LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 19, 2001

DEAR EDITOR:

Surely, Black Anthony Johnson's dubious distinction of being the first person, Black or White, to own a slave outright in Virginia, merits a place in the (slavery) timeline (see Black Issues, May 24).

Johnson, the first flee Negro landowner, set up the first Negro community in America at Pungoteague Creek in Accomac County. His persuasion of the court in 1654 that he was entitled to John Casor's services for life, marked the first judicial sanction of life servitude except as punishment for a crime.

The information source, Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion, was originally published in 1940. It was the New Deal era's Federal Writer's Project (1935-1943) crowning achievement. In 1992, the Virginia Center for the Book republished 5,000 copies of this well-researched and scholarly source. It is without a doubt the best of the outstanding American Guide Series.

Very truly yours, Francis Merrill Foster Sr., D.D.S. Registered Agent Virginia Center for the Book

DEAR EDITOR:

Reading this article ("Bush at Yale -- Embracing Mediocrity," Black Issues, June 21) reminded me of every thought I've had of our new president.

Ms. Malveaux's strongly spoken opinions made me laugh, until I realized the harsh truths that support her statements. How are young adults supposed to see the importance of educational attainment if our own president thinks it is a laughable journey? The statistics will definitely make the laughing stop. Uneducated people of any race, but especially minority races, remain below the poverty level. In the end, the article makes my blood boil, and I'm not even of a minority race.

This was my first look at your magazine, and I am motivated by what I've read. I will be sure to stop in next time and see what Julianne thinks of next.

Krista Ringmaiden