The Natchez Trace Parkway Welcomes Firehouse Community Arts Center for Black History Month

In recognition of Black History Month, the Natchez Trace Parkway will host the Firehouse Community Arts Center of the Memphis Black Arts Alliance (MBAA) on Saturday, February 12, 2011. Using the performing arts of drama and music (song and instrumental) and visual media projections, the Firehouse Community Arts Center will offer education and entertainment for this year’s Black History Program. The program will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center, located at milepost 266, near Tupelo, Mississippi.

The MBAA will weave a multi-media musical story based on the rich synergy of music, drama, and daily life of these groups. African, Native American, Negro spirituals, and jazz will be presented.

Performers will include Naomi Williams Moody, Kent Suggs, and Carl S. Slappy. Ms. Moody has enjoyed a career in theatre for over twenty-five years, performing as a singer, actress, and master teacher of voice at the Memphis Black Arts Alliance. Ms. Moody is co-founder and producer of The Bluff City Tri-Art Theatre Company. Mr. Suggs, a world–traveled musician, plays and instructs students in blues, jazz, and Christian instrumental and vocal music. Once the director at B.B. King’s club on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, he now focuses on teaching students of all ages and providing musical direction for several local churches. Mr. Slappy has worked as a Light Designer for the Elijah Pierce Gallery and Martin Luther King Arts Complex, and is a founding member of the Memphis Black Arts Alliance.

This program is free to the public. For additional information, please call the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center at 1-800-305-7417.