Civil Rights Activist visits Marshall as part of Constitution Week

Civil Rights Activist Joan C. Browning visited Marshall this week as part of constitution week. The Freedom Rider told her story on the 50th anniversary…

  Civil Rights Activist Joan C. Browning visited Marshall this week as part of constitution week. The Freedom Rider told her story on the 50th anniversary of the rides.

Joan C. Browning was a Freedom Rider. The Riders were a group of men and women who boarded buses and trains headed for the Deep South in 1961 to test the 1960 Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in interstate public facilities. What makes Browning’s perspective different though is that she’s Caucasian.

“I just felt lucky to see what was going to happen and to be able to choose a role for me in it and to be able to be in a group with people that I knew would support me. I felt very lucky, I really felt like I was in the right place doing the right thing and whatever happened then or later, for one time in my life I did the right thing,” Browning said.

Browning was at Marshall University this week as part of Constitution Week. While on campus she spoke to classes about what her experiences were like.

“I was one of the few white people that was involved in the black freedom struggle in the south in the early 1960’s and the sit-in movement and I was a Freedom Rider and picketed and things of that nature. I’m sort of that oddity that you don’t expect when you read about the civil rights movement,” Browning said.

And she gave two lectures, one on civic responsibility and the other on the relationship between the constitution and civil rights.

Browning joined the Freedom Riders after attending an all-black Methodist Church in Milledgeville, Georgia. As a result of her church attendance, she was thrown out of Georgia State College for Women. In June of 1961, she moved to Atlanta where she discovered the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that would later organize the Freedom Rides. Browning says it excites her when she sees young people following standing up for things they believe in.

“When the occupy movement first started I was very excited, I thought it was possibly the beginning of a mass resurgence of young people and empower people to take to the streets literally. I’m at the point now where I can’t march very long, but I can be in the back cheering people on and doing whatever I can to encourage it and that’s one reason I talk to young people is to try to encourage them,” Browning said.

Browning volunteered with SNCC on projects in Georgia and Alabama, worked in human relations and anti-poverty programs throughout the sixties and was an organizer of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.

In the end, Browning said she still speaks to classes and groups because she wants people to know no matter their situation they still have power.

“I want them to know that young people have power, poor people have power, old people have power, and you know the great panthers came out of the model of the freedom rides. I want people to feel like this is your world and you have a chance and a right to make it the way you want it to and find other people and don’t give up, don’t give in,” Browning said.

Browning now lives in Greenbrier County and has a degree from West Virginia State University

West Virginia Morning – Sept. 26, 2013

On this West Virginia Morning, medical marijuana is the topic of discussion during legislative interims, Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker and the final…

On this West Virginia Morning, medical marijuana is the topic of discussion during legislative interims, Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker and the final preview of this season’s ‘Inspiring West Virginians.’

WV state seal turns 150

The official state seal is 150 years old today.On September 26, 1863 lawmakers in the newly formed State of West Virginia adopted the State Seal designed…

The official state seal is 150 years old today.

On September 26, 1863 lawmakers in the newly formed State of West Virginia adopted the State Seal designed by Joseph Hubert Diss Debar of Doddridge County.

   In the 150 years since, the state seal has never been changed. The front of the Seal, which shows a coal miner and farmer representing industry and agriculture, a rock engraved with the date of statehood, and two rifles crossed beneath the Cap of Liberty, has become a symbol of West Virginia. According to the West Virginia Encyclopedia, the seal was designed and adopted with two sides, but only the front or obverse is in common use.

Credit Wikimedia
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Wikimedia
The reverse side of West Virginia’s official state seal.

The reverse side of the seal is the governor’s seal. It is encircled by a wreath of laurel and oak leaves. A wooded mountain is on the left and a slope with a log farmhouse on the right. On the side of the mountain is a representation of the Tray Run Viaduct, as an engineering feat of the time, and a train about to pass over the viaduct. A factory, fronted by a river with boats, a derrick and a shed, and a meadow with sheep and cattle grazing indicate the leading characteristics and products of the state. Above, the sun emerges from the clouds, and the rays of the sun contain the Latin phrase ‘‘Libertas E Fidelitate,’’ which means ‘‘Freedom and Loyalty.’’

The Secretary of State is the official keeper of the state seal.

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent Screening

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent

Screening and panel discussion

Room 205, Martin Hall

West Virginia University, Morgantown

Monday, September 30 at 7 p.m.

West Virginia University’s chapter of RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) is hosting a screening of the Emmy award-winning documentary, Frank Kearns: American Correspondent.  The event is free and open to the public.  A panel discussion with the documentary’s writer, director, and producer Gerald Davis; producer and director of photography Chip Hitchcock; and editor John Nakashima will follow the screening.  

The documentary introduces the life and award-winning work of CBS News correspondent and former WVU School of Journalism professor Frank M. Kearns.  For 20 years, beginning in the 1950s, Kearns reported for CBS News from Africa and the Middle East.  In 1971, he returned to his alma mater in to teach and was named the distinguished Benedum Professor of Journalism. He retired in 1983.  During that time, a former CBS news executive told Congress that Kearns also worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency while he was reporting for CBS in the 1950s.  Kearns denied this accusation until his death from cancer in 1986.

This documentary premiered on West Virginia PBS and also aired on select PBS stations nationwide in 2012.  It won a regional Emmy this year.

She’s Small Business Person of the Year – and an Inspiring West Virginian

Action Facilities Management – or AFM – overlooks I-79 near Morgantown and employs more than 300 people in nine states. “In Fairmont we work for the West

Action Facilities Management – or AFM – overlooks I-79 near Morgantown and employs more than 300 people in nine states. 

“In Fairmont we work for the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation and we do the security, maintenance and janitorial for all these facilities here,” said founder, president and CEO Diane Lewis. “It’s one of our commercial clients.”   

AFM provides building, maintenance and grounds services for numerous government agencies as well, including Homeland Security, the FBI, the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the GSA, FAA, FEMA, CDC, and the U.S. Navy, among many others.

It’s an impressive array of customers given that Lewis started the company in her basement a little more than 10 years ago, with her then teenage son as her only employee.

“I told my son, I said, ‘you’re going to have to be my secretary,’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t want to be a secretary!’” “And I said, ‘yes, you are!’”

“So we started slowly, and I actually got our first contract in 2004,” said Lewis, West Virginia’s 2013 Small Business Person of the Year.

Diane Lewis
Credit Jean Snedegar

Lewis grew up in Clarksburg and graduated from Fairmont State College with a degree in accounting and another in banking.

“From there I started working, and I haven’t stopped,” said Lewis.  

In the 1990s she worked for a company in Morgantown owned by Kenny Jackson.  In 2001, when Jackson was winding down his company, he encouraged Lewis to start her own. 

Today Lewis’ son, Don Hill, manages the company’s Washington, DC offices and her daughter, Stephanie, works for the FBI.

After Lewis raised her kids on her own, she married Jackson, the man who years before had encouraged her to start her own business.  Today Jackson is a consultant for AFM.

This successful businesswoman comes from humble, hardworking roots. She was the youngest of 7 children raised in a 3-bedroom home.

“I didn’t even realize how poor we were at the time,” said Lewis. “It was really crowded. I slept at the bottom of my parents’ bed for the first 7 or 8 years that I can remember.” 

Lewis’ dad was quite bright, skipping a grade in elementary school, but ultimately dropped out to help support his younger siblings. Her mother was born in Gilmer County, one of 16 children.

Lewis describes Clarksburg as a booming town during the years of her childhood. A glass factory close to her home employed between 200-300 people.

“There were filling stations, bakeries, barbershops,” she said. “There were all kinds of businesses around that area. There was a playground and everybody looked out for you.”

Lewis’ dad, who had a wooden leg, worked for Union Carbide for 33 years and obviously had a huge impact on Lewis’ life.

“He always taught me never to be late.  You always tell the truth, no matter what – good or bad – you tell the truth and you have integrity about what you do.”

Today Lewis and her husband run a non-profit organization called Members of Diversity, helping youth from minority groups develop the skills needed to find jobs.

As an African American, she knows from experience the hurdles that must be overcome to make it in business, or anything else.

“I’ve been on walk-throughs where I actually had a gentleman, a white gentleman say to me, ‘Well take good notes for your boss, I’m sure he’ll need ‘em,’” recalled Lewis.

“He automatically assumed I could not own the company.  And then after I won, he called me up and asked if he could do anything to help me?”

“It happens,” she said. “But I don’t know if it’s a disadvantage sometimes, or more of an advantage, because they underestimate me a lot of times.”

Lewis is a director of Teaming to Win, one of the largest and most successful events in the state for small businesses.  She also serves on the Board of Governors of West Virginia University. 

“She’s an amazing leader and entrepreneur,” said James Clements, President of West Virginia University. “I can’t think of many people who are as inspiring as Diane.”

“She’s one of those good, quiet people just making a difference every day.” 

Diane Lewis is featured along with others in the documentary Inspiring West Virginians, produced by Jean Snedegar with Senior Producer Suzanne Higgins.

Peg + Cat begins Oct. 7 on WV PBS

Credit Courtesy of © 2013, Feline Features LLC.
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Watch Peg + Cat weekdays on WV PBS at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.; also on weekends at 8 a.m.

PBS KIDS’ newest animated preschool series Peg + Cat is coming to WV PBS. The multimedia property follows the adorable, spirited Peg and her sidekick, Cat, as they embark on adventures, solve problems and learn foundational math concepts and skills. Peg + Cat (pronounced Peg plus Cat) premieres Monday, Oct. 7 at 9 a.m. on WV PBS with a special one-hour broadcast of two back-to-back episodes, along with integrated online and mobile content. The series airs daily following the premiere.

Peg Cat program and digital resources focus on problem-solving and foundational math concepts and skills for children ages 3-5.

Peg + Cat is a production of The Fred Rogers Company. Each episode features two 11-minute stories in which Peg and Cat encounter an unexpected challenge that requires them to use math and problem-solving skills in order to save the day. Their adventures take viewers from a farm to a distant planet, from a pirate island to a prehistoric valley, from Romeo and Juliet’s Verona to Cleopatra’s Egypt to New York’s Radio City Music Hall. While teaching specific math lessons, the series displays the value of resilience and perseverance in problem-solving.

Peg + Cat is a multi-platform media experience  for 3-5 year olds that includes interactive mobile and online content. The property offers games and other resources online at pbskids.org/peg.

The program’s curriculum is grounded in principles and standards for school mathematics as established by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics for kindergarten and first grade. This curriculum comes to life through music, lovable characters, hilarious escapades, and imaginative problems that engage children and stimulate their learning. Responding to several critical needs, Peg + Cat will help children begin exploring math and get them interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) as early as possible. The program will also help dispel the myth that success in math requires a special “math gene.”

Download these activities and coloring sheets:

Color sheet 1      Color sheet 2     FloppyHop Flipbook     

SortySort Flipbook     BigJig Flipbook     DIY Flipbook

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