“Forward Together’’ was the theme this year as nearly 300 celebrants marked Black History Month at the UFT African Heritage Committee’s 13th annual dinner dance. Karen Alford, the UFT’s vice president for elementary schools, received the Frederick Douglass Award for Civil and Human Rights. “She’s a natural choice,’’ said UFT President Michael Mulgrew, because of “her fierce advocacy on behalf of our earliest learners, new teachers and many of our most vulnerable students and families.” The group’s Trailblazer Award was presented to Deborah Rose, the first African-American from Staten Island elected to the New York City Council and chairwoman of the City Council’s Civil Rights Committee. The Mary McLeod Bethune Award for Excellence in Teaching went to Kishayna Hazlewood of PS 156 in Brooklyn, who represented New York City teachers on the governor’s Common Core Task Force. “Teaching is sacred work,” Hazlewood said. “It’s the key to lifting up our community.” Outstanding scholar Anu Osibajo, a student at Frederick Douglass Academy in Manhattan, was chosen to receive a scholarship in memory of longtime UFT activist and district representative Armando Blasse. “I stand on the shoulders of others,” Osibajo said. Anthony Harmon, an assistant to the UFT president, presided over the ceremony.