Program for Birmingham Student Leaders Celebrates Black History Month
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In celebration of Black History Month, Bright House Networks and Vulcan Park and Museum will present Living Legends of Birmingham’s Leadership, a student forum to discuss and honor Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr. the first African American Mayor of the City of Birmingham. The event will be held at Vulcan Park and Museum on February 19 beginning at 10 a.m.
The first annual Living Legends of Birmingham’s Leadership program gives students from Ramsay and Wenonah High Schools a glimpse into the campaigns, elections, and administration that highlighted Dr. Arrington’s 20 years as Mayor of Birmingham. Amad Ward of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will lead the discussion, and students will also have the opportunity to ask Dr. Arrington questions regarding the successes and challenges he faced during his term. Bright House Networks will also present a video archiving the history of Dr. Arrington’s tenure as Mayor and featuring special moments during his political life.
Birmingham City Councilors Jay Roberson and Steven Hoyt will each present Dr. Arrington a proclamation on behalf of the Council for his service to the City of Birmingham. Other elected officials and community leaders will be on hand to celebrate this day with Dr. Arrington.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of Financial Services Committee, released the following statement on Wednesday, commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from Victor Verster Prison in South Africa.
“It’s hard to believe it has been exactly 25 years since Nelson Mandela was released from his nearly three decade prison sentence to become the founding father of democracy in South Africa. I am heartened whenever the nation reflects on Nelson Mandela’s legacy, and I continue to mourn the passing of my dear friend and legendary icon.
“Few leaders can measure up to the cultural significance of our
beloved Nelson Mandela. In 1994 he became one of the most
influential global leaders of the last 100 years when he
captivated the world’s attention by becoming the first Black
President of South Africa. Nelson entrenched his legacy and
became a transcending figure, when he chose to forgive his
transgressors and directly take on the tough tasks of dismantling
Apartheid’s legacy and healing a damaged nation through racial
reconciliation.
“For many years to come Mandela will remain an inspiration to millions of people in South Africa and the world, as new leaders will emerge to follow in his giant footsteps. I keep in my office a framed copy of the 1994 South African presidential ballot; it serves as a daily reminder of the power of perseverance. When I reflect on my own career in public service, President Mandela’s memory is ever present and continually reminds me to fight for justice on behalf of all people of all races.”
Congresswoman Maxine Waters had the distinct honor and privilege to know and call Nelson Mandela friend. In 1990, Congresswoman Waters chaired the welcome committee for the Los Angeles stop on his eight-city U.S. tour, and helped organize a concert and rally attended by 90,000 people. In 1991, she traveled to Durban to attend the first ANC conference since Mandela’s release from prison. In 1994 she traveled with the official American delegation to attend the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of the Republic of South Africa, and welcomed President Mandela to the United States to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. For Mandela’s 95th birthday, Congresswoman Waters led the Congressional Black Caucus and Members of Congress in organizing a bipartisan celebration of his life and legacy. The hour-long event filled Emancipation Hall to capacity and included most of the congressional leadership, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). These leaders were joined by a large group of civil rights leaders, members of the African Diplomatic Corps and the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Upon Mandela’s death, Rep. Waters traveled to South African to attend his memorial service.
As a California State Assemblywoman, Rep. Waters was responsible for A.B. 134, legislation that enabled California to divest $12 billion in state pension funds tied to the Apartheid regime in South Africa. She was also the Los Angeles Chair of the Free South Africa Movement. In 2008, Waters received the Republic of South Africa’s “Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo Silver Award”, for “dedicating her life to the upliftment” of the poor and her outstanding contribution to the struggle against Apartheid and the attainment of a democratic, non-racial and a non-sexist South Africa.
Rickey Powell works with youth at A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club After School Program.
This young student shows her artwork to Rickey and seeks feedback. He makes the children feel so comfortable.
I Thank Him Equally for Both
Birmingham theater and music legend, Rickey Powell, is the only child of Cathryne and Sylvester Powell. Cathryne Powell was a long time Birmingham school teacher, putting in over 37 years in the system, and Sylvester Powell, worked for the railroads for more than 30 years. Rickey grew up in a simple and loving home, where the value of hard work was established, along with a joy for life. Having had the pleasure of sharing meals in this home, I can say the food was great and it was served with love, and Mrs. Powell always made you feel welcome. I also know that her passing was one of the most painful moments in Rickey’s life.
Rickey grew up singing in the church and performing in school musicals and plays, but he says it wasn’t until 1969 during the time he was attending Talladega College, that he had an experience that told him that maybe he belonged in the theater. He had won a spot as a dancer in a production of Hello Dolly, being produced by James Hatcher, who was the Director of Town and Gown Theater. Rickey didn’t even have a singing part, he was one of the line dancers, but he said that he knew during those rehearsals that the theater was where he belonged, that it was where his heart was at.
Shortly after completing his degree at Talladega College Rickey took off for the bright lights of New York City, joined by his life friend Annie Joe Edwards, whom he roomed with for a while in New York. He worked his way through a number of off Broadway engagements before finally getting his first big break when he was selected to be a member of the cast of the Wiz.
Rickey has worked with the likes of Jenifer Holiday on Broadway but he says his favorite person that he met through the theater was Clarice Taylor, best known as Cliff Huxtable’s mother on the Cosby Show. They worked in the Wiz together on Broadway and at some point also tried doing a little management company together. One of his favorite memories of this friendship is the time when his mom and his grand- mom came to New York for the first time to see him in the Wiz. After the show they went to a reception at Taylor’s home, where they had homemade chicken and waffles and mimosas. Rickey says that was the first time he ever saw his grandmother drink.
Rickey’s national and international performing career was brought to an end when he was diagnosed with kidney failure while traveling with a distinguished choir on a tour of Europe. Rickey says it was hard hearing the diagnosis and it has been hard dealing with dialysis three days a week for more years than he cares to remember. But he says he doesn’t let it get him down. He doesn’t let it make him mad at God. He understands that his trials are as real as his triumphs and he says he thanks God equally for both.
Even since his diagnosis Rickey has remained a staple of the Birmingham theater community. Over the past decades he has lent his voice and his talents to some of Birmingham’s most memorable productions, including my own award winning, 1989 version of the Dream Lives. He has a calmness about him, when others are going crazy that is one of his great contributions to the theater.
Today he uses that calmness primarily in his work with the children at A.G. Gaston’s after school program. He and Annie Joe Edwards serve as Co-Creative Arts Coordinators for the Program and in that capacity they work with kids every afternoon. According to Rickey, “Not only do we share our own experiences, via music, via the visual arts, via the skits that Annie Joe writes for them to produce, but we also teach them African American History, every month not just in February.” Rickey notes that it also bothers him how of late it seems that African American history gets boiled down to teaching about a few people, “Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth”, and that’s it. He thinks it’s important that the kids also know Louis Latimore, Jonathan Wright, Joseph Winter, Madam C.J. Walker and others. He thinks these other stories help to give our story depth and texture.
As Rickey looks at the world today he feels that there are some who have benefitted from the movement but do not wish to contribute to keep it alive. He feels that there are some who think because they have a job at Alabama Power, or the Gas Company, or one of the big banks, that everything is all good and there is no need to be involved in the struggle. He thinks this type of attitude may be leading us to a time when our children are not getting the resources they need to be successful and that they may increasingly be limited to lower paying jobs.
Rickey Powell is a Birmingham artistic treasure. It is my pleasure to be able to tell just a little of his story. He will also be featured in our February 26, Black History Month Tribute to Cleve Eaton, that will be held at the Alpha House on First Avenue North. The Evening includes: Cleve Eaton and the Alabama Jazz All-Stars, John Paul Taylor and the Real Life Poets, poets Priscilla Hancock Cooper and Washington Booker, singer Logan, Iron Giant Percussion and others.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) will present an author talk and book signing with noted civil rights attorney and Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Founder Bryan Stevenson on Saturday, February 28, at 10 a.m. in BCRI’s Odessa Woolfolk Gallery. Stevenson will sign copies of his critically acclaimed book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at www.bcri.org and seating is limited.
According to publishers Spiegel and Grau, Just Mercy follows one of Stevenson’s first cases after he founded EJI, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need. The case was of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he did not commit. Just Mercy follows the suspenseful battle to free Walter before the state executes him, while also stepping back to tell the profoundly moving stories of men, women, and even children, who found themselves at the mercy of a system often incapable of showing it. Just Mercy was named as one of the 10 best nonfiction books of the year by Time and one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and Kirkus Review.
Bryan Stevenson is a public-interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. He is a professor of law at New York University Law School and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based group that has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent prisoners on death row, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
EJI won an historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court holding that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger are unconstitutional. Stevenson has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, argued six times before the Supreme Court, and won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color. He has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant and is the 2013 recipient of BCRI’s highest honor, the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government and has been awarded 14 honorary doctorate degrees.
FAIRFIELD, Ala. – “If a race has no history, it becomes a negligible factor and stands in danger of being exterminated.” ~ Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Father of Black History Month
Wednesday, Feb. 4
Ms. Gaye Jones, G. W. Carver High School
Drama Department
“A Raisin in the Sun”
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Monday, Feb. 9
Mr. Charles Stallworth, Facilitator
Culture, Class & Civility in the 21st Century
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Wednesday, February 11
Mr. Charles Stallworth, Facilitator
“I am a blind Sponge”
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Friday, February 13
Ms. Latoya Melton, Social Work Department
“Meals on Wheels”
Community Service Project
Campus Wide Program
11a.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 18
Harper and Harper, Jazz Rendition
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Thursday, February 19
Dr. Arthur Thomas
Guest Speaker
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Monday, February 23
Dr. George T. French
Lyceum Lecture Symposium
Dr. Michael Lomax
Pres. Of UNCF
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Wednesday, February 25
Miles College Choir
Brown Hall 11a.m.
Alabama Power and the Alabama Power Foundation are recognizing Black History Month by supporting several events and community initiatives involving local, state and national thought leaders.
“While we honor our civil rights past and legacy, we also look forward to continuing the progress that we’ve made,” said Alabama Power Public Relations and Charitable Giving Vice President John Hudson. Here is a list of the events scheduled to commemorate Black History Month:
· The Power of Leadership: Decoding the Digital Dream – Celebrating a New Era of Freedom and Progress
This invitation-only event in Birmingham is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 24, and will highlight the achievements of African-Americans in the technology industry. This initiative is a partnership with the Alabama Department of Education and #YesWeCode and will feature a panel discussion with community, education and tech leaders.
· Journalist panel, Selma to Montgomery March
Alabama Power is supporting the Alabama Press Association (APA), which is hosting a panel discussion on Friday, Feb. 13, about the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March. The discussion at the Birmingham Marriott is part of the 14th annual APA Journalism Summit and features journalists who covered the historic event. For more information, visit http://www.alabamapress.org/.
· Bridge Crossing Jubilee: The Selma to Montgomery 50th Anniversary Commemoration
The Alabama Power Foundation is one of the sponsors of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March. The Jubilee begins in Selma on March 5. For details, please visit http://dreammarcheson.com/.
· The Faith & Politics Institute Congressional Pilgrimage
Members of Congress and community leaders from across the country will tour civil rights sites in Birmingham, Marion, Selma and Montgomery March 6-8 and participate in group dialogue and reflection about the struggle and its trailblazers. The Alabama Power Foundation is supporting the pilgrimage. For more information about The Faith & Politics Institute, visit www.faithandpolitics.org.
Local African-American Genealogy Group to host 2015 Black Heritage Genealogy Fair celebrating 16 years of service in the community.
On Saturday, February 14, the Birmingham African American Genealogy Group, Inc. (BAAGG) will host its annual Black Heritage Genealogy Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Birmingham Public Library, downtown in the Arrington Auditorium, This project is intended to educate residents of Greater Birmingham who are interested in African-American genealogy.
The Fair will display several genealogy exhibits by members and their families from 11a.m. until Noon. The program will begin promptly at 1 p.m. Scheduled speakers are Trooper LeRoy Simmons, Alabama Chapter #1, Buffalo Soldiers will speak on the 9th/10th Calvary; followed by Dr. Arthur Bacon, a renowned local artist and educator who will talk about his work as it relates to the leaders in the African Artist; and lastly Kel Laeger, member and Theatre Professor at the University of Montevallo will host the Reader’s Theatre, which includes narratives on slavery to civil rights. This event is free and open to the public.
For more information call 205-901-6387 or 205-533-3502.
The late Dr. Kirkwood R. Balton was known for a number of corporate and philanthropic pursuits. Having earned his bachelor’s degree at Miles College in 1957, he began working for Dr. A. G. Gaston only two years later. He eventually was responsible for managing WENN-FM and became the chairman and CEO of Gaston’s insurance company before he retired in 2001.
Despite his ambitious corporate schedule, he managed to serve the Greater Birmingham Community by serving on many boards, and giving back in as many ways as possible. His Alma Mater, Miles College, was one of the places he spent countless hours of time and effort to further the mission of the institution.
Miles College had realized a surge of progress during the 1990s and was preparing for continued growth and success. The College launched the $10 million “Determining Our Destiny” capital fund campaign in 2000, with Dr. Kirkwood R. Balton, a Board of Trustee member, serving as campaign chairman.
Dr. George T. French, Jr., was the Director of Institutional Planning and Development at the time, and the primary coordinator of the Destiny Campaign. Working shoulder to shoulder with Balton, the campaign proved to be one of the most successful campaigns in the College’s history exceeding the initial goal.
As a part of the second annual George T. French, Jr. Lyceum Speakers Series, which will be held on Monday, February 23, in the Brown Hall Auditorium, at 11 a.m., there will be a dedication ceremony of the Kirkwood R. Balton Theater in the George T. French, Jr. Student Activity Center.
Multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning urban and gospel legends – BeBe, Marvin, and Carvin Winans –
3 Winans Brothers – continue to celebrate the release of their debut album, Foreign Land, with the announcement of the “OUTSTANDING NEW ARTIST’ Award win at the 46th NAACP IMAGE AWARDS, broadcast live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Friday, February 6th. The NAACP Image Awards is the premier multicultural awards show. It celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and also honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. “What my brothers Marvin and Carvin and I desired to accomplish with Foreign Land, the Image Award honor now provides another platform on which to continue to be relevant, allowing us to share through our music what we know and have recently experienced in our lives to this generation,” noted Bebe Winans.
The brothers continue their non-stop promotional activities in support of Foreign Land and the cd’s current single, “I Really Miss You,” which is fast becoming an Urban/AC radio hit while continuing at Gospel radio. Written by Bebe in memory of the Winans’ late brother, Ronald, and subsequently performed in 2012 at Whitney Houston’s funeral, the song struck a chord with Today Show host’s Kathie Lee and Hoda.
Recent appearances included The Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, The Queen Latifah Show, The 2014 Soul Train Awards, plus a special upcoming Bebe Winans performance on TBN’s Praise (date t/b/a). Other high profile TV visits included two separate rousing performances on FOX Good Day NY and Sirius XM’s Artist Confidential .
Released in partnership with BMG and eOne Music, Foreign Land arrived in stores and on the iTunes Store, and all leading digital retailers in late fall, 2014 and has been steadily selling. The album scored the number #2 spot on Billboard’s Gospel Chart. Foreign Land’s launch was supported by the brothers’ non-stop, cross-country promotional schedule, including a day-of-release performance at Pastor Marvin Winans’ Perfecting Church in Detroit.
3 Winans Brothers made their memorable live debut at last year’s historic 50th Anniversary March on Washington ceremonies, performing “If God Be For Us” at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Penned by BeBe Winans, “If God Be For Us” is but one of the many inspirational highlights found on Foreign Land. Recorded in Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles, the album sees 3 Winans Brothers teaming with such multi-faceted studio superstars as multiple GRAMMY®-winner Rodney Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige) and Daniel Weatherspoon (Donald Lawrence, Vashawn Mitchell), with additional guests including legendary GRAMMY® Award-winning Gospel vocal group, the Clark Sisters, featured on the upbeat “Dance.” Fans are invited to sample Foreign Land via 3 Winans Brothers’ official SoundCloud, soundcloud.com/3winansbrothers/foreign-land-official-sampler.
