The White Falcon - 28.01.1977, Blaðsíða 3

January 28, 1977
Page 3
February-Black History month related
"The Black Experience—America: The
Third Century" is the theme of this
year's Black History Month which will be
celebrated throughout the military serv-
ices and the Nation during February
1977.
In addition to the month's central
theme, each of the four weeks carries a
sub-theme, including:
* First Week: Recounting history be-
fore America was discovered;
* Second Week: Recalling early Amer-
ica, 1492-1776;
* Third Week: Examining the develop-
ment of the United States, 1776-1976;
* Fourth Week: Looking at America in
its third century.
Background
A time for observing the influence
and contributions of blacks to American
and world history was launched by Dr.
Carter Godwin Woodson, Director of the
Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History (subsequently, the Associa-
tion for the Study of Afro-American Life
and History in February 1926.
The observance continued as a week-
long event for the next 49 years, coming
each year about the second week in Feb-
ruary in order to include both Feb. 12
and 14, the birth dates of Abraham
Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, respec-
tively.
Then in 1976, during the 50th black
history observance and the Bicentennial
of the United States, the celebration of
Black History was extended for the en-
tire month of February.
The observance was so successful in
increasing an awareness and appreciation
of blacks' contributions to the Nation
that this year's celebration has been
set for a month-long observance as well.
Current challenges
Black History Month also calls in-
creased attention to ensuring equal op-
portunities for blacks in all facets of
American life, as is guaranteed them and
all citizens by law.
Thus, Black History Month not only
lauds the progress of the past but also
aggressively addresses the challenges of
the present.
In commenting on this two-fold scope
of celebration and challenge, Represen-
tative Shirely Chisholm of New York has
stated, "As we celebrate our history,
as Americans, as black Americans, we
should remember that the tradition of
democracy requires that we continue to
seek a high quality of life for all our
citizens, and that we continue to con-
front the challenges as they present
themselves. The great challenge before
us is our own pursuit of justice for our
brothers and our sisters to overcome the
scarred heritage of oppression which has
prevented too many of our black citizens
from ever experiencing the principles up-
on which this country was built...let
alone celebrating them."
‘Real McCoy’ sleeks machine oiling
With the end of the Civil War, the
Industrial Revolution came to America
and brought forth a new corps of black
scientists and inventors. One may have
added a new term to America's everyday
ppeech.
His name was Elijah McCoy. He was
born in Canada, of escaped Afro-American
slaves, in the early 1840's but emigrat-
ed to the United States in his twenties,
and worked in a machine shop in
Ypsilanti, MI. Here he became aware of
the problems of lubricating the huge
machines and locomotives the new indus-
tries presented.
The mechanisms were being lubricated
by hand, in one of two ways. One was
stopping to oil them, which meant halt-
ing production or operation. The other
was by oiling them while they were in
motion, which meant risking injury.
McCoy set out to find another altern-
ative.
His solution was ingeniously simple.
His first device (patent dated 1872) was
basically an oil container equipped with
a tap from which the oil flow was regu-
lated by a spigot. Attached to a
machine, it would allow the oil to drip
drop by drop onto the moving part so
that the machine or engine lubricated
itself while in motion.
A simple device, but revolutionary.
Suddenly, this automatic lubricator was
in great demand, and the invention took
its inventor's name.
One story has it that machine or
locomotive buyers refused to consider
2 federal workers emerge as inventors
Two black federal government employ-
ees made their mark as inventors. One
was Robert Pelham, already known in De-
troit as owner and editor of the Plain-
Dealer, a Negro newspaper. He gave up
the newspaper in 1894 and went to work
in Washington. Here Pelham made his
mark in technology.
Involved in tabulating statistics
from manufacturer's schedules, he inven-
ted a statistics tabulator which speed-
ed up the counting of figures. The gov-
ernment employed him at running the ma-
chine at the same time he was collecting
royalties on the sale of his invention.
Patent Office records also record a pat-
ent given him for a posting machine.
The other black government worker in
question was Shelby J. Davidson, a Post
Office employee. His inventions were a
boon to postal efficiency, economy, and
prompt service.
Money order adding machines had, till
his time, totalled up only the face val-
ue of money orders; fees charged to mon-
ey order purchasers had to be added up
by the employee issuing them. Davidson
equipped the adding machines with an at-
(Reprinted from the Association for the study of Afro-American Life and History-Heritage Days: The Black Perspective.)
Sundowners to host
square dance class
Are you tired of trying to keep up
with the Jones or the Smiths? If so,
try putting a little spark into your
life by coming to the A.T. Mahan elemen-
tary school tomorrow for an evening of
fun.
The Midnight Sundowners Square Dance
Club is sponsoring a square dance class
that begins Feb. 5. To help promote the
class, the club is featuring an open
house tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the elemen-
tary school.
Not only will an opportunity be given
to square dance but also more details
may be obtained about the class. The
class will run for about 20 weeks, and
Dick Bull will instruct at a reasonable
cost.
Promise yourself an evening out each
week and the Midnight Sundowners will
help ensure that the night will be a
pleasureable one.
For more information, call Larry
Rose, the club president, at 7332 or
7270.
Freedoms Foundation letter contest opens
The 1977 Freedoms Foundation Letter
Writing Contest for Armed Forces members
in now open. The theme for letters,
this year is "My Responsibilities in
Keeping my Country Free."
Individuals on active duty or serving
in the reserve components should submit
100-500 word essays, poems or articles
by Nov. 1. 1977, in the theme to the A-
wards Administration Freedoms Founda-
tion, Valley Forge, PA.
All entries from the Armed Forces are
in a separate competition called..."Val-
ley Forge Patriots Awards"...and must
include name, rank, social security num-
ber, service designation, military ad-
dress and permanent home address.
Principal winners will receive an en-
cased Honor Medal and savings bond, with
other winners receiving saving bonds.
The Freedoms Foundation presents its
principal awards each year on George
Washington's Birthday, in high level
ceremonies at Valley Forge.
Individual winners are notified in
advance of the place and time of the
award presentation.
51st ‘BH’ Week set
The 51st annual observance of
Black History Week is scheduled for
Feb. 6 through 12.
The theme for 1977 is "Heritage
Days: The Black Perspective."
Setting aside a week to dramatize
the hopes and aspirations of Black
Americans, Dr. Carter R. Woodson
originated the special emphasis in
1926.
The Association for the Study of
Afro-American Life and History has
sponsored the annual event since
then.
any mechanism not equipped with "the
real McCoy," a term that soon became a
part of the language.
Another story traces the term "real
McCoy" to the prizefighter Kid McCoy,
who was once impersonated by an impos-
ter.
But, there is equally good reason to
believe it was McCoy's invention that
made "the real McCoy" a standard Ameri-
can expression for the authentic, or
genuine, article.
McCoy eventually set up his own com-
pany to manufacture and sell his inven-
tions and finance further ones. He re-
ceived as many as two or three patents
a year, a total of 57 in all, most of
them for lubricators, the last one
(awarded 1920) for an "air brake pump
lubricator."
tachment which would total the fees at
the same time the face values were being
added. Both employees and customers’
were served by this new feature.
Davidson also found adders using up a
lot of paper daily as they ticked off
columns of numbers. He thought of a way
to double the usefulness of a roll of
adding machine tape. He invented a pap-
er rewind that rewound the roll in such
a way that the other side of the tape
could be used. The savings to the gov-
ernment can be well imagined.
Wild West man rises
Jim Young always, said he and Sime
White were the first white men in Tomb-
stone, AZ. Even if Jim Young had been
right in his history, he would have been
wrong in his description, for Young was
a very black man. However, judging him
to mean "non-Indian," Jim was one of the
older inhabitants of Tombstone. Miner,
ex-slave, ex-regular army soldier, and
some say, ex-prize fighter, he was a gi-
ant of a man, straight as an arrow, even
in his nineties.
The best story about him involved a
much-feared, dead-shot desperado called
Buckskin Frank Leslie. Leslie once
jumped a mining claim that Jim Young had
staked out, and the furious and plucky
black giant, caring not a fig for Buck-
skin Frank's fearsome reputation, took a
shotgun and ran Leslie off. Leslie re-
treated laughing the matter off, but
burned up inside over his own loss of
face in Tombstone while he saw Young's
prestige go up. He tried to wash his
honor clean one day in a store while Jim
was unarmed and did not see Frank Les-
lie. Leslie was about to shoot Young in
the back when the lady clerk cried out
and threw herself in front of Jim's de-
fenseless back. Thinking the better of
it, the outlaw grinned off a lame excuse
and left.
Pitot frees steamer
Many slaves attempted to flee the
South during the early days of the war.
While thousands succeeded, few escapes
were more daring than that of Robert
Smalls, a coastal pilot on the new Con-
federate steamer CSS Planter.
At 4 a.m. on May 13, 1862, when the
officers were ashore, Smalls and an es-
cape party of 15 slaves got the Planter
underway. The 313-ton ship pulled slow-
ly from the wharf near the Confederate
headquarters in Charleston Harbor. With
the rebel flag flying, the ship was
steered toward the open sea.
Getting out of the harbor was no easy
job because several rebel forts guarded
the harbor entrance. As he passed each
outpost, Smalls gave the correct sign
with the ship's whistle. Everything was
made to appear as though the Planter was
on a routine mission.
Finally, the ship came abreast of the
huge guns of Fort Sumter, and, since
everything appeared normal, she was al-
lowed to pass. As soon as he was out of
range of the fort's cannon, Smalls
hoisted a white flag and sailed the ship
into the hands of the Union fleet,
blockading the harbor.
For their brave acts, Smalls and his
crew were awarded half the cash value of
the ship and its cargo by President
Abraham Lincoln. In addition, Smalls
was named captain of the vessel and
served as commanding officer until the
Planter was decommissioned in 1866.
Robert Smalls, a native of South
Carolina, was later elected to both the
South Carolina and U. S. House of Repre-
sentatives.
Hobby Center begins photography contest
The Hobby Center is sponsoring a
photography contest. The contest, open
to all military personnel and depen-
dents, specifies that entries must be
submitted to the Photo Hobby Shop by
Tuesday.
The contest categories are as fol-
lows: portrait, still life, animals,
architecture, scenic, sports, military,
abstract design, and flight. The con-
test photographs will be displayed in
the Ceramics Hobby Shop Feb. 5 and 6.
The Hobby Center Photography Contest
winners will receive photographic mater-
ial. First place winner will get $15 in
merchandise, second place, $10 and third
place, $5.
One rule has been changed, however,
the largest print submitted now may be
11" x 14" in lieu of 8" x 10" as pre-
viously publicized.
Interested persons should contact the
Hobby Center to sign up.