A panel of local African Americans spoke at See, Hear Iola Friday in recognition of February being Black History Month. The panel consisted of Harvey Rogers, Gena Clounch, Gina Honeycutt and Phil Honeycutt. They shared personal stories and thoughts on the significance of recognizing Black History Month. HARVEY ROGERS Gina Honeycutt Phil Honeycutt Gena Clounch COMMERCIAL speaker for the event was Jim Daugharthy from A&W Restaurant.
Harvey is the fourth child of eight. His parents moved to Kansas from Oklahoma and settled in Bassett. Rogers said the community was mostly made up of blacks and Hispanics and many worked at Lehigh Cement.
His family later moved to a small house on South Walnut Street in Iola, where he was born. In 1948, he was the first black youth to participate in contact sports in Southeast Kansas.
After graduating from high school he attended Fort Scott Community College on a scholarship but the Korean War intervened. He was drafted into the Army and served two consecutive years in Korea. He was assigned as a cook in Korea and was promoted to the rank of private first class.
He was honorably discharged in 1955 and then enlisted in the Kansas Army National Guard in 1956. He was in charge of the mess section for the 195th Field Artillery Group in Iola. In 1965, he became staff sergeant and mess sergeant for the Iola unit. He was promoted to the rank of first sergeant until his retirement in 1985.
Rogers met and married his wife Beverly. They had three daughters and a son.
“During my lifetime in Iola I made a commitment to myself to work hard and take care of my family,” he said. “I worked two jobs every day.”
Rogers worked for Missouri Pacific Railroad for six years, for the U.S. Postal Service for 32 years and went then became a master electrician.
Rogers was inducted into the Kansas First Sergeant Hall of Fame in Salina. He is believed to be the first African American to be promoted to the rank of first sergeant in the Kansas Army National Guard.
Gina’s father was from Independence and her mother from Cherryvale. Her parents met at the University of Kansas where her father was a record holding track star. The two married and moved to Denver, Colo. After her parents passed away, Gina moved to live with her grandparents in Cherryvale.
“My family was very hard-working,” she said. “You go to church, you get an education and we didn’t really have a choice.”
She said they were never allowed to use the “race card.”
“I have experienced prejudice but I was never allowed to use that as an excuse,” she said.
She was the only African American in her class and was president of many clubs and participated in various sports. She attended Independence Community College and then transferred to Iowa State University and majored in journalism and mass communications.
She always wanted to live in a big city, but said she enjoys small town life. After marrying her husband, Phil, they moved to Iola and they have two children Joshua and Jasmine. She is the administrative assistant at the Iola Housing Authority.
Phil is the 10th child of his family and grew up in Humboldt. His great-grandparents lived in a tent at the park in Humboldt but Phil said his life was different from theirs.
“I don’t know what people expect,” he said. “Iola, Humboldt and Chanute didn’t have separate schools and I didn’t really experience black culture.”
Phil said he grew up in a white community and many of his family members have high school degrees, master’s degrees and some have attended Harvard. He was an athlete and participated in various high school organizations.
“I was able to articulate and people would tell me I wasn’t like the rest of ‘them’,” he said. “I had to be twice as good to accomplish my goals.”
He said there were sometimes when people simply didn’t like him because of the color of his skin.
“We look at people and see black heritage month by a way to get to know someone but you can’t judge a book by its cover,” he said. “I’m not here to show how black I am,” he said.
Phil pastors at the multi-cultural Covenant of Faith Christian Center. He believes people should not separate themselves on Sunday morning.
Clounch is the youngest of six in her family and the youngest on the panel. She grew up in Iola and feels that she has never been denied things.
“I was taught to respect people and they would respect me back,” she said.
Clounch also has been told that she was “different.”
“I helped people in Louisiana after the hurricane and people would ask where I was from because I spoke ‘funny’,” she said.
Clounch works with the Department of Children and Families.
Daugharthy was born and raised in Ottawa and met his wife Barbie at Ottawa University. They were married their sophomore year. The couple moved to Iola and Daugharthy worked for the radio station selling ads before purchasing A&W Restaurant. In 1980 the Daugharthys remodeled the restaurant.
He said they make their root beer fresh daily.
“Our best product isn’t on the menu,” he said. “It’s our employees.”
The Daugharthys have four children: Brian, Danielle, David and Dana.
Panel reflects on black history
