The Esther M. Lee African American Heritage Center (EMLAAH) held a family fun day at the Bethlehem Area Public Library June 8. Lee herself opened the event with some background information.

“Our organization felt we wanted to do something while the board continues on this venture to open an African American Heritage Center in Bethlehem,” she said. The center is much needed educationally, she continued “as we as a people everywhere in the country evolve around race, and we need to address this with young children.”

Camille Armstrong gave the group a music and movement lesson.

“I am a teacher, nanny, singer, dancer, choreographer,” Armstrong said. “I enjoy teaching other people how to do things. There is a joy that’s inside of us when we learn to create things. We have to be creative, everyone should learn to be creative.”

Armstrong asked the group for ways they listen to music and reminded them that music starts with silence.

Then children were asked to name traditional and nontraditional instruments. Responses included rubber bands, spoons, bottles and pans. Armstrong added basketballs, plungers, trash cans and lids, walls, tables and chairs.

“As long as you tap it, or blow into it, it’s a musical instrument,” she said. Next, she asked how music could be made just using the body.

Esther Lee responded, “With your feet.”

Then Armstrong made a song using her body by snapping her fingers, patting her thighs and singing “Doo, doo, doo, ding.”

Ending her part of the program, Armstrong invited several children up on the stage to make up dance moves of their own and finished with a group song.

“I feel very blessed and gifted to be able to teach children,” she said.

Next, Sherlan Henry gathered the children and read a story about acceptance and love. Then the children were invited to partake of snacks. They were also encouraged to choose from a selection of books, donated by PBS 39.

Dr. Wandalyn Enix, president of the EMLAAHC, talked to the adult participants about Esther Lee, the center and its goals.

“She has been here for 90 years,” Enix said about Lee, who has held many positions, including being the first African-American on the school board. She’s the current president of the Bethlehem NAACP, past president of the Northampton County Council of Republican Women – even though she is a Democrat. At PBS39 Lee headed its black exposure program.

While she has worked in social services and in education, and has 40 different awards from organizations around town, “She is a very modest person,” Enix said.

About the Lee Center, Enix said, “We are in our infancy, working to present the heritage of all Americans in Bethlehem and to celebrate the arts as we did today and to celebrate history. Our people have been here since the Moravians have been here. In every aspect of our city, there has been African American involvement.

“Our goal here is to bring the arts to all children, and present the history of African-Americans, which is sorely lacking in our town,” she continued. “We continue to vie for funds to move forward and soon will have a great, traveling display of history that we can bring to schools and local organizations.”

Closing the program, Esther Lee recalled her early visit to the community library.

“There was not much we were entitled to,” she said, “but we did have libraries. I remember walking to the Southside library branch when I was younger. Reading begins at kindergarten to second grade ... You never stop learning; even at 90 I don’t stop learning.”

The Esther M. Lee African American Heritage Center holds local events about every two months. For event details and more information about the center, its purpose and historic information, visit Emlaahc.org.