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Permit No. 923
SRVMinflH BLOCK HERITHBE
6RRRD FESTIVAL DRY
Saturday, February 12 f 2011
Savannah Civic Center kick off at 11am
“GEORGIA’S BEST WEEKLY”
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February 9,2011-February 15,2011* Vol. 38 No.50 • www.savannahtribune.com • 912-233-6128 * Fax: 912-233-6140
Donell Jones to Headline
Grand Festival Day concert Feb. 12
Donell Jones
Jeanette Illidge
Alexis Jordan
R&B recording artist
Donell Jones - whose hits
include “U Know What’s
Up” and “Where I Wanna
Be” - will headline the 22nd
Annual Savannah Black
Heritage Festival (SBHF)
Grand Festival Day concert
on Feb. 12 at the Savannah
Civic Center. Other artists to
perform include Alexis
Jordan and festival veteran
Jeanette Illidge.
Presented by Savannah
State University (SSU) and
the city of Savannah, Grand
Festival Day is considered
the highlight of the annual
heritage celebration and
packed with family-oriented
activities that include a
health fair, youth talent
showcase, workshops, vend
ing, the concert and more.
All events are free and
open to the public; tickets are
not required.
The concert segment
starts at 7 p.m. with Illidge, a
singer, songwriter and
actress who last year won a
national singing competition
called "Macy's Ticket to the
Tonys," which included a
walk on the red carpet at the
64th annual Tony Awards at
Radio City Music Hall.
Illidge was later on the big
screen in Tyler Perry’s film
"For Colored Girls," which
was released in November
2010.
Also performing at the
concert will be recording
artist Alexis Jordan. Bom in
Columbia, S.C., the 18-year-
old Jordan has been singing
since she began to speak and
songwriting since the third
grade. In 2006, she entered
the Simon Cowell produced
television competition
"America's Got Talent" and
made it all the way to the
semi-finals.
Bom in Chicago,
Jones’s musical roots were
planted when he started
singing at the age of 8, wrote
his first song at the age of 12
and received an electric gui
tar from his mother at the age
of 14. After writing hit songs
for Usher, Jones’ debut
album, "My Heart," was
released in 1996, followed by
"Where I Wanna Be" in
1999, which went platinum.
His most recent album
release, "Lyrics," includes
the popular hit single “Love
Like This.”
“Our Culture is Our
Journey” is the theme for the
2011 festival, which is the
12th produced by SSU for
the city.
For more information,
visit www.savannahblack-
heritagefestival.com.
Savannah Book Festival Scheduled for
February 18-20
Tina A. Brown
The 4th annual
Savannah Book Festival will
take place February 18-20,
2011, President’s Day
Weekend. This prestigious lit
erary festival, which remains
free for all to attend, begins on
Friday evening, February 18,
and concludes on Sunday,
February 20, 2011.
The caliber of authors
and range of topics featured is
unprecedented, with high
lights including: award-win
ning memoirist Tobias Wolff;
famed southern novelist Lee
Smith; bestselling author
Sandra Brown; Karl
Marlantes, Vietnam veteran
and author of the stunning
new novel Matterhorn; musi
cian and environmentalist
Chuck Leavell; former
University of Georgia coach
and master gardener Vince
Dooley; and Egyptian-bom
poet Greg Djanikian.
The author presentations
take place in and around
Telfair Square in the heart of
historic Savannah, taking
advantage of its beautiful
churches, parks and heritage
sites including Trinity Church,
Telfair Museum and the
Jepson Center for the Arts.
Among the participants
is Tina A. Brown. Brown will
do a presentation around her
book Crooked Row Straight:
The Awakening of AIDS
Activist Linda Jordan on
Saturday, February 19, at 10
a.m. in the Telfair Museum
Boardroom. She is the winner
of many awards, including a
Casey Journalism Medal for
Meritorious Journalism; the
2003 General Reporting
award from the Society of
Professional Journalists—
Connecticut Chapter; the 2002
Spot News award from New
England Associated Press
News Executives; and the
2001 Columbia University
Graduate School of
Journalism—Let’s Do it
Better prize. She is an inde
pendent journalist living in
Savannah.
The Savannah Book
Festival’s mission is to pro
mote reading, writing and
civil conversation. For more
information, contact Lisa
Parker Fort at the Savannah
Book Festival at (912) 358-
0575; or www.savannah-
bookfestival.org.
tEPf) e gmtmnnaJj
tErtlmne
Salutes Black
History Month
Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert
In recognition of Black
History Month, The
Savannah Tribune will high
light weekly African
Americans who have provided
lasting contributions to our
society and world.
Ralph Mark Gilbert was
bom March 17, 1899 in
Jacksonville, Florida and was
an American civil rights leader
and a Baptist minister.
From 1939 until his death in
1956, he was the Pastor of the
First African Baptist Church,
located at 23 Montgomery
Street on Franklin Square in
Savannah's Historic District.
From 1942 to 1950,
Gilbert served as president of
the Savannah Branch of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP).
During his tenure, the
local chapter was reorganized,
hundreds of Blacks were regis
tered to vote, a progressive
white Democratic politician,
John G. Kennedy, became
Mayor of Savannah and the
city's Police Department hired
its first Black police officers,
known as the Original Nine.
Reverend Gilbert died August
23, 1956 while on vacation in
New York City, New York.
Savannah's Ralph Mark
Gilbert Civil Rights Museum
is named in honor of Dr.
Gilbert. The museum is located
at 460 Martin Luther King, Jr.
Blvd. in the Wage Earners
Bank building constructed in
1914. Renovation of the build
ing began in 1993 to house the
museum and opened as Ralph
Mark Gilbert Civil Rights
Museum in 1996.
In This Week’s Edition:
Obama Administration Celebrates Black History
Month, pg.2
The State of African American Youth, pg. 3
Walthour to Keynote NCNW’s Harambee Breakfast,
Pg- 4
$2.1 Million Grant to focus on Savannah, pg. 7
African American History Month at Fort Pulaski,
Pg- 8
Mayor, French and German Consuls Name
Honorary Consul, pg. 9
