Performing from the soul

SouthArk celebrates Black History Month

African American Heritage Week is rolling full steam ahead at South Arkansas Community College and the public is invited to participate in a variety of activities to celebrate black history, heritage and culture.

The AAHW kicked off Monday with an African American Readin and poetry readings in the Boomtown Bistro.

On Tuesday, SouthArk presented “Celebrating the Power of the Spiritual” with the Blanchard Music Group, featuring Jonathan Blanchard, soul singer, songwriter, actor and “preserver of the Negro spiritual” in the El Dorado Conference Center.

A Black history book display will be available in the SouthArk Library during the entire month of February and Soul Food lunch specials will be featured on the Boomtown Bistro menu until Thursday

Lunch specials for today are the Grilled Bistro Burger and French fries and for Thursday, fried fish, hushpuppies and coleslaw will be the featured items on the menu.

The cost is $8.25, and the meal includes a drink.

A Unity in the Community Musical is set for 6:30 p.m. today at Douglas Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 969 Smackover Highway.

Performers include local choirs, praise dancers and vocalists.

Proceeds from the event will support African American Friends and Family Day and the Shirley Jean Hicks Russell Memorial Scholarship, which is dispensed through the SouthArk Foundation. Donations are welcome. The El Dorado-Union County chapter of the NAACP and the Union Count Ministers Fellowship Alliance are collaborating to sponsor the musical.

February is also American Heart Month and to raise awareness about heart health and high blood pressure, which is prevalent in the African-American community, a Valentine/Heart Health Scavenger Hunt is set for Thursday.

SouthArk students and other participants are asked to watch out for texts and follow clues to find hidden hearts and win prizes.

The scavenger hunt will be spread among SouthArk’s east and west campuses.

“Laughter, Love and Good Times” is the theme of African American Friends and Family Day, the focal point of African American Heritage Week.

The event is set for 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday in the gym on SouthArk’s west campus.

The day will include a southern picnic lunch, music, DJ BMoe, a motorcycle/ATV show, basketball, games (dominoes, cards and giant Jenga and Connect Four), prizes and giveaways.

The first 50 attendees will receive a free T-shirt.

The event is free and open to the public.

Upward Bound will present GospelFest XI at 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 1018 Wilson.

The event will feature performances by the Upward Bound GospelFest Choir, the Genesis Ministry Choir from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, New Hope Praise Team, Praise Performers, Benito Glosson, Erick Meadows and Erica Muse.

GospelFest serves as an annual fundraiser for Upward Bound, an academic program that prepares high school students for college.

The program is offered to area high-schoolers at SouthArk.

Donations of $5 will be accepted for GospelFest. Proceeds will go to the Upward Bound Scholarship/Activity Fund.

For more information about African American Heritage Week activities, call 870-864-7133 or send an email to AAFD@southark.edu.

Photos by Michael Shine/News-Times Soul: Above, soul singer Jonathan Blanchard performs during a concert in the lobby of the El Dorado Conference Center on Tuesday afternoon. South Arkansas Community College, in recognition of its African American Heritage Week, sponsored the event. Blanchard and his band performed traditional Negro spirituals with a contemporary sound, fusing funk, jazz and gospel. As part of the performance, Blanchard asked the audience to stand and hold hands as a human chain symbolizing political demonstrations protestors conducting during the civil rights movement.