Jazz and Multicolored Memories Free Event May 18

The Polk County History Center continues its Race and Culture Lecture Series by hosting "An Evening of Jazz and Multicolored Memories" from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18.

The evening's festivities will open with a program offered by Bartow's Community Relations Committee (CRC) to commemorate the 154th anniversary of Florida's Emancipation Proclamation, which was first read May 20, 1865, 11 days after the end of the Civil War and two years after the proclamation was issued by then President Abraham Lincoln. The program will feature music from Sankofa Chorale of Winter Haven, directed by Dr. Jessie Owens of Polk State College. The segment will include a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by local historian Lloyd Harris.

The program will conclude with a jazz cabaret performance of inspirational jazz vocals and literary stories by Dr. Kitty Oliver, assisted by musical director Tim Jack. Oliver will share poignant, humorous, revealing personal experiences moving from segregation to integration to multicultural diversity in the international arena.

Oliver is a veteran journalist, university professor and public scholar. She has produced PBS TV documentaries on cross-cultural race relations experiences, shared historical and personal reflections on CNN and appeared in the recent international award-winning Ron Howard Beatles film, "Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years."

The CRC will provide refreshments and admission is free. Activities will be provided for children ages 3 to 8. The history center is located at 100 E. Main St. in Bartow. The east side of the building, Central Avenue entrance, is wheelchair accessible. Additional parking is available at the Oaks parking lot at the corner of East Park Street and South Central Avenue.

The Bartow CRC also will sponsor a special gospel music program at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at the Burkett Chapple Primitive Baptist Church, 413 S. Third Ave. in Bartow. The concert will feature the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America.