The 12th annual Black History Celebration at the Bethune Community Center, held last Friday, brought many out to pause and reflect on how far things have come, and how far they have to go. Attendants of the celebration were treated to good singing and poetry and enough food to feed everyone twice, almost.

Mrs. Tiny Lewis is the director of the center. She was happy with how the event turned out.

“I could hear a lot of it. I could hear in the back,” said Lewis. She kept so busy at the event, readying the food and directing folks to where they needed to be, that she was hardly able to see any of it herself. Lewis said that the yearly event is most important for the children.

“(It is important) For our youth in the community to realize where their ancestors have come from. And they really don’t know what’s going on,” said Lewis.

Jackie Mitchell kept things in order throughout the night as the mistress of ceremony. The Piedmont Male Chorus treated the crowd to songs, directed and accompanied on piano by Freddy Perry, who is a retired teacher from Piedmont Elementary School and is now teaching in Georgia and directing four different singing groups.

The evening brought poetry from Aggie Harbour and Ivan Teague, and a reading of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream“ speech from Cameron Pickens. A young Miss Jakieya Mitchell, daughter of Jackie Mitchell, sang a courageous and completely entertaining song without accompaniment.

Freddy Perry gave the central speech of the night. Perry said that during Black History Month he always feels a little different.

“I always get a charge, like an electrical charge because I think about the things that my ancestors went through, my parents went through and my grandparents went through to get me to where I am today,” he said.

Although the room was lined with portraits of famous and influential blacks – people like King and Powell and Winfrey – Perry talked about people who made an impact on him and others from right here in Piedmont.

“Our little city has produced a lot of wonderful people. A lot of them are right there in this room,” said Perry. “A lot of people have lived in this little town.”

He spoke of a man named Willy James Bond who many called Skillet.

“Willy James made a carnival in the back of his house,” said Perry. He said Bond got so into his work that he decided to make a Ferris wheel out of wood. Through sheer ingenuity and practical sense he was successful.

“I think he had a lawnmower motor on it at one time,” said Perry. When he first built the Ferris wheel, Bond had it hooked to a bicycle that he had to crank by hand to get the thing moving.

“As people got larger he wouldn’t be able to pick them up,” said Perry.

Perry spoke of Piedmont residents who would help out neighbors with plumbing and electrical work, often going underpaid.

“Even on cold nights when it was raining those men were out there trying to help with plumbing,” he said.

Perry talked about what we can all do to make this a better place.

“Every one of us in this room can give to our community, to our society. Every single one of us,” he said.

And he talked about how we perceive others and ourselves.

“How many of you got a chance to pick what you look like right now?” Perry asked the crowd.

“Did you decide what color you wanted to be?”

The crowd answered no.

Perry then shared a saying he’d heard from someone many years ago.

“Just because you see it, don’t make me be it,” said Perry. “Think on that for a while. It will stick with you.”