The Winston County Library has a lot of activities planned for February. The overall theme is “Love Your Library Month.” People are encouraged to come to the library and fill out a heart-shaped card, letting us know why you LOVE your library.
February is also Family History Month. Anyone who fills out their “Love Your Library” card and wishes to can have their name entered into a drawing at the end of the month for one of three free 23andME saliva ancestry kits! That’s a $99 kit for free!
The Library will be celebrating Black History Month with many displays and a reception later in the month. Keep an eye out on our Facebook page or contact us for more information.
A much-needed mobile blood drive will be held on February 8 from 11 am- 2:30 pm. Call 662-773- 3212 to register.
Pokemon World Day will be celebrated February 28 - March 4 with plush Pokemon character giveaways (while supplies last), coloring sheets, and other fun activities.
Finally, library staff will encourage patrons to sign up for the Cozy Mystery Program. For every ten cozy mysteries patrons read, they will receive a free advance copy of an upcoming release.
Black History Month
2022 Theme: Black Health and Wellness
By Elmetra Patterson
As many of you know Black History Month is celebrated the entire month of February to highlight Black achievements as well as struggles to achieve. Black History is American History but is often hidden in the American History books.
This year, Friends of Dean Park, Inc. again sponsors an exhibit at the Winston County Library with photos and biographies of Black achievers, African artifacts, including fabrics, fashions, art and two honorees. There will be recipes and suggestions for healthy eating and a list of the health issues that Blacks face through generations. There will be information about Blackdoctors.org. who are playing a major role in helping Blacks to achieve healthy lives. Their motto is Where Wellness & Culture Connect.
The local honoree, Ms. Allie Lue Edwards, is a well known unsung hero that taught typing, English and shorthand in the Winston County School System which included Noxapater Training School, Louisville Colored High School, Camille Street High and Louisville High School. She retired after 30 years. The emphasis is on Ms. Edwards because of her achievements even after experiencing polio as a 12 year old child. Polio, with crutches, braces, wheelchairs and social isolation, did not keep her from completing high school and graduating from Rust College (now know as Rust University), with a BS Degree in Business Education. Ms. Edwards was a very firm teacher and many of her students followed in her foot steps to become secretaries, stenographers, writers and English teachers. One that comes to mine is Nettie Walker Jackson, class of 1961, who retired from the clerical field. Nettie is so grateful to Ms. Edwards that she has kept in contact with her throughout the years.
Ms. Edwards has published a book, A Gift, which she will introduce and sign at the Winston County Library, 100 West Park Street, Louisville, MS, as she celebrates her 88th Birthday, March 19, 2022, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Dr. Kizzmekia Shanta Corbett is being honored in the exhibit as an American viral immunologist. She is known worldwide for developing the Moderna Vaccine for the Covid-19 Virus after much research with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other studies. This vaccine blocked the infection process of Covid-19. She shared her research with former President Donald Trump during his NIH tour on March 3, 2020. President Trump later signed a bill authorizing an $8.3 billion dollar emergency coronavirus response, which included $3 billion for accelerated research on a vaccine and treatment.
Many African American were/are hesitant to take the vaccine because of past incidents of misusing them for experiments. However, Dr. Corbett came out and publicly denounced that this vaccine was anything like the Tuskegee study with Black men who had syphilis. The participants of the Tuskegee study were not offered available treatment even after penicillin became widely available. The Covid-19 vaccine is available to all that want it unless there are medical reasons for them not to take it. Dr. Corbett was 34 years old when she developed Moderna. She is definitely young gifted and black and will be studied in history for years to come.
Friends of Dean Park, Inc. president Rion Young and members, invite all of you to the Winston County Library to see the exhibit from February 3 – February 28. It will be announced later, if there will be a reception on February 19, 2022.
