The youth of Metropolitan Baptist Church on County Street, where Dr. Robert L. Hobbs is the pastor, held a Black History Month program on Feb. 23 to honor great African-American trailblazers and inventors whose lives and contributions helped to shape this great nation.

About 17 young people participated in the event. The youth represented such great blacks as:

• Fannie Lou Hamer, who worked with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in helping to organize the 1964 Freedom Summer African American voter registration in her native state of Mississippi;
• Virgie Ammons, who received a patent on Sept. 30, 1975, for a device that prevents cold air from blowing down the chimney and back into the house;
• Carter G. Woodson, who was called the father of black history because of his commitment to bringing African-American history front and center and ensuring it was taught and studied in schools;
• Rosa Louise Parks, who was an American activist in the Civil Rights movement and is best known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott;
• Ernest Everett Just, who was the first African-American to receive worldwide recognition as a scientist and was noted for his contributions to marine biology and for his primary recognition of the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms;
• and Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist and political activist born into slavery and whose mission was to rescue enslaved people, family and friends using a network of antislavery and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She was able to save more than 300 slaves in 19 trips.

There were many more African-Americans honored in commemoration of Black History Month. The highlight of the evening came at the arrival of youngsters Elisha Williams and Ricki Eley portraying Barack and Michelle Obama.