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Local Black History Month event to feature speakers, performers with Utica ties

H. Rose Schneider
Observer-Dispatch

When Craig Grant thinks of major contributors to both healthcare and Black history, he often thinks of Dr. Charles Drew and Dr. Patricia Bath.

Both pioneers in the medical field, Drew piloted a national blood donation system for the American Red Cross, while Bath invented laser cataract surgery. But they and other Black figures are not often featured in American history, Grant noted.

"That's one of the reasons we celebrate Black History Month," he said.

Historical and local figures will be highlighted in a virtual event Saturday at the Oneida County History Center, said Grant, the chairman of the Utica/Oneida County NAACP Black History Month program.

The program is presented annually and this year will focus on the 2022 national Black History month theme of Black health and wellness.

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Maj. Milissa Jones will speak at the 2022 annual Black History Month program presented by the Utica/Oneida County NAACP.

It's the second time the event will be held virtually due to the COVID-19, Grant said. The live-streamed event allows some speakers to join remotely, including sisters Dr. Cassandra Carter and Maj. Milissa Jones. The daughters of Utica-based Pastor Angela U. Carter, Carter and Jones grew up in Utica, Grant said.

Carter is currently a lead associate at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, with a doctorate in sociology and an extensive background in research and work on healthy disparity. A United States Army officer, Jones is an pediatric infectious diseases attending at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, and has experience working in pediatrics for nearly a decade and serving as a field surgeon while deployed in the Middle East. 

Dr. Cassandra Carter will speak at the 2022 annual Black History Month program presented by the Utica/Oneida County NAACP.

The event will also feature performances by Malik Johnson, also known as rapper Leeky XIV, creative performance club Nomadic Voices and local church choir St. Matthew's Temple Praisers.

Grant said NAACP branch officer Joseph Johnson would also be speaking, as well as students in Utica College's Young Scholars Liberty Partnerships Program and the Junior Frontiers of the Mohawk Valley, who will present major contributors to American history in "Black History Moments."

"There are significant contributions or events in the African American experience that have not been fully implemented in American history," Grant said.

If you go ...

Leeky XIV performs during a taping for “AMP the House” in the courtyard at Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute in August 2020.

H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.

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