Feb. 8, 2017 – In celebration of Black History Month, Southeast Georgia
Health System will host two musical performances presented by A Project
for Cultural Affairs. Free and open to the public, the unique spiritual
songs, dance and poetry tributes will stir your soul and make your heart
flow with love and joy.
The first performance is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m., at
the Health System’s Brunswick Campus in the Linda S. Pinson Conference
Center, 2415 Parkwood Drive. A second performance will take place on Thursday,
Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m., at the Health System’s Camden Campus in the
Conference Center, 2000 Dan Proctor Drive, St. Marys.
The program will include a variety of performers, including The Phil Morrison
Trio, featuring Joe Watts; singer, poet and musician Nyeemah Soulsayer;
and, an African dance by Neki L. Roberson, a Health System team member.
Jamari Tate will recite poetry during the Brunswick Campus event, while
folk and pop songs by Philip DeShazior will be included at the Camden
Campus performance.
The story of Black History Month began in 1915, half a century after the
Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That September,
the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister
Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements
by black Americans and other people of African descent. Known today as
the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the
group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second
week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and
Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide
to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances
and lectures.