Jersey Shore Pops Celebrates Black History Month

Jersey Shore Pops Orchestra Performs at Middle Township PAC

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – Linda Gentille and the Jersey Shore Pops orchestra will present a special student assembly celebrating the music of great African American composers and musicians. The show will feature Jacklyn Buckingham, Linda Gentille and several of the orchestra’s soloists. The performance will take place at the Middle Township PAC located at the High School on Monday, Feb. 29. There will be two assemblies for both the high school students and middle school students of Middle Township.

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October.

The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and Frederick Douglass on Feb. 14, both of which were dates Black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century.

From the event’s initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American blacks in the nation’s public schools. The first Negro History
Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the cooperation of the Departments of Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware and West Virginia as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

President of the orchestra, Dr. Nick Holland, comments, “We are proud to be able to celebrate this important event here in Cape May County and are grateful for this grant from the county to make it possible. It will be a wonderful experience for the students and our orchestra members.”

This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The funds were administered by the Cape May County Culture and Heritage Commission, under the authority of the County Library Commission, for the Board of Chosen Freeholders.