Library plans Black History events

Published 2:03 pm Saturday, February 8, 2014

The Demopolis Public Library has events planned for every Wednesday during Black History Month.

The first was Monday, Feb. 3, when Mary Jones-Fitts from the Marengo County Museum and Archives spoke.

The next event will be Black History Trivia on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. Demopolis City Councilman Charles Jones Jr. will serve as “game show host.”

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The third event will be a “Lunch at the Library” with Timothy Jones on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m.

Jones is a native of Demopolis and graduated from DHS in 1998.

He has lived Huntsville for the past seven years and is a two-time graduate of Alabama A&M University and holds a degree in forestry science and a master’s in counseling psychology.

After spending a few years as a forester in North Carolina and Louisiana, Jones returned to Alabama to pursue his degree in counseling, which gave him the opportunity to help people better their lives.

In his spare time, Jones enjoys writing. He has published one book, “The Urban Script: Laugh Now, Cry Later” (2012) and has other projects that are forthcoming. “The Urban Script” is a composition of poetry written over a 15 year time span.

He is working to put the finishing touches on his own life coaching/therapy business, Image Changers Life Coaching, LLC. He and his wife are also working to develop an Historically Black Colleges and Universities-directed nonprofit.

Jones also gives his heart and soul to Covenant Ministries Church International in Huntsville, where he was ordained as a minister in April 2013.

He is married to Erica D. Jones and his the son of Peter and Angenell Jones.

The last event will be a black history program with Charles J. Smith Sr. on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m.

A Demopolis native and 1969 U.S. Jones High School graduate, Smith had the opportunity to shake Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s hand when he spoke at Old Morning Star Baptist Church in Demopolis when Smith was just 13.

Last summer, Smith attended the 50th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 24, Smith’s 62nd birthday.

Currently, Smith is serving his fifth term as president of the Augusta, Ga., branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Augusta branch currently has 493 active members. His branch has won several awards at the NAACP National Convention, including six NAACP National Million Dollar Club Awards and one National Club 100 Award at the most recent convention in Orlando, Fla.

In addition to his success with the NAACP, he is the current Omega Psi Phi Fraternity State Citizen of the Year and the current Georgia Retired Educators Association State Community Service Award recipient. He is a two-time winner of the NAACP Southeast Region Medgar Evers Leadership Award, and was National Chairman of the NAACP National Convention Credentials Committee in Los Angeles, Calif., then re-elected as National Chairman in 2012 in Houston, Texas.

He is married to Susie Jones Smith of Demopolis, and he is the son of the late Jim Smith and Mattie Smith-Wilson. They have two children, Charles Smith Jr. and Yashica Charnelle Smith, seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.