Patricia Moncure Thomas, a long-time Port Orchard resident, has spent years delving into the history of her family, the Moncures, whose pedigree includes black and white members. Moncure Thomas was featured in a 2002 article in the Kitsap Sun, and she has written a book about her family, dating back to the 1700s.
Moncure Thomas since 2006 has taken part in a group called Coming to the Table, which focuses on the legacy of slavery and it ongoing effects. The six women who make up the group include descendants of slaves and slave owners.
Today (Feb. 26), Moncure Thomas and others in the group will meet at the Northwest African American Museum (Seattle) to culminate an eight-week workshop. She has been a facilitator.
Moncure Thomas’ website, Moncure Place…Connecting Family and Friends, contains stories, interviews, photos, family trees, and history of the times and places in which her Moncure family lived. She is President of the Black Historical Society of Kitsap Inc.
Her goal, as stated in her bio on the Coming to the Table website, “is to uncover and document untold stories about the legacy of slavery that have been left out of our United States history — stories, she says, that connect everyone as important parts of American history.” She attended a pilot Coming to the Table event in 2006 with a white Moncure descendant, and is now a member of the group’s community practice board. She is the principal of Browns Point Elementary in Tacoma, WA.
On Sunday, Kitsap County will wrap up its observance of Black History Month with the 12th annual Salad Bowl Sunday. The event — set for 3:30 p.m. at the Kitsap Sun Pavilion, 1200 NW Fairgrounds Road, Bremerton — was founded by Emmanuel Apostolic Church Bishop Lawrence Robertson as a celebration of diversity. The theme of this year’s event is “Designed to be Different.” The event is hosted by area churches and includes speakers and performers. If it’s anything like previous years, it concludes with a Pavilion-sized potluck.
So, question of the day: How have you celebrated Black History Month?
The same way I celebrated white history month.
I have no problem with equality. I have a large problem with those that feel they somehow deserve to be more equal than me.
Any questions?
So does that mean you have a problem with St. Patrick’s Day? Or Bainbridge Island’s Mochi Tsuki celebration of Japanese heritage?
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jan/02/fun-by-the-pound-at-bainbridges-mochi-tsuki/
Chris Henry, reporter
My brother’s only child is married to a black man in Tacoma.
I haven’t seen her since she was a child and we flew over Hood Canal and scattered my brother’s ashes over the waterway he so loved.
I’ve never met him nor their children…but I would say Black History Month is important to us all.
Sharon O’Hara