May 22, 2001 – The Senate will host its annual African Liberation Day program Friday on the grounds of the St. Thomas Legislature.
The program, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., will feature music by Kristal Estrada, Shontel Smith, Odessa Baptiste, Arthur Williams, "General Val" and Chester "The Mighty Groover" Brady. Eddie Donoghue will perform an excerpt from his play "Jarn Kom Bum," and Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Sele Adeyemi, K. Leba Ola-Niyi and Carol Henneman will offer remarks. University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus faculty member Gene Emanuel will serve as master of ceremonies, and his St. Croix campus colleague Marvin Williams will deliver the keynote address.
African Liberation Day was first observed on May 25, 1963, when the Organization of African Unity was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The OAU proclaimed that the date should henceforth be celebrated annually to mark the founding of the organization and to carry forward its purposes.
