Author Gladys Turner Finney

Gladys Turner Finney is a long-time resident of the Dayton area spanning more than five decades.

She was born in a rural farming community of southeast Arkansas during the middle of the Great Depression. FDR was president. She graduated from J C Corbin High School in Pine Bluff (1953), AM&N College (1957), and Atlanta University (MSW) in 1959.

She is a social worker by profession having held positions in medical and mental health facilities. She has a passion for family and historical research.

Among her works are Autobiography of Tammy (1978) and Papa Babe's Stamp Collection, 1983. Papa Babe's Stamp Collection is a fictionalized account of a young boy who discovers his grandfather's African-American postage stamp collection on a snowy day home from school.

In 2016, Turner Finney edited and published Call to the Land of Promise by Frederick M. Finney, her late husband. This is an insightful local history account of African-Americans migration to Dayton, Ohio, the challenges of de-facto segregation, the evolution of the Dayton Model Cities Program.

Gladys Turner Finney's new book, Joseph Carter Corbin: Educator Extrarordinaire and Founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff  (April 3, 2017) is a biography of the founder of Turner-Finney's land grant and historically black university.

Born in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1833, Professor Corbin, the son of former Virginia slaves, was one of Ohio University 's  most distinguished graduates of the mid 19th century. Corbin was the second African American to earn a bachelor's degree from Ohio University in 1850 and later two master's degrees 1856 and 1889.

During Reconstruction of the American South following the Civil War Corbin migrated to Little Rock, Arkansas. There he was elected the first African American State Superintendent of Public Education and founded the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Joseph Carter Corbin: Educator Extraordinaire and Founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is a Butler Studies Book, $19.95, is available at uapress.com and amazon.com




  

Joseph Carter Corbin: Educator Extraordinaire and Founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff by Gladys Turner Finney

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Butler Center Books
Little Rock, Arkansas
April 12, 2017
ISBN 978-1935106-21-0
$19.95
Available at: River Market Books & Gifts on the Main Library campus of the Central Arkansas Library System (CAL) in Little Rock and other bookstores; from online retailers; through the Chicago Distribution Center at (800) 621-2736; and at www.uapress.com
-University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Museum & Cultural Center-

Having operated now for more than 140 years, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) was founded in 1875 as Branch Normal College by Joseph Carter Corbin, a native of  Chillicothe, Ohio. and the son of former slaves.

Corbin, who had a classical education from Ohio University, was the first African American Superintendent of Public Education in Arkansas and built the school from the ground up.

May 27, 2017        Book available @ Patriots Freedom Festival
                              11:00 AM-5:00 PM
                              VA Medical Center

June 04, 2017        Author's Book Signing
                              College Hill Community Church
                              1547 Philadelphia Drive
                              1:00 P.M.

August 12, 2017    Author's Book Signing
                               National Arts Showcase
                               Tribute to our Crafts Masters
                               Crown Plaza
                               33 E 5th Street
                               1:30 P.M.

September 28,       Authors Book Signing
                              ASALH Conference
                              Continental/Mezzanine Level
                              Hilton Netherland Plaza
                              630 P.M-8:30 P.M.

October 21, 2017   Author's Book Signing
                               Barnes & Noble
                               2720 Towne Dr. Beavercreek
                               2:00- 5:00 P.M

February 25, 2018 Book Available
                               Shades of Blackness
                               A Perspective on African-American History in Word & Song
                               featuring Gladys Turner Finney, author
                               College Hill Community Church, PCUSA
                               1547 Philadelphia Drive
                               12:30 P.M.

  March 17, 2018    Book Available
                              Celebration of Women's History Month
                              ASALH
                              Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center
                              16 South Williams Street
                              2:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.

  April 14, 2018     Book Available
                               Dayton-Inter-Alumni Council of the United Negro College Fund               
                               James E. Stamp Award Luncheon
                               Taste Restaurant- Trotwood
                               12:00 Noon

The History of The Negro Church

Early Spanish and French missionaries proselyted the Indian population but regarded Negroes as
infidels, not belonging to the community of christianity. When the Indians failed to be the necessary labor supply for the explorers in the Americas the missionaries had to consider whether the Negro should be given the same consideration as the Indians. An unwritten law held that a christian could not be enslaved.The exploiting class was opposed to proselyting Negroes. The planter feared too much enlightment would inspire hope of liberation.

Moton School-Marianna, Arkansas

During the fall of the 1956-57 school year, I did my student-practice teaching at R. R. Moton School. I was a senior at AM&N College with a major in sociology and a minor in secondary education. Located in Lee County, Marianna had a population of 4, 560. The principal of Moton School was the highly respected and legendary Mrs. Anna P. Strong. The school was named in honor of Robert Russa Moton, president of Tuskegee Institute. I taught American History and World History.

Table 1. Total Enrollment of Moton School Students, Marianna, Ark by Grade Level and Sex:
               1956-57

Grade Level   Total                 Male                    Female
                        804                   384                      420
12th                   46                    13                        33
11                       62                    26                        36
10                       86                    49                        37
  9                     115                    49                        66
  8                       34                    20                        14
  7                       38                    13                        25
  6                       47                    19                        28
  5                       54                    29                        25
  4                       79                    38                        41
  3                        66                   34                        32
  2                        95                   55                        40
  1st                      82                   39                        43

World History Class Roll            
Allison, Overt                                     Love, Claudia
Baker, Otis                                          Mobley, Clinton
Barnes, Mildred                                  Mosley, Leotis
Brown, Willie                                     Nabors, Faye
Brooks, Arthur                                    Rice, Flossie
Buford, William                                  Robinson, William
Burnett, Harold                                   Shepherd, Kennith
Burse, Claude                                     Smith, Gladys
Burse, Joyce                                       Smith, Novel
Bursey, Barbara                                  Tillman, Carol
Chaney, Ewen                                     Walker, Robert
Crenshaw, Maxine                              West, Marie
Davis, Loretta                                     Williams, Garland
Edwards, Theodore                             Williams, Audie
Douglas, Willie                                   Wilson, Precious
Gates, Doris                                        Yarbrough. James
Hope, Julius                                         Smith, John C.
Houston, Dorothy                                Wilson, O. T.
Huddleston, Ivory                                Sauls, Percy
Johnson, Elgre                                     Saunders, Charles                                    
Lloyd, Holmes                                     Harvey, Jamie                              
                                                       
My father drove me to Marianna carrying a supply of my favorite foods to begin my practice teaching. I was a 21 year old senior at AM&N College with a major in sociology and a minor in secondary education. I had heard of Marianna and its principal from students at AM&N but had never visited.The first two night I stayed in the home of the principal, Mrs. Anna M. P. Strong until she found me housing with a family. I was awed by her presence but nervous.

I could discern from my early observations that Moton High School was orderly and well-run. I did not  have any significant student disciplinary problems. Mrs. Strong knew the students, their parents and grandparents because of her long tenure at Moton and residence in the community. I was initially surprised by the young male students opening doors and assisting me down the stairs. Mrs. Strong respected the students, the students respected her and their teachers. Mrs. Strong walked the hallways. I could sense when she was observing from the rear of the classroom from the extreme stillness and silence.

Expectations of Teachers: Teachers at Moton were expected to live in the community, attend church services, participate in the activities/events of the school, arrive a half hour before the students arrived and remain a half hour after students departure, eat lunch with their students and model table etiquette. I complied with all expectations, had a valuable and successful teaching experience. My supervising teacher in history was outstanding, a young male teacher whose name I no longer remember. He helped sharpen my skills in lesson planning.

While at Moton a female teacher took leave to marry. Mrs. Strong hired me as substitute teacher for her, reportedly at the same rate. I was pleasantly surprised. I returned to AM&N having completed the requirements for my degree and unexpected money in my pockets. I received my BA degree in May of 1957. Mrs. Strong retired in May of 1957 after thirty-one years as principal at Moton High School following a long and illustrious career as an educator with many well-deserved honors. Mrs. Strong died in 1966.

American History- 1st Section Class Roll
Rosie M. Moore
Maggie Smith
Olly Neal
Mildred Smith
George Crawford
Ora Murdock
Sallie Ramsey
Bernice Roberts
Louise Talbert
Arlene Dupree
Virgil Wyatt
Connor Little
William Lee Walker
Elizabeth Nickerson
Annie L, Veasley
Curtis Taylor
Elbert Tate
Fred Mobley
Henry Smith
John Walker
Gemojar Rovale Cornelius Owens
James Parker

Black "CCC" Camps in Arkansas

My father, Willis Turner, was born in 1914 in the small rural farming community of Grady in Lincoln County, Arkansas. By 1930, he was living in the community of Tamo in Jefferson County with his stepfather, Aaron Shelton, who was a farm owner at the beginning of the Great Depression. I heard post Depression stories such as "we always had plenty of food because we grew our own and how my father who was a "a big boy  was hired out by his stepfather to aid other farmers." The most disturbing story was the exploits of a local merchant who sold "government food meant for the people." The story that intrigued me the most was the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) and the work it performed. My parents remembered young men signing up for the CCC Camps and often cited their work on improving Highway 65 South near Grady. To my knowledge no family members served in the CCC Camps.

The CCC was a national relief recovery program set up by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 as part of the New Deal to address massive unemployment of the Great Depression. The major "objective of the Civilian Conservation Corp were to give jobs to hundred of thousands of discouraged and undernourished young men, idle through no fault of their own, to build up these men physically and spiritually and to start the nation on a sound conservation program which would conserve and expand our timbered resources, increase recreational opportunities and reduce the annual toll taken by forest fires, disease, pests, soil erosion and floods."1

The President's Executive Order establishing the CCC was issued on April 5, 1933. Robert Fechner,
Vice-President of the American Machinists, was appointed by the president to direct the CCC. Its organization and administration was delegated to four governmental departments: The Labor Department which "recruited the young men, War Department which operated the camps, and Agriculture and Interior Departments which organized and supervised the work projects." A CCC Advisory Council was composed of representatives from each of the supervising departments. In addition the Office of Education and Veterans Administration participated in the program.2

The public work relief program operated from 1933 to 1942. More than 2,900 camps were established and more than one million young men participated. "The typical CCC enrollee was an unemployed, unmarried male 18-25 whose family was on relief." Originally for young single men 18 to 23, the age requirement was later changed to 17-28 and expanded to include veterans.3

The young men enrolled in the CCC camps were required to serve a minimum of six months but could re-enroll up to a maximum of two years. They worked forty hours a week and were paid $30.00 a month "with a compulsory allotment between $22.00-$25.00" sent home to their family. Food, housing, clothing, and medical care were provided.4

Within the CCC's work classification system CCC enrollees performed some three hundred jobs within a ten level classification system. Among the jobs performed were structural improvements to bridges and buildings; erosion control; flood control such as irrigation and drainage; reforestation (planting trees and shrubs); fire fighting; landscaping; wildlife protection and control; and miscellaneous emergency work.5

In researching this article, it became clear why my father did not meet the requirements of the CCC. Although, his farm family was poor, they were not destitute of food and managed to grow their own food.  Furthermore, my father was a farm laborer, therefore, not unemployed. He was also married by 1934 before the CCC camps in Arkansas were established.

The CCC Camps were racially- segregated. 200,000 Blacks were enrolled in black segregated camps
throughout the country. Where to locate CCC Camps in Arkansas for Blacks was obviously a question. Of the thirteen CCC Camps in Arkansas four were black. It is interesting to note that none of the four was in Pine Bluff or Little Rock where there was a large Black population. However, there were enrollees from southeastern Arkansas in each of the camps, especially from Pine Bluff.

The four Black CCC Camps were: Company 3776 "Camp La Grue," Dewitt, Arkansas; Company 3793, Ashdown, Arkansas; Company 4734 Forrest City, Arkansas; Company 4735, Charlotte, Arkansas. Camp La Grue was organized at De Luce, Arkansas on July 1, 1935 in northwest Arkansas near Batesville. Of the nearly two hundred young men on the roster was "Son Gray of Grady". Son Gray would eventually marry my father's maternal aunt.

Camp Forrest City was opened July 16, 1935 in east central Arkansas. Camp Ashdown was opened around the 15th of October, 1935 in southwest Arkansas. Camp Charlotte was opened August 7, 1935 in northeast Arkansas.

The 1930 Census shows Aaron Shelton, age 49, living on his farm in Richland Township with his wife of 2 1/2 years, Arned Shelton, my paternal grandmother, age 30. Members of the household were four of Aaron Shelton's children by a previous marriage, Samuel, age 21; Captain, age 18, Vernice, age 16, and Alberta, age 14. Step-sons in the household were my father, Willis Turner, age 16, and his brother, M.J. Turner, age 14. The makeup of the family showed adequate farm labor support.

The war years of World War II would propel the Shelton family away from the farm to the city for jobs. In 1942, Aaron Shelton migrated to Los Angeles. There he would find work and retire from the Pacific Fruit Express Company. He died in Los Angeles on January 28, 1974 at the age of ninety-three and was buried in Lincoln Memorial Park. M.J. Turner, my uncle, migrated to Oakland, California and worked in the Navy Shipyard. He died in Oakland on April 23, 1997 following retirement from Alameda County and was buried in Rolling Hills Memorial Park, Richmond, California.  My father, Willis J. Turner, moved to Pine Bluff, initially worked for the U.S. Army Arsenal and retired after thirty years from the Cotton Belt Railroad. He died March 31, 1989 in Pine Bluff and was buried in Randolph Cemetery, Grady, Arkansas.

The CCC helped lessen the hardship of the depression for many destitute families and the war industry jobs helped my parents to emerge from the depth of the Great Depression.

Pictures of Camp Forest City






Sources:

1. What the CCC is and Does by Guy D. McKinney, Assistant to the Director
    Emergency Conservation Work, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.
2. Ibid.
3. "Civilian Conservation Corps, Wikipedia.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.

(c) copyright

Presidential Election 2016-Trotwood

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Office is located at 838 East Main Street adjacent to Trotwood Foodtown.
The vacant building space, turned into an office by the organizing staff, held its opening on September 6, 2016, the day after Labor Day. There was a good turn out of the Democratic Party's faithful. Former Dayton Mayor, Rhine McLin, gave a rousing speech of support for Hillary.
Gospel Singer, Shirley Murdock, shared her musical gifts.

Prior to the office opening, volunteers convened in local homes. I began volunteering August 8th phone banking at two Trotwood residences.

The campaign is near its end. Four days are left before the election. I am waiting to be a witness to history, to see Hillary Clinton become the first woman president of the United States. I was a witness to history when President Barack Obama became the first African-American elected and reelected President. I volunteered at the Trotwood Office to elect President Obama.

Volunteering in a major political campaign one becomes connected with others who support the same political candidate. An unanticipated benefit of such endeavors is the opportunity to meet and take pictures with noted politicians and distinguished persons I would not normally come in contact.
During this election, I have had the good fortune to meet and take pictures with Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, Georgia Congressman  and Civil Rights Icon, John Lewis, and Anne Holton, the wife of Senator Tim Kaine. I have been inspired by all three. Congressman Lewis reminded us of how sacred the right to vote in a democracy and how he almost died to achieve this right.  You get the opportunity to meet with such wonderful young organizers as Peter Li, Chris Dingus, and Jesse Vogel whom I expect one day will be national leaders.

Sometimes, you get interviewed by the media as I did on Thursday, November 3, 2016,
and your comments and opinions appear in the Dayton Daily News: Wife of Dem VP Nominee visits Trotwood : "Gladys Turner-Finney, 89 (error) said she is a part of the campaign because of what it would mean for women to have the next president be a female, and Holton helps project that message. "Her speech reminds-not only me but everyone here and in my area-the importance of having someone in the White House who supports women's issues; the things that women care about,"

Trotwood Campaign Office

Frederick Marshall Finney Memorial Scholarship

Frederick Marshall Finney Memorial Scholarship was established by Gladys Turner Finney in 2013
to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his graduation from Wright State University with a Master of Science degree in Economics.

The scholarship is awarded annually to a Junior or Senior student in the Department of Economics who demonstrates an interest in applying economic theories and thought to under served populations.