The community has the chance to listen to history as speakers discuss their experiences during the Civil Rights movement in Covington this weekend.

The city of Covington and Main Street Covington will hold its third annual Black History Month Program on tomorrow, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. at the Newton County Historic Courthouse located at 1124 Clark Street. The theme for this year’s program is, “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”

Janet Goodman, one of the organizers for the event, said Newton High School students Christopher Lightsey, Mykal Smith and Sara Birdsong, who have written essays on what they think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech meant, will speak at the event. There will also be poems read and interruptive dancing.

Covington natives Richard Johnson, Flemmie Pitts and Forrest Sawyer Jr. will be some of the guest speakers for the event and will tell their personally stories of the changes they have seen in Covington during the Civil Rights movement.

“A lot of young people think that the way things are now, that’s the way they have always been and they don’t realize the struggle and the disappointment that a lot of people in Covington went through,” Goodman said. “They hear about it, but they don’t believe it really happened. So some of these people will basically be telling the story.”
“Sometimes you just need to sit back and listen and find out.”

Goodman said the event will also feature Newton County Board of Education member Shakila Henderson-Baker presenting a challenge urging everyone to continue to make things better for everybody and the importance of an education.

For more information about the program, call Janet Goodman at 770-786-7639 or Josephine Brown at 770-385-2077.