For a woman who spent most of her academic career studying black literature, it was only fitting for Evelyn Kelly to center a Black History Month program on African-American writers who addressed civil rights struggles 60 years ago.
Kelly, Lenoir Community College Dean of Arts and Sciences, took an audience through the 1950s and 1960s via reading poems and excerpts, assisted by three arts and sciences staff members Monday at the school’s Waller Auditorium for an hour-long presentation.
While Kelly discussed the works of Martin Luther King Jr., Nikki Giovanni and Langston Hughes, she included pieces from obscure black writers, such as Claude McKay and Eldridge Cleaver.
“There are so many contributions that just go unsung,” she said. “I think it’s crucial that we have these kinds of programs. Even though there are certain people that everyone just intends to know, there’s always some details you may not know about that person’s life.”
With literature being her “first love,” Kelly provided all the poems and excerpts in a packet for Monday’s audience as some were not read aloud because of time restraints. The onlookers’ eyes laced through the various stanzas and prose as Kelly, LCC Director of Learning Assistance Program Maggie Brown, and LCC English instructors Jamal McMillion and Robbie Rogers read their respective parts — with a picture of the writer displayed on an enlarged PowerPoint slide.
As the psychological hardship of young black boy confused by racism and the adversity of an African-American family trying to move into an all-white neighborhood was discussed, it brought memories back to LCC student Ann Hall.
She recalled a childhood in a 1970 Wilmington neighborhood that was patrolled by armed forces.
“It was kind of scary,” Hall said after the program. “The military would ride around. They didn’t want the black kids to go to the high school at the time. (The presentation) just brought back those things.”
John Paul Black, LCC Dean of Student Services, opened the program and later said students can benefit from knowing their history.
“I think a lot of time today … the current generation does not look to history to help guide them,” he said. “If they don’t have that, you have these blind feelings. I think its something that crosses all lines of ethnicity and race. I don’t think that most people look to history.”
LCC arts student Bert Murray said Black History Month can help his peers with historical awareness.
“We went through a lot over the years, and some students don’t know what we went through,” he said. “People think (Black History Month) is a joke. I don’t think it’s a joke because my grandmother went through it. Without her, I wouldn’t be here.”
During the program, a civil rights timeline was recited, followed by a look at significant black contributions in Kinston, from Beulah Davis, a teacher who inspired an Adkin High School walkout in 1951, to Alice Hannibal, the first African-American elected to the Board of Aldermen, which is now the City Council.
“There are so many contributions of African-Americans, and sometimes this is the only time we get to make them the highlight,” Kelly said about Black History Month. “If we lived in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to celebrate Black History Month just in February. … In the meantime, I’m so glad that we do.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.