Important Douglass Alumni Board meeting for March 8th

 

If we are going to have a Douglass High School reunion this year, IT IS IMPERATIVE that interested people attend the next Douglass Alumni board meeting on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

"We need to finalize our plans if we are going to have a reunion this year," said Board president Douglas Releford.  "Let us clear our schedules for Saturday, the 8th of March."

"Please spread the word and put that day on your calendars."

Remember what a good time we had two years ago, reminiscing and getting caught up with friends and family?  Many of our loved ones are gone now, and who's to say who'll be with us for the next reunion?  Also, many of our surrounding alumni associations in other schools are also planning their reunions right now... we would not want to be outdone by those other people.

The Douglass Board meeting is on Saturday, March 8, 2025.  It begins at 11 AM in the conference room on the second floor of the V.O. Dobbins Community Center Complex, 301 Louis Street, Kingsport.  Bring your ideas, and especially your voices!

PANEL DISCUSSION POSTPONED

 

The Panel Discussion scheduled for the Douglass Room at the V.O. Dobbins Community Center Complex has been postponed because of the weather.

It will be rescheduled for a later day.

Again, the event on February 22nd is postponed to a later day.

Panelists for the Panel Discussion for Black History Month: "Let Us March On 'Til Victory is Won!"

 

Here are the panelists for the upcoming Black History Month panel discussion in the Douglass Room at V.O. Dobbins, on Saturday, February 22nd at 12 Noon:

Dr. Shayla Nunnally, PhD, Professor of African Studies, University of Tennessee-Knoxville.  Dr. Nunnally is a professor of political science for the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Tennessee, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in American politics and African-American politics, public opinion and political behavior.  She is a summa cume laude graduate of North Carolina Central University.  She received her M.A. and P.hD. in political science from Duke University.  Professor Nunnally specializes in research on political socialization, racial socialization, trust intergroup relations and attitudes, social capital, collective memory and memory transmission, Black American partisanship, Black (political) institutions and African-American political development.  She has also published a book with New York University Press, Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination and Politics (2012) and her book was cited in an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court for the landmark affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2013). 

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Dr. Daryl Carter, the director of Black American Studies and a professor of history at East Tennessee State University.  Dr. Carter has taught numerous courses and students in the program during his career at ETSU.  As a trained historian in American political history and African-American history, Dr. Carter brings a deep knowledge and understanding of the complexities of African-American history.  He is the author of the highly regarded Brother Bill: President Clinton and the Politics of Race and Class, published by the University of Arkansas Press.  Currently, Dr. Carter is working on a book length examination of  American liberalism, Edward M. Kennedy, and the United States since 1980.  Dr. Carter holds a B.S. in Political Science and M.A. in History from East Tennessee State University.  He earned his Ph.D. in American history at the University of Memphis. 

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Rev. Jacqueline L. Nophlin's motto is borrowed from the late Civil Rights pioneer John Lewis: "Good trouble is necessary trouble."  

Rev. Nophlin is the senior pastor, founder, and builder of HOFCC, Household Of Faith Community Church, Bristol, VA, for over 38 years.  She is a self-described community activist.    Jackie’s education consists of, Cumberland University in  Lebanon, TN (Paralegal), Offenbach am Main, Germany College, Army Air Force Exchange Services (in Business Management), Draughons Junior College, Bristol, TN (in Nursing);  Bristol Bible College, Bristol, TN (in Theology);  Virginia Highlands Community College (in Psychology);  and Phoenix University, Arizona (in Business). 

Jackie is a notable figure in Bristol, VA-TN, for her work as a civil rights activist, environmental activist, and domestic violence activist, as well as her involvement with local organizations such as Bristol Faith In Action, Community Concerned Citizens, CCC, and as a Bristol Family Promise board member. She is currently in her second term as Vice Chairwoman, IDA, Industrial Development Authority, appointed by the Bristol, VA City Council.  She has been the president of the Bristol Area Ministerial Alliance for four (4) years—more than any other in the history of this 75-year-old organization.  She is a substitute teacher for the Bristol Virginia Public School system in Bristol, VA (K-12), a Columnist for the Bristol Herald Courier newspaper (Saturday Sermons), and a Domestic Violence Advocate.  Jackie was shot by her husband of 19 years during a domestic violence altercation and is partially paralyzed.  She was the 2000 and 2024 VA National Delegate Democratic Convention.  Jackie is an entrepreneur and the owner of Nop’s Hair Shop Plus, LLC in Bristol. 

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Dr. Shavonn Eric Sayers, Owner of Sonny and Sons Corporation, Johnson City.  Retired U.S. Navy served in U.S. Army for 2 years. Science Hill High School Graduate, Olympia College Graduate, Universal Life Church Graduate. Assistant Pastor of Agape Church of God in Christ of Johnson City, Tennessee. Vice President  and Incoming President of the Upper East Tennessee N.A.A.C.P.

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Panel Discussion Moderator: Calvin Sneed

Panel Coordinators: Rev. Pam Hoard, Johnnie Mae Swagerty, Gerri Harrison, Charlotte Maxwell, Douglas Releford and Vivian Releford.

Saturday's Three Events are still happening

Our Panel Discussion and forum, the Soul Food Gathering right after it, and the Unity Bingo right after that, are all inside events.  Despite the cold weather forecast for Saturday, February 22, 2025, these three events are still scheduled on that day.

The Black History Month Panel Discussion answering your questions about Trump's relationship to Black people in upper East Tennessee (if there is a relationship) is from 12 Noon to 2 PM on Saturday in the Douglass Room at V.O. Dobbins.

The annual Black History Month New Vision Youth Unity Soul Food Gathering is from 4 PM to 6 PM on Saturday in the Riverview Room at V.O. Dobbins.  There will also be a special special book-signing and a meet-and-greet with Caroline Kennedy, who wrote a book about the life of our own Jeannie Hodges.

Unity Bingo is from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM on Saturday in the Riverview Community Room at V.O. Dobbins.  You're asked to bring two door prizes to be given away to a lucky player.  A $5.00 donation is suggested.  

Both the Soul Food Gathering and the Unity Bingo are held in partnership with South Central Kingsport Community Development, KHRA, and the Sons and Daughters of Douglass Alumni Association, Inc.

Black History Month Panel Discussion on Fitting Into Today's Political Scene

 

Putting Babies First in Riverview/Kingsport for Black History Month

 

In Honor Of BLACK HISTORY MONTH:

Joshua Generation and New Vision Youth Presents:

Putting Babies First Program Distribution No. 1 of DIAPS & WIPES In Kingsport, Tennessee on Saturday, February 15, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. in the Riverview Community Room on Wheatley Street (Beside the Pickle Ball Court).                                       

MUST Sign Up / Reserve for Diaps, Wipes, Milk, etc. Please Call Johnny Mae Swagerty at (423) 429-7553 by Friday, February 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. to reserve DIAPS & WIPES!

Tax Deductible Contributions still can be made to our 501(c)3:

Joshua Generation International, Inc. (JGII)

P.O.Box 3390

Kingsport, TN 37664-3390

Bishop Ronnie Wayne Collins, Presented & CEO of JGII

(423) 956-0675

Johnny Mae Swagerty, New Vision Youth

(423) 429-7553

Quilt display in Riverview commemorates events in Black history

 

"Rough road to equal rights."

"Prepare to stop racism."

"Hope."  "Justice."  "Inspire."  "Empower."  "Accountability."

These are just some of the words that you'll find on quilt squares on display right now at the V. O. Dobbins Community Center Complex in Kingsport.  Among the names you'll also find on the tapestries are George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Ahmad Aubery, and Brionna Taylor, even Malcolm X, John Lewis and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The traveling displays are the product of Care NET, a Rogersville-based community conservation committee of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club.  The quilt project was born out of concern and frustration, particularly with the killing of George Floyd.

"Our group was already devoted to issues that involve social, environmental and economic justice," says Bobbi Smith of the Care NET group.  "The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was so moving, that it touched us into doing something to express our grief."

Out of that grew the sewing of quilt squares in a way to honor the sacrifices made by people like Floyd and others.

Smith says the idea for a quilt came from Care NET member Wendy Ritchey of Limestone, Tennessee.  "Her idea was a quilt to 'work through the grief' of yet another Black life taken as a result of continuing racism in our country," she says.

The first quilt made was named "Say Their Names--Never Forget."  At any given time, 20 to 30 members of Care NET and people in the local communities were working on the squares, which took great care to construct.  Each participant chose a person and dedicated their work to crafting that particular square.  Working at their own pace and with great care, some squares were finished promptly, others took a little more time.  Care NET member Alicia Salzman did the hand quilting on this particular one.

The second quilt was named "George Floyd Square---Unity in the Community," and features scenes from the spot and surrounding area of Chicago Avenue between East 37th and 39th Streets in Minneapolis where Floyd was killed.  Pictures of the square were photo-reversed so that squares could be composed from them.  A group of about a dozen Care NET and community members sewed the tapestries into the resulting quilt.

A third quilt is more local---it's called the Langston Centre Children's Quilt, whose squares were made by children at the Langston Centre's afterschool program in Johnson City.  15 children made the squares in that display, sewn into a quilt by Smith.

The quilt sculptures have been displayed at various venues in upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.  Right now, you can see them free of charge through Black History Month in the Douglass Room of the V.O. Dobbins Community Center Complex, 301 Louis Street in Kingsport.

Ms. Smith says historically, "the making of quilts has been seen as 'women's work.'  They are soft, touchable, gentle and warm.  Often we put them aside, and yet they are living reminders of our past, our present and our future."

"Events of the recent past are a wake-up call to the racism that's going on in this country," she says.  "We do hope that viewing the quilts causes an emotional reaction in people who see them, that will bring tears and sadness to the forefront, but also hope, kindness and a sense of shared humanity."

The Rev. C. E. Edge Awards

"Hello Community"

"At the VO Dobbins Complex Riverview. "Central Baptist Church Presented THE African - American Entrepreneur( Business Owners) in Kingsport Black History Feb 7th 2025. "The Distinguished C.E. Edge Awards. "Congratulations ro all the winners!" "Very nice evening with dinner prepared by Taste Budz of JC Tn. Thanks to: Rev. James Scales Mayor Paul Montgomery, Ms. Linda Kincaid, Andrea Wilcox Salyers, Rev. Pamela Hoard, Minister Denise Morrison and Keynote Speaker: Mr. Craig Charles and Mrs. Louetta Hall and Rev. Myrna Casey. Pictures courtesy Johnnie Mae Swagerty.