FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rahn d. Fudge
1.415.694.9760(m)
Betty Fudge-Biggles
1.229.205.0218(m)
GET READY TO RISE!
Black History Month Event Details Announced
(BAINBRIDGE)—A Bainbridge-based Black History Month(BHM) grassroots organization announces “UNITY”as its overall theme for this year’s 23rd Annual Phoenix Affaire©️ RISE! Week Celebration starting Monday, February 17th and running through Sunday, February 23rd.
“Our focus this time will be on bringing people together regardless of our differences and to foster a culture of acceptance over tolerance in the wake of today’s political and social climate. We’re still trying hard to stay in step with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ speech, says Rahn d. Fudge, Creator and Executive Producer of the BHM RISE! Week and 1979 Bainbridge High School graduate born in nearby Donalsonville and who currently resides in San Francisco, Calif.
Organizers are most excited about launching a first-time horse-drawn carriage local black history tour in Bainbridge highlighting various points of interest from an African-American historical perspective which is something—as far as anyone knows—that’s never been done. “I grew up here and I know that not only Bainbridge but the entire Southwest Georgia region has a rich local black heritage. It just stands to reason that a tour to at least help preserve the local black history in an oral history way is better than it being forgotten or worse yet erased”, explains Fudge. The tour will be free (with a $10 suggested donation) and also feature community volunteer tour guides on board the horse-drawn carriage.
Aside from the tour, the RISE! WEEK©️ celebration is chock full of other weeklong events for you to consider:
Monday, February 17
BHM MOVIE DAY featuring a full day of screening black history related movies.
Tuesday, February 18
HOSEA WILLIAMS DAY features a wreath-laying ceremony in tribute to the Civil Rights Movement leader and legend held in his birth town of Attapulgus, Georgia.
Wednesday, February 19
The TRAVELIN’ WREATH to honor the bravery and valor of both fallen and surviving black war veterans makes a pit stop in nearby Colquitt after starting its journey in Attapulgus at the Hosea Williams Day memorial observance.
Thursday, February 20
The TRAVELIN’ WREATH continues with another pit stop this time in nearby Donalsonville for a special Seminole County Courthouse black veterans ceremony followed by a VIP Veterans reception that’s free and open to the public.
Friday, February 21
The TRAVELIN’ WREATH then makes its way to nearby Climax, Georgia where a small group of local black veterans will gather at the town gazebo in this small hamlet to pay homage to their fallen (and surviving) comrades.
Saturday, February 22
The INAUGURAL horse-drawn carriage local black history tour weaving mostly throughout Bainbridge’s black neighborhoods with history-loving community volunteer tour guides.
Sunday, February 23
GOSPEL in the PARK SUNDAY brings the RISE! WEEK©️to a tambourine shaking, hand clapping and foot stomping close inside Willis Park (on the Square) in historic downtown Bainbridge. Free and open to the public.
For more information about exact times and locations for events as well as how you can volunteer or support, please follow our Facebook page (The Phoenix Affaire RISE! or call 229.205.0218, ask for Betty or email us at: rahn.fudge@gmail.com
“It’s time to educate, empower, inspire our black youth and celebrate how far we—as heirs to a tremendous legacy of a people— have come, concludes Fudge.
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