Photo By Sgt. Judith Dacosta | A 3rd Corps Support Command Soldier reads an autobiography during the 'Who Am I'...... read more read more
Servicemembers celebrated Black History Month Feb. 12 at the east Morale, Welfare and Recreation center, at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, to remember the contributions of our nation's black heroes through a series of biographical speeches and role-playing.
Posters of black history-makers lined the walls of the center depicting distinctive expressions of accomplishment, and set the stage for the program theme, "Who am I?"
Chairperson of the event, 400th Quartermaster Company's Staff Sgt. Annette Tyler, said the purpose [of the program] was to educate people on the accomplishments of several black heroes.
During the program servicemembers recited biographical information and reenacted historical events while occasionally interrupting their presentations by asking the audience, "who am I?"
The first person to correctly identify the featured hero received a matching pen and pencil and a wooden box engraved with the words, "Providing Infinite Dignity and Worth Through STEADFAST Leadership." Pfc. Thomas Edward Brooks and Harriet Tubman were among those heroes correctly identified by members of the audience.
"Pfc. Thomas Edward Brooks was the original bus boycotter," said Pvt. Antoine S. Thomas, a 548th Logistics Task Force Soldier, who memorized biographical information on Brooks for the presentation.
"It took me two weeks to prepare this speech for today," said Thomas.
"Reading over [Brooks"] biography broadened my horizons on the sacrifices that people had to make then," said Thomas.
In 1950, Pfc. Thomas Edwards Brooks lost his life in a police shooting after refusing to board a bus from the back door. This event took place five years before Rosa Parks launched a bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man.
Harriet Tubman and her involvement with the Underground Railroad was represented midway in the program, as a line of crouching people in costumes made their way through the center aisle to the front of the room.
"We [the organization committee] worked with what we had," said 40th Corps Support Group 's 1st Lt. Benjamin J. Shuford III, co-chairman of the program committee, who enlisted volunteers to perform in the presentation. "The costumes turned out pretty neat. We look like slaves."
The organization committee wanted the audience to be drawn into the time period and get a feel for what it was like to be a slave escaping in the Underground Railroad, he added. Though no single individual developed the Underground Railroad, the short role-playing exercise portrayed Harriet Tubman's 19 trips to Maryland and her involvement in helping 300 people to freedom.
Other black heroes honored at the presentation through speeches provided by servicemembers included the Golden Thirteen, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, represented on LSA Anaconda by the 332d Air Expeditionary Wing, and Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history.
"This service went really well today and I would like to thank all the Soldiers who participated," said Tyler.
The MWR East staff and the 3rd Corps Support Command Equal Opportunity team were essential in the success of this program, Tyler added.
"It took us a little over a month to prepare for this event and it turned out well," said Tyler. "If we have educated, then we have succeeded," she added.
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2006 08:30 |
| Story ID: | 5469 |
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| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 15 |
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