The Walking With Christ ministry choir had their crowd up and dancing around Saturday afternoon at the church's Black History Month Celebration.

The church hosted the celebration at the Natrona County Special Education Services building. About 30 community members attended the celebration to listen to speakers, visit with each other and play a few trivia games through the program.

"This is not black history, or Spanish history," said Rev. Johnnie Young. "It's American history month."

Speakers shared information about the origins of Black History Month and family stories about struggles and triumphs. Those at the celebration also learned what the colors in the African flag symbolize.

"The gold is for the richness of the people," explained Georgia Hans. "Black is for the people. The red is for the bloodshed. The green is for the earth."

The celebration also honored Joelon Jackson, a senior at Natrona County High School who was chosen as this year's Wyoming's Youth of the Year. As youth of the year, Jackson earned a four-year scholarship to the University of Wyoming.

Jackson said he'd learned a lot from the celebration, noting that when he starts talking about Black History Month, some people just laugh at him.

"It's really inspired me to go on and be someone influential in the community," he said. "I really enjoy this whole month."

Cheryl Young, one of the celebration's organizers, said she was pleased with how the program turned out.

"This is our very first time doing this," she said. "We'd like to make it an annual event."

The church decided to organize the day after Young realized that no one else had planned any events to celebrate Black History Month. Young said she hopes the celebration will continue to grow, and bring the Casper community together.

"Living here, we're kind of ethnically challenged," she said with a laugh. "I'm always looking to do things like this."

Reach reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.