Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 August 1992 — Page 1

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THE MUNCIE TIMES

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Dr. Benjamin E. Maya

Vo1.1 Number 26 - August 20,1992 “Whatever you do, strive to do It so well that no man living and no man dead and no man yet to be bom could do It any better.”

Muncie Reunion expected to surpass 1988 celebrations

by T.S. Kumbula This year’s Back to Muncie Reunion culminates the success of an idea that first took hold in Barbara Bryant’s brain almost 9 years ago. From that simple idea grew the 1988 Back to Muncie celebration, which brought many African American residents home. This year’s activities are likely to be bigger and better. The quadrennial event is taking root. It will be held again in August 1996. It is becoming one of the most significant events among Muncie African Americans. “Basically the idea was mine. I started working on it. Later I joined with Willie Gholar and Irvin Wright. Together we talked about having a reunion in 1983,” she told The Muncie Times.

Inside

Editorial 2 Tony Brown 3 Judy Mays 8 Benjamin Chavis 14 Cooking 15 Sarge 16 Louis W. Sullivan 23 Lottery. 31 Religion 33 Classifieds .35 I

Barbara Bryant

“We contacted Dr. (Sam) Abram (Muncie Community Schools superintendent) to see about the feasibility of having a program like this that would be centered around black youth who needed role models because, basically, they were

going astray.

“We thought that if we could bring back to Muncie people who grew up here, had moved away but were successful, this might inspire the youth still here. It would give them someone to talk to, someone they could relate to. It would also be an opportunity to help us in the black community to keep our history going on. We want to pass that history on to younger

generations.”

In 1984 Bryant and her group had gathered some volunteers to get the project going. But then the groun

Preacher + husband + academic = Barrett

by T. S. Kumbula He is, you might say, an inveterate juggler. In 1979 he was two semesters away from graduation at Ball State University, where his wife was a sophomore. She got pregnant. The two of them left the university to start a family, raise kids and work. It was not until four children later in 1986 that both resumed their intermpted educations. He was going part time while she was a full time student. He eventually got

his bachelor’s degree in political science and photojournalism. In May 1989 about 176 of the couple’s relatives watched proudly as Paul William Barrett got his master’s degree, while his wife, Kerry, now a Muncie Human Rights Commission investigator, got her bachelor’s degree. During those days Barrett juggled the responsibilities of going to school, being a husband, a father and a full time job. He is still juggling. Today he is chair

of the division of business, office and information technologies division at Ivy Tech in Richmond, which makes him responsible for four academic departments; affirmative action officer for Ivy Tech Region 9 (Richmond); pastor of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church of Richmond; and a consultant for the Urban Enterprise Zone in Muncie. Barrett has been a part time professor at Ball State. He taught public administration at the university’s (cont. on pg. 4)

disbanded. It was resuscitated in 1986-87 and began to focus on the 1988 reunion. Bryant had left Muncie in 1971-72 to live in Washington, D. C., and Silver Springs, Md. While on the East Coast she met people who introduced her to black culture in their area. She also met some educators. Eventually, she enrolled at what is now the University College of the District of Columbia. It was there that she met a counselor, a former Muncie resident, who encouraged her to return home and take advantage of the opportunities that Ball State University had to offer. Bryant came back home. She said she found that some blacks in Muncie were behind when it came to what African Americans (cont. on pg. 5) Whitely battles litter by Doc Carney Whitely is the historical center of Muncie’s black community. It is an almost universally clean neighborhood, with mostly one-fami-ly homes owned by their occupants. Only a few are rentals. Though Whitely has, occasionally, been the scene of violence, it would be fair to describe it as a peaceful, friendly, middle class neighborhood. That may be changing. (cont. on pg. 9)