“Voices from the Past” performed at annual African-American History breakfast
Published 12:05 am Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Dr. Ethel Bamberg-Revis shares some comments during the Black History Breakfast at Rufty-Holmes Senior Center. – Submitted
Some of the performers in the “Voices from the Past” skit were, from left, Keith Hart, Sylvia Fosha, Dr. Barbara Hart, Fredericka Smith, Dr. Ethel Bamberg-Revis and Rev. Lester Smith. Decarlo Duling was unable to be present for the photo. – Submitted
Dr. Catrelia Hunter, center, performed the part of the grandmother in the skit. — Karen Kistler
Attendees of the annual Black History event get in line to get breakfast. – Submitted
Dr. Ethel Bamberg-Revis, back right with microphone, introduces the performers in the skit. — Karen Kistler
Karen Kistler
karen.kistler@salisburypost.com
A special skit was performed as the program at this year’s African-American History Breakfast.
Held on the morning of Feb. 28, this sold-out breakfast was the 32nd annual event, which was hosted by Rufty-Holmes Senior Center in Salisbury.
Following the 2025 Black History theme of “African-Americans and Progressive Labor,” a drama, written by Dr. Ethel Bamberg-Revis, was performed by herself and other members of the community as part of the program.
Titled “Voices from the Past,” the skit was shared from the perspective of a grandmother, played by Dr. Catrelia Hunter, talking with her granddaughter, performed by Fredericka Smith. Others performing, who served as those voices from the past, were Keith Hart, Dr. Barbara Hart, Sylvia Fosha, Bamberg-Revis, Rev. Lester Smith and Decarlo Duling.
Bamberg-Revis said she had written the skit only two weeks prior, and this was the first time it had been shared with the public. She has written numerous other skits for the VA during her time there for their Black History and Martin Luther King Jr. programs and added that she would “enjoy doing more in the future.”
When asked what inspired her to write the skit, she said, “No. 1, the program committee met, and we wanted to do something different this year,” so she posed the idea of having a skit.
They replied that they didn’t know anyone who could write them and she told them she would do that part and they said, “OK, it’s yours.”
She noted that she was “really appreciative that the center was open to doing it because traditionally they have a speaker and they’ll have a soloist and it’s that way every year. So when I said, I could do a skit, it was like silence and then it was ‘OK sure.’”
While traveling home from the meeting, Bamberg-Revis said she was thinking about the theme and said it was a very broad field and they needed to concentrate on just one or two parts so it would fit into their allotted timeframe.
“I got held up by the freight train,” she said, “and while sitting there, I was thinking, well, maybe I should think about how African-Americans helped that industry.”
She did her research and found lots of people to highlight in that particular field. Some of the people highlighted in the skit were Lewis Latimer, Granville Woods, Elijah McCoy, Hattie Canty and Mary McLeod Bethune.
Bamberg-Revis said that when she wrote the skit she went to the program committee with it and “everyone was excited” and personnel at Rufty-Holmes also okayed it.
The performers met via a Zoom rehearsal to time it to make sure it fit in the time allowed. It was during this time that she told them to “not depend so much on their written part, but to make it a part of you.”
Hunter, who played the part of the grandmother, was seated in a rocking chair performing her part while the rest of the cast stood outside the door as they were the voices from the past.
“Since it was titled “Voices of the Past,” given the make up of the center,” Bamberg-Revis said, “the only thing we could do was to not be seen, and have the voices come in as if they’re coming down a corridor or a tunnel or back into time.”
Doris Goodman served as the emcee of the event, which also included music provided by pianist Phyllis Partee and soloist Rebecca Stinson, greetings from Heather Kincel, executive director of Rufty-Holmes Senior Center and the invocation and benediction by the Rev. Dr. David Camps, pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church.
F&M Bank, Friends of RHSC, which includes Hood Theological Seminar, Dr. Vergel Lattimore, Soldiers Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church and Synergy Home Care, the RHSC Ambassadors Club and the committee, which includes Bamberg-Revis, Goodman, Keith Hart, Hunter and Fosha, served as sponsors of the event.
Bonnie Jones, marketing and media coordinator at Rufty-Holmes Senior Center said “the event wouldn’t have been possible without their support.”
