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Words in praise of volunteers behind three worthy projects© St. Petersburg Times published February 19, 2003 Kudos today to some people giving their best effort to important causes. The Pinellas County African American History Museum and Research Center opened in Clearwater on Saturday, thanks to the dedication of Sandra Rooks, an educator who is the museum's director, and Randolph Lightfoot, a curriculum specialist for the Pinellas County schools. The two had lamented that area children have little opportunity to learn about the history of African-Americans in this area. So they went to work accumulating materials and stories that would document that history. They recorded oral histories of local blacks. They collected hundreds of photographs from local families and other sources. They obtained artifacts like the record book of a black midwife who delivered 400 babies in Pinellas, the original cornerstone of a blacks-only lodge building in Tarpon Springs and signs from the Jim Crow era. The effort took more than three years. Local historians have expressed appreciation and respect for what Rooks and Lightfoot accomplished and the quality of the materials they obtained. Without some local partners, opening a museum might have been more difficult. The Pinellas County School Board gave approval for the museum to be housed free of charge in the former Samuel A. Robinson Challenge School at 1101 N Marshall St. The Florida Humanities Council also has partnered with the museum. For now, the museum is small and open only by appointment. But if Rooks and Lightfoot have anything to do with it, the museum surely will grow. The two are appealing to residents of Pinellas County to donate old books, pictures and artifacts that help tell the history of blacks in the county. They also are trying to recruit volunteers and donors. Pinellas children of all races and cultures could benefit from going to the museum to learn about the history of blacks in Pinellas. The museum offers special programs for school groups. Those who want to donate, volunteer or arrange a tour can call (727) 532-1698. Rooks and Lightfoot also teamed up to capture the history of the black community in a 128-page, softcover book, Black America Series: Clearwater, Florida. The book tells that history primarily through photographs taken between the 1890s and the 1980s. Thanks to Rooks and Lightfoot, the forgotten history of a whole community is being brought to life. Lamont Artis, a July transplant from Atlanta to Clearwater, was traveling with his father in Ghana last summer when he learned that the country desperately needed textbooks for its schools. Artis told people he met in the African country that he would find a way to get them free textbooks. As soon as he got settled in his new home here, he set to work making good on his promise. This week 55,000 textbooks are on their way to Ghana. Artis collected donations from businesses, civic clubs and individuals to accomplish the task. Thanks to Artis' hard work and the big hearts of those who helped him, children in Ghana that might have gone without books will have them. Ghana also was the recipient of another Pinellas effort. About 40 young people who are members of the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Red Cross cooked spaghetti and asked for donations to raise more than $2,000 that will be used to inoculate children in Ghana against measles. The group went to work after learning that measles kills 450,000 African children each year. It costs only 80 cents to vaccinate a child and possibly save his or her life. The money the local group raised went to the Measles Initiative, an international effort begun a year ago by the Red Cross. These caring Tampa Bay young people could have been doing something that their peers would consider more fun. But nothing could be more important than giving health and hope to others.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
