..
More 2,SOO �crs
atteDded tae UDdergrouDd
Railroad P . . Historical
F Celebra
tion old reccntly at the
Queen', N val yard Park in
IOUEbeI1l 0Dtari0.
P .. trMelecl &om N
Yo C· OrleaDs,
Detroit, Los Angeles. Toroato,
0Db'eal.
Before a capacity crowd of
dignataries tlae folio ing
piODCer families werc b ored
by the Foundation: Milburn,
Tho pso Chriitian, Dillard,
Richardso Cr McCardy,
Shadd, Archer, Simon, Phillips,
p. Bonhuer, Cole, Thomas,
Fo r, Shreve, White, smfth,
Harrison, Henson, Simpson,
Cle ge, Webb, Gregory,
Waring, and Morgan. High
light 0 included speakers
Dr. George McCardy, retired
Director of Canadian Human
Rights Dept. and Dr. D vid,
chairman of the Underground
Rail Road Families H' orical
Foundation has served on
e board of trustees of both the
Museum of African American
Hi tory in Det oit and the
orth American B Histori-
cal Museum in Canada.
The Underground tltailroad
F .. CI • orical Foundation
COlt.· IlS of B that
.passed thru the Underground
Railroad fr 1665 to 1850 and
to th Fre h Blae Families
that tied Montreal, Detroit,
. d ew Orleans (Old Quebec)
of Ichigan and On ar 0
onored
&om 1629-1830. American Indians from 1665 to
The Historical PoundatiOD 1850, over 100,000 Black
purpose is to preserve and en
lighten many of the historical
perspectives and community·
contributions that these Black
families have manifested over
generations.
The speakers reVealed that
with help from ative
refugees ( runaway slaves) es
caped form southern United
States to Michigan and Canada.
The war of 1812 marked the
unification of Blac and Native
Indians into a powerful military
ft)rce that prevented the spread
of slavery from Umted St tes to
��·_'·-A.H ,Sr.
(NNPANews)
TUSKEGEE. AI - Tus
kegee dute . ed fame 73
years go after Dr. George
Washington Carver authored a
pamphlet, How To Grow the
Pean and lOS Ways of Pre par
ingitforCo umption".H· ory
records that shortly afterwards,
the boll weevil true the
South' King cotton, and
farmer turned to Dr. Carver
nd the peanut, succe fully
transforming their dying
agrarian economy in the
process.
Today, T ee Univer . y
on the verge of helping
onauts survive long, inter
galactic tri in pace by eatin
the nutritiou weet pot to
gr in soil-l culture 0
space ships.
After three years, nd a
$600,000 grant &o� National
S Agency, eleven 'en'
the famed T egee i titu
tion e on the verge of ucce -.
fully growing hydroponi weet
pot toes.
•
10
a
o
Tus egee.Univer 'tyisnowa
National Center for Sweet
Potato Research. Dr. Walter
Hill, dean of the Dept. of
Agriculture, is director of the
project.
Experts have projected
manned- cemissi of up to
20 years or more in the next 15
or 20 years. Food production in
space, then, they y, will be es-
ential to support the e ex
tended missions. Dr. Phil
Lor an, the program's coor
dinator, in telephone inter
view, told NPA that the
project is probably three year
fro full comp etion.
Right now the Tu kegee
cientists are experimenting
'th pacing of plants within
chann Presently, they are 10
inche apart, but they are
shrinking this space to five in-
. che in attempts to maximm
production.
Loretan said the sweet
potato c osen one of
eight crops", because of" OYer
all nutritiou , carbohydrate
value. "Its yeUo or orange flesh
r
is a good source of Vitamin A
and the white flesh variety can
be altern ted to cu out the
Vitamin A which can accumu
late in the body causing
toxicity" .
He also said the potato vine
tips can be used a nutritious
green vegetable. They are also
experimenting in ttempts to
larger yields by ch� the
nutrient solutions. These solu
tio contain major elements of
nitrogen, phospboru , mag
nesium, pora ium, and cal
cium, Dr. Loretan said, with
minor elemen of boron, iron,
and manganese. Sae' are
also learning about the amoun
of chemical elements plan re
quire. "In earth _farming,we
never knew preciseJy how much
they bsorbed or the optimum
amount of each required"
Loretan . d. These nutrien
are pumped out of reservoir,
through pipe at the upper end
of the channel. The nutrien
flow thin film aero the bot
tom of the channel nourishing
the potato roots, tten b ck into
the re ervoir. Thi recycling
Canada. This J.m� victory
gave credence to the fact that
only a military push ould
eradicate slavery in United
States. Incidently,. Detroit and
Chatham, Ontario' are the loca
tions where abolitionists J OM
Brown, Frederick Douglass and
J oseah Henson planned the
raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
An intern tiona! historical
perspective was also given, in
cluding tthe Western Blac
Diaspora from Africa to South
America (Brazil alone current-
1y h 75 million Blacks), the
Caribbean, Central America,
and North America. The
relationship of the Olmec and
Mayan Empires in Central
America with Black Africa
predate Columbus visit to the
Western World by 700 years.
A fascinating historical study
was presented of the Great
Black Migration e that took
place over thousands of year .
Blacks settled in Madagascar,
India (Dravideans - including
the great religious figure
Budha) Ceylon, New Gueine
Polynesean Island (Tahiti,
Samoa, Hawaii) and New
Zealand.
Pertinent final remarks were
made by Dr. David Milburn on
how our community has come
together in the past to help
eradicate the many forms of
slavery, uch as drug ddiction
and negative media image , -
political, social, and economic
inju tice. .
t
process is also important. Noth
ing can be asted in space, he
said. "Everything will have to be
used. The cycle m t be closed."
One of the tough prob ems yet
confronting the Tuskegee
scientis is ho to utilize the
fibrous roots of plants. "The
Kennedy (Sp ce) Center in
Florida is looking at these non
edible parts. The roots are high
ly nutritio . So maybe they can
be ground up and used as a
nutrient g in," Dr. Loret n
told NNPA. He also revealed
that experimen had benn uc
cessful in clipping the vinal tip
of the potato every; two wee
without affecting the growth of
its roots. The hydroponic
potato, which ome experts
predict will have major impact
on earth farm production of the
future, requires about 120 days
to attain matu re growth,
Loretan id,
The South recorded a ne
gain of Black mover be n
March 1986 and March 1987,
while the North had a net
loss, accordingto the Com
merce Depart nt's Census
Bure u.
Blacks moving into the South
outnumbered those moving out
by a margin of 148,000. In the
ortheast, 100,000 more Blacks
moved out than moved in, the
report says. The Midwes and
West h d bout equal numbers
ofBI c moving in and out (see
accompanying chart).
Whites h d a net gain of
170,000 migran in the West, a
net I of 241,000 migrants in
the Northe t, and no real
change because of migration in
the other two regio .
For the total population,
there were net migration gains
of 279,000 in the South and
166,000 in the West; 1 of
334,000 in the Northeast; and no
significant change because of
migration in the Mi
Here are other highlights
from the report:
- Twenty percent of the
nation's 28.4 million Blacks
moved between arc 1986
nd March 1987, compared
with 18 percent of whites.
- BI cks h d a local moving
rate of 14 percent, . the
white rate was 11 percent.
White , however t had higher
r es of long' ce m .
- Hi panic had higher
overall r t of mOYing. 1A per
cent, than either -Hispanic
it 0 Blacks; ey had
higher rates of local moviDg. at
18 percent.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
- A comprehensive ur
vey seeking to determine
exu I pr ctice and at
titude among American
Blacks is being conducted.
It is a first of i kind sur
veyand die questions are
designed to determine . I
Black ttitudes toward sex,
behavior which may place
Blacks at high cis fo cer
tain dise e nd inve ..
tigate some of the myths
often a ociated with
Black sexual behavior.
In order to receive a
survey form simply send a
self- ddre envelope to
LT S" Attitud &. Prac
tices Survey" 803 Florida
Avenue, NW, Suite 2,
Washington, D.C. 20001. '