Professional opera singer Tshombe Selby is returning to his hometown of Manteo to perform at the fourth annual Juneteenth observance at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum.
The Pea Island Preservation Society Inc. is hosting the performance at no charge at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, on the grounds of the museum, 622 Sir Walter Raleigh St.
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The nonprofit organization based in Manteo works to preserve and interpret the history of the Pea Island Life Saving Station, Keeper Richard Etheridge, the first Black person in the nation to command a U.S. Life-Saving Service station, and African Americans of Roanoke Island.
Pea Island Lifesavers are known for their heroic rescue of the shipwrecked schooner E.S. Newman on Oct. 11, 1896. Etheridge and his crew saved all nine on board that night during the fierce storm.
The original Pea Island Station Cookhouse, where the keeper and surfmen cooked and ate their meals, was moved from Rodanthe to Collins Park in Manteo and is now a museum honoring those who served there between 1880-1947.
Selby’s fourth consecutive Juneteenth performance at the Cookhouse, he grew up singing and playing the piano at Haven Creek Baptist Church, just a couple of blocks from where the Cookhouse is now located.
“This church, the place where he first publicly performed, is connected to the story of thousands of enslaved people who fled to Roanoke Island during the Civil War seeking a safe haven, a place they hoped to freely live and where the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island was formed,” Pea Island Outreach and Education Director Joan Collins explained in a release.
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Since his the 2023 Juneteenth concert, Selby has performed in more than a dozen productions at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Most recently he was a feature soloist with the Binghamton downtown singers in Binghamton, New York.
Selby’s performance is “particularly noteworthy” because he is a descendant of the Pea Island lifesavers, Collins said.
Keeper Etheridge was born Jan. 16, 1842, and grew up being enslaved on Roanoke Island. During the Civil War, he left home and his owner, John B. Etheridge, to help Union troops fight to free enslaved people. On Jan. 24, 1880, at 38 years old, Etheridge was selected to replace the white keeper who was in charge of the Pea Island station.
Etheridge would serve as keeper, the official title for the commander of a lifesaving station and crew, at the Pea Island station until his death of natural causes in May 1900.
He is considered a key figure for both the Black history and the history of the Life-Saving Service on the Outer Banks, Collins said.
In March 1996, 100 years later and long after each surfman had died, they were posthumously awarded for the E.S. Newman 1896 rescue the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal by the U.S. Coast Guard. The delay is attributed to the crew being an all-Black crew and the challenges and injustices they faced during their lifetime, Collins explained.
During the Juneteenth concert, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy the shaded, large open lawn with picnic tables and several outdoor exhibits displaying the legacy of Keeper Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers.
“This annual celebration is quickly becoming a local favorite on the Outer Banks, a place for people, young and old, to gather to celebrate freedom, reflect on the past, and look to the future,” Collins said.
The location includes a life-sized bronze statue of Keeper Etheridge and a boathouse to honor Lt. Herbert M. Collins, who was the last keeper of Pea Island.
Herbert Collins, born on Roanoke Island in 1921, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939 following the footsteps of his great-great uncle and his uncle who served under Etheridge. He worked as a surfman at the Pea Island station from 1940 to 1947, throughout World War II, and was the last left in charge at the station.
In March 1947 when Herbert Collins shut and locked the doors to the station for the very last time, he ended a 67-year period, 1880-1947, of the Pea Island lifesaving station being staffed primarily with Black commanders and crews.
The key sponsor for this event is the Don and Catherine Bryan Cultural Series, an Outer Banks organization striving to inspire, educate and challenge through presentations of the visual, literary, and performing arts.
