AUSTIN– Austin Children’s Shelter recently paid tribute to Newton Isaac Collins Sr. Collins was a freed slave from Birmingham, Ala. who settled in Manor, Texas in 1863, where he was re-enslaved. After the Civil War, Collins received his freedom and became a carpenter and construction business owner, purchasing about 92 acres in 1872 in what is now East Austin. In 1891, he traded a portion of his property to buy 506 acres of farmland in Pilot Knob, near what is now known as McKinney Falls State Park. Information about Collins was discovered by Ada C. Anderson, 88, (his great granddaughter).

AUSTIN— Catrice E. Smedley, 19, was crowned Huston-Tillotson University’s Miss UNCF at a recent coronation. Smedley is a second year student from Dallas, majoring in math education. She is a member of the Pre-Alumni Council, Quiet Storms (poetry club), and the concert and gospel choirs.  She is also a peer advisor and Prayer Warriors ministry leader. She will represent the University at the national United Negro College Fund pageant in February in New Orleans, La. She is the daughter of Tedra and Reginald Smedley and the granddaughter of Ella Pearl and Willie Bruce Mooring. Smedley plans to become a high school mathematics teacher.
 
SAN ANTONIO- San Antonio will celebrate Black History Month with a series of cultural events. Beginning Feb. 05, The Carver Community Cultural Center will present the play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” by August Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. Written in 1982. The play is set in 1927 in a Chicago studio where Ma Rainey and her band are recording a new album. The stroll down memory lane stirs up rage and memories of exploitation. The play runs through March 21. Call (210)207-2234 for more information. Other events can be found at http://www.sablackhistory.com.

DALLAS- Comerica Bank Houston Market President Gary Orr announced that the Comerica Charitable Foundation would provide $30,000 to aid the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The commitment includes a $25,000 grant to the American Red Cross Haitian Disaster relief fund. In addition, Comerica will provide $5,000 and a team of employee volunteers to support Haitian immigrant and evacuee outreach. The bank also will provide web links to the America Red Cross Donor Web page from www.comerica.com and the bank’s employee intranet site.
 
HOUSTON- Carnegie Vanguard High School, located at 10401 Scott Street, joins several Houston ISD schools that placed high in the Just for Kids list, compiled each year by the National Center for Educational Achievement. The list is compiled annually by the National Center for Educational Achievment. In 2005, Carnegie Vanguard High School was ranked 7th in a report on the best Texas High Schools by the Texas Education Excellence Project for Texas A&M University. Carnegie is the only Vanguard high school in HISD with a majority-minority student population drawn from across the Houston Metroplex.

As AAN&I begins its 15th year, the publisher states the Black media should speak now or else  forever, hereafter, hold its peace.