Rich African American art, traditions remembered at COB Adder

Photo By Sgt. Richard Gilbert | Spc. Chestna T. Thomas, a 7th Sustainment Brigade chaplain's assistant, blows a Billie Holiday tune on the saxophone, during the African American History Month Celebration, held Feb. 21, in the Warrior Memorial Hall on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo/Spc. Darrell Lavoie)  

TALLIL, IRAQ

02.21.2008

Story by Spc. Richard Gilbert 

316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

Story by Spc. RJ Gilbert
7th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – On Contingency Operating Base Adder, service members came together to honor African American History Month at Warrior Memorial Hall Feb. 21.
Commencement of the ceremonies was followed by a heartrending rendition of the National Anthem performed by Sgt. Karley J. Hudson, a medic with the 213th Area Support Medical Company, Task Force 261st Multifunctional Medical Battalion, 62nd Medical Brigade, Multi-national Corps-Iraq.

Festivities carried on with the recitation of the Presidential Proclamation by Sgt. Tera S. Townsend, a battalion schools non-commissioned officer for the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

"During National African American History Month we honor the achievements and celebrate the rich heritage of African Americans. Throughout our Nation's history African Americans, from all walks of life, have offered their talents to the betterment of American society," said President George W. Bush. "Scholars such as Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Dubois were early leaders who placed great importance on educating all people about the need for justice and racial equality ...through their extraordinary accomplishments these leaders helped bring our nation closer to fulfilling its founding ideals. This Year's theme: Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism honors an educator who taught his fellow citizens about the traditions and contributions of African Americans," said the president.

The fact that Carter G. Woodson was responsible for the founding of the organization: the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which would later be responsible for the instatement of African American History Month, only heightened the poignancy of this year's festivities.

With opening remarks, the Presidential Proclamation and National Anthem in tow, the rest of the festivities were dominated by impassioned and highly nuanced presentations of historic and contemporary African American Art. It was "...a tribute to the creative spirit of the Harlem Renaissance," said Sgt. 1st Class Shafid Morgan, an equal opportunity advisor with the 7th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.

Time stopped with the immortal sounds of Langston Hughes' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" flowing out of Spc. Theresa L. Harris, a transportation straight line holder for the 206th Transportation Company, 142nd Combat Service Support Battalion, 7th SB, 10th Mountain Division, through the speakers.
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

There were many more poems authored by our forebears and contemporaries, which were all recited by service members.

Additionally, a saxophone piped its sultry sound and African American History was remembered with stirring speeches and the singing of what was once considered the African American National Anthem: Lift Ev'ry Voice, a song by James Weldon Johnson.

• Date Taken: 02.21.2008
• Date Posted: 03.02.2008 09:03
• Story ID: 16901
• Location: TALLIL, IQ