Hillsborough County To Honor Black Leaders

TAMPA, FL --The Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau is hosting its 18th annual Tampa Black Heritage Festival throughout this week to celebrate the area's black cultural heritage and remember those who fought for civil rights on the local and national front. The festival, a prelude to National Black History Month in February, will feature speakers, musicians, artists, poets and craftspeople.
Throughout the week, the county is urging residents to remember those leaders who helped advance civil rights locally and nationally. Included in the weeklong tribute are:

• Queen Miller: For more than six decades, this tireless advocate for those in need has worked to provide social and health services, and to deter crime. The "Queen Miller Suite" recently was dedicated in her honor at the Lee Davis Center on North 22nd Street in East Tampa.
• The Bing family: Janie Wheeler Bing ran a rooming house in Plant City for African-Americans during segregation. It opened in the late 1920s, closed in 1970, and now is on the National Register of Historic Places. Bing's son, E.L. Bing, Jr., helped write the proposal for federal grants to implement Hillsborough County's desegregation plan in the 1960s, and served as a Hillsborough County commissioner in the 1980s.
• George & Doretha Edgecomb: This power couple was influential in a variety of fields. George Edgecomb, who died of leukemia at age 33 in 1976, was Hillsborough County's first black prosecutor and judge, and a community leader. His name adorns the George Edgecomb Courthouse, the George Edgecomb Bar Association and the George Edgecomb Society at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Doretha, Edgecomb, a lifelong educator, has served as a teacher, reading supervisor, drug prevention coordinator, principal and three-term member of the Hillsborough County School Board.
• C. Blythe Andrews Jr.: As a community activist and chairman of the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin, Andrews exposed matters that lay "in the long shadow cast by Jim Crow," said Tampa's then-Mayor Pam Iorio at the newsman's funeral in January 2010. The family-owned semiweekly newspaper has focused on black residents and interests for more than 75 years.
• Clara Frye: A nurse during segregation, Frye cared for ill blacks and founded the Clara Fry Negro Hospital. The hospital no longer exists, but a ninth-floor wing of Tampa General Hospital is named in her honor. A bust in her likeness is among those of prominent Hillsborough County residents along the Tampa Riverwalk.
• Sylvia Rodriguez Kimball: The first African American woman elected to a major office in Hillsborough County (1990), she served two terms on the Board of County Commissioners, including a stint as chairwoman. Kimball was an inaugural inductee to the Hillsborough County ###a href="Women's" class="redactor-linkify-object">http://hcflgov.net/en/governme... Hall of Fame.
• Isadore "Billy" Reed: The co-founder of Belmont Heights Little League, Coach Reed for decades was a mentor to thousands of inner-city young people. As coach of Hillsborough High School's baseball team, he helped mold the careers of professional athletes including Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield, Carl Everett, and others.

Festival events include:
* Black Business Expo Saturday, Jan. 20 An Evening with Harry Belafonte presented by the USF University Lecture Series. Having spent decades on the front lines of social justice,all over the world, from the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. The free lecture will take place Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. at the University of South Florida Marshall Center Oval Theatre, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa.

* Heritage Leadership Luncheon Wednesday, Jan. 17 from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. Speaker Matthew Horace is a CNN law enforcement and security expert analyst, senior crisis manager and contributor to the Wall Street Journal “Crisis of the Week” column. The luncheon will take place at the University Area Community Center Complex, 14013 N. 22nd St., Tampa. Tickets are $20. Call (813) 325.2539.

* Genealogy Brown Bag Luncheon Thursday, Jan. 18 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library, 1505 Nebraska Ave., Tampa. Speaker GiGi Best Richardson will cover family research and “Ancestral Surprises: Connecting the Dots in Early Military, Land and Voting Records," during the free event sponsored by the Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society.

* Heritage Gala Thursday, Jan. 18, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the TPepin Hospitality Centre, 4121 N. 50th St., Tampa. The upscale dinner event will recognize the festival's sponsors, partners, supporters and community. Featured entertainment will be by Thomas Browne who has over a decade of recording and sharing the concert stage with luminary figures of jazz music. Admission is $60 per person or $100 per couple.

* Living History Exhibit Reception Thursday, Jan. 18 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hillsborough Community College, Dale Mabry Campus Gallery 221. The exhibit will feature artists Mark Thomas Gibson, William Villalongo and Princess Smith.Saul’s Juke Joint State Show Friday, Jan. 19 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. This high-energy dramatic comedy show, set in the 1930’s, features original tracks by Emmy Award-winnernDesmond Boone Sr. and dance moves by choreographer Arleene Bowles. It will be staged at the Hillsborough Community College Mainstage, Ybor City, 2112 N. 15th St., Tampa. Tickets are $25.

* Black Business Expo Saturday, Jan. 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University Area Community Center Complex, 14013 N. 22nd St., Tampa. Come out and experience shopping, networking and engage with local black businesses. Tickets are $10.

* Heritage Youth Day with Brother Ben X Saturday, Jan. 20 from noon to 4 p.m. at Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library, 1505 Nebraska Ave., Tampa. The summit will feature a black history virtual tour; community youth program vendors, entertainment and a chance to meet young entrepreneurs.

* Heritage Gospel Night Saturday, Jan. 20 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Bible Based Fellowship Church, 4811 Ehrlich Road, Tampa. Todd Dulaney, widely known for his rendition of “The Anthem,” will appear. Tickets are $20.

* The NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner will take place Feb. 8 with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Downtown Tampa, 211 N. Tampa St., Tampa. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. J. Mouton Sr. of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Tickets are $75. Call (813)417-9207 or (813) 505-9120.

* The NAACP Hillsborough County Branch will host its 15th Annual Black Heritage Banquet Feb. 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Trinkle Center at Hillsborough Community College, 1206 N. Park Road, Plant City. Keynote speaker Jeraldine Williams will discuss “Embracing the Past, Building the Future.” Tickets are $35 per person. Visit the Black Heritage Celebration Inc. website.

* The 14th Annual Black Heritage Jazz Festival will take place Feb. 10 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Robert W. Willaford Train Museum in Plant City.

* The Black Heritage Gospel Concert will take place Feb. 11 at 4 p.m. at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Plant City.

* The Hillsborough County Black Heritage Celebration is scheduled for Feb.28 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The Regent, 6437 Watson Road, Riverview. The free event for adults 50 and over includes lunch, music, dancing, entertainment, and free parked. Those attending should RSVP at their local senior or nutrition center.

Photos via Hillsborough County

George and Doretha Edgecomb hold their daughter, Allison, at George Edgecomb's swearing-in ceremony in August 1973.

Queen Miller

A bust of Clara Frye along Tampa's Riverwalk