Staff report

SALISBURY — Hood Theological Seminary will hold a celebration of Black History Month on Feb. 28, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. in the Aymer Center on campus.

At 7 p.m., the program, “An Evening of Music to Stir the Soul,” will feature area choirs: Soldiers’ Memorial Children’s Signing Choir; Livingstone College Gospel Choir; Catawba College Gospel Choir; the Voices of Eden of the University North Carolina-Charlotte; and Hood Voices.

It will also include a dramatization on the importance of literacy.

The Community Life Committee organized the event to underscore the importance of education by inviting and bringing together the choirs from area institutions of higher education. Music played a vital role in providing access to education as many historically black institutions worked to develop concert choirs that toured and raised money for institutional operations.

The event is free and open to the public. African attire or college garb is welcome.

The celebration is the culmination of monthlong activities in observance of Black History Month including weekly chapel services at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday and Saturday. Students in the course Christian Education in the Black Church — taught by Mary Love, adjunct professor of christian education — are leading the worship services.

The focus is the national Black History Month theme, “The Crisis in Black Education.”

Love said she decided to incorporate worship in her course and to encourage students to take the lead so they could gain practice in including their own heritage in worship.

It has also been an opportunity for the community to explore the theme and what individuals and the church can do.

The Rev. Dr. Dwight B. “DB” Cannon, general secretary of global missions of the AME. Zion Church, spoke on “Focusing on Christ in the Midst of our Crisis” on Feb.  8. Cannon noted that the educational crisis is worldwide, as education is a pathway to liberation.

Also, the Rev. Carolyn Bratton, pastor at Moore’s Chapel AME Zion Church, spoke on the topic “Understanding: The Crisis in Black Education” on Feb. 14. She suggested that the problem is lack of understanding.

For further information, contact Dr. Dora Mbuwayesango, dmbuwayesango@hoodseminary.edu or 704-636-6077.