Black History Month celebrated at the Five Towns Community Center

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Black History Month was celebrated through music, poetry and dance at the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence.

The Feb. 21 event “Morning of Music Concert,” included performances from musicians: Tanisha Anderson, Yuuki Koike and Justin Dehnert and Lawrence High School senior Tyrone Moorman on saxophone. Community Center staff member Chance Estrada read the Maya Angelou poem “Still I Rise, ” and the Total Praise Dance Ministry from St. John’s Baptist Church of Inwood performed.

Black History Month is held annually in February. President Gerald Ford first recognized it in the United States in 1976. 

New Community Center director K. Brent Hill noted why it was important to celebrate the month through performance. “I believe that music has always been a big part of the struggle for equality,” he said. “I think the performances served as a great way to honor our history.” 

Hill added that black history should not just be emphasized in February. “Black History Month is every month for me because black history is apart of American history,” he said. “It’s been said that if you don’t know your past, you won’t know your future. I tend to believe that.”