Urban Pro Weekly

UPW

FEBRUARY 19- 25 2015 VOL. 4 NO. 23

Black History Edition III

URBAN PRO WEEKLY

UHOP UNITED HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE

The enduring legacy of Sweet Daddy Grace founder of the United House of Prayer in Augusta

Daddy Grace in his Princess Anne Road residence in Norfolk, Virginia, 1958.

Photo by Orby C. Kelly, Jr. Courtesy of Sargeant Memorial Room, Norfolk Public Library, Norfolk, VA. (Left) House of Prayer Parade in Augusta, Georgia.

Eddie Bussey 706-772-9800

JAMES BRO

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LANEY-WALKER / BETHLEHEM Springfield Connector HERITAGE TRACES

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An interpretive marker at Dyess Park.

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Dyess Park Loop

Dyess Park Loop, a one mile loop proposed for historical & physical exercise, is pictured above.

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WRIGHTSBORO RD

Dyess Park was named for Lt. Col. A. James Dyess, USMCR, posthumously awarded the congressional medal of honor.

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Cranston Engineering Group, P.C. Bethlehem Walk

ENGINEERS - PLANNERS - SURVEYORS

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452 Ellis Street, Augusta, Georgia 30901 www.cranstonengineering.com

706-722-1588 OL DS

UrbanProWeekly - FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2015

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Proudly partnering with eminent historian Bobby Donaldson, PhD, the City of Augusta, and neighborhood interests, Cranston Engineering Group developed a Master Plan for a series of routes through the Laney-Walker/ Bethlehem communities to designate and connect important historic sites.

RESPECTING THE PAST ... DESIGNING THE FUTURE

3 UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

A PLAYOFF VICTORY CHEER FOR LANEY H.S.

2015 Laney girls basketball head coach Otis Smart (center) reacts during a game against Westminster in the first round of the Class 3AAA girl’s basketball state playoffs, held at the Laney gym. The Laney Lady Wildcats defeated the Westminster Lady Wildcats 64-43. Photo by Vincent Hobbs

Laney cheerleaders perform during the first round of the Class 3AAA girl’s basketball state playoffs, Photo by Vincent Hobbs

Laney’s Jasmine Bartlett (R) moves down the court as Westminster player Andi Carrandi (L) defends. Photo by Vincent Hobbs

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Augusta Fire Department attends funeral of Macon firefighter Twenty five members of the Augusta Fire Department traveled to Macon, Georgia today as a sign of solidarity and support after a devastating fire claimed the life of a firefighter and injured five other members of the Macon-Bibb Fire Department.

UPW

URBANPROWEEKLY.COM

Published by

Urban Pro Weekly LLC 3529 Monte Carlo Drive Augusta, GA 30906 Executive Publisher BEN HASAN 706-394-9411 bzhasan54@yahoo.com

While entering a home to fight flames last Wednesday the floor of the structure collapsed sending the firefighters into the basement. Veteran firefighter Lieutenant Randy Parker did not make it out alive. This morning, thousands of people from across the

Executive Managing Editor FREDERICK BENJAMIN SR. 706-306-4647 editor@urbanproweekly.com Sales & Marketing 706-394-9411 Contributors VINCENT HOBBS Photography & New Media View Urbanproweekly on Facebook

country gathered in Macon to honor a man who made the ultimate sacrifice while doing a job he loved dearly for more than twenty years.

Chief Chris James of the Augusta Fire Department led a delegation of more than two dozen personnel, one fire truck and four command vehicles to Macon for the service and burial.

“Fire services is more than a job. It’s a brotherhood that transcends distance and departments. This is the least we could do to show our support and respect for a fellow firefighter who gave his life to help someone else,” explains Chief James.

Aside from traveling to the funeral, various members of the Augusta Fire

Department volunteered to collect money amongst co-workers to assist the families of three Macon firefighters who were treated at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital.

As a group, Augusta firefighters raised $2000.

A portion of the money provided food for the three injured firefighters’ families. The remaining money is being given to the family of fallen firefighter Lieutenant Randy Parker.

Augusta Fire Department “Critical Incident Stress Team” members will also support Macon-Bibb Fire Department personnel who need emotional assistance dealing with this tragedy.

Richmond County Schools Weather Update The Richmond County School System has not made a decision to change normal operating hours for Thurs.,Feb. 19 and Fri., Feb. 20.

Students will be allowed entrance into the schools approximately 30 minutes earlier than normal school hours to accommodate the cold weather on these dates.

Transportation personnel will

arrive earlier to warm up buses and to ensure there are no mechanical problems. School buses have been advised to wait a few extra minutes to prevent students from waiting in the cold.

All outside activities will be suspended for the entire school days, and after school programs requiring RCSS transportation will also be canceled.

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ZIMMERMAN, EVANS AND LEOPOLD, INC.

30901 • 706-724-5627 • zelengineers.com

ARCHIVES

UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

BLACK HISTORY

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2015

Daddy Grace, founder of the United House of Prayer For All People in Augusta. Photo by Virginian-Pilot News, circa 1952.

Daddy Grace founded the United House of Prayer Editor’s note: Most of the information that follows appeared in Daddy Grace: A Celebrity Teacher and his House of Prayer by historian Marie Dallam. Other items were taken from government documents accessed online. The photos were gathered from various sources all of which have appeared in print many times. This brief sketch is not meant to be a comprehensive narrative about Bishop Grace, The United House of Prayer For All People or its churches. It is only meant to document what was known about the early days of Daddy Grace and his church in Augusta, Georgia.

The following is excerpted from the 1938 GWPA document entitled “The Negro in Augusta.” This item gave a view of the House of Prayer from the vantage point of an outside observer and is significant because it was given more space than was allotted to all of the other churches, ministries and religious organizations that happened to be mentioned in the document. For many it is the only account of the HOP in Augusta that they ever saw in print at that time in the early Church’s growth and development:

“Less orthodox than other Negro churches, and even more emotional in its approach, is the “House of Prayer” on Wrightsboro Road. A sign over the door proclaims: “Great Joy! Come to the House of Prayer and forget your troubles.”

The Tabernacle is a sprawling structure of rough boards, its dirt floor covered with sawdust. Festoons of colored crepe paper Continued on page 7

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2015

Urban Pro Weekly—Making A Difference in the Augusta Community

ESG Operations, Inc. is proud to support Urban Pro Weekly’s annual event celebrating Black History Month

a utility operations and public works management company proudly serving the city of augusta, georgia

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UHOP from page 5

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2015

Daddy Grace’s tombstone in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It says: Born January 25, 1881, Cape Verde Islands, Portugal; Departed January 12, 1960, Los Angeles, California. On January 23 1960 returned to New Bedford where he had founded The House of Prayer For All People.

UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

hang from rafters, and the pillars are padded to prevent frenzied worshippers from hurting themselves.

Plank benches fill the auditorium, and across one side is a stage where “Bishop Grace,” or “Daddy,” as he is affectionately called has a red “throne.”

Bishop Grace has 32 Houses of Prayer scattered throughout the East and South and incomes are religiously built up by the many “Grace Societies.” Services consist of rhythmic chanting of Biblical phrases accompanied by fervent “amens” from the congregation and by the music of four bands.

Emotion rises in a steady crescendo, until some member suddenly “gets happy” and begins to shout.

Stamping and singing fill the air, and the aisles are crowded with Negroes swaying and dancing in primitive rhythms. Above the din rise at intervals shrill shrieks and gibberish as one member after another begins to “speak the unknown tongue.”

Some have claimed to be cured of various ills by the ministrations of the Bishop, and the influence of the House of Prayer extends far beyond the place and season of worship. It is, in fact, all pervasive in the lives of the devout believers, ruling their family relationships, their leisure hours, and even their work. ­— End of WPA excerpt

People standing outside of a House of Prayer in Augusta, Georgia. Courtesy of Milledge Murray

Who Was Daddy Grace?

The United House of Prayer For All People was organized by Bishop C. M. Grace. Bishop C. M. Grace founded and built the United House of Prayer For All People faith on

the teaching and principles of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Chief Cornerstone of our faith.

Grace’s full name, according to religious historians, was Marcelino

Manuel da Graca and he was born in 1881 in Cape Verdes, a former Portuguese colony off the coast of Continued on next page

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UHOP from page 7 Northwestern Africa. The da Graca family grew up in the Catholic Church, but when he came to the United States as an adult he had the

freedom to pursue different kinds of Christian belief.

Grace always preferred to keep his background cloaked in mystery,

United House of Prayer baptism in Augusta, circa 1955.

saying things such as “I came from English.

Between the time Grace arrived in the land beyond the sea.”

Immigration records list Grace as the United States, somewhere around being literate in Portuguese and 1900, and when he started his church in 1921, he was “studying and working and traveling. I traveled almost all my days . . . I studied on the train, in the street car, in the homes and in the classes.”

By the time he was in the United States for a couple of years and had begun a ministry in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he had assumed the persona of the future Bishop Charles M. “Daddy” Grace.

Although Grace was only five feet eight inches tall, he made certain he stood apart form other men by adorning himself with nothing less than flamboyance. He often wore tailor-made suits of lush fabrics, sometimes in vibrant colors and decorated with gold piping or shiny buttons.

His fingers and wrists invariably clanged with gold bracelets and rings containing precious stones.

The fingernails of his left hand, which he allowed to grow several inches, were often painted in red, white, and blue. Grace kept his hair shoulder length, and in the early years he had a mustache and a goatee.

Just as he dressed with great forethought, Grace also lived and traveled in style. He alway had at least one luxury car for travel, such as a Packard, a Cadillac, or a PierceArrow, and he sometimes had an entourage including a chauffeur, a body guard and others.

Grace’s various homes, once he began collecting them, were often mansions which he filled with antiques and artwork.

To relax in the evenings he played piano. He said he never watched television or listened to the radio, but he kept light fiction around the house that he sometimes asked others to read to him.

Grace believed that travel was one of the best forms of education, and so during his lifetime he went to Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, in addition to traveling all over the United States. He avoided airplanes, preferring trains and cars for cross-country travel, and ships to go abroad. In 1936, he bought a vacation home in Cuba, twelve miles outside of Havana.

Grace neither smoked nor drank.

His favorite foods were coffee, which Continued on next page

UHOP from page 8

UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

fort. As he said, “I’m going all the time, from the Atlantic to the Pacific looking over churches . . . [We are] getting in where we can to preach the Gospel.”

Grace has success in Augusta Grace’s missionary efforts succeeded in Augusta, Georgia, where a House of Prayer was located on Wrightsboro Road in a neighborhood called “the Terry.”

The Augusta House of Prayer grew to be one of the largest congregations in Grace’s domain and became the regional center for members of the eighth district.

At the House of Prayer Music Was An Important Element Ultimately, Grace wanted church to be fun, or as he described it, different from “long-faced religion.”

He wanted members to enjoy themselves and not think of church as something that was separate from the good parts of their lives.

In addition to auxiliaries, another way this value was manifest was in the music of the House of Prayer, which evolved and expanded over the years. . .

The bishop made it clear that he didn’t want religious music to be “morbid,” and so the hymns were accompanied by lively piano, banjos, and tambourines, and members were encouraged to be experimental with their arrangements. At an outdoor baptism in Savannah in 1928, the music involved singers, a piano, a cornet, and tambourine, and prompted one observer to comment that “such weird music had never before been heard hereabouts at such a service.

At that time African American gospel music was developing in a voiceled direction; that is, syncopation and the layering of vocal harmonies created its musical complexity. In the House of Prayer, however, musical complexity was being directed by unusual instrumentation, particularly the addition of brass horns, and by the emphasis on the band rather than the voice. By the early 1930s, the House of Prayer’s music was taking small steps toward an entirely new genre that became known, decades later, as “shout.”

Shout is a genre of lively religious music centered around the trombone, and it evolved over a long period. As early as the late 1920s, House of Prayer auxiliaries included

2015

he purportedly drank constantly, and various types of toast.

The Beginnings of The House of Prayer.

By 1922 Grace had a congregation in New Bedford Massachusetts. In his first newspaper profile, Grace explained to the public that God had called him to America to spread religious teachings, and for that reason he had opened the small mission in New Bedford. The House of Prayer, Grace confidently declared, would prove to be a gift from God, and he himself was merely the instrument brought from a small unknown island to transmit it to Americans.

By 1926 Daddy Grace had begun traveling to the southern states on evangelizing tours. Though the House of Prayer eventually grew into a large institution that appealed to many people, when it was first beginning Grace himself was the main attraction for those who visited his church. Through the 1020s and into the early 1930, in order to gain market share he dad to be directly involved in the start-up process in every new town.

In 1926, Grace founded the House of Prayer in Charlotte, North Carolina and began having a series of tent meetings in Savannah, Georgia.

At these tent meetings Grace would preach, teach that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and he began to heal the sick, give sight to the blind and make the lame walk, according to observers.

As the intricacies of Grace’s persona grew, so too did his church, and followers looked to him for guidance. He was careful to indicate that one man could not be a church, and therefore he tried to inspire new followers to organize themselves and keep the church alive after he was gone. In his first years he often bought a plot of land for the group to build on, and sometimes he left one or more assistants behind for a short period to aid in the organizational process.

After the success of Savannah’s 1926 tent meetings, for example, Grace appointed a pastor there and believers build a large church at 643 Bismarck Street in Brownsville.

By the mid 1930s the House of Prayer was the largest nontraditional African American church in Savannah. But while members continued to organize and proselytize, Grace himself had other cities to visit and other followers to com-

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Daddy Grace, Bible in hand, July 1, 1952. Photographer Charles Borjes.

Courtesy of Sargeant memorial Room, Norfolk Public Library, Norfolk, VA. tambourine bands and small string bands. As children increasingly learned to play wind instruments in school, these too were added to the instrumentation.

Shout’s numerous musical influences include New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, Caribbean rhythms, Congo percussion, and Evangelical Christian hymns. Though the House of Prayer was by no means the only church with brass bands, the trombone-centered shout developed as a unique form and was therefore a new genre of religious music.

Daddy Grace Products One of the ways that Grace kept his followers satisfied was by introducing a full line of Grace products, which were modeled after his early success of his blessed handkerchiefs.

Many of the products contained healing energy that could be utilized

independently.

The impetus for Grace products dates to the 1926 tent meetings, when Grace realized he had neither the time nor the opportunity to heal personally all those who sought his help. Believers clamored to get the “miracle-working handkerchiefs,” paying between one and five dollars apiece.

Some Grace products, such as cookies, creams, powders, and show polish, held no specific powers, but members were attracted to the advertised attributes of the products, others purchased them out of a sense of duty. Daddy Grace coffee beans brewed “the best” cup of coffee; Daddy Grace Allwater Soap was “good for babies”; and one could use Grace toothpaste to achieve a “brighter Christian smile.” However, Grace explained that he blessed all of the products.

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PEOPLE

Sammy and Tracy James pose for a photo in front of the Destiny Music Group and Destiny Coffee building on Morgan Road. They are the copastors of Destiny Worship Center. Photo by Vincent Hobbs

Guided by destiny, duo finds purpose and fulfillment

By Michele A. Douglass AUGUSTA The Destiny Worship Center on Morgan Road in Augusta is a monument to the power of a dream, nurtured by love and mutual encouragement. Together, husband and wife team, Sammy and Tracy James provided the necessary ingredients.

Sammy is the pastor of the Destiny Worship Center. When he and Tracy moved into their present location, besides their ministry, they offered music instruction.

On one side of the building, Sammy ran the music company where he did the teaching while Tracy managed the students’ schedules and instruction fees. On the other side of the building Tracy also

ran a bookstore.

However, the picture was not complete.

“We dreamed that he would have a music place on one side, and I would have a coffee house on the other side. I encouraged him that we should do it,” Tracy said. “We always have encouraged each other with our endeavors.”

For quite a while, the coffee house was still a dream, but they prayed and waited for the right time.

Then, while they were enjoying a vacation in Puerto Rico, they found themselves enjoying an unusually good cup of coffee.

“It was really good,” Tracey recalled. At once, they looked into each other’s eyes said in unison, “It’s time to start the coffee house.”

When they got home, the coffee house became a reality.

When considering a menu, Tracy decided to add a touch of New Orleans, her hometown. Besides rich coffees flavored with chicory and hazelnut and decadent caramel and macchiato espressos, the Destiny Coffee House also serves a special Po’ Boy Sandwich, Étouffée, Santa Fe Soup and Tracy’s signature Seafood Bisque, with real seafood.

She also offers baked goods, such as a homemade pound cake that her customers have named “a slice of Heaven”.

Now, as baker, chef, business manager, full-time employee, wife, as well as First Lady, Tracy James strives to give her all to the many roles that God has created her for.

“I’m fulfilling my destiny,” she says confidently. “I feel like we are on track and doing what God has created us to do. Through our love for each other, and by keeping God first in the equation, we were able to reach our destiny,” she smiled and said. “You don‘t want to leave this earth without fulfilling the purpose for which God has made you.

Sammy and I tell every person that walks through our doors about the importance of purpose. We encourage our church family and our customers to discover and fulfill their God-given destiny. The only way you’re going to know your destiny, is to know who you are and why God created you,” The Destiny Worship Center is located at 3629 Morgan Road.

The 3rd Annual Prom-A-Palooza 2015 WHAT WILL THEY DO? Young ladies will be allowed to select from a variety of beautiful prom gowns for their perfect evening at their High School Prom or ROTC Ball or special event.

Young ladies will be available to assist them in picking out the perfect dress that compliments their body.

In addition to selecting a dress, young ladies will be given the opportunity to look at accessories such as shoes and jewelry that are available.

WHO IS THIS EVENT FOR? Young ladies in the in the CSRA that may need assistance with the financial challenges of their special event.

DONATIONS. We are also accepting donated formal dresses, shoes and acces-

sories. Donations can be dropped off at Shiloh Comprehensive Community Center on Mondays and Fridays between the hours of 3:00pm to 5:00pm. Contact Roxanne @ 706-589-3983/ Lisa @ 706-833-1637 after 6:00 M-F or on the weekends. Applications can be found on the SisterOnlyClub.com.

TO PARTICIPATE Those interested in coming and finding the dress of their dreams, please call Roxanne @ (706) 589-3983 and set up an appointment. Appointments are on a first come first serve basis.

All appointments will be for Saturday March 14, 2015 between the hours of 10:00 am – 3:00 pm.

Location: Shiloh Comprehensive Community Center – 1635 15th Street – Augusta GA (706-7380089). Girls must be accompanied by their parent or guardian.

2015

Local researchers and history enthusiasts will gain access to the oral/ written (non-book or magazine) resources provided by the area’s public and private libraries.

GRU’s Reese Library, along with the main branch public library and Paine College Library has used a grant to transfer and set up some of their cassette tape recordings on the web site at http://guides.gru.edu/SavingVoices.

Reese Library has the Fulcher Collection of tapes and transcripts of 1997 interviews with Jeanes supervisors in the Special Collections & Institutional Archives.

The public libraries’ tapes include some made in the 1970s of R.A. Dent, Louise Laney, Ed McIntyre, Butterfly McQueen, Madison Woo and others. (Not all the interviews were directly with African Americans.)

These tapes are in the Heritage Room on the third floor of the main branch library on Telfair Street.

The Paine College Oral Histories set is of 11 tapes which includes one with Dr. Julius Scott Jr. (from 1988) and one with Dr. J.E. Robinson.

These tapes are at the Collins-Calloway Library.

All tapes require QuickTime program to listen to them. If you do not already have QuickTime, you can download a free version from Apple.

There are also other tapes at the above three libraries that were not put online but are available for listening in the respective libraries. Please contact each library for more information about them and times to listen to those tapes.

Cher’s Sisters Only Club Presents

UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

Local libraries offer glimpse of local Black History through tapes, transcripts

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UrbanProWeekly - FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2015

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A Black History Month Tribute

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Sewing cla

In honor of LUCY CRAFT LANEY . . . the founder and principal of the Haines Institute in Augusta for fifty years (1883-1933), Lucy Craft Laney is Georgia’s most famous female African American educator.

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Augusta l Institute,

and Indus

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circa 1899

Larry Pittman & Associates, Inc. Mechanical Contractors Timothy C. “Timmy” Pittman 1249 Gordon Park Road • Augusta, Georgia 30901

Literary & Jazz Café 2015 will feature Author Tacardra Rountree, Writings From Down Through The Years, with The Paine College Playhouse Theatre Arts Organization. This FREE event on Saturday, March 14, 2015 from Noon – 2 pm at The Tabernacle Family Life Center, 1223 Laney-Walker Blvd, will also have Special Performances

by Karen Gordon of Garden

City Jazz and The Joel Cruz Method. Come for an afternoon with local authors, Get Success Publishing, Inc. and enjoy good food, great music and books, art, and other paraphernalia which will be available for purchase.

Cash door prizes.

This community event is sponsored by the Augusta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

2015

Marlon Williams of Augusta is seeking assistance from the community.

Mr. Williams has been told that he must get a heart transplant. Williams, aka “Coach Will,” is active in the development of our city’s youth. The Recreation Department volunteer coach is also a veteran of the First Gulf War and is a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.

The surgery is slated to be done at the Transplant Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The procedure will place a tremendous strain on the Williams family who will need assistance meeting day-to-day expenses without the help of donations from the public. The donations will enable Williams to keep he and his family from undergoing undue hardship.

Marlon is married and has two children. Even before he is admitted into the medical facility, he and his wife, Teresa, will be making frequent trips between Augusta and Nashville.

Mr. Williams has an online fundraiser started, the site is www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/wcc7/marlons-transplant. Anyone wishing to

Literary & Jazz Café 2015

Marlon Williams: “Thanks Augusta, with help from the community I know I can make it through this ordeal.” donate directly to the transplant fund may contact Marlon at 706-829-6664.

Donations can also be mailed to Marlon Williams, 1915 Thomas Lane.

Augusta Ga. 30904.

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13 UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

Hey Augusta-CSRA, help a vet who needs a heart transplant!

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UrbanProWeekly - FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2015

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The long walk home various plans to improve conditions for the middle class. Very rarely do we hear about any ideas or strategies that are being offered up to assist America’s impoverished and working poor populations. More often than not, people tend to believe the “safety net” myth. They believe that people living below the poverty line only need food stamps and subsidized housing to survive. We often forget that most of the poorest amongst us go to work every day, just like the rest of us. They often work longer hours and perform more arduous tasks. James Robertson’s story only reinforces the argument for a federal living wage. Any adult who puts in a 40 hour work week ought to be able to afford adequate transportation. In many communities across the country, individual transportation is a necessity and not a luxury.

The CSRA is one such community.

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Robertson could have easily run into the same problem here. A qualified and capable worker living in the city of Augusta might be the perfect fit for a company like John Deere or Club Car. But if that individual does not own reliable transportation, his or her odds of being able to hold down that job opportunity are diminished greatly. Some folks will not even apply for a job if it isn’t on the bus line.

So what is the solution? Perhaps every low-wage worker will be as fortunate as Mr. Robertson. A local car dealer will give each one a car and the public could donate enough money to make every member of the working poor independently wealthy overnight. We all know that’s not going to happen. There is no single, simple solution to this problem and it will take a lot of work from many different entities to see any substan-

tive change. Local city and county leaders will have to muster up the political will to work together to identify service gaps and expand the availability of public transit across city and county boundaries. Business leaders and economic development decision-makers will have to find a way to work with local governments to ensure that industries relocating to our area not only provide excellent job opportunities, but they should also make every effort to increase accessibility to those opportunities for all qualified workers. This is a tall order; but it isn’t impossible. And it is well worth the effort for every unheard, underpaid, hardworking James Robertson living and working in your neighborhood. http:// k ristierobinspeaks.wordpress.com/ @KristieRobinJ on Twitter KristieRobinJo@gmail.com

COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF RICHMOND COUNTY The Richmond County School System will accept bids and request for proposals until 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2015, for the following: Third Party Administrator for Workers’ Compensation RFP #15-703 Time and Attendance RFP #15-694

Bid specifications may be obtained by contacting Amy Bauman in the Business Office at 706-826-1298, on our web site at www. rcboe.org, or at the Richmond County School System, Central Office, 864 Broad Street, 4th Floor, Augusta, Georgia 30901.

The Richmond County School System reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive technicalities and informalities.

COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF RICHMOND COUNTY By: Dr. Angela D. Pringle, Secretary

2015

Recently the world heard the story of James Robertson. Robertson is a 56 year old native of Detroit, Michigan. Like millions of Americans, Robertson is severely underemployed in the wake of the Great Recession.

For the last several years Robertson, unable to afford adequate transportation, has commuted work using what my grandmother referred to as “Ike and Mike”. He walks to work. This is true for many low income workers in our nation. What’s truly amazing about Robertson’s story is the length of his commute to his manufacturing job in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He has walked 21 miles roundtrip, five days a week, to get back and forth to work. Robertson’s story touches on two issues in particular that hit close to home—the plight of the working poor and inadequate public transit.

We often hear our local and national political leaders talk about their

UrbanProWeekly • FEBRUARY 19 - 25,

UPW FORUM COMMENTARY by Kristie Robin Johnson

UrbanProWeekly - FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2015

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CHURCH

WORSHIP

Restoration Ministries FRIENDS & FAMILY DAY

Gardner Grove Baptist Church

Sunday, February 22, 2015

PASTORAL RETIREMENT

Worship as we assemble together to give praise to our God.

Invite your friends and family to dress casual and join you for a morning of

Sunday, February 22, 2015, 2:00 p.m.

Bishop Willie J. Jackson will be celebrating his Pastoral Retirement on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 2 p.m. at Gardner Grove Baptist Church, 3511 Wheeler Road, Augusta, GA. Pastor Willie Mincey and the Springfield Baptist Church of Hephzibah, Georgia will be special guests.

For information, please call Rev. Annette Dickerson at 803-646-6841.

Sunday School 8:30 am Morning Worship Services: 9:45 am Evening Worship Services 6 pm (4th Sunday) Bible Study: 6pm (Mondays) Midday Bible Study: 12pm (Tuesdays) Prayer Services: 6pm (Wednesdays) Celebrate Recovery: 6pm (Fridays) and 12pm (Mondays) 2323 Barton Chapel Road • Augusta,GA 30906 706.790.8185 / 706.922.8186 (fax) Visit Us @ www.broadwaybaptistaug.org • Join us on facebook Dr. C. William Joyner, Jr. Senior Pastor

Start your calling today! Mount Olivet Certified Academic Institution 706.793.0091 • 706.793.0335 • www.mocai-aug.org

Good Shepherd Baptist Church

Rev. Clarence Moore, Pastor 1714 Olive Road / P. O. Box 141 (mailing address) Augusta, GA 30903 706/733-0341- Telephone/706/667-0205 – Fax E-mail address: admin@goodshepherdaugusta.org Web address: goodshepherdaugusta.org Rev. Clarence Moore Church Service: 7:45 & 11:00 a.m.

Church School: 9:45 a.m. / Prayer Service: 11:00 a.m. – Wednesday Bible Study: 9:00 a.m. - Saturday / 7:00 p.m. - Wednesday

The CSRA Clergy Board of Directors

Board of Coalition Pastors P.O. Box 16013 Augusta, GA. 30919-2013 Bishop L.A. Green, Sr., Chairman

Everfaithful Missionary Baptist Church

314 Sand Bar Ferry Road Augusta, Georgia 30901 (706) 722- 0553 Church School Sunday 9:25am Morning Worship Sunday 11am Evening Worship 6pm (1st & 3rd Sunday) Midday Prayer 12pm Wednesday Intercessory Prayer/Bible Study 6pm Wednesday

Bishop Rosa L. Williams, Pastor

Radio Broadcast: Sundays • WKZK 103.7 FM at 7:30 a.m.

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ly remarried (to a Spaniard ironically named “Blanquita”). Bought a Madrid apartment and hardly missed a step in his rhythmic production of novels.

Yerby’s South was Margaret Mitchell’s without Mammy. There are baronial estates supporting fabulous wealth, decadent aristocrats and swashbucklers on the make, pallid indoor belles and flushed hellions ala Scarlett or Jezebel.

There are many duels among gentlemen over honor, horse, and women; and there is outright warfare where boys can nurture machismo.

Principal characters in Yerby’s books must “picaresque” and “romantic.” Males must be “dominant” because United States men are emasculated, and middle-class women, the vast majority of his readership, want fantasy men to supply the needs their husbands do not provide.

Sex there must be, but discreet.

Plots revolve about “exterior conflict” – action; so characters need not be particularly ordinary, normal, or approachable.

Blacks figure as characters hardly at all.

That Yerby is dark was downplayed for years, and thousands of readers assumed he was white.

In 1959, at the height of his success, Yerby published a disarmingly frank essay in Harper’s entitled “How and Why I Write the Costume Novel.” Here he explained his fiction with an apparent cynicism, but Yerby made a strong case for his work. Few authors of popular literature (or of academic history for that matter) have been so clear and honest in revealing their raison d’ecrir. The costume novel was not history or historical fiction, he declared, but rather a “certain genre of light, pleasant fiction.” “At bottom,” he added, “the novelist’s job is to entertain. If he aspires to instruct, or to preach,he has chosen his profession unwisely.”

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2015

n the most popular fiction of the fifties about the Old South, race was meticulously avoided, while bell-beau romance and saber-clashing adventure reigned supreme. One ingenious author dominated this genre, the extraordinary Frank Yerby.

He is another of the great communicators of the South in this century. Between 1946 when Foxes of Harrow appeared, and 1970, he published more than twenty novels. More than half concern the South, five were annual best seller, and three are all-time best sellers. The Vixons (1947); 3,170,056 through 1966), Foxes of Harrow (2,702,597), and Floodtide (1950; 1,801,097).

Yerby is one of but a handful of humans to earn wealth at writing; at last report he works but half of each year. Since 1952 he has lived in Spain and on the French Riviera. He skiis in the Alps, races his own Jaguar in Nice, and relaxes at considerable lengths on the beach. Perhaps equally remarkable, Frank Yerby is a southern black man.

Yerby was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1916 and grew up segregated in the high age of Jim Crow. He attended allblack Paine College in Augusta, then earned a Masters’ Degree in English at Fisk. Following more graduate work at the university of Chicago he began teaching at black southern schools in the late thirties (Florida A&M and Southern University). In 1942 he quit teaching to make a Detroit war plant job which paid much better. He married a blond very light-skinned octoroon, fathered four children, and settled in New York to write fiction to sell. Dial Press bought Foxes of Harrow and The Vixens; then there was trouble with white neighbors; the Yerby’s moved to Spain; then they were divorced – all within half a dozen years after the first book. Yerby ultimate-

Frank Yerby and Children: Rare photo of novelist Frank Yerby with his children in the Long Island, N.Y. home. circa 1955 Yerby disdained “realism,” too. He wrote for average people, and the average person’s real life was a “crashing bore” Life is shapeless, he philosophized, and “many, if not most of life’s problems cannot be solved at all.” The role of fiction is to amuse, provide a shape of sorts and happiness, escape.”

From: Media-Made Dixie: The South in the American Imagination

By Jack Temple Kirby

Charles J. (Joe) Johnson, P.E. Principal

JOHNSON, LASCHOBER & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Architects • Engineers • Landscape Architects 1296 Broad St., Augusta, GA 30901 Johnson, Laschober & Associates, P.C.

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Frank Yerby defends his brand of popular fiction

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706.724.5756 phone • 706.724-3955 fax jjohnson@thejlagroup.com • www.thejlagroup.com

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COMMUNITY

HAPPENINGS

“Slave Songs of Augusta” by Robert Hester The Georgia Heritage Room will present “Slave Songs of Augusta” on Saturday, February 28, at 11 a.m. at the Headquarters Auditorium. The program will be presented by Robert

Hester with musical accompaniment

by Creative Impressions.

Call 706-826-1511 for more details on the programs or exhibit. The library is located at 823 Telfair Street.

Laney Museum of Black History Events The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History is hosting “Say It Loud!: James Brown and the Civil Rights Movement” exhibition through the end of February. The exhibition reflects on the political impact of the Godfather of Soul and examines the influences of Brown’s music on

an entire generation. It also highlights many of the events of the civil rights movement as it occurred in Augusta. The museum is located at 1116 Phillips St. Admission is $5. For more information, visit the museum web site atwww.lucycraftlaneymuseum.com.

Book signing by local black authors Laney Museum will host a free book signing event with some of Augusta’s most prominent black authors on Sat., Feb. 21, at 1 p.m. Local and regional authors will include Dr.

Janaka Bowman-Lewis, Tia Capers, Dr. Jean Embry, Malaika Favorite, Rev. Charles Goodman III, Karen Jenkins, Kandyce Mack, Crystal Neal and Dr. Arlecia Simmons.

Brown vs. Bd. of Education Panel Discussion Reese Library will host a discussion titled “Brown vs.

Board of Education: A Panel on School Segregation and Integration” on Wednesday, Februar y 25, at the JSAC Coffeehouse from 6:30 to 8 p.m. A little over 60 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was illegal in the landmark case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Join us as we listen to the stories of African Americans who experienced school segregation and those whose lives were transformed by school integration.

Parking will be free. For more information about this event, please contact Erin Prentiss at 706-667-4912.

Famed American Boychoirto perform this weekend The internationally-acclaimed American Boychoir (ABC), in collaboration with the Jessye Norman School of the Arts, will be in concert Sunday, February 21 at 4 p.m. at St. John United Methodist Church, 736 Greene Street.

The American Boychoir School founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1937, and has been located in Princeton, New Jersey since 1950.

Boys in fourth through eighth grades come from across the country and around the world to pursue a rigorous musical and academic curriculum at the school.

Celebrating the rich 75-year history as America’s premier concert boys’ choir, The American Boychoir has long been recognized as one of the finest musical ensembles in the country. Capitalizing on its trademark blend of musical sophistication, spirited presentation, and ensemble virtuosity, The Boychoir performs regularly with world-class ensembles, including The New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Boston Symphony, and is often featured with such illustrious conductors as James Levine, Charles Dutoit, and Alan Gilbert.

The American Boychoir is frequently invited to join internationally-renowned artists on stage, and the list of collaborators reflects the extraordinary range of the ensemble: from great classical artists such as Jessye Norman and Frederica von Stade to jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and pop icons Beyoncé and Sir Paul McCartney.

The choir’s young soloists are also in high demand and have joined forces with The Baltimore Sy mphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra,

and The Spoleto Festival, to name a few.

The programs offered by The American Boychoir School are made possible in part through a grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts / Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional funding has been provided by the New Jersey Cultural Trust. For more information about the upcoming concert, call Jessye Norman School of the Arts at (706) 828-7768.

Show Me What You Got Hair Show GRU’s Black Student Union will present a Show Me What You Got Hair Show on Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre.

The show will run 4:30 to 8 p.m.

Ticket prices are $7 pre-show, $10 on Feb. 22. For more information, please call the PAT box office at 706667-4100.

Annual Paine Day

Elim Baptist Church will celebrate the 44th Annual Paine College Day on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 11: 00 AM. Paine College Day at Elim is a special occasion where the church provides spiritual and financial support for the College. The speaker for this year’s occasion is Dr. Samuel Sullivan, Interim President of Paine College and the theme is “Elim and Paine: More Than Conquerors through God’s Love”.

Elim Baptist Church is located on 2359 Mount Auburn Street in the Sand Hills Community.

Historian Awards Program Laney Museum will host it’s Annual Historian Awards program on Wednesday, Feb. 25, from 5-8 p.m.

Dr. Mallory Millender, former French professor and campus historian for Paine College, will be honored. He continues a quest to uplift and preserve the city’s history by researching the historic institution.

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2015

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