Staff report

SALISBURY — The Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society of Soldiers Memorial AME Zion Church will present “Shades of Harlem Renaissance” at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The program will be at the church, 306 N. Church St.

The Harlem Renaissance was the Golden Age of African-American culture in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

“It was a time when African-Americans developed and embraced their own literature, music, theater and visual arts,” Raemi Evans said in a press release to the Post. “Some of the notable persons of this period were Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Zora Neale Hurston and Duke Ellington.”

Others included educator, writer and philosopher Alain Locke, considered the movement’s leader; sociologist W.E.B. DuBois, one of the founders of the NAACP; black nationalist Marcus Garvey; writer Claude McKay, author of “Home to Harlem”; actor Paul Robeson; singer Josephine Baker; and painter Aaron Douglas, called the father of African-American art.

While the renaissance was not confined to the Harlem district of New York City, Harlem attracted many of the more notable intellects and talents and served as the symbolic capital of the cultural awakening.

Featured guests at Saturday’s program will include M.J. Simms-Maddox, a novelist; James Donaldson, an artist and poet; Rebecca Stinson, a gospel singer; and Carol Waller, a poet.

Items for a silent auction will be displayed, door prizes awarded and refreshments served. Admission is $10. Proceeds go toward the missionary society’s work.

The Rev. Derrick R. Anderson is pastor of Soldiers Memorial. Dr. Yvonne Tracey is president of the Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society.

Simms-Maddox will speak on her “Priscilla Trilogy,” books that chronicle the coming of age of a young African-American woman abducted from the Midwest, taken to apartheid-ruled South Africa, and eventually rescued and returned home.

Simms-Maddox wrote “Priscilla,” “Mystery in Harare” and ‘Three Metal Pellets.”

A native of China Grove, Stinson began playing the piano at a small church by age 10 and has now sung for more than 60 years. She has performed for politicians and celebrities, including actor George Clooney.

A 1966 graduate of Livingstone College, retired teacher and mentor to others, Donaldson is a well-known local artist who has been painting for more than 45 years. His work has touched the political, religious, realistic and abstract spectrums.

Waller has gained a reputation among church members and the community as a consummate poet and public speaker. She was encouraged early on by her junior high school speech teacher, Jean Poole, to pursue her talent for reading and creating memorable stage performances featuring world-renowned poets.

She will perform Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Mother” and other poems at the “Shades of Harlem Renaissance” program.