BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)– During Black History Month, the first Black elected judge in Baton Rouge and coordinator of the Valley Park Neighborhood Civic Association shed light on the families and community members that have helped pave the way for others. 

“We wanted to celebrate this community for what it did for us. We want to celebrate our families because we had heroes and sheroes who were right there in our own backyard and in our own homes. So this is why we’re saying Black history is right here in this community,” Judge Freddie Pitcher Jr. said. 

Ebonie Farlow-Edwards, the program marketer, explained what the past, present and future symbolize. 

“When we say the past, they’re going to talk and walk through the parts of them growing up and the camaraderie and what they did to get along and to fellowship with one another. And then the present, what’s happening now, and then the future of how we plan with the Valley Parks Civic Association.”

The Valley Park Neighborhood Civic Association gathered nearly 30 seasoned community members to celebrate the families that helped build the community in honor of Black History Month. 

“That’s what it is today, a celebration.  We have candles, and so what we’re going to do is we’re going to call out the street names in Valley Park to have all of the community members who grew up on that street stand up. And we’re going to recognize them,” Farlow-Edwards said.