HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A Black History Month celebration is set for 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at the Holland Community Theatre (formally Holland Civic Theater), 50 West Ninth St. in Holland
The program, “Continuing the Legacy,” includes an essay contest — the winner gets a trip to BAM with a handful of friends — Miz Rosie, the Storyteller, music, trivia and givaways, says organizer Theenda Yarbrough (most people know her as Miss Cookie.)
She said great black leaders, like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. DuBois, Madam C.J. Walker, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and others — each have legacies that people today can carry forward.
“What would that look like today, to you — continuing Martin’s legacy, standing up?” she said. “What does standing up look like for you today? It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Hispanic — you can take the lessons and the teachings of Martin Luther King and apply them to whatever you are, whomever you are.”
Doors open at 3 p.m., and she said it’s a come-as-you-are event. The event is free, but a $10 donation includes getting entered into a drawing for a one-night stay at Suburban Inns Courtyard Holland and a dinner.
The event budget was $1,300 — but she said, so far, she’s slightly under budget.
She said sponsors include “a lot of great locals,” such as Milagro Six, Brooks Family Foundation, Holland Community Theater, BAM, Double Tree Hotel, Holland Peanut Store, the Holland Aquatic Center, Daddio’s, Sperry’s Moviehouse, and Fris Downtown, among others.
February is Black History month, but she said it’s always a good time to learn about how Black History is American history, especially June 19th — Juneteenth — which marks the anniversary of the the day the last U.S. slave learned they’d been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, on June 19, 1865. Miss Cookie has helped organize Holland’s Juneteenth celebrations, as well as last year’s Freedom Festival, which was reset, she said, to help all people realize that Juneteenth is a fundamentally American holiday, and all about celebrating freedom.
Though there are points through the year emphasizing the African-American history in the U.S., Yarbrough said if there’s one thing people don’t always recognize in the moment is that black Americans is that “we’re normal people. We hurt. We love. We want the best for our children,” she said. “We want the American Dream — what everyone wants.”
Listen to the full interview at whtc.com/podcasts
