35th Annual Black History Month Celebration
"The Divine Nine: A Legacy of Service and Commitment to the Citizens of Tampa Bay"
February 28, 2023
Hillsborough Community College Theater
4100 W. Tampa Bay Blvd
"The Divine Nine: A Legacy of Service and Commitment to the Citizens of Tampa Bay"
February 28, 2023
Hillsborough Community College Theater
4100 W. Tampa Bay Blvd
Crystal Clark
Director of Communications, Tampa Police Department
TPD Chaplain Clethen Sutton
TPD Honor Guard
Corporal Sonja Wise
Deirdre Joseph
Member, Black History Committee
Mayor Jane Castor
Chief Lee Bercaw
Crystal Clark
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
Major Eric DeFelice
Chairman, Black History Committee
Ida Walker
Member, Black History Committee
To learn more about the Tampa Soul Walk, click here.
Corporal Sonja Wise
Lyrics: "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears have been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, Our God, where we met Thee;
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD, True to our native land.
TPD Chaplain Prentiss Davis