KINGSTON – The City of Kingston closed out February Thursday evening with a celebration “Honoring the Dream: From Our Ancestors to Us,” at city hall to honor Black History Month.
“We have a leap year,” said Mayor Steve Noble, “so we have one extra day of Black History Month. So we thought it would be a great opportunity throw an event here at city hall.”
The event featured talks by Michael Sussman, a civil rights attorney, and Anthony Dandridge, black history professor at SUNY New Paltz and executive director of the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center.
“One of the banners we have upstairs is someone who’s a Kingston native who is no longer with us, Everette Hodge,” said Noble.
Kingston’s Everette Hodge Community Center is dedicated to Hodge’s memory.
“He was super-involved with the NAACP here, in the county and in Kingston” said Noble. “He was someone who loved the neighborhood he was in. As a funeral director, he cared for people at their most challenging time. He was also someone people really respected, and he cared deeply about the kids. Once he passed, he donated his land to the City of Kingston to be able to create a youth center. In the late 90s, the Everette Hodge Community Center was created and even today serves 100 plus kids every day. And creates pathways to success that he cared deeply about.”
The Bard Conservatory Jazz Ensemble also performed compositions from the civil rights era at Thursday’s event.
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