Parade in Warner Robins celebrates Black History Month

Black history came alive along North Davis Drive Saturday when some participants in a parade portrayed their favorite personalities from Barack and Michelle Obama to abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth.

Newly-appointed Councilman Larry Curtis Jr. portrayed retired four-star U.S. Army Gen. Colin Powell in the parade as part of February’s Black History Month.

The parade was sponsored by a nonprofit near and dear to his heart. Curtis resigned as president of Closing the Gap of Middle Georgia before stepping into his new role on council. He filled the Post 6 seat vacancy created by the Jan. 26 death of Councilman Mike Davis.

His wife, Laura Curtis, who organized the parade, said the group’s purpose is to empower and improve communities in Houston and Peach counties. The group expects to expand its reach into Bibb County.

“We hope the visitors take away just a little bit of history,” Laura Curtis said. She serves as the nonprofit’s secretary. “We hope that maybe today they learn something that they didn’t know about black history, and just the fact that Closing the Gap, that we’re out here, and we’re trying to make a difference in our community.”

Tay and Kimberly Spivey portrayed the Obamas. The couple rode in a chauffeured limousine and their son served as their presidential bodyguard.

“They represent family,” Kimberly Spivey said of their choice of the former presidential couple. “They represent leadership, and that’s something that we represent.

“We are family people. We love leadership, and (Barack Obama) did a great job and he’s all about changing the world,” she said.

Gloria Johnson, 60, of Warner Robins, dressed up as Sojourner Truth, who escaped slavery with her infant daughter and became an abolitionist, activist and author in the 1800s.

“It’s black history, but it’s history that isn’t in the books too much and being taught to our kids,” said Johnson, who joined nearly 100 participants in the parade.

Numerous groups were in the parade including the NAACP Houston County Branch, the Genesis Joy House Homeless Shelter, fraternities and sororities.

Most of those who came out for the parade gathered at the corner of Davis and Green streets . This was the first year that the parade was held but organizers hope it will become an annual event.

Phyliss Larry of Warner Robins was among those who came out to the parade. Her son and members of her church, Fellowship Bible Baptist Church, were in it.

“It’s just important to just see ... the progress that has been made and also to just be proud of our heritage and proud of where we are and what we’re doing,” said Larry from under the shelter of a large blue and white umbrella.

As Curtis passed by in a vehicle along the route, he said that events like the parade are important “so we can know our history and understand what’s going on.”

Mayor Randy Toms, who was driving the car that Curtis was riding in, interjected, “We were just listening to a mom tell her son what some of these names mean and that’s what this is about ... to educate people on some of the history we have here.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2019 at 3:06 PM.