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Black History Month Program to Feature the Story of ‘Hellfighter’

Theatre

Theatrical Presentation Set for Thursday at 7 PM

A unique theatre presentation Thursday (Feb. 16) at Wilmington College will tell the story of Hellfighter, one of America's most decorated military regiments. They were not just fighting the enemy on the other side of the battleline but also fighting racism and prejudice and full acceptance into the American dream.

The event begins at 7 p.m. in McCoy Room of WC's Kelly Center and features Ron Jones and Dialogues on Diversity Theater. It is co-sponsored by Wilmington College, the Clinton County Foundation, Clinton County Historical Society. It is free of charge.

Hellfighter is an American story, five generations in the telling. Through the real-life story of Needham Roberts, Hellfighter weaves a fictionalized story of his son and grandsons’ journey to the town of Needham, Mass. The 369th Infantry Regiment, formerly known as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment and commonly referred to as the "Harlem Hellfighters," was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I and World War II. In World War I, through the heroism of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, they gained their iconic name.

Jones noted that, "America's complicated history may be hard for some to look at, but without understanding how that history played out for everyday Americans, it's impossible to heal in the here and now.  The average American does not know the deep cultural stories of institutional and systemic bias that people of color had to deal with.  This is one story."