City celebrates conclusion of Black History series through traditional song and dance

Friday's celebration of black culture in City Hall's month-long series of events, honoring Black History Month, concluded with a traditional dance performance and song from a local music group.

With the biggest crowd in attendance thus far, the grand finale event began with a sequence of dances performed by the teenage girls from the Mona Lisa Lanier Dance Studio. Dances to both contemporary music and traditional African songs echoed throughout City Hall as the crowd clapped along.

Followed by the dance and prior to the Hub City Mass Choir performance, Destiny Church of Jackson Pastor Rhonda Pettigrew delivered a powerful prayer to the audience, leaving some in tears.

In the second part of the event, the Hub City Mass Choir took to the floor to sing hymns led by E.J. Shelton. Stedmon Roebuck, a singer in the choir, described the song selection as being "intentional."

"We had a narrator to set up each song, so that took a lot of preparation, which we tried to make sure that a message was there to match the songs," said Roebuck.

The choir is going on its fourth year of involvement in the community and has approximately 50 members.

"It's surreal, you never get used to it," Shelton said. "We do this on a consistent basis all the time, but to be here at City Hall in front of the mayor, in front of people from different ethnic backgrounds, it's surreal."

He described the city's choice to uniquely represent the black community each Friday throughout February as "a step in the right direction."

"I really appreciate the mayor and his staff being very intentional about supporting the culture," Shelton said.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: City celebrates end of Black History series by traditional song, dance