Black History Month banquet
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 20, 2004 1:59 PM
The connection between Ghana and Goldsboro may get closer if a Georgia professor's message is heard this weekend.
Dr. Joseph "Pete" Silver graduated from Goldsboro High School in 1971. Today he is vice president of Savannah State University and has created exchange programs that take faculty and students to the Pacific Realm, the Caribbean and South America. But Africa has been the biggest focus.
He returns to Goldsboro with three African exchange students on Saturday to speak at the Black History Banquet sponsored by the Dillard-Goldsboro Alumni Association. The event starts at 5 p.m. at H.V. Brown Hall on Poplar Street.
Silver said his message is designed to create a better understanding of Africa and dispel some of the myths about the continent. Some of that will be done through historical and cultural information.
And it will all lead up to an excursion opportunity he plans to offer local citizens.
"I'm looking to link Goldsboro to Africa as we have Savannah to Africa," he said.
He said he is putting together a tour for the Dillard-Goldsboro Alumni Association and others who might be interested. The trip is planned for the summer of 2005.
"I think that many cities in the United States are missing golden opportunities for economic development and social partnership with Africa," he said. "The more we understand the culture of other people, the better the world will be.
"Once you begin to sit down and talk to people from other countries, you see you have more in common than you do differences."
For information or tickets to the banquet, call Alice Daniels at 734-7693 or Barbara Swinson at 734-1396.