Date: Tuesday, 8 March 2005, at 5:14 p.m.

NNMC Bethesda's Black History month celebration comes full circle

by JO1(SW/AW) AnTuan Guerry

NNMC Public Affairs

The Bethesda Multicultural Committee brought their observance of Black History Month to a close Feb. 17, with a celebration in Laurel Clark Memorial Auditorium. By joining together and linking the present with the past, the 79th year of nationally recognizing contributions of African-Americans came full circle at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC).

This year's Black History Month theme was, "The Niagara Movement: Black Protest Reborn, 1905-2005," which chronicles 100 years of struggle and triumph for African-Americans. Led by 29 prominent black men during that time, the Niagara Movement, headed by W. E. B. DuBois, was the forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Leaders of the movement insisted on full civil liberties for blacks, an end to racial discrimination and immediate recognition of blacks as humans.

In attendance at the celebration were Naval Medical Education and Training Command Commander Rear Adm