ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP
For the second year, black men around the Roanoke Valley will hold a unity-building Thousand Man March Saturday morning along Orange Avenue Northwest.
Harold Cannaday II, organizer of Thousand Man March II, said students from William Fleming and Patrick Henry High Schools and William Ruffner Middle School have expressed interest in the march and in a subsequent black history program at Addison Middle School.
Last year's Thousand Man March, inspired by the Million Man March in Washington in 1995, drew several hundred men and boys, as well as many women who attended the history program.
Cannaday said he hopes men from all walks of life and many members of the clergy will come out for the march. He said young men need to witness the strength that resides in the valley's black communities.
"They see a lot of negative images," he said. "They need to see a lot of men who go to work every day and pay their bills and live their lives" in positive ways.
Events begin at 11 a.m. in the parking lot near the Washington Park swimming pool on Burrell Street with brief speeches from several well-known Roanoke ministers and teachers. The march along Orange Avenue from the park to nearby Addison Middle School starts at 11:30 and a program honoring five local black pioneers begins right after the march.
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