 This Texas Highways’ web story is one of the most important news stories I have ever reported. It bolsters my award-winning journalism experience and current pursuit of the Ph.D. in history at the University of North Texas. Further, it contributes to research about Emily West and Hendrick Arnold, the two mixed-race African American historic figures who will forever be celebrated for their contributions to the Texas Revolution.Read about my journey to graduate schoolWhen I received an email from Texas Highways magazine asking if I would be interested in reporting about the Alamo’s first statues honoring African Americans who were part of the Texas Revolution, I squeezed it into my overcrowded schedule. What I discovered about them confirmed the wisdom of my late former Abilene Christian University mentor, Dr. Charlie Marler. During a phone call in December 2020, he said,“There aren’t enough African American historians. I want you to go back to school to become a historian!” Read my memorial blog series about Dr. MarlerI am so glad I listened and followed Dr. Marler’s order to go back to school and that he witnessed my graduate studies in the history program at the University of Texas at Arlington. That achievement was possible thanks to scholarships from Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, the president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and he is also UTA professor emeritus. I look forward to researching, reporting, writing, and publishing many more neglected Black history stories for multimedia platforms, magazines, newspapers, academic journals, books, and yes, my future dissertation!
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From Journalism to African American History in Texas UTA Professor Emeritus Dr. William Dulaney presented me with his family's scholarship, Aug. 17, 2021, at the African American Museum of Dallas. The scholarship is for fall 2021 history graduate courses at UTA. Photo by Melinda Knott. I am proud to announce I was awarded a scholarship from the Dulaney Family Fund for my fall 2021 graduate studies in history at the University of Texas at Arlington. I received the scholarship in August 2021 from UTA Professor Emeritus William Dulaney, Ph.D., who is also Deputy Director/COO of the African American Museum of Dallas.  I earned a perfect score on my Caribbean history map quiz, thanks to lots of studying, tutoring, and backup map review from friends Melinda and John Knott. See the quiz in the link below. Photo taken 10.26.21 by BreAna Whiting, Download my map quiz here.Currently, I am enrolled part-time in the master’s in history program at UTA. My long-term goal is to earn a doctorate degree specializing in African American history in Texas. I decided to follow the advice of my former Abilene Christian University Communication Law Professor Dr. Charles Marler, who encouraged me to pursue becoming an African American historian. He said there aren't enough Black historians and that I had the wherewithal to become one. Wow! He shared that advice after I told him about two of my Texas Highways magazine stories. I listened and am almost finished with my first semester. Returning to graduate school was definitely the right step. The courses are intellectually satisfying and I am well-suited to part-time graduate work.  Image of Dr. Charles Marler, from The Portal to Texas History, https://bit.ly/3C7lYal Watch video of Dr. Marler discussing libel.Narrative: The heart of history and journalismJust like in journalism, the narrative or story is at the heart of a history thesis or argument. And, as importantly, I use my award-winning journalism expertise in fascinating new ways in my history courses. For example, I recently posted two summaries of two history book reviews on a discussion board. I wrote several historiography papers that analyzed various themes. In each instance, my journalism background served me well in synthesizing complex information. One of the reasons Dr. Marler advised me to consider graduate work in history is because he had studied "journalism and Black history at the University of Missouri-Columbia," which he wrote about in my recommendation letter. I was so impressed that he had studied Black history in graduate school. He also shared that well-known axiom, "Journalism is the first rough draft of history." When I graduated with my M.A. in Journalism Administration degree from the University of Memphis, I sensed I would return to a university to learn more about the art and craft of the narrative. This time, I am aiming for a doctorate in history because of the abundant overlooked, underreported, and forgotten African American history in Texas content yet to be discovered, researched, and published. I look forward to one day researching, writing and teaching that history on all platforms, in and outside of academia. Meanwhile, I keep helping organizations and clients tell important stories while enjoying a new take on a familiar ride. Learn More:
Read my other UTA graduate school recommendations:
 Thanks to Senior Managing Editor Matt Joyce for another dynamic Texas Highways magazine web assignment. In July 2021, I visited the African American Museum in Dallas as part of my story about Houston artist Cary Fagan's photographic work honoring the late Texas native and legendary choreographer/dancer Alvin Ailey. Fagan's images are in the Smithsonian Institution's 'Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth' exhibit, at the Museum through Sept. 12, 2021. You may read my story here. Please read my other Texas Highways' works here.
 Based on Ellen Meacham’s acclaimed 2018 book, “Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi,” award-winning multimedia editor and journalist Regina L. Burns executive-produced, reported, and edited the online audio documentary, “Delta Epiphany Spotlights Robert F. Kennedy’s Enduring Social Change Legacy.” This month on the 53rd anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, Meacham’s book is the tour guide for this online audio documentary. Audio Interviews Burns embedded audio interviews she recorded in 2018 of Meacham and Michael White, one of the then-children whose Mississippi Delta home Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-New York) visited in 1967, with pivotal moments from Meacham’s book. Burns also interviewed Dallas, Texas-based Melinda Guravich, daughter-in-law of the late Greenville, Mississippi-based photographer Dan Guravich, whose photographs graced the book’s front and back covers  Melinda Guravich, Ellen Meacham, and Michael White met after Meacham's June 18, 2018, book talk at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Photograph by Regina L. Burns. Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential Campaign “Delta Epiphany Spotlights Robert F. Kennedy’s Enduring Social Change Legacy” explores Meacham’s book through NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorney Marian Wright’s plea to help the starving people in the Mississippi Delta to Kennedy’s arrival in Jackson, Mississippi, and his heartbreaking anti-poverty tour. Meacham traced the horrible human hunger Kennedy witnessed and the quick actions he took to provide aid as well as the subsequent impact of Kennedy’s anti-poverty awareness campaign, which influenced his decision to run for president in 1968. After he was assassinated on June 6, 1968, many other people carried Kennedy’s anti-poverty work forward, despite challenges and naysayers. COVID-19 and SNAP Approximately 25 million SNAP-- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- recipients are now eligible for additional emergency assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year in 2021, the USDA said it would provide the increased emergency aid to SNAP participants who had reached the maximum benefit level and had not already received the increased benefits, which Congress approved in 2020. Purchase Requirement Dropped for Food Stamps SNAP’s roots date to 1939 and the Great Depression. Back then and recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people stood in bread lines as hunger swept the country. Meacham provided abundant signposts of Kennedy’s social change journey, and his ongoing influence on various anti-hunger programs such as the 1977 federal legislation that dropped the purchase requirement for food stamps. Prior to that legislation, food stamps had to be purchased. Meacham documented that Kennedy learned, during his ‘Delta Epiphany’ tour, people struggling to put food on the table lacked the financial resources to buy food stamps. Audio documentary (19:06) and transcript download (.PDF) are below.
Remembering RFK's trip to the Mississippi Delta (Article and "When D.C. Came to the Delta" Video by Junior Walters)Copyright © June 11, 2021, Regina L. Burns, Harvest Reapers Communications. All Rights Reserved.
 Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., attended Dr. Martin L. King Jr.'s funeral when he was 17 as a youthful representative of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Even though Welch was president of the NAACP Youth Council in Ann Arbor and was invited to attend Dr. King's funeral by then-Mayor Wendell Hulcher, his name was not included in newspaper coverage of the Michigan delegation's 1968 trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Photo courtesy of Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D.
TRANSCRIPT
This is Regina L. Burns, reporting for Harvest Reapers Communications. Imagine it’s April 9, 1968, and you’re in Atlanta, Georgia. You’re attending (video of Dr. King's funeral service) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. You went to the funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church to represent your city’s youth. And by the way, you’re a 17-year-old Black male. (See video of Mrs. Coretta Scott King as she lies in honor at the Georgia state Capitol). 1--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Me): “I was a senior … Hulcher of Ann Arbor.” That’s Edward Welch Jr., who holds a doctorate in Mass Communication from Ohio University. He’s an Associate Professor at Grambling State University’s Department of Mass Communication. Welch stepped into history when he attended Dr. King’s funeral in 1968. This is the first time he has publicly shared his thoughts about this historic event. I interviewed him in 2018 and again in 2021. 2--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (There): “I feel extremely fortunate … I was there.” The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council sent Mayor Wendell Hulcher and Welch to Atlanta. They were part of a prestigious delegation from Michigan headed by then-Gov. George Romney, according to an April 9, 1968, Associated Press news story in the Enquirer and News newspaper in Battle Creek, Michigan. 3--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Dropped Off): “Now, I know … way it went.” Like so many cities, Ann Arbor roared with unrest after the April 4 assassination of Dr. King in Memphis, Tennessee. In fact, the AP story reported violence occurred in several Michigan cities in the hours before King’s funeral. The AP story also reported Hulcher’s attendance at Dr. King’s funeral generated backlash from Albert Wheeler, Dr.PH., who at the time was president of the Michigan branch of the NAACP. Welch explains what Wheeler found troublesome: 4--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr. Ph.D., (Wheeler): “Did not want … him speaking up.” Hulcher died in 1999. Charles Whitman was the NAACP Youth Council’s Education Chair at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He later worked for Ford Motor Company in Livonia, Michigan for 30 years until his retirement. During a May 2021 interview, Whitman recalled Welch’s 1968 trip to attend Dr. King’s funeral. 5--SOUNDBITE Charles Whitman (Supportive): “We were very … the Youth Council.” 6--SOUNDBITE Charles Whitman (Activist): “What are some things … of an activist nature.” Whitman said President Lyndon Johnson ordered flags at half-staff. However, not everyone followed his command. 7--SOUNDBITE Charles Whitman (Half-staff): “What I recall is … and what not.” I received this May 18, 2021-email from the Ann Arbor Public Schools in response to my request for comment, “Unfortunately, we do not have a good way to research this information to confirm it in such a short time period.” Meanwhile, Welch picked up the story with his memories of an unforgettable funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. 8--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Wilt Chamberlain): “Do you recall … inside the church.” (See Alabama Department of Archives & History's photo of Richard Nixon and Wilt Chamberlain in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral procession). After the funeral on the airplane trip back to Michigan, Welch and Hulcher shared a remarkable discussion. 9--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Politics): “You had mentioned … home from Atlanta.” Welch graduated from high school in June 1968. He completed college and later earned masters’ degrees from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. In 1979, he accepted his second general assignment reporter’s job. He moved his family from Buffalo, New York to work for WHBQ-TV in Memphis. Welch said he was later approached by the station’s news management about a promotion to executive producer. In 1982, Welch became the first Black manager in TV news in Memphis, he said. He achieved that milestone when he accepted the executive producer promotion. I wanted to know if and how attending Dr. King’s funeral prepared him to become a reporter and an executive producer. 10--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Journalist): “I think all this… being a journalist.” He later transitioned to a new career in academia, which he still finds satisfying. His numerous accomplishments in journalism education include shepherding students’ award-winning entries in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. 11--SOUNDBITE Edward Welch Jr., Ph.D., (Hearst): “So, what are you … students to compete.” Starting with the NAACP Youth Council presidency at his high school, Welch has embodied leadership and courage. He attended Dr. King’s funeral alone when he was a teenager. That accomplishment is too important not to be recorded in the annals of history. This has been Regina L. Burns reporting for Harvest Reapers Communications, in Dallas. Copyright © May 19, 2021, Regina L. Burns, Harvest Reapers Communications. All Rights Reserved. More Stories from Regina
To register your team for Saturday's Bowl-a-thon, click here. Team preregistration is highly encouraged to ensure participation.(c) HarvestReapers.com, June 14, 2017. All Rights Reserved.I have longed to learn more about the great orator Frederick Douglass and that wish recently came true. On Feb. 20, 2011, I toured the national historic site in Washington, D.C. where Douglass (1818 - 2.20.1895), a former slave and abolitionist, once lived. In 1877, Douglass brought his wife Anna Murray to an 1850s brick house dubbed Cedar Hill. My tour of the lovely edifice was under the direction of the National Park Service. A riveting 18-minute video, featuring excellent actors, launched the tour. The national historic site includes a visitor's center, where I saw the video. Our guide, National Park Service Interpretive Ranger Kamal McClarin, led us through the house, which is inviting and charming. Tips if you go: Take a cab or either drive to the site, located at 1411 W. Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20020; 202.426.5961 Get there early to view the video and see it twice, if time permits Bring good walking shoes Take extra batteries for your camera Links: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm Friends of Frederick Douglass Blog: http://tinyurl.com/4exbjkw Video from C-SPAN's "American History TV" show of National Park Service Interpretive Ranger McClarin's tour of Frederick Douglass's last home, http://tinyurl.com/4te8u4b |
 About the Author:Regina L. Burns, M.A., Project+, is an award-winning multimedia editor and journalist, specializing in Black history and African American stories at Harvest Reapers Communications. Her work has been published in Texas Highways magazine, WFAA-TV, The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as well as The Commercial Appeal, the Tri-State Defender and The Flyer, among others. Categories
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