×

Braceville church celebrates Black History Hall of Fame

Lea Dotson, a school principal said this is the best time to be a black person in this country. She spoke during a Black History presentation at First Baptist Church of Braceville on Sunday.

BRACEVILLE — A former Warren pastor returned Sunday to join the First Baptist Church of Braceville in its annual Black History Hall of Fame celebration to give a spiritual lesson on the wise use of money.

The Rev. Georgina Thornton, former pastor of Grace AME Church, in preaching from a text out of the Acts of the Apostles, said the black community and America itself cannot be whole without economic strength. But Bible stories show that wealth should never be their number one priority.

“The verses of scripture show us that Jesus is intensely concerned about our attitude toward money,” said Thornton, who now pastors St. Paul AME Church in Cleveland as she advised the congregation to redirect thoughts from the material to spiritual. “We need wisdom with the money we do have.”

She said people today have to learn to “stop buying junk we don’t need” and not to give “our children everything they want.”

Thornton, who launched the annual ecumenical / interfaith worship service in the Warren area which brought together leaders of different religions, was introduced by First Baptist Pastor, the Rev. Orneil C. Heller.

Heller told his congregation that the time for talk is over.

“We have to put our words into action,” Heller said in describing his vision to build an African-American senior citizen center in the community.

The congregation also welcomed back Arlene Shavers Body, who has been recovering from a stroke. Body is chairperson of the annual Hall of Fame celebration, in which different church members gave presentations about successful African Americans in history. Afterward, the congregation got to peruse the “Wall of Fame,” a display in the church basement featuring athletes, educators, authors and other successful former Braceville residents.

During the presentations, educator Lea Dotson said despite the political unrest caused by the election of President Donald Trump, she believes “this is the best time to be a black person.”

“It is time to strip away our masks and teach ourselves to harness this anger into something positive,”said Dotson, who is principal of Life Skills High School in Youngstown.

Another educator, Luona Body, told of the successes of 19th century free black Americans, such as Thomas Day, furniture designer and cabinetmaker in North Carolina, and Nancy Gardner Prince, a seamstress who designed dresses for the empress of Russia in the 1820s. Luona Body also told of the exploits of several free African-American sailors.

“The vastness of the sea is no place for discrimination,” Luona Body said.

A third educator, Ken Atchison, said “new collar” jobs are on the horizon in highly technical and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. He said the future of the auto industry will be changing because of the innovation of self-driving cars and the popularity of the Uber ride system.

“We have to get our children to be ready to take on new things,” Atchison said.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today