Blount Library Blog

Treasures from the Averett Archives: Averett Responds to Pearl Harbor

Just before 8:00 am Hawaiian local time, on December 7th, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor - an event which would instantly draw the United States actively into World War II, after a long period of isolationist American policy.  This blog post was published exactly 83 years after the attack began.

Researching the Averett response to national and global events is difficult, as most of the items that survive do not document such things.  Even the Chanticleer student newspaper is typically insular, discussing only those events which occur within the confines of the Averett campus or which directly relate to activities of the student body.  But World War II was different.  Articles about the war, particular relating to how Averett students could help, were published semi-regularly, even in the years prior to American entry into direct conflict.  (This blog has already discussed the Red Cross knitting efforts beginning in 1941, as well as the arrival of veterans on campus after the war's end, both of which were documented primarily in the Chanticleer.)

Below are two items printed in the December issue of 1941, likely published no more than a week after the event, which provide a glimpse of the reaction from both staff and students.  On the left is the statement of Curtis Bishop, then President of the college, which concludes with a somewhat typo-riddled quotation from Henry van Dyke's poem "Four Things."  On the right is a 'guest editorial' signed "M.A.T.," which is almost certainly junior Margaret A. Tilson.