If you see the Alcorn State University marching band making its way down Willow Street Sunday afternoon, know that it’s not just a regular run-of-the-mill parade.

“It’s education first, then entertainment,” said Je’Nelle Chargois, manager of KJCB 770 AM radio that with the African American Heritage Foundation sponsor the 12th annual African American History Parade.

The presence of Alcorn State University wasn’t a random choice, either, according to Chargois.

“They’re one of the (oldest) — if not the oldest — HBCU (Historic Black Colleges and Universities) in the country,” said Chargois. “We’re looking for a little history every time we pick one.

“They’re coming to play and to entertain, but since it’s a history parade, we like to address the history of those universities and actually what impact they made on the community.”

Alcorn State University will be doing more than marching and playing en route when it leaves the Super 1 parking lot at Willow and Evangeline Thruway and heads on down to True Vine Ministries at 2 p.m.

Chargois said “any student from any school” can show up with their instrument at the True Vine Ministries, 1555 W. Willow, to audition for the Alcorn band. “Bring your horn. Pay six scales and a song. That’s what they want you to play.

“If they make it, the band director will give them a letter on the spot,” she said.

Although February is recognized as Black History Month, it was chock-full of activities so the parade — with 13 high school marching bands, the Heritage Alumni Marching Band, five dance troupes, floats and motorcycles — was positioned accordingly on the calendar.

“What happens is, you have Valentine’s Day, you have Mardi Gras all going on in the same month and you try not to bump anything,” said Chargois. “We used to do a little quiz bowl in the studio, anything that we could to try to interest kids in learning about their history.”

And that was fine; however, Chargois said the same students kept showing up time and again.

“So I said, ‘How do we reach the masses? What do we do to reach the masses to try to educate the kids?'” Chargois said the answer came rather quickly: “‘Hey, everybody loves a parade.’ And if the floats in the parade were about a person in history, those kids would remember it.

“And hence we started,” she said. “It started with about 12 cars and trucks to over 50 floats in a parade.”

Chargois said the parades have a theme and this year’s is “From Black Wall Street to Main Street” and the floats will represent local businesses of African-Americans.

“We’re simply trying to highlight African-American-owned businesses in the area,” she said. “It’s a way kids can look and see those who are successful in the community and have a chance at some interaction.”

The floats will have a large photo of the business owner up top and then have the history of the business along their sides.

“And then we did a little reflection on some of the businesses’ past,” Chargois said, including “Mr. Richard’s Grocery — that’s where I learned my first lesson of economics in elementary school.”

Chargois said that as a kid sometimes she wouldn’t have money for a cookie and would ask for an IOU from the owner.

“And Mr. Richard took the time to get us to sign a note, to tell us about responsibility and so you’d learn how to go pay your bills,” she said.