Black history focus of program held at Mount Olive AME Church in southeast Gainesville

A history lesson about the life of the late iconic educator Mary McLeod Bethune highlighted a Black history program at Mount Olive AME Church in southeast Gainesville.

Missionaries host Black history program

Hosted Sunday by the church's Susie Long Women's Missionary Society, the theme of the program was "Filling in the African American Heritage Cultural Gap: Part Two."

“We feel like everyone who attended will leave knowing more than they came and we want you all to share it,” said Cynthia Mingo, president of the society.

Teaching young people about Black history

“We’re here to celebrate our young people,” said the Rev. John D. Williams, pastor of the church. “We are co-laborers with God. I hope you get busy doing what the Lord called you to do no matter the age.”

Organizer dedicated to keeping Black history alive

Mary Stover, who presided over the program, thanked Mingo for her dedication in coordinating Black history programs at the church.

“She is definitely invested in this and is working hard to keep it going,” Stover said. “This is a benefit to our children and if we don’t do it, it won’t get done.”

Reading of Mary McLeod Bethune's biography

Stover, Theresa Purnell, Caroline Barber and Stephanie Whittle read Bethune's biography.

According to Cookman.edu, Bethune started the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training Institute for Negro Girls on October 3, 1904, with $1.50.

She created pencils from charred wood, ink from elderberries and mattresses from moss-stuffed corn sacks. Her first students were five little girls and her 5-year-old son, Albert Jr.

In less than two years, the school grew to 250 students.

Recognizing the health disparities and lack of medical treatment available to Blacks in Daytona Beach, she also founded the Mary McLeod Hospital and Training School for Nurses, which at the time was the only school of its kind serving Black women on the East Coast.

Heritage crowning: Heritage crowning

Attending Bethune-Cookman College, other HBCUs

Lois Harrison talked about attending Bethune-Cookman College in the fall of 1952 after graduating from Gainesville Lincoln High School, and she recalled being around Bethune, who died in 1955.

“If anyone is considering choosing a place that feels like home, they should choose an HBCU,” Harrison said. “I’m sure you will be satisfied.”

Vivian Filer, also known as Queen Mother Mangye Naa Osuowaa Okropong I, shared her experience about being a wife and a mother to a BCU graduate.

“They looked after you and really believed in taking care of Black children,” Filer said.

Bethune's legacy is serving others

Beverly Rivers, a member of the North Central Florida chapter of the Bethune-Cookman University Alumni Association, recited Bethune’s last will and testimony.

“She was a mother not only to her children but other children as well,” Rivers said. “There was a nursery school there and she would bake cupcakes and physically bring them to the nursery. She’s a lady of many talents and a big heart.”

The will and testimony was split into nine parts and was read by other participants.

The nine parts were Bethune’s concerns about love, hope, confidence, education, respect, faith, racial dignity, living in harmony and responsibility.

Program ends with a lot of soul

The program ended with Caring and Sharing Learning School students performing songs by Aretha Franklin, Jackson 5 and The Supremes.

“You hear the stories, but it is better when you are able to touch history and talk to those who were a part of it,” said Williams during his final remarks.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Program held to highlight Black history at southeast Gainesville church