What a tough act to follow as the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church continues a most inspiring and much needed program carried on by the late Mrs. Doris Booker for the past 35 years. The church and community anxiously await this program each year coordinated by Mrs. Booker. The talent and history displayed by Mrs. Booker and her guests each year gave encouragement to the youth, laughter and pride to the elderly, and if the dead could speak they would gladly say, "my living was not in vain."

For some of the older members who are not avid readers and because Black History was not part of schools curriculum, it was during this Black History Program that some of us learned of the great inventions and accomplishments of Black people, such as the traffic light signal, first successful open heart surgery, first gigahertz computer processing chip, first blood bank, dry cleaning patent, electric lamp, and many more.

Mrs. Booker poured her heart and soul in this program each year. So much so that during the 2007 program she requested that this program continue after her death. During this same program, Mrs. Booker talked more on what to do when she was gone which at the time everyone thought strange but as time revealed, her requests were made clear. Her daughters Carolyn Harper, Ida Mance, and son, Enoch Booker Jr., discovered in the house after her death that she had placed everything in order.

MRS. DORIS BOOKER 1928-2007 In the December quarterly conference, the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church voted unanimously to continue this program and name it "The Doris Booker Black History Program." This program is dedicated to her memory and we know that her spirit lives on. This spirit is undeniable in the actions of her family.

Mrs. Booker truly believed that one could not fully grow and be successful without knowing their past. This was the essence of what she shared with guests through this program featuring the Note Singers, dramatic readings and poems, songs from the past, and her own excerpts of just how life used to be.

The Note Singers included Melba Hill, Alice Smith, Willie Jenkins, Dennis Quinn, the late Thelma Jackson, Inell Hill, Reba Richardson, and Frank Fanning. Note Singers have been part of our heritage for hundreds of years and most of the younger generation in this area would have never known about this had it not been for Mrs. Booker.

The tradition, however, has gone virtually unnoticed and faded away in this area. Mrs. Hill also has requested newcomers to learn more about this unique sound. Where there were no instruments to accompany singers in the black churches and a lot of the congregation was not able to read, each note was given a specific sound. A leader would line out one line and others would follow one line at a time.

Dramatic readings and poems from LaTashia Johnson, Lisa Flint and Doris Booker have been immensely enjoyed by the congregation thanks to Mrs. Booker. Johnson has excited audiences during this program performing her dramatic presentation of the poem made famous by Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise." Flint, a published poet from right here in the Baltimore Community has instilled in us just what rich history this small town still holds.

Mrs. Booker's favorite poem was "Lis Lis" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. She loved speaking in Negro dialect, known today as ebonics. Mrs. Booker often said that she knew correct English even though she didn't speak correctly at all times. After all she was valedictorian of her graduating class.

This programs also included spiritual hymns from the Flint Hill Male Chorus who were, Bobbie Hill, Floyd Hall, Lance Pitts, Charles Morgan, Preston Hill, Tom Richardson, Donald Hulin, Charlie Norman, Timothy Mickens, Howard Bradley, and Frank Meadows. Mrs. Booker had one of the greatest alto voices enjoyed by the congregation. No one could quite carry a tune while singing some of the difficultNegro spirituals such as "The National Negro Anthem," "Go Down Moses," "Steal Away," "Down by The Riverside" and many more. Members of the congregation have witnessed the tears brought to her eyes as she sang this melody of hymns, for these songs carried a message of life's struggles. You could just feel the meaning of the songwriters as she sang.

Mrs. Booker's Guests have also enjoyed great speakers of Washington, Georgia, such as Mayor Willie Burns, Rev. Kenneth Walker, Clara Sutton, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Finnell, and many more. Some of the nationally-known historians that Mrs. Booker often expounded on were Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, W. E. B. DuBois and of course, the Father of Black History, Carter G. Woodson.

As one would ride through the Baltimore Community, you often saw Mrs. Booker sitting on her front porch. This was an open invitation to receive one of life's lessons and an open invitation to anyone who had the time to stop. Mrs. Booker gave out quite a few of life's lessons which she often spoke of during this program, leaving the audience in uncontrollable laughter.

During one of her programs she had a list of speakers who had about three minutes or so to speak and most of them had exceeded the time limit. It became time for Rev. Albert Rucker Jr. to speak. When he got up, she whispered to him, "Kiss it." Everyone that knows Mrs. Booker knows that whispering was not in her vocabulary. Confused as to what she meant by "Kiss it," Rev. Rucker looked to a guest with an expression of what does she mean? The guest replied, I guess she wants you to make it so good that you could kiss the speech. Still confused, he looked at her to clarify and she said, loudly, "Keep It Short Son!"

She was not a lover of longwinded speakers and it was things like this that her audience loved and kept people coming back. Mrs. Booker gave out so much advice and history to so many individuals and families until she was known as the Mayor of the Baltimore Community. Mrs. Booker and her collection of pictures and artifacts largely made the recent published book by Skip Mason Images of Black America in Washington, Georgia, possible.

Rev. Edward Anderson is one of the writers of Black History Month for The News-Reporter. Regrettably so, Mrs. Booker passed away the week he had planned to feature her in his next article. Rev. Charles Belton, pastor of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, not knowing this, sought out to get Rev. Edward Anderson as the first keynote speaker for the Doris Booker Black History Program which he gladly accepted.

Mrs. Booker's dedication to this program is only exceeded by her true love for her family, church and her unbreakable spirit to make this annual event a rousing success. It was her wish that we continue this tradition and to go forward as though she was still with us. Her undying love for Black history was evident in the many mementos she collected and the many stories she shared with everyone that she knew. It was truly a joy to share with her the many memories that she could recall about the Baltimore area, and the many Black Americans that made Washington, Georgia, the city that it became.

Many unknown contributions were brought to light simply by having Mrs. Booker tell her stories. Her memory of events that happened years ago was remarkable and was told with such detail, that you felt as though you were there.

As we continue to provide the community with this annual program, let us all try to keep that same spirit and enthusiasm that Mrs. Booker displayed for the many years that she led us in the pursuit of our knowledge of our Black heritage.