Dr. Linwood Morings Boone, pastor of the Corinth Chapel United Church of Christ in Suffolk, was the guest speaker for the Hertford County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s annual Freedom Fund Banquet on Sept. 9.

The event was held at the Nebo Missionary Baptist Church Family Life Center in Murfreesboro. Bishop James C. Watford, third vice president of the branch, served as the Master of Ceremonies. President Dr. James Shern welcomed the 300 attendees.

The NAACP theme, “Elevate Higher, Emerge Stronger” was central to Boone’s 23-minute speech. He was accompanied by 20 members of the congregation.

“I am unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian,” Boone said. “My roots in the black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. I am a child of the African Diaspora, and remain true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.

““The Negro has an ancient history which is second to none in majesty and splendor,” he continued. “The ancient Egyptian towers, the fertile valleys of the Nile, the towering pyramids of a cultural and unsurpassed civilization have revealed to the world that their masters were Negroes. It is not familiarly known that the great sphinx benign, magnanimous and inscrutable was carved by a Negro face. The silent pyramids and the guardian sphinx of the deserts seem to be waiting with patience the dawning of the day when the race which they were not ashamed to own will come to its own. The Negro has nothing of which to be ashamed. He has legitimate reasons for the highest self-respect and self-esteem.”

Boone assented to the ideal that not only should Hertford County’s black population be proud of their royal Egyptian and African lineage, but they also should be proud of the remarkable achievements since emancipation from slavery. Boone offered the illustrious legacies of such Hertford County notables as Isaac J. Cooper, the Rev. George T. Rousen, Charles Smythn Yeates Sr. and Mary Evelyn Riddick to certify his claim.

The speech received a long standing ovation. Others appearing on the program were the Rev. Mercedas Forney, Ronald Gatling, Ms. Ayanna Smith and the Rev. C. David Stackhouse.