Adverse weather of driven snow made attending the Black History Month observance Feb. 18 a little difficult, but the recognition of the adversity African Americans have weathered for centuries was not stifled. Attendance at Dugway Proving Ground's Community Club was good.
Spec. Nicholas Slater, religious affairs specialist for Dugway Hope Chapel, offered the invocation that spoke of African American ancestors, "… who watch down from above."
Darrell Gray, audio-visual specialist for Dugway's Public Affairs Office, was the master of ceremonies.
"For too long, our most basic liberties had been denied to African Americans, and today we pay tribute to countless good-hearted citizens … who took a stand to help right the wrongs of our past and extend the promise of America to all our people," Gray said.
Gray also created a video and slide presentation of notable African Americans, narrated and expounded by Command Sgt. Maj. Montonya Boozier, the guest speaker.
Among them were Joseph Cinque and 53 other Africans abducted from their homes in Sierra Leone by Portuguese slave traders. He and others aboard the schooner Amistad led a successful revolt against the crew. In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court freed the 35 surviving Africans and cleared their return to Africa.
"This event helped inspire the beginnings of the abolitionist movement," Boozier said.
She also spoke of Harriet Tubman, who led the "Underground Railroad," for slaves escaping north to freedom. An estimated 100,000 fugitive slaves used the connecting network between 1810 and 1860.
The honorable military service of African Americans was reviewed:, The Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Buffalo Soldiers of the Indian Wars, Tuskegee Airmen of World War II and the integration of the military in 1948.
Noteworthy was Boozier's recognition of Fannie Lou Hamer, often overlooked among civil rights leaders who effected tremendous change in American society.
Hamer, the youngest of 20 children of a Mississippi sharecropper, began working the fields when she was six and dropped out of school at 12. In 1962, she attended a protest meeting, and met activists encouraging African Americans to register to vote.
Traveling to a Mississippi county courthouse to register, she and others were resisted and threatened by local and state law enforcement.
Hamer, working for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and others, fought to overthrow segregation. Her contributions directly led to the Voter Rights Act of 1965, signed by Pres. Lyndon Johnson.
Others who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives to ensure equality for all were also noted by Boozier.
"We encourage all soldiers, civilians, veterans and family members to become more familiar with these historic landmarks where African American history was made," she said.
Col. Sean Kirschner, commander of Dugway Proving Ground, praised the presenters and urged the audience to learn more about the contributions of African Americans, especially those in the military.
"Black history is American history," he said. "Blacks have been critical to our nation's security."
The presentation ended with the Army Song, then the staff of the Community Club offered an excellent food tasting of cuisine linked to Black culture.
The next event will be the Women's History Month observance March 14 at 11:30 a.m. at the Community Club.
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