwest 's largest
consumer bank.
“Our advantage will be one of
consistently higher levels of serv icc-
-a level of serv ice th a t's very tailored
lender in Oregon With nearly 5 per­
cent of the first-mortgage market,
Washington Mutual is the third larg­
est home lender in the state. W ash­
ington Mutual also strengthened its
financial position witnessed in the
ba nk s leeoid second quartet earn­
ings of $45 6 million
I lie acquisition allows O iegon
consumers to bank witu a fin a n c ia lly
stiong independent bank th at’s been
around lor 1U4 years,” Killinger said.
"M ore and more customers arc tell­
ing us they want to do business with
a consumer bank that focuses on
people, not big business accounts.
"Pacific First was a good fit.” he
said The acquisition allowed us to
expand our network in Oregon from
14 financial centers to 76. flic transi­
tion has been smooth and w e've ex­
ceeded our customer-retention goals
due to our strategic planning."
O n April 9, W ashington Mutual
acquired Pacific First Bank and its
127 branches and 14 home loan cen­
ters m Oregon and W ashington It
was W ashington M utual’s 10th ac­
quisition in three years.
Washington Mutual s acquisition
68 Pacific First branches in Oregon is
the largest in state history. The sec­
ond largest was Bank O f A m erica’s
acquisition of 66 Benj Franklin Fed­
eral Savings and Loan Associate
branches in 1990
Founded in 1889 W ashington
M utual is the largest local, inde­
p e n d e n t c o n su m e r ban k in the
N o rth w e st. At Ju n e 30, 1993,
W ashington M utual had assets o f
$14 4 billion
Multnomah County
Retired Senior
Volunteer Program
Volunteer involved for the Emo-
tio n a l W e ll-B e in g o f S e n io rs
(VIEWS) is looking for senior volun­
teers to help other seniors who are
experiencing difficulties in facing the
challenges of aging Special training
sessions will be held at Good Sam ari­
tan Hospital & Medical Ccntcrbcgin-
ningon November 1st. 1993 Trained
volunteers will serve as peer counsel­
ors. helping people ovei age 60 who
suffer from depression grief, alco­
holism and medication issues, anxi­
ety, confusion, oi adjustment prob­
lems to physical illness Volunteers
also receive ongoing support and su­
pervision after training To learn more
about bccom i ng a peer counsclor w ith
VIEWS, plcasccontact Mary Reardon
at 229-7715
At 8:30 a.m . each W ednesd ay, Leona Chin v isits local sch o o ls
w h ere sh e h elp s stu d e n ts w ith their School S a v in g s a ccou n ts
and in p lan n in g for th e future. In her d aily resp o n sib ilities at
th e bank, Leona and her staff h elp ad u lts w ith real loan s for
higher ed u cation , rem od elin g and hom e pu rch ases. If you
h a v e financial dream s, call Leona at (206) 487-6860. S h e’ll do
e v ery th in g p o ssib le to m ake th em com e true.
T h at’s Different. T hat's W a sh in g to n M utual.
Celebrate
Diversity
An Equal Housing Lender tî)
FPIC Insured
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F A V O R IT E
"AM > '
W H IL E S T IL L
L O S IN G
W E IG H T .
You’ve always been able to eat the foods you love
with Weight Watchers. But with our .3 new menu plans,
we ll show you that there’s even more to love.
o
PASTA
PLAN
If you love pasta, you’ll love the recipes in this new plan
o
DESSER T
PLAN
Enjoy delicious desserts like strawberry cheesecake
while follow ing the Weight Watchers program.
VEGETABLE PLAN
With tempting dishes like French onion soup and veg-
Join Any Class Anytime
Northeast Portland
Join Any Class Anytime
Northeast Portland
Maranatha Church
4222 N.E. 12th
(Enter on Skidmore)
Sat. 9:30 a.m.
Nationwide Insurance
919 N.E. 19th Ave.
Wed 11:30am
Tillamook Park Bldg.
2108 N.E. 41st Ave.
Mon 7pm
Tues 7pm
Wed. 9:30am & 5pm
Thurs 7pm
Fri 9'30am
Temple Baptist Church
1319 N.E. 7th
Fireside Room
Tues12pm
North Portland
Northminster Presbyterian
2823 N. Portland Blvd.
Fellowship Hall
Tues 7pm
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.
Columbia Hall
(Enter from Portsmouth)
Wed. 5pm
Call Collect Weekdays, 8:30 am to 5 00 pm. (503) 297-1021
c
As People vary, so does individual weight loss.
maintainance and results,
© 1993 Weight Watchers International, Inc, owner ot the teg stored
trademark. All rights reserved
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