The Corbin Times-Tribune from Corbin, Kentucky • Page 7

Corbin Times-Tribune, Thurday, July 14,1977 7 Roots Popular Novel Sends Families To Libraries Tracing Genealogy By JERRY BUCK Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) Six months ago "Roots" held the nation enthralled for eight days. Prime-time television, public libraries and Alex Haley won't ever be the same. The 12-hour minlserles, from Haley's book on his slave ancestors, not only made television history but sent thousands of people in search of their own roots. Genealogical libraries and historical repositories have been swamped since January by people tracing their own origins. "One of the biggest things among black people is that they no longer see their slave an- cestors with shame but with a sense of pride," said Haley.

"Other people of every ethnic background seem to relate to thisas if it's their own family. It has evoked this universal need of people who want to know who they are and where they came from. The main thing is that the book and the film touched and are touching some pulse. And the results are tran- scending this country." The National Archives in Washington and its branches report a huge increase in people searching through old census records for their ancestors. The number of black people visiting the archives has tripled.

"It took a while to build up the public momentum because we told them do some homework first," said Tom Daniels, a spokesman for the library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, the largest genealogical library in the world. "Just before 'Roots' we were serving about 2,000 people a day. The first week of April in one day we counted 3,700. We figure a 50 per cent increase since then and it hasn't tapered off yet." A sequel, covering the second hundred years of Haley's book, is now being prepared for the 1978-79 season by ABC. "I'm In the same position as the audience," said producer Stan Margulies.

"I didn't feel that stopping in the middle of the stream was a satisfactory ending. I wanted to carry the story to its ending. The only difference is that we now know there's an audience out there for this sort of thing." Haley, who says his biggest worry now is that the demands of success are keeping him from writing, said people around the country constantly tell him that the film mine his book. He said, "Never once have I ever uttered an inuendo In agreement with that. I don't agree with it.

I was aware that it was necessary to get the greatest possible audience and to have the greatest possible impact. I am ecstatic with what they've done with it." Margulies "My single hope was to get people to ask one question: 'What would I have done if I had been alive It was not to dump guilt for slavery upon America. I don't see any legislators running to put new laws on the books or people changing their lives, but it has gotten people to start thinking." "Roots" will also have a tremendous impact on television viewing for years to come. It, along with "Rich Man, Poor Man" the year before, paved the way for the minlseries. This bodes well as long as the airwaves don't become saturated with mediocre efforts that bore viewers.

More than a half dozen mlniseries are being prepared for the upcoming season, plus a number of multipart movies. But the most profound effect has been on its author. Haley had labored for 55 years in total obscurity, including 20 years in the Coast Guard. Then he became an instant celebrity and a millionaire. Since the series and publication of the book he has been constantly on the lecture circuit.

"At this moment. I have 802 requests for me to speak somewhere," he said. 'You obviously can't do that, even if you take just the high priority ones." Haley said he planned to cut off his speaking engagments on July 15 and go back to writing "My Search for Roots" and working on material for the series sequel. "It is a fact that my biggest single concern with all this success, quote, unquote, is that I am unable to write," he said. "I haven't written a sentence since I ache to write again.

I've lived the life of a nomad. Since I've been an adult I've been the Chicken George of my immediate family. "I wish that if I'm now a public figure, as I seem to be, that I could do it just one day a month. I deeply love to write. I'd love to go back to sea.

That's where I write best, because I learned to write in the Coast Guard when I was a cook." He said he could not have possibly anticipated the reaction to "Roots." He said, "I couldn't possibly have dreamed it if I had had been on hashish." He said he was sustained during the 12 years of research and writing when he was "broke, broke, broke" by feelings he described as spiritual. "I'm pretty church oriented," he said. "I would feel a sense of being a participant in a livini drama while writing am researching "For instance, I'd been searching for weeks for a little fact and I was convinced it couldn't be found. I was in London and ready to leave the public records office. I reached up for one final book.

I didn't find what I was looking for but it did lead me to the source I needed. Thot was a spiritual experience. Youngsters Learn Math With New Calculators BERKELEY (AP) Children who haven't yet learned to write numbers are mastering basic mathematical concepts with the help of rubber frogs, dinosaur eggs and electronic calculators. And the youngsters, starting at 4 years old, are learning to like math, says Arthur Kessner, a University of California mathematician. He developed the system in collaboration with Dr.

David Miller of UC's School of Education. Calculators aren't intended to replace traditional teaching methods, but they're a valuable aid, Kessner and Miller report. Concern of some educators and parents that calculators are a "crutch" rather than a teaching tool is unjustified in the new highly structured system, Kessner said. "Adults normally use calculators for speed and ac- curacy. We use them to teach children the logic on which the calculator is based.

We don't use the calculator as a shortcut for computation." Parents alienated by some "new math" procedures in the past should have no difficulties in helping their children with calculator homework, Kessner said. He said one study shows seven out of 10 households already have one calculator, which can be purchased for as little as $5. The calculator program for kindergarten and first graders has been tested for three years in 29 classrooms involving 800 students in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. Independent evaluation by LAS VEGAS $235 DEPARTS LOUISVILLE OR LEXINGTON 3- OR 4-NIGHT PLANS ALL TRANSFERS BAGGAGE HANDLING next departure ditei HAWAII $389 DEPARTS CINCINNATI SEPT. 20 or DEC.

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"But the most significant data comes from teachers," Ressner said. Teachers report students enjoy doing math with the calculator programs, "which are a good deal like games," Kessner said. For example, kindergarten youngsters learning to count I use a calculator with only the one, zero, plus and "clear" buttons showing. As they pick up a plastic frog, they say "plus one more" and push the plus and one keys with the new total showing in the display window. Other calculator keys have the appropriate number of dots, instead of numbers, with the running total appearing in the display window.

"The physical act of picking up the frog and pushing the buttons helps them to grasp the concept of counting, and consequently addition," Kessner said. "When students this young learn numbers they often chant them off as if they were reciting letters of the alphabet. They frequently don't know what the numbers mean and often make mistakes getting the sequence right." More advanced calculator programs have been developed for fourth through sixth grades. Both systems are copyright by the UC Lawrence Hall of Science. THURS.

FRI. Commonwealth Travel Agency Inc. 160 Moore Kentucky 'Student NOT REALLY-- These youngsters, as pictured, were not high school students in 1948, but actually first graders in Woodbine elementary school. Miss Marilyn Jones was fhe feacher. Miss Jones was well liked by her students, and is still employed by the Whitley County Board of Education.

Her students of today will recognize her as Mrs. Ivan Bunch. She lives on Seventh Street Road with her husband and daughter. Miss Jones was also qualified to teach music. There was a piano in the classroom at Woodbine in 1948, and each day of school was started by singing some familiar songs, such as "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean." The students in the picture were; Top row, left to right, Wayne Mc- Farland, Naomi Lay, Lonnie Calron, Ruby Ethel Perkins, Martha Lynn Surgener, CharlJe Messer, Nancy Poynter, Dohnie Matlock; second row, Floyd Reece, Bill Troutmorc, Richard Smith, Georgeanna Sullivan, Beverly Sue Sexton; third row, Gary Storms, Eddie Troutman, Raymond Mitchell, Ernest Inman, James Andrew Sammons, Truman Steely; fourth row, Billy Sammons, Harvey Stewart, Jackie Furgeson, Carl Storms, Miss Jones, Wilbur Bays, Earl Smith, Jake David Surge, bottom row, Phyllis Eaton, Bobby Worley, Margaret Jones, iva Helton, Joe Sullivan, Lonnie Storms and Bill Patterson.

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