The SPHINX | Winter 1972 | Volume 58 | Number 1 197205801

Page 33

BROTHER LORENZO D. TURNER Noted Authority on African Languages Private services for Lorenzo Dow Turner, 77, one of the leading authorities on African languages and dialects, was held in Chicago. Brother Turner, of 1501 E. 56th, died February 24th in Michael Reese Hospital. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus of English at Roosevelt University, where he helped found an African culture studies program. Brother Turner was born in Elizabeth City, N.C., in 1895, near coastal islands known to anthropologists as the Gullah region and inhabited by descendants of slaves. Mother's Influence His interest in African linguistic influences upon American blacks was

TUREAUD — (Continued from page 30) Brother Tureaud began his york with the NAACP in 1927, prosecuting damage suits involving police brutality. A firm believer in using the law as a tool for integration, Brother Tureaud, who was admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1935, was the only Negro lawyer in the state of Louisiana in 1-947. He instituted suits for equalization of teachers' pay regardless of race in 1940, and the outcome was a minimum salary schedule adopted by the Louisiana legislature in 1948. Brother Tureaud had filed suits for school integration, equal voting rights, integration of all departments and levels of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and desegregation of buses, parks, playgrounds and public facilities prior to the Civil Rights act of 1964. HE RECEIVED a variety of honors, citations and tributes. He was the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Notre Dame seminary in 1964, cited because "in his life and in his profession he has exemplified the Church's eternal counsels of justice and charity." He has been honored by the Housing Authority of New Orleans, Knights of Peter Claver, Howard university, Tulane university, and the New Orleans Insurance Executives council, among others. A fourth degree Knight of Peter Claver and a lector at Corpus Christi parish, Tureaud had an audience with Pope Paul VI in 1964. He wa sa member of the board of trustees of Catholic university of America, the first Negro ever named to the board. Tureaud was a member of the Louisiana Commission of Human Relations, Rights and Responsibilities; the board of directors of the Legal Aid Bureau of New Orleans; and the Coordinating Council of Greater New Orleans. He served as traffic judge ad hoc in 1969; taught two years at Xavier university in the school of social work, and for a number of years was an instructor of business law at the Dryades street YMCA. He also held membership in a number of legal organizations and fraternities. SURVIVORS include his widow, Mrs. Lucille Dejoie Tureaud; a son, A. P. Tureaud, Jr., of White Plains, N.Y.; five daughters, Mrs. Sylvia T. Patterson, Baltimore, Md.; Sister Carole Tureaud of the Order of the Good Shepherd, St. Paul, Minn.; Mrs. Elise T. Nicholls, Adelphia, Md.; Miss Jane Tureaud and Mrs. Janet T. Oubre, both of New Orleans; two brothers, Louis Tureaud, New Orleans, and Emile Tureaud, Los Angeles; and a sister, Mrs. Victoria Moliere.

awakened by his mother's peculiar speech. His investigations started with a study of the Gullah dialect and continued through extensive research in West African folklore and languages. As a result of his studies, Brother Turner was able to trace the powerful West African cultural influence not only in the speech of Western Hemisphere blacks but also in literature and music, especially jazz. His studies documented the rich cultural history of Africa and made him a pioneer in the establishment of AfroAmerican curriculum. A first with Krio Under a grant from the American Council of Learning Societies and a Fullbright scholarship, Brother Turner spent more than a year recording the songs and folklore of Sierra Leone, Nigeria and The Congo. He was the first person to put the African Krio language into written form. He completed "An Anthology of Krio Folklore and Literature" in 1963 for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Walfare and "Krio Texts with Grammatical Notes and English Translation" in 1965 for the Peace Corps. Bro. Turner was elected to the Hall of Fame of the City of Chicago in 1969. Ph.D earned here He graduated from Howard University with an A.B. in 1914 and earned a master's degree at Harvard in 1917. He subsequently received his Ph.D degree from the University of Chicago. He began teaching at Howard and by 1928 was head of the English department. He later headed the English department at Fisk University. Brother Turner also was a visiting professor at University College, Ibadan, Nigeria. Versatile in language He learned a dozen West African dialects and mastered five of them — Krio, Congo, Ebu, Yoruka and Mende. He also spoke Portuguese, Arabic, German, French and Dutch and could read Latin, Greek and Italian. Prof. Turner collected West African art and musical instruments and published many articles in scholarly journals. He is survived by the widow, Lois; two sons, Lorenzo Jr. and Rani, and a brother, Arthur. 31


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
The SPHINX | Winter 1972 | Volume 58 | Number 1 197205801 by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity - Issuu