Glynn Johns Reed: An enduring legacy on two fronts: Memphis and New Orleans

Glynn Johns Reed and family. From left, Reed's son and daughter-in-law, Reuben and Helen Johnson, Reed, daughter Crystal Chopin, husband Arthur Reed and grandson (Photo by Wiley Henry).

          Never one to shrink from civic responsibility or her role as standard-bearer, Glynn Johns Reed has made headway in a world where the travails of life have prevented a many African Americans -- past and present -- from realizing their true potential.

Those travails can be traced back to the slave trade. But it wasn’t until Reed matriculated at Tennessee State University in the late ‘60s that she made a conscious decision to shake up the status quo that had unleashed the fury in women such as Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer.

“All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Hamer, a civil rights activist protesting her right to vote in the ‘60s.

Reed’s protest wasn’t political per se, but donning an Afro on the campus of TSU was an outward sign that she, too, was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She protested vehemently by celebrating her African-American ethnicity, asserting her right to be heard, and challenging a system that had given rise to Jim Crow and thus permeated Southern thinking.    

“I was with a group that burned down the ROTC building at TSU,” said Reed, disclosing a decades-old secret that no doubt baffled campus officials at the time. Though she admits not starting the fire, the sideline view she’d taken was her way of protesting the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Vietnam War, and what she’d considered to be an unjust system that had relegated African Americans to menial jobs, a back-of-the-bus experience, and an uncertain future.

That epoch was vintage Jim Crow – or somewhere afterward where unjust laws against African Americans would soon be dismantled -- but the vestiges of racism and discrimination would linger. Reed thus began asserting pride in self and in a race of people that had struggled mightily to break shackles in the arts, entertainment, education, medicine, business and other noteworthy professions before and after Reed left TSU.

“I never liked working with the system. I always bucked it. I was always in protest mode,” said Reed, who was determined to find her own way in life, including rejecting that which would bind her tenacious pursuit of self-awareness and cultural identity.

Perhaps what drove Reed’s awareness of self early on and her afro-centric bent is the fact that she grew up in the Douglass community in Memphis where the center of her universe was speckled with black people: friends, neighbors, school chums, “Mom and Pop” businesses.

“I thought it was more black people in the world,” she said, “because I grew up in a sheltered black neighborhood and went to black schools and college.”

But then something happened after Reed ventured beyond the periphery of the Douglass community in pursuit of a higher calling. “It was a culture shock when I found out there were more white people than us,” said Reed, who would solidify her pro-black stance and look for opportunities to promote the African-American experience. She also would start budding as an entrepreneur and take on a few jobs in between to support herself.

But the spark that first ignited Reed’s passion for serving her people has not been extinguished to this day – for she’s since championed from Day 1 many causes and endeavors to help as many African Americans get ahead as possible in Memphis, where she was born, and in New Orleans, a city that has shaped who she’s become today. And those who benefit the most from her sensibility and sensitivity to the African-American cause understand what motivates her to succeed.

Success, in large part, is predicated upon the persistent effort that a person puts into his or her work. And Glynn Johns Reed, who has made an inedible mark in the African-American community in both cities, doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

And why should she?

          Because Reed is at the apex of her career and has always been at the ready when transacting business or managing to be in the right place at the right time in history. Each step forward, for example, has ensured her legacy and a luminous vita in the annals of history.

Creating a business climate in New Orleans…

After graduating from Douglass in 1966 and receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from TSU in 1971, Reed worked as a bookkeeper for the Memphis Urban League, took an administrative job in a sickle cell office, set up an office for acupuncturist Dr. I.K. H. Chang, worked as a commodities broker, and left for New Orleans in 1976, where she began honing her entrepreneurial skills and investing sweat and equity in the community.

            Though Memphis was slow to satisfy Reed’s insatiable appetite for social and cultural uplift, the “Big Easy,” on the other hand, drew Reed to the arts, entertainment, food, music, the business community, and the granddaddies of them all -- the Jazz Fest and the Mardi Gras. The collective experience – which started when she first set foot in New Orleans -- is simply “electric,” she said.

           “The first thing I want when I get to New Orleans is an overstuffed Shrimp Po’ boy.”

           After Reed’s acclimation to New Orleans’ culture, the entrepreneurial ideas in her head started churning. In no certain order she launched the Message Board Telephone Answering Service, started publishing the Black Pages to promote black businesses, taught aspiring models at the Barbizon School of Modeling and managed the agency for a year, performed in over 50 television commercials and movies, became a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild, and was the first black concierge hired at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, next to the Super Dome.

            “People like Dr. J (Julius Erving) and Pelé (a Brazilian soccer player) were staying at the hotel and would ask me where they could find a black restaurant or a black cab company,” said Reed, who would soon launch “An Official Guide to New Orleans,” the precursor to “The Black Pages New Orleans,” after she herself couldn’t find someone to shape her Afro. 

            “I love Memphis, but my heart is in New Orleans,” said Reed, who, within 20 years, solidified her reputation as a businesswoman and became an inextricable part of the city’s cultural mix. Her sojourn to the city along with her business acuity has enabled her to network effortlessly between Memphis and New Orleans, which earned her the moniker of “master networker.”

            It was Reed’s networking ability that enabled her to bring the first Black rodeo to New Orleans in September of ’95. The Cherokee Bill Wild West Rodeo was held at the University of New Orleans - Lakefront Arena, which honored noted cowboys such as Nat Love, also known as Deadwood Dick (1854-1921), Willie M. “Bill” Pickett (1870-1932), and James P. Beckwourth (1798-1866).

           “I introduced that culture to New Orleans,” said Reed, who was living in Memphis at that time. “People never realized there were real Black cowboys.”

           Though Reed’s parents never ventured outside the Douglass enclave to live, Reed wanted something else. So she created a haven in New Orleans that has earned her kudos from the elite and people in the community where she has a vested interest in creating a climate for African Americans to succeed.

           Reed’s two decades in the cultural mecca included building a family structure. Her son, Reuben Johnson, was born in Nashville, but enrolled in first grade at St. Louis Cathedral School. He graduated from St. Augustine High School, both within the Catholic Church, and afterward attended Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La.

Reed’s daughter, Crystal Chopin, was born in New Orleans, and lived there for a while after she obtained her Business Administration degree at the University of Tennessee. She now lives in Memphis, after evacuating from Hurricane Katrina, and works with her mother as the multi-media coordinator for the Black Pages.   

           Reed raised Crystal and Reuben on the culture, pizzazz and splendor of New Orleans and once lived at Gov Nicholls and Dauphine, and at 601 Esplanade and Charters in The French Quarter. “When my son became an adult, he thanked me for raising him in The French Quarter,” said Reed, who’d learned much about living in an international environment as did her children.

“In New Orleans, it doesn’t matter if you’re black, white or Ethiopian. It’s a melting pot of cultures,” said Reed, recalling the blues song “Let the Good Times Roll” as an example of how she’s lived her life.

The advent of Juneteenth…

            Reed moved back to Memphis in 1991 after folding the Black Pages that she’d started in 1978. “We had a brain drain,” she explained. “When it was time to deliver the Black Pages, businesses had shut down. People were struggling and the city couldn’t cut the grass on the neutral (median) grounds.”

            Networking had come relatively easy -- perhaps innate -- for Reed. Although she left behind the ambience of New Orleans – temporarily, that is – another idea was planted in 1993 that took root in Memphis: The Juneteenth Freedom & Heritage Festival.

            Reed said the idea had come to her after her pastor at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church had requested that she oversee the June birthday month celebration, since her own birthday is in June. “We did a Juneteenth program and 27 people showed up on a Friday evening. So they said, ‘You must take this to the community.’ So we took it to Douglass Park because of the shade trees.”

            Reed had given much consideration to the aggregation of people and wrote a proposal called “Summer in the Shade.” She presented the proposal to the executive director of Memphis in May, then a burgeoning organization celebrating the rich culture and historical significance of faraway countries to Memphis. Needless to say, the proposal didn’t go anywhere in the MIM organization.

            The first time that MIM saluted the Netherlands, Reed was busy in the office working as a bookkeeper after answering an ad in the classifieds of the local daily. The job lasted about five months, she said. During that time, “I saw how they put Memphis in May together, and it wasn’t rocket science. Their poster unveilings were also an inspiration to me.”

            What Reed had taken away from MIM was hands-on experience in organization, structure and management. But there was another side to the growing organization that troubled her the most: the artist contract-for-hire.

“If it had not been for Memphis in May, there might not have been a Juneteenth,” concedes Reed, who was teaching inner-city preteens, teens and young adults the importance of etiquette and social grace at her own Ms. Glynn’s Charm and Finishing School. Over 300 participants would graduate.

The festival has grown considerably; drawing approximately 45,000 festivalgoers during its annual three-day run in late-June. It is an anchor in North Memphis and undoubtedly one of Reed’s crowning achievements. However, after 18 years at the helm, Reed has moved on, choosing to re-focus instead on the Black Pages New Orleans.

“New Orleans is for me,” said Reed, who commutes to and fro, and still the master networker. “I want to be buried there.”

The ‘60s and ‘70s had opened Reed’s eyes to the systemic problems that negatively affected African Americans. But Reed found another way to sidestep those problems and focus on the culture, heritage and entrepreneurial spirit of her people.

Bringing African American culture and heritage into the spotlight is second nature to Reed. In 88 years, for example, the “Sojourner Truth Memorial Time Capsule” that Reed and her husband buried on June 19, 2000, in Robert R. Church Park in downtown Memphis will be unearthed to reveal the historical items from Memphis’s first Black mayor, Dr. Willie Herenton, the late photojournalist Ernest Withers, and other contributors. The time capsule was the climax of the 7^th Annual Juneteenth Freedom & Heritage Festival.

“For me, it was about blackness,” said Reed, ending the conversation with her motto: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.”

  

Shocking new book: “Who Murdered Elvis?”

In "Who Murdered Elvis?" Stephen B. Ubaney combs through a mountain of research to arrive at this conclusion: Elvis Presley was murdered by the Mob or FBI and a government cover-up ensued.

            There have been numerous claims of Elvis sightings and unsubstantiated assertions that the “King” of rock ‘n’ roll is living incognito during his waning years on a remote island somewhere to escape the mental and physical exertion of super stardom.

Ah…but there is another theory – one that a New York-based author says is unequivocally true: Elvis Aaron Presley was murdered by the Mob (Mafia) or the FBI. In a 116-page book titled “Who Murdered Elvis?” Stephen B. Ubaney claims the entertainer was murdered and that a cover-up ensued. He arrived at this conclusion after spending years investigating Elvis’ death.

Stephen Ubaney visiting Graceland with his family in 1979.

            “This is the only book ever published that explains why, how and who murdered Elvis Presley,” said Ubaney. The book costs $17.99 and will be available Aug. 15 at The Booksellers at Laurelwood Memphis. The information within debunks many of those decades-old myths, Ubaney said. 

For the tens of thousands of Elvis fans around the world who’re looking for new material or a keepsake, they will relish “Who Murdered Elvis?” while celebrating the singer’s 35^th anniversary of his death here in Memphis during the week of Aug. 10-18. It’s an intriguing book that links Elvis’ death to a government cover up.

“History will be rewritten with my book,” said Ubaney, noting that the book is a definitive account of what really happened to Elvis. “The cold case will be solved and a murderer will be found. ‘Who Murdered Elvis?’ launches the full criminal investigation that was ignored in 1977 by all levels of government.”

            The answers to Elvis’s death lie within the book and reveal a startling new “truth” that Ubaney claims he’s uncovered. “All of the witnesses who found the body told different stories from where the body was found to when the 911 call was placed and the sequence of events of Elvis’ final hours,” he said.

Elvis Presley's gravesite.

            Two years after Elvis’ death, ABC News Geraldo Rivera spoke frankly about the death of Memphis’ favorite son and the city’s supposedly lackluster investigation into his death. “It seems almost as if the city of Memphis itself does not care to know the truth about the death of its most famous citizen,” Rivera said unabashedly.     

The biggest tragedy in the world is that somebody actually murdered Elvis and got away with it, Ubaney opines. “To look at Elvis’ death singularly is to ignore many obvious facts,” he said. “The cover-up and the double talk hold shocking parallels to the deaths of Sonny Liston, Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King Jr., and even JFK.” 

The Mob or FBI – or both – murdered Elvis, the author contends. It was definitely a homicide, he said as a matter-of-fact, and that “we are finally getting down to what really happened.”

It may be a surprise to some Elvis fans, but there is a 663-page FBI file on the singer. While searching for clues to Elvis’ death, Ubaney said he read the entire file. He said he discovered after Elvis’ death that an investigator’s car was broken into outside his apartment and that all of his notes and photos of the Presley death scene were stolen.

Ubaney noted as well that Vernon Presley, Elvis’ father, announced immediately that his famous son had been murdered. Despite all of Vernon Presley’s influence, no government agency would ever grant an investigation, he said.

“There was no coroner’s inquest and no DA investigation. They ignored all normal protocols of a suspicious death. Within hours, death scene photos were stolen, body fluids were discarded prior to an autopsy, and the death scene was mysteriously sanitized.”

“Who Murdered Elvis?” is a good read that warrants a second look into Elvis’ shocking death.

Public awareness…

           

            “The author’s quest to find the truth about Elvis’ death is intriguing,” said Patricia A. Rogers, president and CEO of Patricia A. Rogers Public Relations in Memphis. “Stephen B. Ubaney has separated fact from fiction in the book after several years of intense research.”

The agency is handling the advertising and public relations campaign for the book during the 35^th anniversary of Elvis’ death. Over 75,000 fans are expected in Memphis during the week of Aug. 10-18 from around the world.

A campaign is being launched to bring public awareness about the book. Thousands of handbills will be distributed; radio ads will be aired; television interviews have been scheduled, and the author will make high-profile appearances throughout “Elvis Week” promoting the book at various venues.                                             

“The book could become a bestseller,” Rogers believes. “It definitely has potential. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity to get a response from Elvis’ fans and tourists from around the world.”

Call 901.683.9801 to purchase “Who Murdered Elvis?” All major credit cards are accepted. For more information, contact Patricia A. Rogers at patrogersmm@hotmail.com or call 901.355.9009.

About Stephen B. Ubaney…

Author Stephen B. Ubaney

Author Stephen B. Ubaney, a native of Fredonia, New York, was born in the mid 1960s to parents who idolized Elvis Presley. He was indoctrinated when the singer was a household name and a worldwide obsession and spent years afterward researching his life and times.

His mother’s interest in the rock ‘n’ roll icon had an everlasting impact on young Stephen. He remembers her reading every book, magazine and newspaper article on Elvis. He would eventually read those same articles and listen to his mother’s collection of Elvis records.

By the time he was 15, Ubaney had learned more about Elvis than most people learned in a lifetime. After Elvis’ death in 1977, for example, he’d already developed keen insight into the key players and facts surrounding Elvis’ death.

A defining moment for Ubaney came in 1979 when he and his family visited Graceland’s “Meditation Gardens.” He met Elvis’ uncle, Vester Presley, and remembers wearing an official “Elvis on Tour” jacket while standing stoically watching a crowd file pass Elvis’ grave. 

Even though the photo opportunity with Vester Presley and the conversation they had were very casual, it had a long lasting effect on Ubaney. Years later while watching interviews about Elvis’ death, he reflected on the conversation with Elvis’ uncle, which inspired him to search for the truth. 

Ubaney initially had no interest in becoming a researcher or the author of “Who Murdered Elvis?” But his fact-finding ability and natural inquisitive nature started him on a quest to search for the truth. The conclusion he arrived at is startling to say the least.

The day Ubaney met Elvis’ uncle was the beginning of his journey and the eventual rewriting of history. 

Marchand steps into his destiny as the ‘King of Copy’

Percy J. Marchand and the staff of NOLA Copy & Print, LLC.

Trumpeters played rhythmic music and a tuba player added the low-pitched baritone sound that announced the May 29, 2010 grand opening of NOLA Copy & Print, LLC, at 2051 Caton St., Suite B, in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. The musical entrée reverberated from the instruments of The Troy Sawyer Group, known for its soulful, innovative Nu-Jazz sound, and likewise from the Grammy-Award winning Rebirth Brass Band, which played sweet, New Orleans-style brass band music, the kind that a drum major could proudly step to.

Two years later, the sweet, flavorful sound of New Orleans music that Percy J. Marchand and his staff relished that wondrous day helped to usher in grand openings for two more NOLA Copy & Print locations – one at 3401 South Broad St. in the Uptown section of New Orleans and the other at 9301 Lake Forest Blvd. in New Orleans East – both taking place on Saturday, June 9, 2012.

“The building that we’re in is a beautiful, historic building,” said Marchand, referring to the 1,300 sq. ft. Uptown location. The Gentilly location, he said, is about 1,800 sq. ft. of office/retail space and the New Orleans East location is 2,500 sq. ft., which he calls the “Print Super Center.”

“It has a wide variety of machinery, photography studio and 6 Internet rental stations,” he said.

The expansion of NOLA Copy & Print is not a surprising or awkward move for a young entrepreneur who has a special kind of zeal and business acumen to match his winning personality. With an acute sense for business development, Marchand was bound to reach yet another milestone in his pursuit of excellence, which can be traced back to a family that spawned talented entrepreneurs.

Marchand’s father, George Marchand Sr., is an independent contractor. His mother, Janice Marchand, is a retired public school teacher who taught English for 40-plus years. And each one of Marchand’s siblings has been pretty successful at his or her own endeavor.

Marchand has two brothers and two sisters. One brother has his own company and the other one is employed at their father’s construction company. The younger of two sisters is a beautician and the oldest one is a production assistant at NOLA Copy & Print. A niece also works for the company.

“Growing up in our household, my parents would always encourage us to be creative…to think outside the box,” says Marchand, 31, recalling his parents’ wisdom. So it stands to reason or perhaps it was a foregone conclusion in the household that Percy Marchand, the youngest member of the clan, would become an entrepreneur and one day take New Orleans by storm and literally blow the competition away in the copy and printing business.

“We have a real strong presence in New Orleans and we interact with many people and organizations -- whether it’s giving back to the community or providing our business services,” says Marchand, working thrice as hard, including 20-hour days, to achieve more than a modicum of success. “We also have a reputation for getting large jobs out with a quick turn-around time.”

The business world is not for the timid or for those without purpose or direction. From the onset, Marchand knew what his life’s work would be and what he wanted to do with it. In retrospect, it was the tinkering and exploration of computer programs that a then-14-year-old lad would use to launch a business that would grow exponentially and inevitably shape his future and those he would eventually employ.

“When I was in the 8^th grade, my mom purchased a computer, and I think I stayed on it for about 36 hours exploring all the different programs. I had to pay for all the ink and I started charging to print,” says Marchand, recalling the experience that triggered his entrepreneurial pursuit and thus unleashed a floodgate of ideas.

So while boys of the carefree age of 14 generally occupy their time with playthings, Marchand was busy laying a rock-solid foundation upon which he would build a business enterprise that would eventually catapult him to the top in the copying and printing industry and secure a place for him as one of New Orleans’ most esteemed businessmen.

Moving the business forward…

It all started in the Marchand household in Uptown New Orleans when young Percy was a freshman at St. Augustine High School. He was filling print orders for small clients then while juggling the rigors of school and his new business, Marchand Printing. With savvy to match, even at this young age, the up-and-coming businessman was producing and photocopying documents for local businesses, schools, organizations and other clients.

Although his newfound business was relatively small at the time and yet growing, Marchand would graduate with honors from St. Augustine in 1999. He was active, smart, astute, athletic and gifted musically, playing with relative ease the saxophone and piano. The school's first band director, Edwin H. Hampton, selected him as a drum major in his senior year for the world-famous “Marching 100.” He also was named as a National Merit Semi-Finalist.

Then it was off to Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit-Catholic institution. Business of course was still foremost in his mind, and he would pursue it with just as much determination as his course work. Two years later he moved his business out of his parents’ home. “It was my first experience outside the house,” says Marchand. Then he moved the business two more times.

Though not surprising to some, Marchand was named the North American Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year for Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas in 2001. He even served as vice-president of the Student Government Association at Loyola, president of The Black Student Union, and was initiated in 2000 into the Rho Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Marchand graduated as a “Top Ten Senior” in 2003 from Loyola with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration.

On August 23, 2005, Marchand moved Marchand Ink into a larger suite from a smaller office at 3869 Gentilly Blvd., which he’d occupied since 2001. But then the unexpected happened – the finale to what had been a successful journey for an enterprising entrepreneur. Just a few days after the move, a ferocious Category 4 hurricane named Katrina cut a swath of devastation along the Gulf Coast and left in its wake a heap of rubble, twisted steel and topsy-turvy lives. The city of New Orleans lay in ruin and so were the people who found themselves displaced with no choice but to leave behind their beloved city until they could return to piece together their fragmented lives.

Marchand and his family fled to Houston. At that time, Marchand Ink had been preparing to make headway in the copy and printing business. But the company was submerged in 3 feet of murky water that caused $50,000 in flood damage to the uninsured property and equipment. Depression would overtake the businessman, leaving him dispirited while he searched for the inner-strength to rebuild his life and business – for Katrina had plowed a gaping hole that took Marchand’s faith to plug.

Renewed vigor…

There was nothing left for Marchand to do but retool and essentially start anew. Six months after Katrina, he did just that. He was back in business by May of 2006. “Basically I started over from scratch with no insurance,” said the life-long resident of New Orleans.

Marchand was back with renewed vigor, with a sense of purpose. Aside from his business interest, he found himself drawn to public service. In 2007, he campaigned for the 95^th District seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives during the October 20, 2007 election. The following year, he stumped for a seat on the Orleans Parish School Board from the 6^th District. He lost both races, but gained invaluable experience nonetheless.  

While retooling, rebuilding and reestablishing a foothold in the copy and printing business, the unexpected happened again. This time Marchand Ink went up in smoke on November 1, 2009, along with Renaissance Hall, another business of Marchand’s that opened at the same location in June of 2009. The fire ravaged both businesses. A fallen power line had caused the fire, said Marchand, who was just 28 years old then and completely dejected and devastated.

Marchand was also beset by personal challenges as well, including the deaths of close friends and relatives. But the fire, he said matter-of-fact, was the toughest he had to face. However, not everything that happened to the Teflon businessman between Katrina and the fire would stick. He refused to give up. For example, he won a $1,000 Idea Café’s Pilot Grant in 2006, beating 1,700 applicants in the national competition. He also won $20,000 in the 2008 Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series Business Plan Competition.

Marchand is not the kind of businessman who would give up or wallow in self-pity. His accomplishments, awards and accolades started pouring in at the onset of his career: Loyola University College of Business's Young Alumnus of the Year; Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year for Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas; Neighborhood Development Foundation's Small Business of the Year; and one of New Orleans Magazine's People to Watch. He has served as executive director of CareCorp, LLC, chairman of the board of the Gert Town Revitalization Initiative, and a member of the St. Augustine High School Alumni Advisory Board as well as the school’s Young Alumni Association.

Because of his string of successes, Marchand has been featured in the London Times Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine, City Business Magazine, The Louisiana Weekly, The Clarion Herald, BIZ New Orleans Magazine, and appeared on the covers of the Times Picayune Money and Living Sections. He was also featured on PBS's Nightly Business Report and on WWL-TV4, WDSU-TV6, WGNO-TV26, and WVUE-TV8 television stations.

‘It’s just work and dedication…’

       Marchand has weathered several storms of the worst kind, perhaps because he was always willing to work harder than the competition to build his business enterprise. With the expansion of NOLA Copy & Print, LLC, he has earned the moniker “King of Copy.”

       The three copy and printing centers offer full-service black and white and color copies, large format and blue print copies, laminating, binding, faxing and scanning, in addition to computer/Internet rental stations, office supplies, and much more.

Commercial clients include businesses, schools, organizations and many others across the metro area and throughout the United States. The company produces business cards, flyers, letterheads, envelopes, newsletters, brochures, notecards, labels, multi-part forms, logo design, publication layout, wedding accessories, funeral and special event printing publications, and digital photography.

“The areas where we expanded to - I think the services are needed there,” says Marchand. “We’re definitely still recovering after the storm. I’ve been blessed and I’m doing my best to bless the areas where I’m going to do business.”

Now that Marchand is back in full swing, he ultimately wants to open two more locations and afterward offer franchising opportunities. He also wants to create more jobs. Sixteen people are currently working at NOLA Copy & Print, LLC.

“I want to move outside of New Orleans - Lafayette and Baton Rouge,” says Marchand, who took time to start and direct a program called YouthStartUp.com, a six-week business internship. The program provides educational, entrepreneurial, and life-skills development courses for at-risk youth ages 14 to 21. He also founded the African-American Leadership Conference, a three-day conference aimed at retaining college-educated African-Americans in the City of New Orleans.

“When you’re young and trying to do something, nobody takes you serious,” he added.

Does Marchand consider himself a role model? “In my mind, there’s nothing I’ve done that anybody else can’t do. I didn’t have a golden spoon. It’s just work and dedication. Anybody is capable of that,” he says.

       But not many people have the wherewithal to be the kind of drum major that Percy Marchand has been.

NOLA Copy & Print locations:

• Gentilly: 2051-B Caton St. (next to the Caton Street Post Office). Office hours: Monday-Friday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Telephone: (504) 304-9140. Website: www.NolaCopy.com.

• Uptown: 3401 South Broad St.; Telephone: (504) 821-4001

• New Orleans East: 9301 Lake Forrest Blvd.; Telephone: (504) 241-2740.

Juneteenth 2012 salutes African-American educators

Juneteenth is a jubilant celebration marking an end to slavery in the United States. It is an annual celebration now in dozens of cities and states -- including Memphis, where the Juneteenth Freedom & Heritage Festival marks its 19^th year in historic Douglass Park June 15-17 -- that recognizes the long-fought battle over African-American bondage and the long wait for freedom.

But this sordid epoch in human history only reminds us that we have come a long way and yet have a long way to go to achieve equity, parity, justice and freedom for all God’s children. For example, African Americans were prohibited from reading and writing for fear it would encourage revolt, improve their comprehension abilities, and thus improve their lot in life. That’s why we’re saluting African-American educators for their tireless work in education and their commitment to improving the lot of African-American children and others in the school system here and elsewhere.

Would you believe there were anti-education laws on the books that prohibited the teaching of slaves? Case in point: There was a law in Alabama in 1832 that fined a person $250-$500 for educating a slave. And then there was Brown v Board of Education (1954), a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. This landmark case overturned Plessy v Ferguson (1896), which allowed state-sponsored segregation.

Today, as it was then, an educated person -- whomever he or she is or whatever creed or color he or she happens to be -- stands a better chance of weathering storms of resistance in the struggle for civil rights, human rights, human dignity and respect, and the pursuit of education. African Americans have made significant accomplishments and gains in education both as teachers and students: Marva Collins, who founded the Westside Preparatory School in 1975 in an impoverished neighborhood in Chicago; Booker T. Washington, an author, orator, political leader, educator and reformer who presided as president of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University); and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator and civil rights leader who started a school in Daytona Beach, Fla., that became Bethune-Cookman University.

Educators today have much to contend with. While African-American educators such as Collins, Washington and Bethune were instrumental in creating educational opportunities for African Americans, they succeeded in spite of the turbulent racial climate of the day by making gallant strides to ensure their students’ educational attainment. 

Education reform is now sweeping America. In the recent past, No Child Left Behind undoubtedly was the most significant reform efforts in the United States, which determined success by good scores on standardized tests in reading and math and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on student test scores. Now in Memphis, many teachers are feeling the anguish and the possible termination of their jobs when Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools officially merge during the 2013 school year. 

Educators are necessary in society if the people are going to move forward. We all owe a debt of gratitude to teachers who spend six to eight hours in the classroom teaching the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic so our children can become productive members in society. So this year we salute African-American educators for enriching our minds and enabling us to compete in a world still wrought in inequity. In many cases, the playing field is still uneven.