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Performance by Ottley School of Music students, 2010
Today is the first day of spring and the Lakeland Community Heritage Project is prepared to celebrate the season with a Festival of Music. Mark your calendars on Sunday, May 16, 2010, 5:00 PM for the LCHP Festival of Music at the Memorial Chapel, University of Maryland-College Park. This celebration of Lakeland’s musical tradition and Lakeland’s 120th year will be reminiscent of a similar event held in the community on the same date more than 50 years ago. In the words of Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, “I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a song. To this day, I don’t understand how people think they can bring anybody together without a song.”
Our host for the evening will be Patrick Ellis of WHUR radio and performers will include students of the Ottley School of Music, Hyattsville, the Queens Chapel Male Chorus and Queens Chapel Children’s Choir of Queens Chapel UM Church, Beltsville, pianist Janet Gillens, as well as soloists Don Jones and Sydney Jones. We will update this listing as additional artists are confirmed.
Tickets are just $15.00 for this historic event and with the purchase of one adult ticket you may request two free tickets for children and young adults under the age of 18. For tickets or more information call us at 301-345-3365 or contact us by email at lakelandhistory@yahoo.com.
Thank you to all of our guests and LCHP members for a delightful evening at the Lakeland Dinner Dance last week. Our distinguished guests for the evening included State Senator Jim Rosapepe and his wife NPR journalist Sheilah Kast and Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk. Senator Rosapepe presented Lakeland with a Governor’s Citation and Delegate Peña-Melnyk delivered Lakeland with a Citation from the Maryland General Assembly, both recognizing Lakeland’s 120th Anniversary. The Lakeland Community Heritage Project owes a special thanks to JUTP for the link, Diane Weems Ligon, Vie Shaps Jones, Pearl Lee and James Edwards III, Elizabeth Adams, Pamela Boardley, Joy Sharps, and Cookie Brooks.
Ernest Brown and Samuel Hollomand, 1964
Please join us this Friday, March 12, 2010 for the Lakeland Community Heritage Project Dinner Dance, honoring The Counts, Dutchess, Lakeland Tavern, Lakeland Hall, Elks Club and The Nine Wonders Club and the rich history of “good times” in Lakeland. To purchase your tickets or learn more about the event, please contact Diane Ligon at 301-441-1697, Vie Sharps Jones at 301-464-0074 or email lakelandhistory@yahoo.com
Location: Holiday Inn College Park, 10000 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, MD
Cost: $40.00 per person $70.00 per couple
Time: 8 PM – 12 PM
Music and dinner will be provided
Please join members of the Lakeland Community Heritage Project for Seniors Show & Tell located in Lakeland at the College Park Community Center at 5051 Pierce Avenue on Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 10 AM to 12 PM. The event is a special opportunity for seniors to share stories and life experiences while enjoying lunch.
Barnes & Noble, Bethesda
Later the same day, LCHP will participate in another book signing on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 at Barnes and Noble, 4801 Bethesda Avenue, Bethesda, MD 2814 along with the authors of Ben’s Chili Bowl: 50 Years of a Washington, D.C. Landmark. For more information call the store at 301-986-1761. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday or for one of our upcoming events.
Lakeland Community Heritage Project Vice-President and Historian Violetta Sharps Jones will be speaking at two upcoming Black History Month events in Prince George’s County. The first event, an Open Mic & Local Authors Book Signing, will take place on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 will take place at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex located at 8001 Sheriff Road, Landover. Join LCHP in a celebration of the oratory talents of area residents as they share their own visions of the past, present and future in “spoken word.” The second event is a Seniors Show & Tell located in Lakeland at the College Park Community Center at 5051 Pierce Avenue on February 25, 2010 (date change) , from 10 AM to 12 PM. The event is a special opportunity for seniors to share stories and life experiences while enjoying lunch with friends. Call 301-441-2647 for more information.
Of course, we are looking forward to celebrating our history in style at the Lakeland Dinner Dance on Friday, February 12, 2010 from 8 PM to Midnight at the College Park Holiday Inn, 10000 Baltimore Avenue College Park, Maryland. Tickets are $40.00 per person or$70.00 per couple and proceeds from the event go to support LCHP exhibits and programs. For tickets or more information e-mail lakelandhistory@yahoo.com or call Diane Ligon (301-441- 1697), Vie Sharps Jones (301 464-0074), or Cookie Brooks (301-474-2082).
Sojourner Truth wax figure on display in the Truth Room at the Oxon Hill Branch. Image courtesy the Prince George's County Memorial Library System.
Please join us the Lakeland Community Heritage Project at the Oxon Hill Branch Library this Saturday November 21 at 2:30 PM for “Preserving Lakeland’s Heritage: A History Book For Everyone” a presentation by the authors of Lakeland: African-Americans in College Park. This event is graciously sponsored by the Prince George’s County Truth Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the Sojourner Truth African American Research Collection. The presentation on Lakeland will include photos from the book and excerpts from oral histories.
The Oxon Hill Branch Library was built in 1966-67 on the site of the Sojourner Truth Elementary School, a black school that educated educated African-American children from several communities in southern Prince George’s County from the 1940s its close in the mid-1960’s. In addition to the incredible Sojourner Truth African American Research Collection–itself named for the school–the Oxon Hill library features six painted glass panels, entitled “However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source” [Yoruba Proverb] by Nancy Gutkin O’Neil. Installed in 2006, this artwork is designed to “whet the appetite” of library visitors to explore the shelves, resources, and programming at Oxon Hill Branch Library. If you would like to make a day trip out of the event, you could even include a visit to the historic 1928 Oxon Hill Manor.
