Viewing page 410 of 484

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[image]]

As I recall my school days at Morehouse, we received tutoring. There was never more than 12 of us in any classroom at a time which made it impossible for the class to fail.

It was the duty and desire of our teachers to give of themselves and to us. Walter Chievers was my major advisor and taught me about Sociology and life. 

E.A. Jones spoke more French than any Frenchman; Floyd Dansby, who knew more math than any computer, taught math. William Dean a 24 year old Economic Ph.D. taught me Economics and was my friend in the city after school hours.

B.T. Harvey was our Chemistry teacher and a former coach at Morehouse and the man who sold all of our Jewelry and participated in outside the campus promotion. It was B.T. who introduced me to Neil Montgomery, the Atlanta school teacher who brought entertainment to Atlanta.

Nathaniel Tilman and G. Lewis Chandler taught us English and G. Lewis was faculty advisor to the Maron Tiger.

Johnny Hodges, the man who wore the white suits and straw hat was our representative from Miami, Florida.

Robert Deadman was our most fastidious dresser, even though I had the only Tuxedo on campus and everyone wore same to the various fraternity function. Forrest Greene, our barber was later in life to become the administrator of the City of Detroit; And Pig Jones and Lavelle Smith, some slickers from Dallas sold mail order suits to the campus and, Morris Speed, the richest student on the Campus from West Palm Beach who was their number one customer. 

J.B. Blayton who taught business at the college was the first real business entrepreneur I ever met. Jesse Blayton taught bookkeeping and accounting and ran several businesses in town. He was later to own WERD the first Black radio station in Atlanta and for years was National Treasurer of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. 

Yates and Milton ran the Citizens Trust Bank and owned a chain of drugstores and taught at the college. Menilick Jackson came down from Detroit to open the first Black owned franchise for selling utilities.

William Esty was our "bug" man. 

My contacts in town were through my fraternity. Some of my colleagues were the late Drs. Richard Billings, Higtower and R.A. Johnson, all Morris Brown graduates and later National Presidents of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. T.M. Alexander, Morehouse 34, ran a real estate and brokerage business. Chief Aiken from Clarke was in building construction business and built the Walahajes hotel Complex. 

The Ivy's were undertakers of the town and Dr. Neal ran the drugstore at Ashly and Hunter Streets. The Scotts founded and operated the Atlanta daily World and it was under their influence and especially the late Lucious, "Lulo" Jones and Cliff Makay that I was spawned in the newspaper publishing business.

And this brings me up to Delta Phi Delta, the collegiate Black college newspaper society which became Nationwide with chapters in all of the Negro college campuses.

Delta Phi Delta was organized by Moss Kendrix, who was later to found the National Market Developers Association; B.A. Jones from Jacksonville, Florida; V. Trenton Tubbs from Dallas and C. Melvin Patrick.

It was in fact a stunt we pulled, holding a convention at the college for all the Negro publishers of the day to come and lecture us on the glories of the publishing business, that got us started on our journalistic profession.

In planning the convention, we forgot to figure out where our guests were to stay. We wanted the convention held on Morehouse campus and we planned to house our guests in our rooms in Roberts Hall. 

I invited the late James Weldon Johnson, my fraternity brother to come and I had it all set for him to stay in my room at Roberts Hall when President Clements of A.U. got wind of our plans. 

Rufus Clements was furious and he summoned Charlie Hubert to his office with me, C. Melvin to chastise us.

Well, at the meeting Rufus raised hell with President Hubert and when he started on me I told Rufus that what we were doing was none of his damn business. President Clements saw red and demanded that Charlie send me home which President Hubert refused to do

Well, in the middle of all the fury, President Clements secretary came into the meeting and whispered to him that a gentlemen named James Weldon Johnson was outside looking for a student named Cuthbert Patrick.

Dr. Johnson on being ushered in quickly sized up what was happening and with quiet dignity just said to President Clements "I was invited here by my fraternity brother Cuthbert Patrick to take part in their convention and was told by him that I was to stay as his guest in his room and that, Rufus, is what I am going to do. And this saved the day for Delta Phi Delta and Cuthbert Patrick.

We had student government at Morehouse and every Tuesday the students ran the Chapel assembly. I can recall one of those meetings when we were discussing what to do about Moss Kendrix-Non fraternity union that a heated argument broke out. I, as the representative of the Sigma, was arguing furiously for censure of Moss who had flooded the Chapel the night before we met with some propaganda leaflets which called for banning all frats on the campus. As the meeting turned into a shouting match, dean Brazeal who has no business being in the hall suddenly appeared and appealed to us to act like Morehouse men and stop all the fussing. The dean suggested that we conclude our meeting and that we meet one to one and discuss our differences in a more gentlemenly manner—Well I was so far out and mad that I broke into the dean's speech to read the rules of our meeting—which said no faculty and ordered Dean Brazeal out of the Chapel—Dean Brazeal, sensing the embarrassment my movement caused the body—stopped the hasty retreat the students were making from the Chapel by telling the meeting that the student was right, and that he would leave—which he did. From that day on I had a great deal of respect and friendship for Dean Brazeal. We went on to defeat Moss Kendrix, non frat union, and Moss never joined a fraternity until after graduation from Morehouse. 

Contacts between students from the other institutions in Atlanta were made by exchange classes at other campuses but mostly through our annual fraternity Basketball games held at the Sunset Casino behind Morris Brown College. Neil Montgomery promoted big bands at the Casino as well as exhibition of Renaissance Basketball team. An incident still in my mind on my Sunset Casino adventure was the way in which its proprietor, booker, and Chief Master of Ceremonies, a gentleman whom we called "Speedy" would announce the program for the evening. For Basketball it would go like this —Ladies and gentlemen we have here tonight the first of the Inter fraternity games—The first contest will put the "Kappels" against the "Appels" and then the 'Signals' will play the 'O'Niggers'. 

I became known in the city of Atlanta because I was a gadfly. I visited the Fulton Social Club on Auburn Avenue every Friday night. The Club was the place where the Atlanta Elite met to gamble and drink. I became very friendly with most of Atlanta business men through their card pecadillos. My goal was to win 30 dollars which we needed weekly to keep some member of our football team in school.

Then I was that slick kid from New York at Morehouse who hung out at the Atlanta world office writing stories and the kid who was on the gate at the Neil Montgomery promotions at the Sunset and Atlanta Convention center and as student manager of athletics at

408