There’s no denying the success of The Southern Heritage Classic

Looking back more than two decades ago, Fred Jones Jr. recalls the day he took a leap of faith – and a long with that leap a combination of moxie and aptitude – to create, package and brand the Southern Heritage Classic as one of Memphis’ biggest sports/entertainment venues.  

“I had no track record in producing an event like this in Memphis, even though I was traveling all over the country participating in events already,” said Jones, who started out as an entertainment promoter. Even the “city fathers did not believe I could pull the Classic off.”

Fred Jones Jr.

And since rivals Tennessee State University (TSU) and Jackson State University (JSU) were part of the equation, Jones had to convince the administration at both schools that he knew what he was doing. It was a tough sell, he said, even though the schools’ athletic directors were on board, but believed the game should be played on the gridiron in Memphis.

Twenty-seven years later, the two HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) will romp the gridiron once again on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. before an expected 50,000-plus Classic fans cheering on their favorite team, or alma mater, at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

The football game is the Classic’s signature event. However, prior to the kickoff, fans will be privy to other classic events over the course of three days – Sept. 8-10 – which includes two star-studded concerts, a parade, a fashion show, a golf tournament, and tailgating.

“You never know where anything will go,” said Jones, who was determined to see his idea come to fruition and to prove his naysayers wrong. “To get to 27 [years] is mission accomplish.”

In terms of corporate support, community involvement, government participation, and monetary value, what Jones has accomplished since the onset is tantamount to reaching the summit, a word he uses in the name of his company, Summit Management Corporation.

“As you track us over these first 26 years, the level of participation from corporate has increased,” said Jones, noting that FedEx has been a presenting sponsor for more than 20 years. “You can see the level of participation and the quality of our presentation.”

TSU and JSU can count on a payday of $325,000 apiece for their participation. The city of Memphis is reaping benefits as well, as residuals continue to be added to the coffers ever since Jones transformed a two-dimensional idea into an entertainment reality.

“You can’t deny the success of the Classic,” he said. “You can’t deny how the community feels about the event. You can’t deny that this is a quality event that has an impact on the community in many ways. The impact and the numbers are very clear.”

Jones said the combined total has been $10 million dollars over the course of the Classic. “But when you look at the numbers, the tale of the tape, it speaks volumes. Every survey that’s been done – the last one was two years ago – indicated that there’s a $21 million impact on the city of Memphis.”

But some people still think the “glass slippers will slip off any moment,” said Jones, who doesn’t entertain negatives. In fact, he has a contract with both schools through 2019. “We had preliminary discussions about going forward up to 2024. It’s an ongoing process.”

The enthusiasm for the Classic hasn’t waned over the years, which is good news to Jones, who intends to quarterback the Classic for years to come. Then he’ll toss it to someone who’ll take it farther than where he’s been able to take it.

“It [Classic] was built to get to 27, to 50 [years],” said Jones, noting that his son, Nathanial Jones, is “very capable” of stepping in and keeping the event going. “I want the event to go on forever. It will go on as long as there is support for the event from fans, the government, and corporate.”

If there is a barometer for Jones’ success, it is this: “As long as the people are giving me clear indications that they are satisfied with the work that we’re doing, we’ll be good.”

For more information, visit www.southernheritageclassic.com or call the Summit Management Corporation at (901) 398-6655 or 1-800-332-1991.

‘Debt Relief & Reparations for HBCUs’

The enslavement of African Americans in the United States is an atrocity that Orlando Matthews abhors and doesn't mind talking about. He spoke about that desolate period in human history during a recent two-day conference and community town hall meeting in Nashville on "Debt Relief & Reparations for HBCUs."

The conference was held on the campus of Tennessee State University and organized to save Historically Black Colleges and Universities from budget shortfalls, to restore Africana Studies on HBCU campuses, and to keep the focus solely on educating African-American students.

Though Matthews was one of several conference facilitators, there were others of note, including U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who conducted workshops during the community town hall meeting at Ray of Hope Community Church and emphasized the urgency for reparations to keep HBCUs solvent to avoid going defunct.

The focus of Matthews' discussion, however, oscillated between the birth of reparations, the early proponents of reparations (or government recompense for crimes against humanity), and the movement in Tennessee.

"The United States is guilty of crimes against humanity," said Matthews, pointing to the book "My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-slave Reparations," which he used as a point of reference in his discussion.

"The early reparations struggle in Tennessee was led by Mr. I.H. Dickerson and Mrs. Callie House, who lived and worked in Nashville in the late 1800s," said Matthews, a longtime proponent of reparations and community activist.

Rep. John Conyers, Camille Mabry and Orlando Matthews.

House, an ex-slave, "mulatto," widowed washerwoman and mother of five, lived in Nashville and died 70 years before the advent of the civil rights movement. She was the ringleader of a movement in Nashville that demanded justice and reparations for ex-slaves for centuries of unpaid labor.

Dickerson also was active in reparations for ex-slaves. He and House headed the National Ex-slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association, but were investigated by the United States Bureau of Pension for their part in an alleged scheme to defraud "ignorant" blacks.

The movement that House and Dickerson led in Nashville, which preceded Marcus Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, was the precursor to the civil rights movement and recently Conyers' unsuccessful attempt to get a reparations bill passed in Congress.

Conyers first introduced bill H.R.40 – Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act – in January of 1989. He has re-introduced the bill in every Congress "and will continue to do so until it's passed into law."

     The conversation about reparations eventually segued into the struggle to keep the country's more than 100 HBCUs on solid financial footing. Matthews said many of them are under attack due to funding shortages and changes in legislation – particularly the dismantling of affirmative action in some states.

"In the last 10 years, they've brought in white presidents and white students into these HBCUs in the name of diversity," said Matthews, a 2001 delegate at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

Matthews was one of 400 delegates to address the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a crime against humanity. He termed the financial hemorrhaging of HBCUs as the government's change in policy to merge HBCUs into the mainstream of higher education in order to comply with uniform admissions standards.

Have black colleges and universities thus outlived their usefulness? Matthews pointed to past atrocities against African Americans and said HBCUs are still relevant today. Other conference speakers and workshop facilitators agreed.

Dr. Abdul Alkalimat, who teaches Africana Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Campaign, titled his discussion, "Reparations and the Mission Essential Need for Africana Studies at HBCUs." Dr. Raymond Richardson, a professor in the mathematics department at TSU, followed with the topic, "The Maryland HBCU Case Verdict and Its Implications for HBCUs in Tennessee."

In the Maryland HBCU case, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Black issued a 60-page ruling last year that said in part there was no discrimination in the state's capital expenditures between HBIs (historically black institutions) and TWIs (traditionally white institutions). This was a blow to the HBIs (the plaintiff), who sought more money per student vs. TWIs (the defendant) from the state of Maryland.

In his spiel to the workshop participants, Conyers continued advocating for African Americans to receive reparations and debt relief for the nation's HBCUs.

The conference and town hall meeting were dedicated to House; the late Jackson, Miss., mayor Chokwe Lumumba; the late Dr. Harold R. Mitchell, who taught speech pathology and audiology at TSU; and the late Edward H. Wisdom Jr., director of Management Information Systems for 37 years at TSU.

The dedication read: "They gave the last full measure in the struggle for truth, love, education, justice and reparations for the sons and daughters of 'Mother Africa.'"
Sponsors included Save TSU Community Coalition (STCC), Nashville Black Covenant Coalition (NBCC), African American Cultural Alliance, HERU Fraternity Inc. & Het-HERU Sorority Inc., Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts – Department of History, Political Science, Geography, and Africana Studies.