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Photo by Andy Atkinson Ruth Brodie of Medford sings while getting backup help on the piano from Mark Davis, also of Medford, at Sunday evening's celebration of Kwanzaa. About three dozen Rogue Valley residents gathered for the celebration. Event opens cultural lines Kwanzaa brings roots of holiday home to residents By DAVID PRESZLER Even before they were married just under two years ago, Mark and D'Ann Davis were determined to learn about Mark's African-American heritage. The Medford couple researched wedding rituals and incorporated them into their ceremony. So when they heard about Sunday's Kwanzaa celebration in Medford, they took it as another opportunity to learn, looking up information on the Internet at a neighbor's house. "It's all new to me," said Mark Davis of the cultural holiday created 32 years ago by black studies professor Maulana Karenga in the wake of the Watts riots. "We just decided to come." "It's just important to know about your culture," said D'Ann Davis, one of a number of Caucasians at the event. "It's important to learn about where you came from." About three dozen Rogue Valley residents gathered at the Medford Congregational Church to mark the holiday Sunday night. Kwanzaa, which means "First Fruits of the Harvest" in Swahili, is a weeklong celebration that begins the day after Christmas. Each of the seven days is tied to a principle: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Though an estimated 28 million people celebrate the holiday, Sunday's gathering is believed to be only the second formal observance in the Rogue Valley. The African American Cultural Association, which was founded three years ago, sponsored a similar event last year, as well as Sunday's potluck. "It's becoming known," said Cheryl Allison of Medford, the association's secretary and one of the event's organizers. But like the Davises, observing the holiday was a relatively new thing to many of those attending Sunday's event. Allison, for example, said she didn't start to celebrate Kwanzaa until three years ago when the association was founded. "It's not handed down from our parents but we are handing it down to our children," she said. Collin Boyd, who's lived in Ashland for 12 years, began celebrating Kwanzaa a few years ago, and said it is a way to build community in an area with a small African-American population. "One thing that African Americans need in this valley is a sense of community," he said, "and by doing things together you develop community. "It's very basic need, it's not so much racial and this is one of the ways we've done it." Shawnti Moore knows the need well. She grew up in Medford and dealt with knowing few other African Americans. "Growing up here, anytime you see a black person, you celebrate," said Moore, who is the president of the African American Student Union at Southern Oregon University. Morris Johnson understands the need, too. He moved to Medford two years ago from Waterproof, La., after being recruited out of college to work for the U.S. Forest Service in the Rogue River National Forest. Johnson was one of only two black employees. He said it was a shock to go from a place with large numbers of blacks to somewhere with so few. That's part of what drew him to Sunday's event. "For me to see people with my color skin," said Johnson, "I've got to come to things like this." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA