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School's reunion to glance at history
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- Alumni of Booker T. Washington High School will have a reunion Saturday at the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum as part of Black History Month. The reunion will feature gospel music by the Mount Olive Baptist Church choir and the Ovations, a gospel group comprised mostly of area ministers. The featured speaker for the reunion will be Arnett T. Doctor, whose mother was a young girl during the massacre of residents of the black community of Rosewood in Levy County in 1923. Doctor, of Spring Hill, was a consultant for the movie Rosewood and played a role in securing $2-million in payments from the Florida Legislature to Rosewood victims in 1994. The event will also feature a special exhibit of African tribal masks at the museum, archival photographs and the current Tuskegee Airmen exhibit. "Plus, we'll have some surprises there, too," said Alida Langley, event coordinator. Langley is a Booker T. Washington graduate and has served as president of the alumni association since 1984. She was the valedictorian of her graduating class, though she prefers to keep the year a secret. The school, at the site of what is now Inverness Middle School, was for black students until it was closed in 1969. The alumni association stays active with meetings, picnics and cruises. "We have a lot of members who are still in the area, because that was the only school for blacks in the county," Langley said. "There was one bus which went to Crystal River and Hernando to pick up students." This year's Black History Month has offered more activities and events than in prior years. Langley said the assistance of the Citrus County Historical Society played a role in getting more events. Last Friday, residents attended a kick-off reception at the courtroom in the Old Courthouse. Friday's reception was a marked contrast from the courtroom's ugly history of racial discrimination. The courthouse still has the staircase leading to an upstairs balcony, the only public area where blacks were permitted to sit. But on Friday, blacks sat alongside whites in the renovated courtroom, enjoying finger foods and chocolate-covered strawberries and pledging to overcome racial differences. The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum is on the Courthouse Square in downtown Inverness. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. There is no admission charge. Call 341-6436. -- Jorge Sanchez can be reached at 860-7313 or sanchez@sptimes.com.
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