CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, February 13, 1992
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Gallery celebrates Black History Month
By Shelly Solon
Kansan staff writer
Samuel Smith's decision to portray African-American life in his art began in a KU art class.
"Everyone's heroes were
One day in class, he was disturbed as everyone named their artistic heroes.
Heres what
Europeans," said Smith, a KU graduate who lives in Topeka. "I had to ask myself, 'Where are the Black artists?'
"I found that African-American artists have an obligation to portray Black
Smith's instructor challenged him to research and find out.
life," he said. "I could have painted
but I wouldn't be acting true to my
self."
ican life.
Smith is one of four artists whose works are featured in the African-American Art Exhibit, which will run through Saturday at the Kansas Union Gallery in honor of Black History Month. Representatives from Student Union Activities, Black Student Union, Black Men of Today and UJIMA welcomed the artists yesterday afternoon at an informal opening. The artists donated their works to SUA.
Smith, who works with children with behavioral disorders and learning disabilities at Capitol City School in Topeka, said his art reflected the negative and positive aspects of African-Amer-
"Black people need to have a visual form of their culture that they can connect with," he said.
Gloria Graves of Topeka said she had recognized the scarcity of African-American art when she wanted to buy works of art for her home and
could not find any.
"If there was any, I
Because of the lack of art, Graves, also a KU graduate, said she wanted to portray everyday happenings in the African-American community in her work.
Graves, who has no formal art training, uses profits from her drawings and
paintings to finance an after-school program at Evansdale East Elementary School in Topeka. "Basketball boys," a portrait of the children she works with, is one of the pieces on display in the Union gallery.
April Edwards, SUA exhibit coordinator, said she thought displaying African-American art was important because she thought there were few pictures of African-American people in the media or in art.
"Art is a reflection of people," she said. "If there is an outward display of African-American art, people can get a glimpse of the feelings and ideas of our people."
Works by Albert Woods of Lawrence and Ernest Ross of Kansas City, Kan., are also on display.
Rico Madlock, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, is intrigued by "Heritage," an ash wood sculpture by Ernest Ross.
Project will help trace fate of Holocaust victims
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
location of their deaths.
When Louis Frydman was a 12-year-old boy,
he claimed to be an experienced metal worker.
It was the only way he could be transferred out of the Majdanek concentration camp outside of Lublin, Poland, where he and his mother were confined.
Although he left the camp, his mother stayed. Frydman never saw her again.
That was April 30.1943.
Frydman, associate professor of social welfare, said he was sure both his mother and father died in concentration camps, but he would like to know both the official cause and
Frydman said he had tried to find out the fate of his parents and other relatives, but was unsuccessful.
He once submitted his own name to the International Tracing Service in Arolsen, Germany, to test the system's validity. He said he never received a response.
"I still do not know what happened to me," he said, jokingly.
But Frydman does not joke when it comes to finding out what happened to his parents.
"You want to know as much as you can," he said. "But I doubt I will get much information." He is one of the Holocaust survivors living in Lawrence.
The American Red Cross announced Tuesday that it was launching a joint project with the U.S. Archives to help relatives learn the fate of Holocaust victims,
Ann Stingle, Red Cross representative, said that a day after the announcement was made, the Red Cross headquarters in Baltimore received 400 requests for tracings. Stingle said the project would include the use of Nazi death books, transport lists, records of medical experiments and other materials that contained 300,000 to 500,000 names.
She said that many of the victims' names had been known for years, but that the death books provided new and specific information concerning their deaths.
Archivists for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council suggested that the materials be used [2014]
brother escaped the camps when their parents put them on a boat to England.
The materials were confiscated by U.S. forces during the end of World War II. They were inaccessible to the public because they were evidence in Nazi war crimes trials.
Although the documents have been available to the public for 20 years, their bulk made it difficult to access information. The Red Cross is making a croftfilm to make it easier to trace, Single said.
People interested in tracing relatives should contact their local Red Cross chapter, she said.
But he said that he intended to trace the fate of his parents, who were taken to the camps.
Eva Edmands, Lawrence resident, said that she survived the Holocaust because a Catholic priest hid her family in a boiler room in Annecy, France.
"I certainly want to know what happened," she said, important that the history is recorded accurately.
Siegfried Lindenbaum, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, said that he and his
Edmands said that her grandmother died in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.
But the tracing project is important for other Holocaust victims and survivors, she said.
City responds to accident
Crosswalk proposed for 17th and Massachusetts streets
By Andy Taylor Kansan staff writer
Theresa Knight was 86 years old, but her friends said she could walk like a teen-ager.
A resident of Babcock Place, a retirement complex at 1700 Massachusetts St., Knight was a familiar site walking to the post office or shopping in downtown Lawrence.
"She could walk circles around anybody in town," said her friend, Ruth Morris, president of the Babcock Tenants Association.
On Jan. 29, Knight was struck by a motorist at 17th and Massachusetts streets — the same intersection that was rejected for a pedestrian crosswalk by the Lawrence City Commission in November. Knight later died of injuries from the accident.
Tomorrow, city officials will meet with Babcock residents to discuss opinions about the intersection.
Morris said Babcock residents had to either walk to 14th and Massachusetts streets or 19th and Mas-
sachusctts streets in order to cross the street.
"Nineteenth Street is the most screwed-up intersection in town," she said. "And 14th Street is too wide to walk for these elderly residents."
She said that if the city had taken action in November, Knight's death could have been avoided.
"Only the good Lord knows what would have happened, but I feel that a pedestrian signal would have given her a heck of a good chance to cross the safely," she said.
Mayor Bob Walters said at Tuesday night's city commission meeting that the situation was under review by engineers hired by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
The city's traffic safety commission recommended last year that no crosswalk be added at 17th and Massachusetts streets because it would have disrupted the large volume of traffic between 14th and 19th streets.
He said that the engineers were giving the study top priority and that the department should release its findings before April 1.
George Williams, city director of public works, said the costs of installing pedestrian-operated signals would be about $15,000.
"Depending on what the commission does, we will be looking at pedestrian signals that hang over the street," he said.
Although department of transportation engineers are studying the situation, Lance Rake of the Oread Neighborhood Association said the city should consider pedestrian safety first.
He said that not only Babcock residents were threatened, but also students from Cordley Elementary School, 1837 Vermont St., students from Central Junior High, 1400 Massachusetts St., and many KU students who walk to and from east
"The real tragedy is that the city could have done something before the accident." Rake told the city commission. "When push comes to shove, we tend to give way to motorists. What we are talking about is priorities."
Lawrence.
Jennifer Brown, coordinator for the Oread Neighborhood Association, told the commission that Massachusetts Street should not be considered an avenue only for motorists.
"Massachusetts Street is a place to drive," she said. "But it is also a place to eat, shop, attend school and live."
Graduate assistants in midst of forming grassroots union
By Jay Williams Kansan staff writer
Graduate teaching and research assistants might form a union soon.
A committee formed in September has been attempting to band together GTAs and GRAs in order to gain bargaining power within the University.
"It is really a grassroots effort," said Dave Reidy, a GTA in philosophy and a member of the committee behind the move to organize.
More than 200 of the University's 2,400 GTAs and GRAs have filled out cards saying they support the idea, he said. The committee said it would hand out the cards about two weeks ago.
"It is a vote to have a vote." Reidy said.
He said that if 30 percent of the graduate students signed a show-of-interest card, the Kansas Public Employee Relations Board would conduct a vote to determine whether a collective bargaining group could represent the GTAs and GRAs.
Reidy said the average salary for a GTA in the philosophy department at the University of Kansas was $7,900, compared with $10,000 at KU's peer institutions.
He said the University had lost quality teaching assistants because other universities offered better pay and amenities.
"KU is putting itself at risk by underpaying GTAs, Reidy said.
Howard Mossberg, dean of the graduate school, said that the salary discrepancies between KU GTAs and GTAs at peer institutions were similar to salary differences between KU faculty and faculty at peer institutions.
"It is true across the board," he said. "We have constantly been careful that increases given to all GTAs are in line with what we have given to faculty."
Mossberg said he hoped that graduate students would continue to work with the University.
"We hope to continue to talk with the graduate students about the issues that have made them feel they need to take this action," he said.
Reidy said that the group had worked only locally so far but that it had received help from the American Federation of Teachers.
"We have received some legal advisement from them," he said.
Dan Murtaugh, another member of the steering committee, said the response to the firing was positive.
Although 30 percent support from GTAs and GRAs is needed to take the issue to a vote, Murtaugh said he hoped for more.