Week 1

Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011 Character Education/Black History Month 1

 Character Education
Black History Month
Table of Contents
African Americans
and the Civil War 4 Character Education Profile: BGE
A publication of the
Afro-American Newspapers 5 Black History Introduction
The Baltimore

6 Slavery: The Cause of the U.S. Civil War

Afro-American Newspaper
2519 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410) 554-8200

The Washington
Afro-American Newspaper
1917 Benning Road NE
8 Character Education Profile: College Savings Plans of Maryland
Washington, DC 20002

9 A Look at the American Civil War

(202) 332-0080

John J. Oliver Jr.

Chairman/Publisher

Character Education Project Manager

Diane Hocker 10 Black Economy Before, During and After the Civil War
Character Education Coordinator

12 Character Education Profile: Legg Mason

Takiea Hinton

Project Editors
Zenitha Prince

13 Character Education Profile: Legg Mason

Talibah Chikwendu
Kristin Gray

Electronic Editor
William Parschalk

Graphic Designer
15 Character Education Profile: Verizon
Denise Dorsey

2 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers

 Welcome to
Character Education 2011
T he Afro-American Newspapers’
Character Education program
is designed to promote
positive character traits in our public
school students. Each year, several
corporate professionals and business
leaders join our effort and share stories
that illustrate how the building of
their character not only helps them
personally but also in the workplace.
During Black History Month, the
AFRO is delivered to public middle
schools across the region including
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore
City and Baltimore County, Howard
County, Montgomery County, Prince
George’s County and Washington,
D.C. Each publication contains the
testimonies of our corporate partners.
How does it work?
During the AFRO’s Black History
Month series – the newspapers’ most
active and sought after series each
year– we feature a Black History and
Character Education publication that
profiles diverse corporate professionals,
their success stories and helpful
strategies for planning a successful
career. Each week, eighth-graders from
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore
City and Baltimore County, Howard
Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011
County, Montgomery County, Prince
George’s County and Washington, D.C.
Public Schools receive the publication
at no cost. The goal is for students to
read the featured profiles and Black
participating school districts.
• Identify a liaison to advise us on
information concerning character
education that can be included in each
edition.
history content and submit an essay • Encourage teachers and students to
connecting what they’ve learned from participate in the essay contest.
a particular profile to the importance
of character building. Winners of the How do schools benefit?
essay contest are awarded valuable • The AFRO encourages staff and
prizes to further their education and students of participating schools to
an opportunity to meet the corporate submit stories, columns, photos, etc.,
professional they chose to write about. about the importance of education and
good character.
Why eighth-graders?
• During February, all participating
Our research shows that by the
schools receive the Character Education
eighth grade, most students have started
publication to assist students in their
to seriously think about their career
learning of Black history and to further
goals and and are more receptive to
the information shared by the business promote literacy.
community.
Partnership opportunity
How can the schools help? Corporations, nonprofits and other
• Allow the AFRO to deliver organizations are invited to become
Character Education to your school on strategic partners with this campaign.
a weekly basis throughout the month of By becoming a partner, your company
February. In addition, provide the Afro- will help provide the AFRO as an
American Newspapers in your school’s educational tool to eighth-graders
media center or library on a weekly throughout the region. In addition,
basis for the current calendar year. your company will illustrate its support
• Assist in coordinating the for professional development among
distribution of the publication within today’s youth.
Character Education/Black History Month 3
 Start Planning Now
My mother has been a source of great inspiration to me throughout my
life. She is a strong-willed, hardworking, intelligent woman who emi-
grated from Trinidad to the United States in the late 1960s to pursue the
American Dream and build a successful life for herself and her family. She
pushed me to do my best and always stressed the importance of good
grades, being active in sports, and giving back to the community by par-
ticipating in volunteer activities.

In my early teens, after watching a movie in which the main black female
character was a high- powered advertising executive, I knew I wanted
work in that industry. I began to pursue a path that would enable me to
showcase my passion for design, art and marketing. Even before I started
college, I knew I wanted to major in marketing – fully intent on making
that my career.  

I began my career in the advertising industry as an account supervisor

and began to work on a variety of projects, including managing adver-
tising campaigns from concept to production. Building on my business
experience and drawing from the skills I learned early in life, I was able to
advance my career to a broader corporate communications and market-
ing role when I joined BGE as a marketing associate. Once I moved into a more
traditional business environment I was able to not only manage advertising Keisha
campaigns, but to also learn the operational business side of marketing. This
experience has been transformational in terms of expanding my knowledge Clarke-English
base and skills.
Today I am truly enjoying a career that is a great fit for my talent and interests.
Associate, Marketing
Looking back, I credit much of my success to working hard in school, pushing Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
myself to achieve outstanding results, and surrounding myself with positive role
models.

I urge students to think about where they want to be five, 10 – even 20 years
from now and start working toward those goals. It’s never too early to begin
making plans for your future, and you can begin by focusing on your strengths
and passions – then, each day, make the small choices that you think will
bring you closer to realizing those dreams.

4 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers

 Celebrating Black History Month

T
he American Civil War, still considered one of the deadliest
wars in American history, was fought to preserve the union
of the states. But it had a nobler result, the ending of slavery
and the freeing of millions of slaves.
This change in status, from slave to free, was not something the
Union army and government did alone, but was assisted in great
measure and by a large number of Blacks. These men and women
fought and struggled alongside soldiers to defeat the Confederates.
They did not leave achieving freedom to others, they invested in it
with their lives.
With the sesquicentennial anniversary of events surrounding the
Civil War fast approaching, it is important for African Americans
to properly mark their place in history. From January 2011 to April
2015, Civil War enthusiasts will celebrate 150 years of its history
from the declaration of war to the surrender by the Confederates in
Appomattox, Va.
For the 85th annual salute to Black History and as a part of that
kick off, Black History Month focuses on the Civil War period, and
the efforts and commitment of Blacks to the cause.
For week one, in large measure to set the stage for the presenting
the struggle, courage and genius of the Black participants in this
part of our history, we talk about the times leading up to, during and
immediately after the Civil War. The articles address the economy
and politics of the period, which help explain the war, and the role
slavery played.

Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011 Character Education/Black History Month 5

Slavery: The Cause for the U.S. Civil War
By Zenitha Prince
AFRO Washington Bureau Chief

By the early 1800s, the degradation and pain of the enslavement of about 4 million
African men, women and children had become a putrid stench that stained the American
psyche.
More and more voices – White men and women, Black enslaved and Black free born
– rose in protest of the institution of slavery.
By 1804, most of the northern states had abolished slavery, but the South proved
tougher territory to conquer. In 1829, David Walker, the son of a free Black mother and
a slave father, ratcheted up the movement into militancy when he published his “David
Walker’s Appeal,” a radical manifesto, based on the language of the Declaration of
Independence, that called for slaves to rebel against their enslavers and sought to instill a
sense of pride within Blacks.
“…[H]ad I not rather die, or be put to death, than to be a slave to any tyrant, who
takes not only my own, but my wife and children’s lives by the inches? Yea, would

As the atrocities of slavery became more and

more apparent, the din of abolitionist voices
became louder.
Courtesy Images

6 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers

 Courtesy Image/ Wikimedia Commons
I meet death with avidity far! far!! in preference to such servile
submission to the murderous hands of tyrants ...” he wrote.
“. . .[T]hey want us for their slaves, and think nothing of
murdering us ... therefore, if there is an attempt made by us, kill or be
killed ... and believe this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man
who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water
when thirsty,” he added.
Walker’s “Appeal” – which also protested colonization, a popular
movement to preserve slavery by moving freed Blacks to a colony in
Africa – was so controversial that even the outspoken William Lloyd
Garrison objected.
Garrison, a journalist from Massachusetts, joined the Abolitionist
movement at the age of 25. In 1831 he published the first issue of
his own anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator, through which – in
addition to speaking engagements – he advocated for the immediate
emancipation of slaves.
In 1831, Maria Stewart, in the spirit of David Walker, began
to publish articles and make speeches against slavery, promoting
Black nationalism and educational and economic self-sufficiency
for Blacks. Her work made her the first female to speak on political
issues in public and the first Black female journalist.
At only 23, Frederick Douglass – the son of a slave woman and an
unknown White man born in February 1818 on Maryland’s Eastern
Shore – gave his first public speech, describing his harrowing life as
a slave, before a group of abolitionists gathered on the Massachusetts
island of Nantucket. Of the speech, a PBS.org article stated, one
correspondent reported, “Flinty hearts were pierced, and cold ones
melted by his eloquence.” Thus began the career of the abolitionist
movement’s greatest orator, who – after escaping from bondage –
travelled throughout the United States and overseas speaking out
against the horrors of slavery.
The collected efforts of people like Walker, Stewart, Douglass,
Underground Railroad organizers Harriet Tubman and Henry
Highland Garnet and countless others formed a cacophony of anti-
slavery sentiment that ushered in the Civil War and eventually the
emancipation of the former enslaved on Dec. 6, 1865, with the Frederick Douglass was born into
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. slavery 1818 on Maryland’s Eastern
Shore. After escaping to the North, he
Parts of this article were originally published in the AFRO, became the abolitionist movement’s
Feb. 17, 2007 edition. greatest orator.

Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011 Character Education/Black History Month 7

 Compete to Win
I knew I had “made it” when I was able to afford a house big enough for more
than one bathroom! You see, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York in a home with at
least six people at all times sharing one bathroom. I have been thinking about
my life a lot recently, and I am not too sure why but perhaps it has something to
do with turning 40 last year and finally realizing that I am getting older. What-
ever the reason, what I know for sure is that I have the good fortune of living a
blessed life - I have a wonderful wife, two delightful children, many incredible
friends, and a great career.

I literally can come up with hundreds of reasons why I have been able to accom-
plish so many of my goals and an equal amount of ideas of what one can do to
position his or herself for success. However, what I’d like to share with you are
suggestions, all centered on the theme of competition, that have proven benefi-
cial to me during my life journey:

1. Love to win – there is no better feeling in the world than working very
hard towards a goal and accomplishing it. I have found this true in
sports, school and most recently in the work environment.

2. Hate to lose – I recall crying a lot as a child after one of my older siblings
beat me in a board game or when my team got crushed in a basketball
game. While I have gotten better at controlling my emotions, it still
stings a lot when things do not go as I planned. Never forget the bad
taste that losing leaves in your mouth and use it as fuel to drive harder.

3. Embrace practice – if you want to be great at anything it will likely take

a lot of time and effort. There really are no shortcuts in this world. I

John Halaby
recently read a book entitled Outliers: The Story of Success that suggests it takes
10,000 hours of practice to master something you’re working towards, so get to
work.

4. Find people who share the same mindset - I have never been the best at any-
thing, but I have always surrounded myself with people who have skills that I
could learn from. Often these people did not look like me, did not live in my
neighborhood, and on the surface most people would not guess that we’d get
along. Yet what we shared in common was desire and drive to be the best – that
was the tie that bound us together.

There have been times over the years when I have just gone through the
motions and not put my all into whatever the task was, and I must confess
those were some of the worst periods of my life. My love of competition has
gotten me to where I am today, and I have had a blast along the way!

8 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers

 A Look at the American Civil War
By Perry Green
AFRO Staff Writer
I
t’s ironic that a nation of citizens would fight against each
other for the sake of establishing unity, but that’s exactly
what is sketched in American history. More than 13 major
battles occurred from 1861-1865 during the American Civil
War, killing more than 600,000 soldiers and an undetermined
number of civilians in what remains today as the deadliest
war in American history. But this tragic yet historical event
Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011
ultimately preserved and advanced unified federal regulation in the
United States, and served as a catalyst for the ending of the brutal regime
of African-American slavery.
Since establishing its Constitution in 1789, the United States has
governed its individual states under one federal authority, but it was not
until the Civil War that federal authority grew even remotely close to its
current day strength. According to John Huddleston’s Killing ground:
Photographs of the Civil War and the Changing American Landscape,
during the first century of American history, the social and economic
Continued on page 14
The charge at Fort Wagner by the 54th Massachusetts
regiment was led by Col. Robert Shaw, who was killed
during the assault and buried with his troops.
Photo Courtesy National Archives
Character Education/Black History Month 9
 Black Economy Before, During
and After the Civil War
Sharecropping During Reconstruction
Provides Lessons Then and Now
By George Barnette
AFRO Staff Writer

While the Civil War was effective in ending slavery and bringing
Confederate States back into the Union, it left a lot to be desired in terms
of the future of millions of free African Americans. With no real plan
outlined for the former slaves, the task of assimilating into American
society, especially economically, became a huge challenge.
The first issue: The places former slaves called home were decimated
by war. The Civil War ravaged the South, including the largely
agricultural, labor-intensive economy that had thrived on free slave labor.
Railroads, factories and plantations were destroyed, effectively ruining any
infrastructure Confederate states had in place to provide financial stability.
The second issue was that certain promises made to freed slaves were
not kept. For instance, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman issued
Special Field Order No. 15 in January 1865, which would grant each freed
family 40 acres of tillable land on islands and the coast of Georgia. The
news spread quickly as more slaves enlisted in the Union Army, but the
temporary order lasted only one year.
The last issue was that the South was going through a major credit
crisis, much like what America is experiencing now. Before slaves

AFRO File Photo

were freed, plantation owners could use slaves as collateral to borrow
equipment and currency from banks in both the South and North. “In
1865, the slaves were no longer collateral – you couldn‘t treat them that
way,” said Dylan Penningroth, Ph.D., author of The Claims of Kinfolk:
African American Property and Community in the Nineteenth-Century
South. “This plunged thousands of planters into a crisis situation.” The Southern economy, a largely
Former slaves had to create ways to feed their families. In many cases, that led to agricultural one that depended on the
sharecropping. Sharecropping, overall, was an unfruitful venture for plantation owners and former free labor of enslaved Blacks, was
slaves, but became necessary in the aftermath of the Civil War. decimated after the Civil War.

10 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers


Sharecropping, an ultimately
unfruitful arrangement between
plantation owners and their
former slaves, was necessary
after the Civil War.
Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011
Sharecropping was an arrangement, where
plantation owners made deals with former slaves
– most often slaves they used to own – allowing
the freed Blacks to work and live on a parcel of
land in exchange for a share of the crop produced.
“Sharecropping was basically using something
that didn’t exist as collateral,” Penningroth said.
“The future crop, which didn’t exist for 11 months
of the year, was used for collateral directly with
AFRO File Photo
Character Education/Black History Month
bankers in New York or local credit agents and
that’s what broke the log jam.”
This credit-based system go the former slaves
started at a deficit. While no cash was usually
required to lease any land; it was required for
seed and equipment. Secondly, if the harvest was
below expectations, then families would plunge
further into debt to the landowners. Lastly, if the
landowner had to provide animals, seeds and
equipment, the landowner could charge a higher
rate on the deal.
It was a system clearly beneficial to
landowners, who would put anything they could
into the contracts to bind Blacks. Because newly
freed slaves were now being treated as citizens,
the landowners had the backing of American
courts to do whatever they wanted to Blacks and
could do whatever it took to protect that right.
“There are stories of Black people, who
had gotten their children into school during the
Reconstruction, telling their sons to read the
contract for them and the White person shooting
these people for having the audacity to read the
contract and try to enforce its terms,” Penningroth
said.
Looking back, historians can see how lessons
can be learned from this time period. There are
parallels between the contracts between former
slaves and landowners and citizens and credit
companies today – whether they are mortgage
lenders or credit card companies.
“We shouldn’t think of this as belonging to
the past or some bygone era where we don’t have
to worry about this anymore,” Penningroth said.
“We still have problems of contracts that are
being written where one side fully understands
what the risks are and the other side doesn’t or
one side being driven into the contract out of
economic necessity and the other side isn’t. I
think there are lessons for us even today.”
11
 ‘Lucky’… in Five Minutes!
Your palms are sweaty, your mouth dry and your heart beating fast.
You usually sit on the sidelines, but today, unexpectedly, you finally
got picked to substitute – a rookie playing defense. Five minutes
left and LeBron James is charging at you fast so you must think
even faster! Or maybe you are the opening act on Alicia Keys/Jay-
Z’s “Empire State of Mind” tour. Five minutes to curtains, you find
out that thanks to last minute changes, your rehearsed 30-minute
show must now fill an hour! Or perhaps you, the new kid on the
job, prepared a great presentation for a meeting that could land
your company the billion-dollar Oprah Winfrey account. However,
the computers crash five minutes before the meeting! You will
either be “lucky” or unprepared.

They say that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Just

when we have planned for what is expected, life often throws us
curve balls. The ability to adjust separates the average from the
excellent. So what happens in your critical five minutes? A suc-
cessfully blocked shot or better yet, a defensive rebound? Or will
the crowd’s cheers for LeBron’s dunk find you knocked flat on your
back? Maybe Clive Davis is in the audience and a great perfor-
mance could create mind-blowing opportunities. So do you im-
provise and wow the crowd or suffer through 30 minutes of awk-
wardness, never to be called back? Have you prepared printouts
to quickly fall back on, or do you risk losing a billion-dollar account to a
competitor? At such crucial moments, we must prove ourselves.
Angela S. Arykot
I firmly believe that on any given day, everything is exactly the way it
Auditor,
should be. All my challenges, disappointments and mistakes are neces-
sary in the path to success, whether personally or professionally as a
Internal Audit Department
Legg Mason internal auditor. Through it all, I have learned that it is great
to be prepared, but even better to be prepared for the unexpected. The
Legg Mason
ability to quickly adjust could permanently pull you off the sidelines and
into major play. So when faced with your life’s curve balls, are you go-
ing to be “lucky”…in five minutes, or unprepared?

12 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers

 Being Comfortable in Your Own Skin
Being comfortable in your own skin means to love your individuality, up-
hold good morals, make your own choices, but also know when to seek
guidance from others.

As a child, I had a lot of great friends that I met at different times and
places. I had friendships that I made in my neighborhood where I grew
up, friendships that I made in my honors classes at school, as well as
friendships that I made playing sports and participating in other af-
ter- school activities. While I did not necessarily consider myself as the
leader or “boss” of all of my friends, I was not a mindless follower with-
out an opinion. I had a mind of my own and the courage to voice my
opinions, even when they were unpopular. Of course, there were times
when I struggled with making the right decision. And to be honest, I
definitely made a few mistakes along the way. Fortunately, I had two
loving parents that instilled values and provided guidance which helped
me stand up against peer pressure when some of my friends were doing
things that I knew in my heart were wrong.

Some of my childhood friends got so caught up in being “cool” that they

never finished high school. When it was “uncool” to get good grades
or take school seriously, I did not worry about what some of my friends
might say. My real friends knew doing well in school was important to
Cassandra C. me and they accepted me for who I was and what I valued. I was not ashamed
or embarrassed to be different because I had the self-confidence to stand up and

Stevenson defend the things that were important to me.

My hard work and self-confidence provided an opportunity for me to attend Mor-

Tax Manager, gan State University on a full academic scholarship and graduate with honors. I
Finance Department went on to continue my educational pursuits and received a graduate degree from
American University. I am now an employee of Legg Mason and hold the position
Legg Mason of tax manager.

In closing, self- confidence and integrity are two characteristics that

helped me develop into the person I am today. We all have different
qualities, values, and beliefs that make us different and special. They
key is to recognize them and have the confidence to be yourself.

Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011 Character Education/Black History Month 13

A Look at the Civil War
Continued from page 9
rights and standards practiced in the
States drastically differed between
the North and South, pitting the two
regions against each other. The North
operated economically under more
of a manufacturing industry, using
raw resources to create finished
goods, while the South depended
on a plantation system, growing
and selling crops such as cotton and
tobacco, which required inexpensive
manual labor. Most southern states
legally imported and enslaved Blacks
to fulfill their manual labor needs,
but a majority of northern states
lawfully abolished slavery. The two
cultural systems managed to coexist
under the guidelines of the Missouri
Compromise, an act established
in 1820 by the U.S. Congress that
banned slavery north of the Mason
Dixon Line, yet allowed all states
south of the line to continue slavery.
But as the country began to expand,
adding more states in both regions,
concern grew among both North and
South leaders over whether the new
states would be admitted federally
as either pro-slavery or slave-free.
Both sides feared the potential of
their opposition gaining more states
because whichever side had strength
in numbers would possess an
unequal advantage in political power.
This conflict of interest
eventually led to the formation
of the Confederate States of
America (or Confederates) in 1861,
11 southern slave states led by
14 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers
Jefferson Davis that combined to
declare their secession from the
Union or United States. According
to James McPherson’s book This
Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on
the Civil War, southerners believed
it constitutional to govern their
own states independent from
federal union interference. But
the U.S. government, based in the
Northeastern region of the country,
considered secession as an illegal act
of rebellion against federal authority,
and thus a war was born.
Four years of battling occurred
before the Confederates surrendered
their armies, allowing the federal
government to regulate the entire
country free from resistance. The
Union then began its Reconstruction
era, enacting civil rights legislation
such as the continued abolishment
of slavery that was first established
by President Abraham Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation
during the Civil War. During the
Reconstruction era of 1865-1877,
the South was governed by the U.S.
military and all former leaders of
the Confederate states were banned
from being reelected into office out
of fear that they would try to regroup
and continue practicing slavery.
As a result, the South fell into an
economic slump, while more than 4
million slaves were eventually freed
throughout the nation.
But according to African
and American studies historian
AFRO File Image
Victorious Hall, ending slavery
wasn’t the Union’s aim behind
winning the Civil War, but instead a
tool used to win the war.
“[Slavery abolishment] was
a military strategy to cripple the
economy of the South and provide
more help to the northern cause,”
Hall said, explaining how and why
President Lincoln only offered
freedom to slaves in southern
states that weren’t in alliance with
the Union. “It definitely wasn’t a
moral decision because Lincoln’s
proclamation only freed slaves in
confederate states initially. Lincoln
didn’t want to upset the support of
In this illustration colored
troops have just captured
a Confederate gun during
the Civil War. In many of
the history books, a stu-
dent might receive the im-
pression that the colored
man was distinguished
by his absence during the
war which brought about
his release from slavery.
Border States such as Maryland,
West Virginia, Delaware and
Missouri, so initially they were able
to keep their 800,000 combined
slaves.”
Hall notes that the Lincoln and
other Union leaders were more
concerned with gaining full control
of the states and ending slavery
became their most effective weapon
in winning the war. “Once slaves
heard word of the Emancipation
Proclamation, they escaped north,
destroying the Confederates
economically,” Hall said, “So
basically Blacks were used as pawns
to defeat the South.”
 Be Equipped for Success
My name is Aaron Morris, and I am a network manager at Verizon
with responsibilities for field operations in Washington, D.C. I have
180 people who report to me and they handle customer installation
and repair telephone service. 

The greatest gift a person can give themselves is to be equipped

with as many tools as possible to be included in any process. More
specifically, understanding perseverance is extremely important
as many companies, schools, programs, or any procedure which
involves an evaluation process, looks for anything to exclude bright,
young, passionate, and energetic individuals from a “process.”
However, having education is a remedy for omission, particular as
gaining opportunities in today’s environment has become more
competitive. I’ve endured and experienced some of those obstacles
but, fortunately, the power of education has empowered and pro-
pelled me to articulate aspects pertaining to business, even if later
in life.  

I graduated summa cum laude from the College of Notre Dame in

Maryland. I will finish course work to obtain my master’s degree in
administration from Loyola University in February of 2011. I am a member of Aaron Morris
the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, which is a non-profit orga-
nization supporting education reform and student achievement in Maryland.
Network Manager
Yes, education is important to me, so as far as those characteristics which are Verizon
needed to be successful. It starts with passion, drive, commitment, resil-
iency, and then ends with work ethic and honesty. I believe honesty and
hard work will provide the comforts we all seek in life. Finally, being con-
scious regarding the decisions you make will enable you to obtain wisdom
with your direction.

Afro-American Newspapers February 5, 2011 Character Education/Black History Month 15

 Afro-American Newspapers’
Character Education Essay Contest

Eighth-Graders Only

T
he Afro-American Newspapers’ Character Education
Contest was launched 14 years ago to promote
positive character development among the nation’s
leaders of tomorrow – our youth.
We believe good character has to be taught and
modeled, which is why we have chosen to profile local corporate
professionals and business leaders in our publication.
The featured individuals, time and time again, incorporate positive
character traits – such as honesty, respect, responsibility, courage
and perseverance – in their everyday lives, proving to be positive role
models in their community.
For the contest, students are asked to read the featured profiles
and choose the one that inspires them most to incorporate positive
character traits in their own lives. Students should then write an essay
that best explains why they chose the article and how they plan to use
what they’ve learned to shape their future.
• Essays should be between two and four pages in length (double-
spaced) and must be typed.
• Essays will be judged on neatness, grammar, punctuation and the
student’s ability to give insight on what they learned from the profile.
Judges are impartial volunteers and may include teachers, staff from
local colleges and universities and the editorial staff at the AFRO.
For more information concerning the Afro-American Newspapers’
Character Education Contest, please contact: Diane Hocker,
410-554-8243.

Cash prizes to be awarded

Deadline: April 8, 2011
Mail typed essays to:
Diane Hocker • Afro-American Newspapers
2519 N. Charles Street • Baltimore, Md. 21218
or e-mail them to:
charactereducation@afro.com
No faxes will be accepted
16 Character Education/Black History Month February 5, 2011 Afro-American Newspapers