PICTURES FROM THE 2015 DOUGLASS ALUMNI REUNION, 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND, 2015
(On the slide shows, make sure to click on the audio speaker on the screen...on the videos, click on the center arrow to play the video)
A SLIDE SHOW OF THE DOUGLASS REUNION PICNIC (make sure the audio speaker on the screen is clicked on):
MISS PINKIE SHOWING THE YOUNG ONES THAT SHE STILL GOT IT:
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CAROLYN HENDRICKS JAMMING:
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A SLIDE SHOW OF THE ALUMNI BARGE TRIP ON THE KINGSPORT RESERVOIR, BAYS MOUNTAIN PARK (make sure the audio speaker on the screen is clicked on):
AN INTRO TO THE BARGE TRIP (please forgive the audio...the wind was blowing. Wait for the voices to come up):
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SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT THE BARGE TRIP AND THE KINGSPORT RESERVOIR (please forgive the audio... the wind was blowing. Wait for the voices to come up):
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THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE KINGSPORT RESERVOIR:
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THE STORY BEHIND THE BEAVERS AT THE KINGSPORT RESERVOIR, PART 1:
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MORE BEAVER STORIES:
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"HOW DO YOU LIKE THE BARGE TRIP?"
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OUR TOUR GUIDE "HOWLING TO THE WOLVES:"
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A SLIDE SHOW OF THE DOUGLASS REUNION DANCE AT THE ELKS CLUB (make sure the audio speaker on the screen is clicked on):
DOUGLASS ALUMNI DANCING TO THE "CUPID SHUFFLE:"
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DOUGLASS ALUMNI WOBBLE BABY, BACKING IT UP!:"
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DOUGLASS ALUMNI "GOT TO GIVE IT UP (Yes, that is Calvin singing along with Marvin Gaye while shooting this video, when "Got to Give It Up" comes up about 40 seconds into this video... Hey y'all, it's one of my favorite songs.... I can sing falsetto, too.... and Marvin sings in my key....what can I say? I've "got to give it up:"
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DOUGLASS ALUMNI MISSISSIPPI CHA CHA'ING -- BACK UP.... AND JUMP!!!!:
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A SLIDE SHOW OF THE DOUGLASS ALUMNI MEMORIAL SERVICE (make sure the audio speaker on the screen is clicked on):
THE DOUGLASS SCHOOL SONG, TO WRAP UP A WONDERFUL REUNION WEEKEND:
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AND OF COURSE, THE AFTER-PARTY... WHERE NOBODY EVER WANTS TO PART FROM OUR FRIENDS:
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WE ARE THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF DOUGLASS !!!!!
BELOW IS THE SPEECH GIVEN BY MEMORIAL SERVICE GUEST SPEAKER AND DOUGLASS ALUMNI DON HICKMAN:
“Let’s Stay Together”
Introduction:
Before
I begin, allow me to thank all of the spouses of our Douglass Alumni. You have attended our biennial reunion every
other year. You listen to us tell the
same ole stories and you pretend you have never heard the stories. Your being here really adds a lot to the reunion. Thank you for coming to celebrate with us.
A
special thanks to Calvin Sneed, our webmaster.
When I travel around the country and talk about this alumni association,
I refer my colleagues to our website.
After reading our website, they marvel and the work you have done here.
I offer this caution. Don’t get so busy
making widgets that you forget what an outstanding widget factory we have
created. This alumni association can
become even greater than it is today if we work together.
We are here this afternoon to memorialize former schoolmates and friends whom we have lost since our last reunion in 2013. Thank you for allowing me to be the speaker for this occasion. I hope that I am inspired to say something that causes you to bring our former schoolmates and friends back into the forefront of our minds.
Perhaps,
not all the people we memorialize today lived perfect lives. But, like you and I. they tried to live their
lives full of hope while overcoming the struggles they faced. As we think about the lives of our deceased
friends, some who left us far too soon, we are led to think of our own lives. As we grow older, we are forced to contemplate
questions of our own mortality.
The last class graduated from DHS on June 7,
1966. If you’re counting, that was 49
years ago. This weekend, 49 years after
the closing of DHS, you and I continue to celebrate the traditions and legacy
that was Douglass School.
What better place to have a memorial service for our
schoolmates and friends than here in this building. Here, where an underpaid faculty and staff embraced
us with their warmth and protection. Our
faculty believed, as Dr. King, that “crooked places can be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord can be
revealed” to all of us.
I want to pause here and mention the recent passing
of former Kingsport school superintendent Dana Swick. One winter the newspaper coined the phrase “Never
to slick for Swick.” We honor his long tenure
here in Kingsport as an educator. But,
wouldn’t you love to have been a fly on the wall when he met his maker. How did he explain the fact that African
American men and women teaching black children were paid far less than white
teachers who instructed white children in the same school system. Don’t you
wonder how he explained why little black boys and girls received outdated and second
hand textbooks and fewer educational resources here at Douglass. (I regret his passing. I will forgive Dr. Swick for his transgressions
because that is what we’ve been taught to do.
But, I’ll never forget what he did to us..
I want to express my appreciation to those who had a
hand in renovating this building. It continues
to be the common denominators for the collective memories of African American men
and women who grew up in our hometown.
It was here, when this structure was called Douglass
High School that--
o
We first met individuals who became
friends for life. In fact, some of our
classmates met their spouses in this building.
o
Most of us learned to read and to
write.
o
Learned to play together and to pray together. (Am I the only one who remembers Ms. Bean’s
Wednesday afternoon Bible class?)
o
We celebrated Tiger and Tigerette athletic
victories and championships in this building.
o
We were inspired to live up to our fullest
potential here.
You know, the people in our community loved this old
building just as they loved each other.
That was the impetus for the creation of the Sons and Daughters Alumni
Association years ago. This old building
(and the ole Douglass building on East Sevier) have been the glue that has held
us and our alumni association together for many, many years. Some of the sons and daughters of our
founding members are here today. We’re
thankful for the leadership and the vision your parents shared with us.
Think about another point for a moment.
Where ever life has taken us--You and I will forever
be bound together by a common experience—growing up in Kingsport and our education
at Douglass School. Perhaps you didn’t
attend our alma mater. Perhaps your
mother or father did. Maybe it was a grandparent
or another relative. Perhaps you grew up
in a Kingsport neighborhood and attended Dobyns Bennett High School for your entire
school years. Whatever the case may be, you
are part of the Douglass legacy and we claim you.
Douglass alumni, living and deceased are evidence that
African American students from Kingsport, Tennessee have the intellectual ability
and desire to be responsible, independent, and successful citizens. That was Frederick Douglass’ chief message to
us years ago. And, that’s why we’re all
sons and daughters of Douglass!
I
am reluctant to talk about the declining number of alumni from our alma mater. Our numbers gets smaller each year. Someone might even ask: Why—if our numbers are so small now— why should
we continue to have Douglass School reunions?
I want to answer that
question. Reunions allow us to keep our remembrances
alive. Reunions allow us to stay
together.
You
and I can be big supporters of the DB Indians.
But, the Douglass reunion honors the vision of the women and men who
founded this association. This reunion demonstrates that the African-American citizens in Kingsport haven't given up on their blackness.
We haven’t given up on the things we learned from Malcolm, Martin, Maya, or Rosa Parks.
We haven’t given up on mass choirs and the singing of Donnie McClurkin, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin or Aretha Franklin.
We haven’t given up on playing bingo or playing bid whist as we slam those cards on the table.
We haven’t given up on reading Jet, Ebony, Essence, or Black Enterprise magazines.
And we have not and cannot give up on our youth in this community. They still need role models as we attempt to make a way for them. That’s what this reunion is all about.
The
Douglass Reunions force us to face the fact that we have lost many
schoolmates. But, never forget: WE are all survivors. We haven’t given up on the things we learned from Malcolm, Martin, Maya, or Rosa Parks.
We haven’t given up on mass choirs and the singing of Donnie McClurkin, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin or Aretha Franklin.
We haven’t given up on playing bingo or playing bid whist as we slam those cards on the table.
We haven’t given up on reading Jet, Ebony, Essence, or Black Enterprise magazines.
And we have not and cannot give up on our youth in this community. They still need role models as we attempt to make a way for them. That’s what this reunion is all about.
We
survived once a week chapel in the auditorium, where we learned how to behave formally
and to follow protocol. We learned proper
table manners in the cafeteria where home cooked meals were served. (What was the cost of a carton of milk?)
Many of our alumni—both
living and deceased-- were baby boomers.
No other generation has been like us.
We believe in equality and a sense of permanency. We were the ones who were going to change the
world – make love and not war. We believed
we would have seasons in the sun – forever.
Now as an adult, I realize
how many of lives lessons our teachers taught us. Mr. Gill, Mr. Dobbins, Mrs. Cox, Mrs.
Shannon, Mr. Young, Mrs. Sneed, and all the others who I won’t mention here. These role models and teachers dreamed bigger
dreams for us than we could ever dream for ourselves. They expected us to excel. (“Not
to Equal; but to Excel). They wanted us
to gain our rightful place in God’s world.
However, they couldn’t teach us a vital lesson. It was the most important lesson of all. They failed to remind us that Life does not go on forever. You and I will not live on this earth forever. Someday, we, too, will die and ascend to meet our maker.
Someone once referred to this the potato salad lesson.
Like our schoolmates, you and I will all pass on someday. Friends and family will gather during a beautiful service. They will say nice things about us. They will talk about the things we accomplished in life. Then, everyone will go to the church basement to eat potato salad.
For, as it is written in Psalm 30: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning. That passage has a special meaning to me:
Every morning I have two choices: continue to sleep with my dreams or wake up and chase my dreams. When you wake up each morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love... Recognize that we can still have joy in our lives even in the midst of trying circumstances.
The Apostle Paul said it much better than me in Ephesians 4:1. He urges us to live a life worthy of the calling you have received from Jesus Christ.
Many of us are dealing with the reality of growing older. Should we be depressed and downhearted about our own mortality? Absolutely not.
You and I are Survivors.
We rode our bicycles all over town without helmets, endured second-hand smoke and the odors from our industrial plants; (You know you’re from KPT if you don’t recall smelling the odor generated by the Mead Corp);
The boys survived Mr. Baylor’s shop class and never cut off our fingers. The girls managed Home Economics with Mrs. Shannon without sewing their fingers together.
As youngsters, we went barefoot in the summer. We stepped on rusty nails, climbed trees, and never caught hepatitis. We survived riding in cars without car seats or seat belts. We survived waiting for radio station WLAC in Nashville to play our favorite song on the radio at night since we could get that music locally.
You and I are certainly survivors.
We survived cowboys and Indians on Clay Hill and hiding go seek in and around the coal boxes in the projects.
We survived walking through six inches of water in the railroad underpass as we walked to school from “the highway.” We survived crossing Sullivan Street in Eastman traffic with a student safety patrols: Can you imagine doing that today – putting a white belt on a twelve year old and telling them to go out and stop traffic on Sullivan Street during rush hour?
Some of us survived the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. We have survived tornadoes, floods, the tragedy of 911, and international terrorism. Perhaps, some have survived failed marriages, broken relationships and broken promises. We have survived unemployment, and some of us are dealing with serious personal illnesses.
We have survived raising our children and grandchildren. Some of us have survived the heartbreak of laying parents or a spouse to rest. Some of us have survived the unthinkable of burying our own children.
Through all of these challenges, we’ve continued along life’s journey. We have stayed together as a community. We’ve been committed to each other. We have gone through some of the same difficult and sad experiences.
We’ve demonstrated “friendship” toward each other and to those who preceded us in death. Friendship and Love for One Another. That should be our legacy as we memorialize our deceased loved ones today.
The poet John Dunne once wrote this famous line – “Every man’s death is diminishing to me for I am part of mankind – therefore never ask for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for thee.”
This line suggest that part of us is taken away when we lose a loved one. To lose a dear friend, a classmate, or a family member is to lose a little of yourself.
But, through all of this, God continues to bless us every day with his grace. How blessed we are to be able to hug a former classmate or to hold our children and grandchildren in our arms. Some of us are still able to tell our elderly parents, and other family members, friends, and loved one how much they have meant to us over the years.
Embrace your friends, love your neighbors, and forgive your enemies. I believe this is the heritage that our deceased school mates and mentors have left us.
Our schoolmates might
say to us today enjoy one another. Enjoy
the time you have left in this world for you may not have tomorrow. Continue the journey and let us, the living
alumni of Douglass High School, stay together.
Thank you for allowing me to be here today.
