The Montgomery County Council will hold a special program on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 9:30 a.m. to commemorate Black History Month. The Council will discuss the importance of preserving and honoring African American communities in Montgomery County. The Black History Month commemoration will be held at the Council Office Building (100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, Md.) in the third floor Council Hearing Room.
“One of the wonderful aspects of living in Montgomery County is our diversity,” said Council President Sidney Katz. “People from many cultures, countries, and communities add to the rich mosaic of life here. Our population exceeds one million people and 19 percent of our residents identity as Black or African American.
“It’s my hope that this year’s Black History Month commemoration will be an opportunity to learn about some of our early African American communities. Many of these areas retain their strong cultural identification associated with generations of families. The Council will honor their legacies and learn lessons from their struggles.”
The Council’s Black History Month commemoration will include a video segment that documents historic African American communities including Emory Grove in Gaithersburg, Scotland in Potomac and White Ground in Boyds. The video features members of these communities including: Kay Freeman, Eddie Dove, Carolyn Taylor, Rev. C. Glenn Taylor, Claudia Golenda and Roger Cartledge. The Council will conclude the commemoration with a special awards presentation for those who participated in the making of the video.
The Council has been hosting commemorative events to honor Black History Month since 2015. Last year’s commemoration focused on the importance of preserving and honoring the County’s African American history and its connection to fostering racial equity.
The Black History Month commemoration will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM), which can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon. It also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 and Facebook Live.