Center Section Celebrating 58 Years - Vol. 58, No. 32 • May 25 - 31, 2023
May 2023. Volume 9. Issue 5.
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Honoring Black Americans’ Role in the Inception of Memorial Day Ambassador Andrew Young Weighs in on Black Participation By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Memorial Day has a deep historical connection to the African American community in the United States. The holiday, which originated as Decoration Day, initially began when formerly enslaved individuals and their descendants gathered to honor and decorate the graves of Union soldiers who fought during the Civil War.
“Oddly, that’s a fact that I wasn’t fully aware of,” former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young told the Informer. “It’s not surprising, though,” said Young, an American civil rights leader and hero. Indeed, on a day when picnics, family outings, and other leisurely pursuits occur, the founders of Memorial Day meant for the occasion to honor African Americans
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5 An annual wreath-laying ceremony is held on Memorial Day at the African American Civil War Memorial to honor the service and sacrifices of Black soldiers and sailors who fought for the freedom of four million enslaved people. (WI File Photo/Roy
Informer Co-Founders Honored with Ceremonial Street Sign
Coach Nickens Sets the Standard at Theodore Roosevelt High School
Wilhelmina & Calvin Rolark Way Debuts in Ward 8 By James Wright WI Contributing Writer
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
The late Calvin and Wilhelmina Rolark, co-founders of the Washington Informer Newspaper, were recently honored with an honorary street renaming in Ward 8. The ceremony took place on May 18, which would
ROLARK WAY Page 44 5The Rolark’s daughter Denise Rolark Barnes, grandsons Lafayette and Desmond Barnes, nephew Stan Rolark and sonin-law Lafayette Barnes, Sr. hold the ceremonial street sign on Foxhall Place, SE. (Robert Roberts/The Washington Informer)
With an important basketball tournament on the horizon, the members of Roosevelt Senior High School’s boys varsity basketball team are maintaining a training regimen that keeps them in the gym at 4301 13th Street NW for hours on end. Each morning before the start of school, the young men complete morning strength 5 Rob Nickens, coach of Roosevelt High School’s varsity and conditioning workouts. They also parbasketball team for 18 years, uses basketball to help his ticipate in practice runs that reinforce the players advance their athletic and educational goals. (Ja’Mon Jackson/Washington Informer)
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