Black History Program Honors the “Power of Remembering”

Port St. Joe Middle and High School students closed Black History month with a stirring celebration in the R. Marion Craig Coliseum.

Entitled “The Power of Remembering,” Friday’s program paid tribute to the historic plight of African-Americans with poems, songs, dance and special presentations.

Keynote speaker, Sharon Sheffield, a former Lynn Haven mayor and city commissioner, applauded the nation’s progress toward racial equality while noting gains still to be made.

She recalled a 1991 visit to Mississippi, in which she and her children were directed outside to a “colored” restroom, and a recent television talk show that featured a child taught by his family to hate African-Americans.

Noting that young people become aware of differences at an early age, Sheffield cited a study that examined the self-concepts of 103 four-year-olds.

“The majority of children were direct in their equation of black with bad or dirty,” said Sheffield.

She urged parents, teachers and church leaders to help young people develop “a sense of positive personal identity.”

Sheffield encouraged the students to take pride in the historic accomplishments of African-Americans - citing celebrities like Tiger Woods and Port St. Joe’s past and present politicians Alton Fennell, Nathan Peters, Jr., Edwin Williams, Christine Williams and Rachel Crews.

While taking pride in the past, Sheffield encouraged students to continue the pursuit of racial equality.

“The time is now, the hour has arrived when we must act by coming together in love,” said Sheffield.

“We must call for peace around the world.”

Attaining that peace, said Sheffield, means denouncing violence, drugs, theft, murder and all of society’s corrupting influences.

“We must remember that we must hammer out hate and hammer in love. We must hammer out injustice and hammer in injustice. And we must hammer out inequality and hammer in equality,” said Sheffield.

The Port St. Joe Middle and High School students who participated in the program demonstrated an impressive knowledge of Black History.

Student Government president Jasmine Fennell presided over the program, Rebecca Furr and Dajon Williams recited poems by Maya Angelou and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the Blooming Flowers performed an interpretive dance.

Accompanied by Ann Comforter’s guitar class, the Port St. Joe High School chorus performed a medley of spirituals, and Judy Williams’ eighth grade class screened an original video composed especially for the program.

The video featured the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and a song commemorating Rosa Park’s refusal to ride in the back of a Montgomery, Ala. city bus.

School board member Billy Quinn, Jr., Abram Vereen and Pastor Johnny Jenkins, Jr. also delivered remarks and Albert McNair sang a stirring rendition of the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Held during an historic moment in American politics, the Black History Program’s discussion of race could not have been timelier.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sheffield’s daughter, Charlotte Marshall, referenced the 2008 Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

“This is the first time our nation has taken seriously candidates of female descent and African-American decent running for president,” said Marshall.

“Win or lose, there’s history in the making.”