Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 6-13-17

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HCC Gets Advancing Diversity Award
Documentary About ‘Tampa Technique’ Captures Methods Used To Integrate And Calm The City During Turbulent Times
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
When racial tensions in Tampa reached a boiling point in 1959, then-mayor Julian Lane attempted to quell anxi- eties with the creation of the Bi-Racial Committee.
The goal of the group of Black and white community leaders, businessmen, and clergy was to find ways to im- prove relations between the two races. One of its earliest ef- forts was its support of Black student sit-ins at the down- town Tampa Woolworth lunch counter.
Led by Clarence Fort – then director of the NAACP Youth Council – the sit-ins were successful in integrating the lunch counters by the fall of 1960. The Bi-Racial Com- mittee’s strategy of a targeted and careful approach to protest became known as the “Tampa Technique.”
It would be implemented again seven years later when the shot heard around Tampa Bay left an unarmed Black teenager bleeding in the street and sparked three days of riot- ing.
On Saturday, hundreds gathered at the Robert Saun- ders Library to watch the pre- miere of the documentary, Tampa Technique: Rise, De- mise, and Remembrance of Central Avenue and learn more about the method and how it affected the rise and fall of the historic Central Avenue business district.
For decades, Central Av- enue was the Mecca for Black business, recreation, and social networks before its demise began in the 1960s.
By the 1970s, the locale that had been the jewel of the African-American community was gone, swiped away by the transportation engine and gen- trification method now known
Former State Senator, Atty. Arthenia Joyner, Civil rights ac- tivist, Clarence Fort, and journalist, Dayle Greene.
as Interstate 275.
The premiere was followed
by a panel discussion where Fort, former State Senator Arthenia Joyner, and jour- nalist Dayle Greene offered some context to events ex- plored in the film created by University of South Florida professor, Travis Bell.
Today, the sit-ins are a marvel of civil rights activism in Tampa’s history. But at the time, Fort said he was dis- couraged from organizing them.
“The sit-ins were a miracle because they didn’t want me to do it,” he said. “The NAACP was the legal arm, but they didn’t get into demonstra- tions.”
Fort said he worked around the powerful civil rights organization by sneak- ing on the campuses of Mid- dleton and Blake High Schools and engaging students to re- cruit protestors.
The effort proved fruitful partly because the students were not made aware of the ac- tual event, he said.
Joyner, one of the stu- dents, said she was excited to be part of the protest.
“You didn’t think about the fact this was history,” she said. “You just knew you were fight-
ing for a cause you believed in.”
The “Tampa Technique” also would play a role in the calming of the city after riots erupted following the June 11, 1967 shooting of 19-year-old Martin Lee Chambers by white police officer, James Calvert.
Protestors took to the streets after Martin’s death and set parts of Central Av- enue afire. The rioting contin- ued for three days until Black leaders approached white law enforcement about enlisting the White Hats, a group of young Black men, to patrol Black neighborhoods and help soothe the anger.
After the riots, African- Americans saw much improve- ment in housing, employment, and equality throughout the city.
Still, much of the ills that led up to the riots continues to plague Tampa today, Greene said.
To change this, the history documented in Tampa Tech- nique must be shared with younger generations, he said.
“The documentary is so in- sightful that it needs to be seen and heard by public school children in Hillsborough County,” Greene said.
Dr. Ken Atwater, center, accepts the Advancing Diversity Award from Dr. Daniel Phelan, President of Jackson College; and Dr. Wal- ter Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges.
DR. JOAN HOLMES ...Special Assistant to the Pres- ident for Equity, Diversity and Special Programs
Hillsborough Community College (HCC) was awarded the Advancing Diversity Award by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on April 24th.
The award, the highest recognition of its kind given to a community college, was pre- sented to HCC President, Dr. Ken Atwater as part of the AACC Annual Meeting's Awards of Excellence and is in recognition of the college's on- going efforts to increase minor- ity persistence and completion.
Led by the efforts of Dr. Joan Holmes, Special Assis- tant to the President for Equity,
Diversity and Special Pro- grams, HCC serves as a preem- inent national voice in addressing issues facing Black and Latino males through the annual Black, Brown, and Col- lege Bound National Summit. The summit draws more than 1,000 higher education profes- sionals, faculty and students from more than 25 states.
The Office of Equity, Diver- sity and Special Programs has also developed the HOPE Scholars program as a means to improve retention, gradua- tion and the four-year college transfer rate of Black and Latino males. HOPE Scholars benefit from faculty mentors, targeted workshops and semi- nars, tutorial services and tours of four-year colleges and uni- versities. In the last four years, more than 85 percent of stu- dents enrolled as HOPE Schol- ars have graduated from HCC and transferred to four-year in- stitutions.
Hillsborough Community College serves over 44,000 stu- dents annually at its five cam- puses located throughout Tampa Bay. The college is ac- credited by the Southern Asso- ciation of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
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