The Daily Beacon 020419

Volume 137, Issue 8 Monday, February 4, 2019 utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

‘‘We may have all come on different ships but we’re in the same boat now.”

Martin Luther King, Jr

Warren K. Leffler, Library of Congress

2

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

DAILY BEACON STAFF AND POLICY INFORMATION

Letter from the Editor: Why we’re here

EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Kylie Hubbard MANAGING EDITOR: Tyler Wombles COPY CHIEF: Paige Greene CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR: Gabriela Szymanowska CITY NEWS EDITOR: Val Lick SPORTS EDITOR: Blake Von Hagen ASST. SPORTS EDITOR: Will Backus ENGAGEMENT EDITOR: Jared Chadwick DIGITAL PRODUCER: Kelsey French ASST. DIGITAL PRODUCER: Elexis Houston OPINIONS EDITOR: Margot McClellan PHOTO EDITORS: Emily Gowder, Megan Albers DESIGN EDITORS: Elisa Razak, Grace Atter PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Emily Gowder, Meliya

Evans, Catherine Fei, McLane Zaitz, Jeremiah Pham, Meg Kiestler, Leah Gardner

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION ADVERTISING MANAGER: Zenobia Armstrong MEDIA SALES REPRESENTATIVES: Hailie

Hensley, Jasmine Rogers, Stephanie Lewis ADVERTISING PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Kinsey

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KYLIE HUBBARD Editor-in-Chief

On a predominately white campus in a predominately white newsroom, a realization was made.

We, as a paper, haven’t honored Black History Month on the front cover of our paper in at least the past few years. Yet, we’ve celebrated the highly commercialized Val-

entine’s Day almost every year.

Valentine’s Day is stupid. Black History Month is not.

We, as a staff, have poured time and energy as much as we can while juggling classes and the day-to-day of the Beacon to bring you something we are so proud of.

On page 6, columnists Austin Smith, Trinity Worthy and Mustafa Ali-Smith share their views on the current state of UT’s campus for racial equality. Sports Editor Blake Von Hagen highlights two prominent black athletes and their strides in paving the way for others to make a career in Tennessee sports on page 3.

If you’re looking to celebrate Black History Month, contributor London Montaque and myself compiled a list of events on and around campus on page 7 and Opinions Editor Margot McClellan has a list of movies you can watch on page 10.

Or, if you’d like to learn more about Knoxville’s famous black community members and places, we’ve got you covered there

too. On page 4, Campus News Editor Gabi Szymanowska chats with Knoxville artist W. James Taylor. Asst. Sports Editor Will Backus has a breakdown of prominent black community members on page 12.

City News Editor Val Lick features the Beck Cultural Exchange on page 8. Managing Editor Tyler Wombles shares the African American Hall of Fame on page 5.

As you can tell, there’s so much on and around campus that encompass the light that shines during Black History Month. And we’re just scratching the surface.

We have poured into this issue and are excited to honor Black History Month not just in this issue, but throughout the entire month. “(It) is a brand new day, and it don’t know white from black.”

Center serves as community action initiator PAIGE GREENE Copy Chief

Part of YWCA Knoxville and Tennessee Valley, the Phyllis Wheatley Center has been the site of several community action initiatives since its establishment in 1920.

The Center was named, like many other black women’s branches of the YWCA across the nation, in honor of Phyllis Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish her poetry and an inspirational figure for many antebellum abolitionists.

In its first decades, the Center was located in downtown Knoxville. It was intended originally to serve as a community center for black women, providing them with physical and spiritual resources not otherwise available to them during segregation.

When a new facility was constructed in 1954 on Cruze Street in East Knoxville, the Center took on a new direction: serving Knoxville’s underprivileged youth. Today, the Phyllis Wheatley Center boasts several programs intended for young Knoxvillians.

One of these is the Center’s after-school enrichment programming, which includes everything from tutoring to health education. ASEP services are intended for middle-school children and are offered from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Center also offers services during school holidays.

In the summer, ASEP services are replaced by a program called SKIP (Summer Kids in Play) Students enrolled in the SKIP day camp are

Lika Perez / The Daily Beacon offered educational opportunities, including field trips and a reading challenge, physical activities such as swimming and training in life skills such as cooking and gardening.

The Planting Seeds of Hope Community Garden aims to help members of the community overcome food insecurity. The garden is tended by each summer’s class of SKIP students, and staff and families work together to cultivate fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The garden is located near the Center’s kitchen, where families can learn to cook nutritious meals out of ingredients harvested from the garden.

Beginning in 2018, the Center has also offered services meant to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Chronic absenteeism has been identified as a significant problem in Knox County Schools, with 16.4 percent of students missing a minimum of 17 days in the last school year. Nearly half of the students served by the Phyllis Wheat-

ley Center during the 2016-17 school year were at risk of chronic absenteeism.

The Center’s reCAB program pairs participating students and families with experienced mentors, who suggest creative strategies to improve school attendance and ensure academic success.

Among these programs, the Center performs regular community outreach services, including, most recently, a 5k Race against Racism held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. In celebration of Black History Month, the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center has organized a Black History Breakfast to be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. The breakfast, hosted by County Commissioner Evelyn Gill, will be catered by Allow Me Catering and is free to the public. Attendees are asked to RSVP via Facebook.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Monday, February 4, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

3

Vols’ first African-American football players remain legends today BLAKE VON HAGEN Sports Editor

Fifty years has brought about massive change in the culture of American sports.

The desegregation of this part of society has been at the very forefront. Here is a look at a few of the instrumental African-American football players at UT. Lester McClain In 1968, McClain became the first AfricanAmerican to play football at Tennessee.

When he entered the game in the seasonopener against Georgia, McClain received a standing ovation from the crowd at Neyland Stadium. The Vols and Bulldogs would play to a 17-17 tie, but McClain remembers more than that.

“You don’t expect to go in and receive applause when you haven’t done anything,” McClain told Tennessee Athletics in 2018. “It’s not like you’re Mickey Mantle who hits home runs and that gets you applause when you are coming up to bat. I hadn’t done anything. I thought that was wonderful. That’s a major step toward helping one be successful.”

The wingback played three years at Tennessee, scoring 10 touchdowns on 70 receptions

while compiling 1,003 yards. He was a member of the 1969 SEC Championship team and appeared in three bowl games.

Current Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer played alongside McClain for three years.

“Lester McClain is one of the greatest people I have ever known,” Fulmer told Tennessee Athletics in 2018. “He’s intelligent, hard-working, polite, thoughtful and professional…his leadership and the example he set as he helped Tennessee break the race barrier was extraordinary.

“I have read some of the things he went through, and I naively did not know it (at the time), because Lester was simply being Lester—leading, working hard and showing us the way it was supposed to be done as a teammate and a friend.”

Condredge Holloway Holloway—nicknamed “the artful dodger”—played quarterback at Tennessee from 1972-74. He became the first African-American starting quarterback in the SEC, along with becoming the first black quarterback for the Vols.

Holloway garnered an overall record of 25-92 at Tennessee, throwing 18 touchdowns and rushing for nine more.

“His style of play was more like Michael Vick today,” former Tennessee wide receiver Stanley Morgan said in “The Color Orange: The Con-

Quarterback Condredge Holloway hands off to Hansel Stanback in a game during the 1972-73 season. File / The Daily Beacon dredge Holloway Story.”

“He was way before his time.”

Football was his second-favorite sport behind baseball. The two-sport athlete became the first African-American baseball player in Tennessee history.

He still holds the longest hitting streak in Vol baseball history at 27 games, earning All-SEC and All-America honors as a shortstop in 1975.

Holloway is the only Tennessee athlete named

to the All-Century team in both baseball and football.

“I came to Tennessee, got an opportunity to play quarterback, and took full advantage of it,” Holloway told ESPN in 2011. “I’m most proud of that and what I’d love people to say is, ‘Your parents raised a good kid.’ That’s it.”

Holloway is currently the assistant athletics director for student-athlete relations/lettermen at Tennessee.

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

Past, Present, Future: Knoxvillian’s artistry defines experience GABRIELA SZYMANOWSKA Campus News Editor

W. James Taylor grew up in Knoxville when segregation still divided the South into black and white.

The very same colors are present in his abstract, three panel drawing made of pencil and chalk pastel called Vicissitude, which represents the past, present and future of the black race, as well as expresses what he felt and experienced as a young man in the 1960’s south before integration.

“I thought about this abstract geometrical form, it was just black, I was just using hues of black and white. I used those hues and in such a way that’s pushing against each other,” Taylor said. “I bought this big old four foot by four foot rectangular thing and I did the first part of Vicissitude. Now this is before I’d done any of the other art you see on my page.”

Taylor, a local artist and member of the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance, began pursuing his artistic abilities from a young age and has continued following his passion into his seventies.

Born in 1949, Taylor grew up in Austin Homes and Lonsdale Homes in Knoxville

W. James Taylor’s “Vicissitude” represents three different times in the history of African Americans. Courtesy of W. James Taylor where he lived with his father, mother and 11 other siblings, seven of whom survived into adulthood.

Taylor started down the path of artistry at the age of 14 when he drew a cantaloupe for his mother, Geneva, who encouraged him to pursue his talent.

“My mother wanted me to be an artist. She said I was an artist,” Taylor said. “You know

ART WANTED Do you have art celebrating Black History Histo y in America?

Send us your poems, paintings, pictures, etc and have the chance to be featured in The Daily Beacon during Black History Month!

Month

Email your artwork to editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com Submissions due by Feb. 15

when my mama told me that I kind of believed her and I used to paint all the time, find things to draw on in school.”

In the early ‘60s, when Taylor was still an adolescent and not quite old enough to be working, he covered one of his older brother’s shifts at the Tennessee Theatre as a porter before integration allowed African-Americans to enjoy the theater.

After that shift, Taylor continued working there until April 1963, when a group of students from Knoxville College protested segregation in front of the theatre on Gay Street. Taylor was told by his manager to sweep the sidewalks where the protesters were standing and in that moment, Taylor quit his job and joined in the Civil Rights movement.

At 17, Taylor was a drummer for a band that opened for famous acts like Rufus Thomas, Mary Wells, Parliament Funkadelic and Bill Withers in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

He graduated from Austin High School, now Austin East High School, and went on to attend university. However, Taylor didn’t finish college, instead dropping out to take care of his wife and infant son by joining the police department.

He then moved to Maryland, where he worked as a security guard at a high school and eventually opened his gallery, Geneva Gallery Inc. in 1975, naming it after his mother.

“Geneva,” Taylor said. “That’s my mama’s name, her name is on all of my original pieces of art. I just put her name. See I don’t look at myself, W. James Taylor, as nothing but a brush.”

Today, Taylor still leads a very active social life in the community, both in Knoxville and in Maryland.

Taylor continues to play music, now entertaining elders at senior citizen homes by playing his guitar, as well as during the quieter times at his studio.

Liza Zenni, executive director of the Knox-

ville Arts and Culture Alliance, has known Taylor since 2015 when he approached her about becoming a studio artist at the Emporium that the alliance takes care of downtown.

“We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with James, one of the most charming things that he does as a tenant is he brings his guitar and if it gets a little quiet during our First Friday receptions, or even if it’s not quiet but there’s no music going on, we don’t have a special guest lined up, he’ll come out into the gallery and he’ll start playing his guitar and singing,” Zenni said.

“I’ll tell you, people are, they’re attracted to him like magnets, especially children, they love James. They’ll come around, sit down and start singing with him.”

In addition, for the last 30 years Taylor worked at a summer children’s camp in Maryland. This next summer, beyond his usually trip to Maryland to work at the camp, Taylor and his two daughters, Brianna and Geneva, will run a multicultural fine art camp for kids here in Knoxville from July 15 to July 19 at Overcoming Believers Church at Harriet Tubman Ave. His art, Vicissitude, will also be displayed in the new art gallery opening in the new Student Union, alongside Tawny Chatmon, a photography based artist whose art is also about black history, in February.

Taylor encouraged everyone, just like his father told him, that if you want to follow your passion, if you want to do anything, to simply ask questions of someone who is already doing it.

“My daddy told me, ‘If you see someone do something and you want to know how to do it, ask them.’ Anything you want to do in life, this goes for you too,” Taylor said. “Anything you want, find that person that’s doing it excellent and then just watch them. They will tell you everything (on) how to do it. People will tell you what you want to hear.”

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Monday, February 4, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

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African American Hall of Fame an ‘honor and reminder’ at UT TYLER WOMBLES Managing Editor

Nestled on the edge of UT’s campus, on the second floor of the Frieson Black Cultural Center, there is a reminder of men and women who improved UT not only for the African American community, but for the entirety of the campus community.

UT’s African American Hall of Fame, a part of the Black Cultural Center, “recognizes African Americans who have made important contributions to the University of Tennessee,” according to Director of Multicultural Student Life Tanisha Jenkins.

Portraits of the inductees hang on the wall, telling the stories of the Hall of Fame’s members and UT’s African American heritage.

Varying jobs, roles and stories The Hall of Fame began operation in 1994 during UT’s Bicentennial. It was officially unveiled on Oct. 1, 1994.

Members of UT’s African American Hall of Fame vary in time period, job title and other qualities. They include educators, such as Fred Brown, who was the Minority Engineering Scholarship Program’s first

administrator, and athletes, such as Lester McClain, the first African American football player at UT. “Lester McClain is one of the greatest people I have ever known … His leadership and the example he set as he helped Tennessee break the race barrier was extraordinary,” Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer told UTSports.com in September 2018.

The Hall of Fame’s two most recent inductees are Jane Redmond and Marva Rudolph. Redmond was instrumental in the development in the Black Cultural Center newest location, which opened in 2002, while Rudolph served as assistant vice chancellor and director of the Office of Equity and Diversity.

“A lot of our firsts, first achievements for African Americans at the university, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Jenkins said.

How are people chosen for the Hall?

Inductions into the Hall of Fame only take place every five years. Inductees are nominated and then selected along with the awards for the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet.

Jenkins said the five-year rule is in place to keep the Hall of Fame’s prestige intact.

New members will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, as the last induction year was 2014. Nominations for this year’s class were accepted via an online form and closed on Feb. 1.

This year’s inductees will be announced during the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet in April, but the official inductions will take place during Homecoming in the fall.

“It’s still definitely seen as one of the prominent and prestigious awards and honors to have here at the university, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and to have your picture and plaque posted in FBCC,” Jenkins said.

Remembering the past while looking ahead The Hall of Fame isn’t just a shrine to the past; for Jenkins and others, it also brings to mind what lies ahead.

“It’s an important honor and reminder of the great work that has been done at the university but of also the work that still needs to be done and is still to come,” Jenkins said.

“The Hall of Fame also provides a historical perspective for our current students and prospective students, as well as faculty and staff to learn more about the history of the University of Tennessee and the history of

African Americans at the University of Tennessee,” Jenkins added.

As UT’s story continues to be told, that of some of its most important actors will be preserved in the African American Hall of Fame.

And its impact isn’t understated.

“It provides that reference point for our campus community but also allows us to pay homage and honor to those who come before us,” Jenkins said, “because we’re standing on their shoulders to continue to do the great work here at the University of Tennessee.”

It’s an important honor and reminder of the great work that has been done at the university but of also the work that still needs to be done and is still to come.

Tanisha Jenkins Director of Multicultural Student Life

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

7

Art of Black History Month

Modern Vols’ Perspective: Where we are today

As a staff, we are celebrating and remembering black history this Black History Month. The following art highlights work from our campus and local community to honor Black History Month.

The University of Tennessee was founded in 1794, a fact that many students know. Nearly 170 years later, Theotis Robinson Jr., Charles Edgar Blair and Mae Gillespie became the first African-Americans to enroll in undergraduate classes, fully desegregating the University of Tennessee.

The fact of the matter is that Smokey was welcomed to Rocky Top eight years before Black people were. With continued racial tensions in our community, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate where we are fifty-eight years later.

TRINITY WORTHY Columnist

We are living in the age of accountability.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the wrongs of the world; however, if there is no action, there can be no real change. One of such wrongs of the world includes the unwillingness to recognize a problem, acknowledge privilege and take responsibility. These same traits are evident in representation on campus and lack thereof.

In the world of journalism, representation is what ensures an accurate and well-rounded

AUSTIN SMITH Columnist

If black people are not represented at UT, we cannot adequately advocate for ourselves at UT. The lack of black representation bleeds into every major. Even worse, inaction in any major breeds consequences in others. This is especially true for majors that require coursework offcampus in the community that is whiter than the flagship institution that serves it.

Every nursing school requires students to par-

MUSTAFA ALI-SMITH Columnist

Education has long been made to be the great equalizer for everyday citizens; however, the reality has depicted a narrative that is different – equality is not present.

Representation is an issue. For some it is the constant variable that produces the outcome of misrepresentation in the media. On a college campus, it is why I, as a black male, am always singled out in a class whenever race is discussed.

You either benefit from representation or you don’t. For those who benefit from it, there is almost a direct correlation to privilege.

Representation is an outcome of privilege and

story. However, how well-rounded can anything be if only one type of ideology or one vein of experiences is the only one displayed or actively sought after? How representative of the world can we be when this is our mindset in media?

The realization that this is the mindset of many may be astounding - but in actuality, it is a reflection of what is done daily within this country.

When you take into account the fact that this is exactly how nearly everything is approached, especially as it pertains to UT, it suddenly isn’t a question of whether or not it occurs as often as marginalized groups have been saying it does. Coming into UT only

a year and a half ago, I’ve only been in two classes where I wasn’t the minority, both of which being Africana Studies courses.

Knowing that these are the circumstances which I am facing, I do find comfort in seeing the usual two or three other Black people that are in my classes. However, when it comes time to get into the student media outlets on campus, I am quickly reminded that the two or three other black students in my class of thirty people isn’t just a small-scale, classroom problem.

ticipate in clinical experiences at real hospitals with real patients. In the South, these real experiences come with real racism.

As I’ve covered in a previous column, there are very few African-American nursing majors at UT. These women of color are deserving of an education equitable in benefit to their white peers, but when they go to clinical experiences, locals may think otherwise.

Black nursing students face racism directly and indirectly from the pursed lips of the patients we attempt to heal. My classmates of color attest to being scorned with the n-word by angry patients at area hospitals.

Our preliminary clinical experiences primarily consist of assisting patients with activities of daily living. Among these are dental hygiene, bathing, grooming and eating. Early in my student nursing career, for every one patient I assisted, two would ask, “Would it be possible to get someone else?”

Arriving at clinical and being assigned a patient of color would bring me relief — for some patients in our community will go to great lengths to avoid being touched, cleaned and cared for by the negro.

opportunity – essentially an equitable system that only benefits the privileged.

If this is an issue, why have things not changed?

When we have dialogue about representation or misrepresentation and the change we want to see on college campuses or across the board, the demands for equality or equity need to be as complicated as the inequalities/inequities they attempt to address.

We often ask for equal or equitable exchanges, where under equality, things are equal across the board, and under equity, opportunity is given based on each individual circumstance based on individual needs and what someone already has.

The problem here is that it does not address the actual systematic barrier that is still in place.

Equality and equity are satisfactory if we are thinking about a transitional demand, but it does

no justice in recognizing the system for what it is There’s a difference between saying we want representation of marginalized communities and saying we want to reconstruct the way systems are unrepresentative of marginalized communities.

As society, we rest upon the former because it’s easy, and it’s comfortable for us to say that; however, we need the latter because it directly addresses the system.

We shouldn’t feel comfortable in simply being included or having representation, be it in the career field or a college campus.

We should question who created the system or standard in the first place.

KYLIE HUBBARD Editor-in-Chief

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE

The Beck Center was established in 1975 and preserves local and regional African American history. The center includes a library with hard-to-find books written mainly by African- Americans. The Beck Center includes many unique artifacts and collections.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

Read more at utdailybeacon.com

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

Rosa Emily Morris, student

Celebrating Black History Month at UTK Van Voor, Daily Beacon Cartoonist

Black History Month events on and off campus LONDON MONTAQUE Contributor

Black History Month, observed during the month of February, is a time of celebrations that honor African American history in the United States. Here are a few ways to celebrate Black History Month on campus and in the Knoxville area.

Visit the Beck Cultural Exchange Center

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center’s purpose, according to its website, is to provide a place “where African American History and culture are preserved” and to become the place “where African American History is transformed.”

See “Bright Star Touring Theatre” at The Farragut Folklife Museum The Farragut Folklife Museum is hosting a free event to honor and celebrate Black History Month. The event will take place on Feb. 24 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event will include a reception and museum tour at 1 p.m., followed with a performance by Bright Star Touring Theatre at 2 p.m.

Bright Star Touring Theatre is a professional touring company that performs shows around the country. The theatre will perform “Let It Shine: The American Civil Rights Movement,” which is one of the company’s most popular productions.

The event will feature significant events and noteworthy names of the Civil Rights era.

The show focuses on the years between 1955 and 1968, and includes notable milestones on Black History, including The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Sit-In Movement, The Freedom Riders, and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The audience can expect to meet important figures during the production and hear music inspired by the era.

Visit the Frieson Black Cultural Center The Frieson Black Cultural Center, formerly known as The Black Cultural Center, is located here on campus. Students and visitors can go there to learn about African American history and The Office of Multicultural Student Life. The center also includes a reading room, computer lab, student lounge, an art gallery and an African American Hall of Fame.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

6

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

7

Art of Black History Month

Modern Vols’ Perspective: Where we are today

As a staff, we are celebrating and remembering black history this Black History Month. The following art highlights work from our campus and local community to honor Black History Month.

The University of Tennessee was founded in 1794, a fact that many students know. Nearly 170 years later, Theotis Robinson Jr., Charles Edgar Blair and Mae Gillespie became the first African-Americans to enroll in undergraduate classes, fully desegregating the University of Tennessee.

The fact of the matter is that Smokey was welcomed to Rocky Top eight years before Black people were. With continued racial tensions in our community, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate where we are fifty-eight years later.

TRINITY WORTHY Columnist

We are living in the age of accountability.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the wrongs of the world; however, if there is no action, there can be no real change. One of such wrongs of the world includes the unwillingness to recognize a problem, acknowledge privilege and take responsibility. These same traits are evident in representation on campus and lack thereof.

In the world of journalism, representation is what ensures an accurate and well-rounded

AUSTIN SMITH Columnist

If black people are not represented at UT, we cannot adequately advocate for ourselves at UT. The lack of black representation bleeds into every major. Even worse, inaction in any major breeds consequences in others. This is especially true for majors that require coursework offcampus in the community that is whiter than the flagship institution that serves it.

Every nursing school requires students to par-

MUSTAFA ALI-SMITH Columnist

Education has long been made to be the great equalizer for everyday citizens; however, the reality has depicted a narrative that is different – equality is not present.

Representation is an issue. For some it is the constant variable that produces the outcome of misrepresentation in the media. On a college campus, it is why I, as a black male, am always singled out in a class whenever race is discussed.

You either benefit from representation or you don’t. For those who benefit from it, there is almost a direct correlation to privilege.

Representation is an outcome of privilege and

story. However, how well-rounded can anything be if only one type of ideology or one vein of experiences is the only one displayed or actively sought after? How representative of the world can we be when this is our mindset in media?

The realization that this is the mindset of many may be astounding - but in actuality, it is a reflection of what is done daily within this country.

When you take into account the fact that this is exactly how nearly everything is approached, especially as it pertains to UT, it suddenly isn’t a question of whether or not it occurs as often as marginalized groups have been saying it does. Coming into UT only

a year and a half ago, I’ve only been in two classes where I wasn’t the minority, both of which being Africana Studies courses.

Knowing that these are the circumstances which I am facing, I do find comfort in seeing the usual two or three other Black people that are in my classes. However, when it comes time to get into the student media outlets on campus, I am quickly reminded that the two or three other black students in my class of thirty people isn’t just a small-scale, classroom problem.

ticipate in clinical experiences at real hospitals with real patients. In the South, these real experiences come with real racism.

As I’ve covered in a previous column, there are very few African-American nursing majors at UT. These women of color are deserving of an education equitable in benefit to their white peers, but when they go to clinical experiences, locals may think otherwise.

Black nursing students face racism directly and indirectly from the pursed lips of the patients we attempt to heal. My classmates of color attest to being scorned with the n-word by angry patients at area hospitals.

Our preliminary clinical experiences primarily consist of assisting patients with activities of daily living. Among these are dental hygiene, bathing, grooming and eating. Early in my student nursing career, for every one patient I assisted, two would ask, “Would it be possible to get someone else?”

Arriving at clinical and being assigned a patient of color would bring me relief — for some patients in our community will go to great lengths to avoid being touched, cleaned and cared for by the negro.

opportunity – essentially an equitable system that only benefits the privileged.

If this is an issue, why have things not changed?

When we have dialogue about representation or misrepresentation and the change we want to see on college campuses or across the board, the demands for equality or equity need to be as complicated as the inequalities/inequities they attempt to address.

We often ask for equal or equitable exchanges, where under equality, things are equal across the board, and under equity, opportunity is given based on each individual circumstance based on individual needs and what someone already has.

The problem here is that it does not address the actual systematic barrier that is still in place.

Equality and equity are satisfactory if we are thinking about a transitional demand, but it does

no justice in recognizing the system for what it is There’s a difference between saying we want representation of marginalized communities and saying we want to reconstruct the way systems are unrepresentative of marginalized communities.

As society, we rest upon the former because it’s easy, and it’s comfortable for us to say that; however, we need the latter because it directly addresses the system.

We shouldn’t feel comfortable in simply being included or having representation, be it in the career field or a college campus.

We should question who created the system or standard in the first place.

KYLIE HUBBARD Editor-in-Chief

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE

The Beck Center was established in 1975 and preserves local and regional African American history. The center includes a library with hard-to-find books written mainly by African- Americans. The Beck Center includes many unique artifacts and collections.

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Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

Rosa Emily Morris, student

Celebrating Black History Month at UTK Van Voor, Daily Beacon Cartoonist

Black History Month events on and off campus LONDON MONTAQUE Contributor

Black History Month, observed during the month of February, is a time of celebrations that honor African American history in the United States. Here are a few ways to celebrate Black History Month on campus and in the Knoxville area.

Visit the Beck Cultural Exchange Center

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center’s purpose, according to its website, is to provide a place “where African American History and culture are preserved” and to become the place “where African American History is transformed.”

See “Bright Star Touring Theatre” at The Farragut Folklife Museum The Farragut Folklife Museum is hosting a free event to honor and celebrate Black History Month. The event will take place on Feb. 24 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event will include a reception and museum tour at 1 p.m., followed with a performance by Bright Star Touring Theatre at 2 p.m.

Bright Star Touring Theatre is a professional touring company that performs shows around the country. The theatre will perform “Let It Shine: The American Civil Rights Movement,” which is one of the company’s most popular productions.

The event will feature significant events and noteworthy names of the Civil Rights era.

The show focuses on the years between 1955 and 1968, and includes notable milestones on Black History, including The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Sit-In Movement, The Freedom Riders, and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The audience can expect to meet important figures during the production and hear music inspired by the era.

Visit the Frieson Black Cultural Center The Frieson Black Cultural Center, formerly known as The Black Cultural Center, is located here on campus. Students and visitors can go there to learn about African American history and The Office of Multicultural Student Life. The center also includes a reading room, computer lab, student lounge, an art gallery and an African American Hall of Fame.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

8

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

Beck Cultural Exchange Center preserves, transforms history VAL LICK City News Editor

At first, it’s unassuming.

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center sits on a hill directly off Dandridge Avenue. Looking up from the road, one sees an old, well-kept mansion, partially hidden by old-growth trees. A narrow driveway leads up the hill – a narrow corridor bordered by thick tree roots.

But then you see it.

As you turn into the parking lot, you see the past and the present fusing into one whole. The historic mansion connects to a newer addition, a late-20th-century renovation featuring smooth patterned brick and huge silver letters reading “BECK CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER.” The museum’s architecture is fitting. Here, on the borders of downtown Knoxville, black history is preserved and transformed.

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center holds over a century of local black history. It has shelves of genealogy information, rooms of artifacts, walls of portraits, and – overall – a unique collection of resources and local historical information.

Visitors to Beck enter a warm, well-lit room.

Black-and-white photographs of founders, prominent local historical figures, and groups of black Knoxvillians line the walls. An intricately-carved wooden pulpit takes center stage across from the entrance, and vibrant paintings by local artist Alan Jones catch the eye.

Receptionist Janice Gilliam points out each of the room’s contents. “That is a pulpit from New Salem Baptist Church, up in Sevierville. […] It was hand-carved by a former slave. The pictures on the wall are by a local AfricanAmerican artist who also happens to be a minister, Mr. Allen Jones.”

After pointing out various other portraits and books, she points to a shelf of thick red binders. “Over here are funeral service programs that we’ve collected from local African American funeral homes, and we catalog those because they have a lot of genealogy information.”

Gilliam has worked at the Beck for almost two years – an experience that changed her perspective on local history.

“When you get to be my age, you think you know everything – or close to everything,” Gilliam said. “Once I walked into Beck, I realized how much I really didn’t know, especially about Knoxville. A lot of people say the same thing; when they come here they’re amazed, and then they leave with much more informa-

“There is no other African American history or culture center in the region doing what we do” Val Lick / The Daily Beacon tion. And that’s what it’s all about.”

According to CEO Renee Kesler, the Beck is the only space of its kind in the region. “The thing that makes Beck unique is that, of all the African-American history and culture centers in the country, Beck is focused on local and regional African American history. There is no other African American history or culture center in the region doing what we do,” Kesler said.

Preserving black history, culture Kesler walks through the museum and up the stairs to her office, pointing out different exhibits as she goes. In one room, Jim Crow-era signs lean against a window. In another, short plaques explain the significance of various successful 20th-century black Knoxvillians. Along a broad, twisting staircase, black-and-white photographs show Knoxville activists protesting outside of the once-segregated Rich’s Deli and Tennessee Theatre.

“When you walked in, that first room was an extension that was built in 2005,” Kesler said, explaining that the very space is historical. Where the welcoming room leads into the rest of the museum, the edges of a partiallyremoved brick wall remain – a wall that divides the space’s past and present.

“When you walked through that wall, you walked into the original home, and the original home was built in 1912,” Kesler said.

In the mansion’s century-long life, history has taken place literally on its doorstep. Kesler explains that when a black doctor, E. F. Len-

non, moved into the mansion, tensions in the predominantly-white area were high.

“Race tensions got high,” Kesler said. “The Klan burned a cross in the yard, did all these things to try to get him to move out. But he was very staunch and determined, and he stayed.”

In the 1960’s, Lennon sold the mansion to influential black couple James and Ethel Beck.

Ethel Beck ran the “Ethel Beck Home,” which provided shelter and care to black orphans. Her husband was a professor at Knoxville College, one of the first colleges for black students in the region.

Finally, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center purchased the mansion in 1975. And the rest isn’t just history.

Kesler explained that, around this time, the process of urban renewal uprooted many black Knoxvillians from near what is now downtown Knoxville, causing many families to relocate to the area surrounding Dandridge Avenue.

Kesler said that, without the resources and information stored at Beck, many aspects of pre-renewal Knoxville might be lost.

“We like to say that the wrecking ball [of urban renewal] went too far,” Kesler said. “It took the good, the bad, and the ugly – it took everything, which almost completely obliterated the African American community. And so absent of the pictures and the artifacts that we have, you don’t know any of that stuff ever existed, that any of those people ever existed.”

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Monday, February 4, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

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10

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

Confronting history, modern-day accountability from films MARGOT MCCLELLAN Opinions Editor

Black History Month is not something that should be relegated strictly to the U.S. We must remember events which happened globally, and throughout human history - because Black history is an integral part of it.

There are many painful parts of that history, and going forward, the responsibility is on all of us as a global community to learn the lasting impacts left from it.

This is not an exhaustive list but rather a condensed one. Including stories of great minds and great sacrifice alike, and many from Black directors, here are some films to watch from around the world to celebrate Black heritage.

France, North Africa and Madagascar “Sankofa” - The sankofa is a mythical bird from West African culture which is depicted plucking an egg off of its back, and symbolizes learning from the past to make progress in the future. In this film, Black American model Mona takes part in a photoshoot at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, which was once a major hub for the Atlantic slave trade. She travels back

in time to a plantation in the American South.

Upon her return to the present, Mona (and the film’s audience) has a new understanding of the ways systematic oppression reverberates through history.

“Tabataba”- (In Malagasy, tabataba means “rumblings” or “rumors.” This was also the code name for the events of the 1947 Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar. This film follows the story of a Malagasy village revolting against French colonial rule. For the villagers, rebellion takes different forms, with some believing in democracy and others in violence. This film is in French.

“Indigenes” - on Aug. 15, 1944, 100,000 African soldiers landed on the beaches of Provence before liberating Marseilles and Toulon and fighting north to Alsace, France to face Nazi forces. Historically, it has been overshadowed by D-Day, even though this assault was crucial in freeing occupied France. The African forces, consisting of more than 23 different nationalities, faced harsh racism, were denied the same rations as French soldiers and, after the war, received pensions drastically lower than that of their French comrades.

“Les Intouchables” - Although this film is not historical in the same sense as the others, it is based on a true story and a bit more lighthearted. After a wealthy aristocrat becomes

quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, he hires a young North African man from the projects to be his caregiver. The film addresses the issue of poverty faced by North African immigrants in “les banlieues” (suburbs) of Paris.

What you may not know is that “The Upside,” released earlier this year, is actually an American take on this French film. Trust me, this version is better.

Britain, South Africa, and the Caribbean “Belle” - Inspired by the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, this film portrays the complex racial dynamics of 18th-century England. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Belle, the daughter of an African slave from the West Indies and a British Royal Navy officer. Raised as a free woman by her great-uncle in London, her mixed-race heritage complicates her place in upper-class Britain, leading her to have to fight for her place within its ranks.

“Jemima + Johnny” - A half-hour long film about the friendship between two young children - one, the son of a white, right-wing nationalist and the other the daughter of a West Indies (Caribbean) immigrant family. Set against the segregationist attitudes of 1960’s Britain, the film reflects the director’s desire for a society in which discrimination based on skin color and heritage does not exist.

“Skin” - This South African film follows the true story of Sandra Laing, a young Black woman born to two seemingly-white parents with Black heritage in their bloodlines. Despite this, Sandra’s parents fight to have her classified as white - but even then, she faces abuse on account of her skin color. After deciding to pursue a relationship with a Black man, tensions rise between her and her father. In addressing the racism of the apartheid era, this film also highlights the futility of racial categories.

“Cry Freedom” - Chronicling the friendship between anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko and Donald Woods, a progressive white journalist in 1970’s South Africa, the turning point of this film comes when Biko is killed for his activism. Woods investigates and publicizes the murder, leading to him to flee South Africa.

The United States “12 Years A Slave” - One of the most visceral depictions of slavery on film, this film follows the narrative of Solomon Northup’s memoir as a free Black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. This film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, and became the first by a black director to win Best Picture at the Oscars.

“Ashes and Embers” - A lesser-known film that depicts the horrors of the Vietnam War from the eyes of black veterans, with a focus on their return to the United States and the struggles they faced at home in the political climate

Courtesy of IMDb of Jim Crow and the late ’70s.

“Hidden Figures” - Crossing intersectional lines of race and gender, this film follows the story of three Black female mathematicians who worked at NASA - and who were the brains behind the Project Mercury space launches, notably the Mercury-Atlas 6 launch, wihic turned the tide of the Space Race.

“Selma” - A timeless classic, this Civil Rights Movement-era film follows Martin Luther King as he leads the march from Selma to Montgomery.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Monday, February 4, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

11

Andrew Gillum speaks about community at 14th Annual Black Issues Conference at UT BEN WINIGER Contributor

The Office of Multicultural Life and the UT chapter of NAACP partnered once more for the 14th Annual Black Issues Conference on Saturday.

The conference was created in 2006 to increase awareness about issues in the AfricanAmerican community and serves as an annual forum where students, faculty, staff and community assemble to engage in dialogue about all aspects of the black community.

The event, occurring from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Student Union, functioned as a series of small presentations that ended with a speech by a keynote speaker.

Twelve presentations were featured at the function, with topics including discussions of black identity, explorations of African-Americans in popular culture and analyses of black history.

“Since the beginning of America, (the black community) has been here, but we’ve always been ‘the Other.’ Like, we’ve been here since, literally, the making of the country,” Marcus Jones, who spoke at a workshop on the duality of black and Christian identity, said.

Jones said that African-Americans are traditionally seen as lacking importance and that the conference helps to encourage strength inside the black community.

“Oftentimes, we’ll be perceived in the mainstream media as ‘the help’ or ‘the back end.’ So, us presenting today is not only speaking on the duality, but also the strength that lies within the black person, within the characteristics of a particular being in America,” Jones said.

The Student Union’s upper levels were crowded as over 300 attendees moved from workshop to workshop.

Once such attendee was local historical figure Theotis Robinson Jr. who fought against segregation to become UT’s first AfricanAmerican undergraduate student in 1961.

Robinson wanted more people to understand and be aware of what is happening in their political environment.

“I think people need to think about politics.

I think they need stay aware of how politics impacts their lives. A lot of people, as Andrew Gillum said, think it doesn’t affect them,” Robinson said. “People need to be informed, in terms of what’s going on, so they can make appropriate decisions.

After a brief luncheon, the conference was capped of with a speech by politician Andrew Gillum.

The former Mayor of Tallahassee made his-

tory in 2018 by becoming the Florida Democratic Party’s first black gubernatorial candidate.

He spoke about how he believes America’s current political and social environment has lost its sense of community, and he stated his belief that society can only do better when it works together.

“Sometimes, when I look at what is happening on the national scene and the national landscape, it makes me question whether or not we lost the sense of our community, and the sense of community,” Gillum said.

“Some would have us believe that the only way you can do good in life is by hoping that your neighbor does bad, that the only way you can thrive is for the other person to be diminished.

Well, I reject that. I actually am a firm believer that we actually do better when we do better.”

He emphasized how no one in America needs to harm anyone else’s prospect to improve their lives. Gillum said that everyone can rise by pulling others up instead of stepping on their neighbor’s shoulder to be boosted up.

Gillum also encouraged those fighting for awareness to not be discouraged by detractors and naysayers as they strive to achieve their goals.

“You don’t need to let anybody tell you what you can and cannot do,” Gillum said. “Had I listened to people, I would have dropped out of the race for governor before I ever entered it.

Instead, we let the haters be the haters and we pushed the naysayers to the side.”

Gillum was given a gift basket by the Office of Multicultural life and stayed afterwards to take pictures with attendees.

The 15th Black Issues Conference will be held in February of 2020.

UT’s first African American undergraduate student Theotis Robinson, Jr. meets with attendees of the 14th Annual Black Issues Conference on Saturday, Feb. 2.

Nathan Lick / The Daily Beacon

James Williams leads “Mental Health Leads to Sustainable Health” during the 14th Annual Black Issues Conference on Saturday, Feb. 2. Nathan Lick / The Daily Beacon

12

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Daily Beacon • Monday, February 4, 2019

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Celebrate Fredrick Douglass Day with the English department Douglass’ 201st birthday will be celebrated on Valentine’s Day with cake and refreshments, a reading and discussion of black-authored texts and listen to brief scholarly talks.

A LiveStream from the University of Delaware, Newark, will help connect the campus community to the national celebration.

Douglass was born into bondage and never knew his birthday, but chose to celebrate every year on Feb. 14. The theme of this year’s celebration is his life and legacy and a big event is a

Read-a-Thon focusing on an address made by Douglass to a Colored Convention in 1883 and a speech written by his daughter for his wife.

Douglass will be celebrated from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 213 of Hodges Library.

Simmons will explore the natural hair

Attend Kimberly Simmons’ lecture ”Embracing Curls, Natural Hair, and the Pajon: Afro-Dominicanness and the Reconstruction of Racial Identity through Hair”

movement in the Dominican Republic, where women view their natural hair as a

sign of beauty, resistance, and personal expression of Afro-Dominicanness.

Hosted by the Africana Studies program, Simmons will discuss hair as a racial identifier in Strong Hall, B1 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 5.

“Oh Freedom! The Story of the Underground Railroad” is a one act play by Peter Manos.

See “Oh Freedom!” as it tours in Knoxville There are multiple public performances in the Knoxville area during the month of February.

The production will include names from the Civil Rights movement that you may have

heard of, and some that you may not have. It also includes musical pieces of the era. The play aims to celebrate Americans’ courage in fighting for human rights.

Students at West High will tell the story of Black History during their production of “Evo-

See “Evolution of the Black Voice”

lution of Black Voice.” The production will include music, dance and speech, along with a trip back to the past. The show will take place on Feb. 28, tickets are $5, doors open at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 7 p.m.

Knoxville’s prominent African-American history WILL BACKUS Asst. Sports Editor

Some of the most celebrated figures during Black History Month are nationally renowned, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and for good reason. They were pioneers whose efforts created ripples of change throughout the United States.

Though they may not be nationally recognizable, Knoxville has produced many prominent African-American figures that have had significant impacts of their own, whether nationwide or locally.

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, making him the first AfricanAmerican federal appellate judge. In a 27 year span, he served as both a chief judge and a senior judge, holding both posts before his death in 1976.

William H. Hastie William Henry Hastie Jr. lived a life of firsts. Born in Knoxville, Tenn., on Nov. 17, 1904, he graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. At the time, Dunbar was one of the premier academies in the nation for black students.

Following graduation, he enrolled in Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and a Doctor of Juridical Science.

After a few years practicing law in Washington, D.C., he was appointed to the District Court of the Virgin Islands in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This made Hastie the first ever African-American federal judge.

In 1946, president Harry S. Truman appointed Hastie as the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, the first AfricanAmerican to hold this post. Prior to this, he served as the Dean of the Harvard Law School.

In 1949, Truman appointed him to the

bondages of slavery and was granted his first job by the federal government: the exhumation and reburial of Civil War soldiers that had been buried in temporary graves.

Johnson was able to save up enough money to open a racetrack, now a residential area known as Speedway Circle, and various saloons in the Knoxville area. In 1893, one of the horses owned by Johnson broke a land speed record at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In 1910, the first airplane to ever visit Knoxville landed on his racetrack. A three story warehouse that he built still stands today on State Street in Downtown Knoxville, known as the Cal Johnson Building.

At his death in 1925, his net worth was estimated to be between $300,000$500,000, which would amount to somewhere between $4 million and $6 million today.

Final Four Most Outstanding Player for that year.

During his senior season, he was named the Helms College Player of the Year. He scored 1,391 career points, which was good for third in Cincinnati history at that time.

He was the second overall pick in the NBA Draft in 1962, drafted by the New York Knicks.

Hogue only spent two years playing professional ball, where he averaged 6.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. That same park he grew up playing basketball in is now named the Paul Hogue Park in his honor.

Paul Hogue

William H. Hastie poses at this desk in March of 1946. Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images/TNS)

Cal Johnson Knoxville’s first African-American millionaire, Caldonia “Cal” Fackler Johnson was born in 1844 to a slave family owned by the McClungs. His mother, Harriett, taught herself to write, and his father, Cupid, was a horse-trainer and jockey in the Knoxville area.

At 21-years-old, he was freed from the

Born on April 28, 1940, Paul H. Hogue grew up playing basketball on public courts in Union Square Park in Knoxville, Tenn., in the Five Points residence area. He continued playing at Vine Junior High School, and performed well enough at Austin High School to gain the attention of some prominent college programs.

He chose to attend the University of Cincinnati, where he played with Hall of Famer and fellow Tennessee native Oscar Robertson. He made his varsity debut in the 1959 season, his sophomore year. He averaged 12.2 points and 11 rebounds per game and attended the Final Four with the Bearcats, placing third.

Hogue was a pivotal part of Cincinnati’s back-to-back National Championship wins in 1961 and 1962. He was a captain for the team that won in 1962, and was the NCAA

Paul Hogue in 1961. Courtesy of the Associated Press.