MAY PEN, Clarendon — Bauxite/alumina company Jamalco marked Black History Month (February) in style, according to a news release from the company.

Three hundred students and teachers from 23 secondary and primary schools in Clarendon and Manchester, representatives from Government and other organisations participated in the company’s seventh annual Black History Month celebrations, the release said.

The event, which was hosted at Halse Hall Great House, was held under the theme ‘Black Innovators Advancing Civilisation’. The day’s activities included the opening ceremony, two debates among high schools, an exhibition and a Bob Marley One Love Concert.

Organisers said the activities were designed to raise awareness and highlight how people of African descent have contributed to the development of civilisation.

Jamalco’s Managing Director Antonio Melo told students not to be detained by issues of colour and race. Ambition was the true determinant of achievement, he argued.

“It is up to you to determine what it is you want to achieve and how you want to impact society,” Melo said.

He urged his guests to be inspired by the work of their forefathers. “Let their work motivate you to reach for the stars and be the next black innovator who positively impacts your world,” he said.

Jamalco’s Corporate Services and Gov’t Affairs Manager Leo Lambert said celebration of Black History was necessary because of the opportunity it presented for people to pause, re-engage and reflect on a history that was like no other. He argued that no other race has had to endure the indignity of the Middle Passage.

The Middle Passage defines the transportation of captive Africans — chained and packed into the holds of slow-moving sailing ships — from West Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to be used as slaves on European-owned plantations, in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The great majority of Jamaicans are descended from such slaves.

“Any race that has endured that ordeal can stand proudly today and proclaim their place in the history of man and that race is indeed mighty,” Lambert said.

“Today we stand here not as victims but as people on a mission and as survivors,” he added.

Professor of social history and director, Institute of Gender Development Studies, UWI, Mona Verene Shepherd urged the students not to focus only on celebrating black inventors from the USA but also on those from Jamaica.

She encouraged the students to stay in school and not to become drop outs. “Stay in school and become innovators of things we can use in our society. We have to create, we have to innovate, we have to develop those skills among you and stop being a society of consumers of overseas products. You need to change that trajectory. You have to ground yourself in the history of the black past,” Shepherd said.

Principal of Mitchell Town Primary School Orville Mitchell and Bob Marley Foundation Public Relations Manager Alicia Williams saluted Jamalco for hosting the celebrations.

Winston Jones High and Foga Road High schools took top prizes in the debating competitions while Foga Road High School and Brixton Hill Primary topped exhibit categories. The day ended with cultural performances by students as well as runner-up in the 2007 Digicel Rising Stars competition, Jodian Pantry.