Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In recognition of African American History Month, the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge hosted “Celebrating Unsung Heroes” at the Brundidge library on Saturday.

The daylong event included dancing, a wax museum, poetry readings and interactive activities.

Theresa Trawick, library director, said “Celebrating Unsung Heroes” was an opportunity for the 22 students from Pike County elementary and high schools to learn more about African American history and those who were unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

“The idea for ‘Celebrating Unsung Heroes’ was for the students and those who attended the program to learn more about the many people who played roles in the Civil Rights Movement but whose contributions were not well-known or, perhaps, never known.

Garneshia Lampley, library children and teens coordinator, said the program was a learning experience for those who portrayed characters in the movement and also for those in attendance.

A small, city bus was parked at the library and those in attendance were invited to come, sit in the bus and learn more about Rosa Parks who had been an activist most of her life. However, it was not until she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus that she became a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

At each bus presentation, the passengers were told how Parks and several other African Americans refused to give their seats over to white people.

Parks said she didn’t give up her seat because she was tired physically.

She was only tired of giving in.

Rosa Parks is a familiar name in the Civil Rights Movement. After the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library’s “Celebrating Unsung Heroes,” program, the contributions of activists like Ernie Davis, Big Mama Thornton, Virgil Lamar Ware and Andrew Goodman will be better known and appreciated.