BROWNSVILLE TN (March 1, 2016):

“Trials, Triumphs and Lessons: Phenomenal Women Speak” will be the theme for the Delta Heritage Center’s Women’s History Month program, Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m. Noted author, Haywood County native and cultural historian, Cynthia Bond Hopson, will speak and facilitate a panel of local trailblazers and leaders.

This is the second year for the program led by Bond Hopson, whose books on Haywood County include The Women of Haywood: Their Lives, Our Legacy, Wiggle Tales and Times of Challenge and Controversy.

“I am still on a natural high from last year’s program,” says Bond Hopson. “The 11 phenomenal women who spoke were inspiring, powerful, and triumphant. This time will be no different.”

Panelists will include Arts Council Director Achana C. Jarrett, businesswomen Martha Hooper, Cynthia Bond, Maggie Stewart, and Carrie Parker; retired educator Becky Thornton, Faith Deliverance Church Co-pastor Hazel Kellar-Boyd and community activist Sophia Rivers.

“This year’s gathering of amazing women will share their lives of faith and service — they are role models, mentors and “essentials” in the community,” adds Bond Hopson. “We can learn so much from their life lessons, unique insights, and critical intersections that informed, inspired and sustained them as they made their way in the world.”

Leading sociologist and Lipscomb University Dean, Dr. Norma J. Burgess, puts it this way in the book The Women of Haywood: “The women of our community hold a mighty and powerful history … and at this stage in our lives, we take the opportunity to look back in reflection, wonder, appreciation and gratefulness.”

The program will conclude with questions from the audience and Bond Hopson will sign copies of her books. This is a free program and the public is invited.

The West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center is located at 121 Sunny Hill Cove in Brownsville, Tenn. For more information about the program, call the Center at 731-779-9000 or email [email protected].

About the Center: The West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center, in Brownsville, offers a refreshing Southern experience showcasing the history and culture of rural West Tennessee. Inside visitors can learn about the history of cotton, explore the scenic and “wild” Hatchie River and get to know the legendary musicians who call West Tennessee home. Also located on the grounds is the Tina Turner Museum at Flagg Grove School, the childhood school of Tina Turner, and the last home of Blues pioneer Sleepy John Estes. To learn more about the Center, visit www.westtnheritage.com or call 731-779-9000.