They Called Me High Yellow Nigger

This is the story of a twelve year old, Robert, who does not understand the meaning of skin color. When he learns that his grandmother is a white woman, he becomes even more confused. Nevertheless, he continues to fight for what is right, and in the poetry that he often writes it comes out in his poem, “Somehow I Never Was a Boy.” His grandmother is very proud of him and his poetry, and tells him to keep on feeling the way that he feels. Robert becomes well liked by the Negro population and continues to fight for them. In spite of his love for his own people, and for his grandmother, a white woman, his own people turned against him when he wanted to be a leader for the rights of segregation in public schools.

This is the story of a twelve year old, Robert, who does not understand the meaning of skin color. When he learns that his grandmother is a white woman, he becomes even more confused. Nevertheless, he continues to fight for what is right, and in the poetry that he often writes it comes out in his poem, Somehow I Never Was a Boy. His grandmother is very proud of him and his poetry, and tells him to keep on feeling the way that he feels. Robert becomes well liked by the Negro population and continues to fight for them. In spite of his love for his own people, and for his grandmother, a white woman, his own people turn against him when he wants to be a leader for the rights of segregation in public schools. At a meeting where he is asked to be that leader, the other Negro children stand up against him.

Dr. Robert Martin Screen was born in Augusta, Georgia and was among the last graduating class at Haines Institute. He went on to receive his bachelor's degree in English from Hampton Institute, his M. A. degree in Speech Pathology from New York University, and his Ph.D in Audiology and Speech Sciences from Michigan State University. His further study also included a one-year stay at the University Iowa's Writer's Workshop. It was this period in his training that launched Dr. Screen’s career in writing, and as a result, he has published three textbooks and three novels. Dr. Screen returned to his alma mater, Hampton Institute and founded the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, which he has shared since 1963. During this period of time the department also initiated a master's degree program, and this program has never failed to meet the standards for ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) accreditation. A major factor in Dr. Screen's tenure at Hampton has been his role as Head Tennis Coach since 1970. During this time at Hampton, he has won 37 Championships in 35 years. Since moving to Division 1 in the MEAC Conference he has won 13 Championships in 11 years (8 Men and 5 Women). Dr. Screen is the only African American Tennis Coach to have won a National Championship in Tennis, and he did this twice, in 1976 and 1989 when Hampton was still in Division II of the NCAA. As of this writing (Summer 2006), Dr. Screen has amassed 982 wins. He is the 3rd coach in tennis history to reach the mark of 1,000 victories. Dr. Screen is the only African American Coach to be recipient of the NCAA National Coach of the Year (1985). He has also won 23 Conference Coach of the year Awards, in both the CIAA and MEAC.