By Megan SaylesAFRO Employees Writermsayles@afro.com
Officers, companies, organizations, marching bands, residents and guests braved the blistering chilly on Feb. 17 for the inaugural Black Historical past Month Parade in Baltimore Metropolis. The celebration kicked off on the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Eutaw St.
The parade, which carried a theme of “A Stroll in Legacy,” commemorated the wealthy historical past of Black trailblazers, leaders and Black achievements in Attraction Metropolis. Earlier than main the march, Mayor Brandon M. Scott addressed the bundled up crowd.
“We all know how necessary it’s on this second to indicate unity, to indicate power, to indicate love, to indicate care and to indicate homage to our ancestors,” stated Scott. “That’s why we’re out right here as we speak as a result of we’ve got a complete world of parents attempting to inform us that we’re lower than and that we are going to by no means be capable to obtain our greatness. However, we all know that each one civilization comes from us. Right now, we’re right here to showcase to all of Baltimore that Black historical past is the reply.”
The parade comes as leaders in federal and state authorities lodge assaults towards Black historical past within the classroom. In January, the forty seventh president signed an govt order ending what he known as “radical indoctrination” in Okay-12 public faculties. The president intends to withhold funding from any college that engages in “discriminatory fairness ideology.” Some fear this will embody school-based pupil unions for marginalized teams or crucial race principle (CRT), which argues that racism is embedded in legal guidelines, polices and societal programs.
A number of states, together with Florida, Alabama and Georgia, have already handed laws to ban CRT and prohibit how race is mentioned in school rooms.
Dr. Tonja L. Ringgold walked within the parade alongside her Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority sisters, decked of their pink and inexperienced. Ringgold is a proud member of the Epsilon Omega Chapter, the oldest chapter within the North Atlantic area.
“A part of our mission for Alpha Kappa Alpha is to present service and provides again to the group,” stated Ringgold. “We’ve been collaborating within the Baltimore parades for over 15 years, and we’ve been in Baltimore celebrating and dealing with the group for over 103 years.”
She praised the parade’s deal with legacy.
The town of Baltimore has no scarcity of Black pioneers. Civil rights giants, like Supreme Courtroom Justice Thurgood Marshall and NAACP Washington Bureau Director Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., had been born within the metropolis.
Baltimore was additionally a hub for protests and demonstrations throughout the Civil Rights Motion. Notably, droves of activists from Maryland, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., assembled at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Baltimore on July 4, 1963, to protest segregation on the park.
“We have now to carry on to our previous, but in addition transfer ahead for our future,” stated Ringgold. “This is essential. Given this time, we’ve got to strengthen the that means of what Black historical past is about. We can not neglect.”
Buddies Leetice Pierce and Denise Cooper additionally attended the celebration, carrying Black history-themed apparel. They thought of the occasion “historical past within the making” because it was the primary of its variety in Baltimore and praised Scott for creating it.
(AFRO Picture/Megan Sayles)
“I’m glad to be part of the primary Black Historical past Month Parade. I really feel prefer it’s lengthy overdue,” stated Cooper. “It’s a fantastic factor. I’m glad to be part of it as a result of it simply seems like Baltimore.”
Charles Younger, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity got here out to the parade out of affection for his metropolis. He grew up close to the intersection of Patterson Park and North Avenue.
“In mild of what’s happening within the White Home, we have to guarantee that we level out the entire innovations and various things that Black individuals have accomplished on this nation,” stated Younger. “Black historical past is necessary, and we have to guarantee that it’s being taught within the college as a result of lots of people on the opposite facet of the aisle wish to take it out of colleges and libraries.”
