February 3, 2012
Well, it’s Black History Month again, and I am left wondering if it will offer up anything different. Seems like every year it’s all about the same people, places and events.
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January 3, 2012
Back in May, I was honored to be one of five people chosen by the High Point Housing Authority to serve as a judge for their annual Beautification Event.
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November 11, 2011
A couple of months ago, I began receiving emails from Gene Lewis asking if I could help get the word out regarding a program sponsored by the Greensboro Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
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October 7, 2011
Ever since the NAACP announced it was holding the annual state meeting in High Point this month , a lot of questions have been circulating regarding the High Point Chapter — mainly when it was created. After hearing some of the answers, I decided to...
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September 9, 2011
Those of us who plant vegetable gardens each year know how fickle Mother Nature can be. We have good and bad years, and much of it has to do with where you live. However, this year had this backyard farmer dumbfounded. I went from a beautiful green plot f...
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August 22, 2011
In High Point’s early history, the question “to board or not to board” must have been asked by the many black folks who visited, passed through or decided to settle in High Point. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the main dif...
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July 22, 2011
I am often asked the question, “Was Becky and Mary’s restaurant on Washington Street the first or oldest eating house on the street?” Most people are shocked when my answer is, “Not by a long shot.”
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June 23, 2011
On Memorial Day, I am left to ponder the life of my uncle Cpl. Carl Chavis. Carl died a hero during World War II in the Moselle River Crossing on Sept. 11, 1944. His 23 years were full of accomplishments that defined him well before his death.
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May 20, 2011
So you aren’t confused as to who I am referring to, this story deals with my grandmother, Hattie Leach, whom I called Mama. I was born at 205 Underhill Ave., the home of my grandparents Mayfield and Hattie Leach.
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May 13, 2011
Walking into the Sam Burford Auditorium on the campus of Penn-Griffin School of the Arts on March 16, I hoped for something new regarding our black history. It turns out, I was not only entertained but educated by a group of young history buffs from Penn......
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April 15, 2011
Even though my community was constantly struggling with the invisible shackles of segregation before 1960, we never forgot the heritage and customs that came here with our enslaved ancestors from Africa. Whether some blacks want to admit it or not, our ro...
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April 8, 2011
In February, I received a call from the Rev. Angela Robinson, associate pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ, asking me if I would speak at her church March 13. She informed me that March is Women’s History Month, and she wanted me to ta...
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February 11, 2011
When we think of outstanding High Point citizens, I often wonder how we have constantly overlooked Ossie E. Davis, a black man of many firsts.
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January 21, 2011
A reader recently shared some photos with me that opened my eyes to a new piece of history — in the early 1920s, High Point’s volunteer firefighters included black firefighters. Never during my research have I run across any mention of High Po...
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December 30, 2010
People measure success in many ways — money, recognition, promotions, prestige, educational degrees, status, or a combination of all these.
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October 1, 2010
I was born at 205 Underhill St. and lived there for many years. However, most of my growing up was spent at 208 Normal St. Normal Street was a short block consisting of about 12 homes. To this day, I don’t know how they managed to put so many houses...
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July 15, 2010
Whether folks want to admit it or not, everyone would like to be first at something. That one thing that says, “I was first and no one can change or take it away from me.” Who can forget that first sweetheart, first kiss, first date, first spa...
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July 4, 2010
Everything associated with the word gold or the number 50 seems to add to its importance. A 50th/golden wedding anniversary or the 50th birthday of people, places and things always seems to require a special Midas touch. Why that is true, I don’t kn...
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June 13, 2010
Over the years, I have written about or mentioned my grandmother Hattie Leach in my stories. Writing about her is easy.
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June 4, 2010
Sex appeal must be in the eye of the beholder. When I am brave enough to venture out to a mall, I find myself sitting on a bench beholding the current wonders of the fashion world. Fashion designers of women’s clothing must be making a fortune on wh...
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April 16, 2010
In January, I wrote about the city taking over High Point Normal & Industrial Institute in 1923 and changing the name to The Normal High School. As the new owner, the city ordered books it felt were needed at the school.
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April 1, 2010
Ever since I wrote a story about black children being promoted to something called the “high first,” rather than the second grade, I am left wondering what criteria were used to hold those students back.
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March 18, 2010
It seems that not a day goes by without reading about some change about to be implemented in the Guilford County Schools. I don’t have the answers to the problems associated with today’s educational system, and based on what I read, no one in...
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March 5, 2010
Every year I hope and pray that Black History Month will bring new discoveries to help us track and record our history. But once again, I saw the same faces, read about the same events and places, leading people to believe that our history started in 1960...
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February 19, 2010
Part Three of “Separate But Unequal,” a comparison of salaries at black and white schools. During the 1928-29 school year, the lowest-paid principal among the eight white schools, the Oak Hill principal, made $1,900. That’s $300 more tha...
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