To view a slideshow of the Black History Month exhibit at John Sevier Middle School, please click here.
To view the individual profiles, click here and then click on each picture to make the written profile larter.
The exhibit that was unveiled this past week, is called "Profiles of Great Black Americans," and is located just inside the John Sevier front lobby on Wateree Street. It's a pictorial history of national African-American figures.. in a way, profiles in courage. Also in the exhibit, are profiles of local African-Americans who have made a difference in the Kingsport community. The unveiling in the lobby also included a reception for the local honorees.
"Our goal for each student is to educate them on the significant contributions of African-American leaders to our community and country," says John Sevier's Tonya Harris. "This exhibit will increase the students' knowledge about National Black History Month."
The national profiles are of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famed civil rights leader and Executive Member of the National Association for the Advance of Colored People... Rosa Parks, Mother of the Civil Rights Movement who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955's Montgomery, Alabama.... Arthur Ashe,, famed tennis star, the first African-American inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.... Frederick Douglass, Father of the Protest Movement and author of 'The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave.... George Washington Carver, noted scientest, educator and inventor... and Maya Angelou, autobiographer and poet.
Local African-American profiles are of Reverend Ricardo Dorcean, Pastor, Central Baptist Church... Reverend A. Clark Jenkins, Pastor, First Broad Street United Methodist Church... Reverend Kenneth Calvert, Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church... Dr. Damon Cathey, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Kingsport City Schools... Paul Montgomery, Vice President of Talent Management, Eastman Chemical Company... Janet Russaw, Educator... Gerry Harrison, Educator... Mrs. Pinkie Horton, Community Activist... and Mrs. Mary Alexander, Coordinator, Weed & Seed, South Central Kingsport Community Development, Inc.
Please stop by and take a moment to read about the national and local African-Americans profiled. It's not only an educational opportunity for the John Sevier students, but also a chance for the community to learn about the local people we see every day, quietly making a contribution to Kingsport's history.
