7 Ways Churches Are Celebrating Black History Month…

Hello World,

If you didn’t know, February is Black History Month in which Americans celebrate the achievements of black people as well the overall contributions of black Americans to our country…At my church, we celebrate Black History Month by highlighting notable black people each Sunday of the month. Last week, we highlighted Barry Black, 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate and the first African American and the first Seventh-day Adventist to hold this office, and Eric Holder, 82nd Attorney General of the United States and first African American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney General, by having youth in the church compose biographies of their lives that they read to the congregation…

Below are seven ways that other churches are celebrating Black History Month….

1. Two Oxford ministers who share Monroe County, Mississippi roots will exchange pulpits at a traditional African-American and a white church on Feb. 16….Read more in “Pulpit Switch Advances Racial, Christian Harmony” on hottytoddy.com.

2. Today at 5:30 pm, the Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church (Alabaster, Alabama) Drama Team will present its second-annual black history drama, “The Cry of a Black Slave, Struggling for the Dream.” Read more in “Emmanuel Holding Black History Drama” on alabasterreporter.com.

3. Today at 10:15 am, Cornerstone Community Church in Hobart, Indiana will be presenting “Celebrating the Heroes of Black Church History” with a special emphasis on Daniel Alexander Payne, sixth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the first African-American president of a college. Read more in “Celebrating the Heroes of Black Church History: Daniel Alexander Payne” on rpmministries.org.

4. Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois Hosts Free Organ Concert Sunday, Feb 23, 4 p.m. featuring works of African-American composers played by Fisk University Organist & Music Professor Anthony Williams. Read more in “Bethany Lutheran Church Hosts Free Organ Concert Sunday, Feb 23, 4 p.m.” on chicagotribune.com.

5. The transatlantic slave trade and black migration will be explored through a Black History Month program sponsored by the DuSable Museum of African American History, Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago, Illinois) and the Amistad Commission. Read more in “DuSable Museum, Trinity Team Up on Program on Slave Trade, Migration” on suntimes.com.

6. Today, at 5 pm, King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP will be the keynote speaker at 27th Annual Black History Month Program of Union Baptist Church in Waynesboro, Virginia. Read more on dailyprogress.com.

7. On Feb. 23 at 12 pm, Memorial Chapel in Fort Myer, Virginia will host Dr. Clarence Lusane, author of The Black History of the White House with a book review following the worship service.

How is your church celebrating Black History Month?

Any thoughts?

P.S. Please see my latest article on Black History Month “7 Ways Churches, Celebrities & More Are Celebrating Black History Month in 2016 Despite Stacey Dash…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering four little girls on the 50 anniversary of their death…

Hello World,

As I have been going to my church Central Christian Church since I was a six-year-old little girl, my church is one of my safe places…Some of my best moments I have experienced in my church (I got married there 🙂 )…And when I was teased in middle school or the boys I liked in high school didn’t like me back, it was the one place outside of my family home where I felt accepted, cherished and loved just for being me…All of the members are part of my extended family…Of all places, a church building should be a refuge, the place where we meet Jesus, who is the embodiment of love…That’s why it’s hard to imagine that 50 years ago today, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted a bomb at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and killed four girls, Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14.

In fact, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who herself was a little girl, 8, at the time, lived in Birmingham and one of the little girls that was murdered was her friend. Below is an excerpt from a Huffington Post article in which Rice recalls the bombing…

But for Rice, just 8 years old at the time, the tragedy meant the death of a little girl she used to play dolls with, and the loss of her own youthful sense of security.

“As an 8-year-old, you don’t think about terror of this kind,” said Rice, who recounted on Friday her memory of the bombing and its aftermath in remarks to a gathering of civic leaders in Birmingham as part of several days of events leading up to the 50th anniversary of the bombing on Sept. 15.

Rice’s hometown had become a place too dangerous for black children to leave their own neighborhoods, or go downtown and visit Santa Claus, or go out of the house after dark.

“There was no sanctuary. There was no place really safe,” she said.

Rice’s friend, 11-year-old Denise McNair, died in the blast along with 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley. Their deaths at the hands of Ku Klux Klan members garnered national support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Events for the 50th anniversary of the bombing will include a screening of filmmaker Spike Lee’s new documentary, “Four Little Girls,” and a memorial service on Sunday scheduled to include U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

To read the rest of the article, go to “Condoleezza Rice recalls Birmingham Bombing That Killed Childhood Friend.”

As I heard on a radio program last week, if Condoleezza Rice grew up to be the Secretary of State of this great country, there is no telling what contributions those little girls could have made to this country and this world…

Here in Atlanta, we will also be remembering those four little girls. Directed by Afemo and Elisabeth Omilami (daughter of civil rights leader Hosea Williams), FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963, a play written by playwright Christina Ham, will be performed today at 6 p.m. in the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. This is a FREE event!

Below is more information about the play from a press release.

FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963 examines the realities of a segregated and politically-charged climate through the life of children during the fight to end racial discrimination and inequality. In the play, the four little girls—Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who attended the church share their hopes and dreams about the future against the backdrop of the Movement. Yet, each child’s dreams abruptly end with the world-changing act of hatred on that fateful day of September 15, 1963.

This reading is part of Project1Voice’s nation-wide, simultaneous event of staged readings commemorating this seminal event in American history, which helped to galvanize the American Civil Rights Movement only weeks after the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.  The readings will feature a multi-generational cast of national and local theater, television, and film actors. For a full list of locations across the country, please visit www.project1voice.org.

Commissioned and originally produced by SteppingStone Theatre, FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963 examines the lives of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and, Cynthia Wesley. The production delves into their hopes and dreams about “what they want to be when they grow up,” against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. While Denise dreams of becoming a doctor, Carole looks forward to the dress she will one day wear at the cotillion, Cynthia imagines her life as a mathematics professor at the local university, and Addie Mae envisions a life as a professional baseball player.

Below is a video about the performance of the play at the University of Alabama Birmingham…

Any thoughts?