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Pageant carries on tradition

The curtain goes up Feb. 27 on the 27th annual depiction of issues, events and people important to black history.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published January 23, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The show will go on.

Peggy Peterman, founder and director of the Black History Pageant, died in August, but the legacy she created in 1978 will continue.

State Rep. Frank Peterman, who also is pastor of Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church, said his mother's death "has taken some adjustment for me. I can't go to that well. But God has provided other people who have that nurturing effect."

He is general manager of the event; Teresa Riggs, Melvina Randall and Janice Fitzsimmons, three longtime pageant volunteers, are its artistic directors.

A Salute to African-American Women of Moral Justice: Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman? is the theme for the 27th annual production, which will be performed at 4 p.m. Feb. 27 in the auditorium at St. Petersburg High School.

Its subtitle derives from a verse of Scripture, Proverbs 31:10. One translation reads: "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

The play focuses on the needs of African-American girls, Riggs said. Lead character Kedejah promises to coordinate a dramatic production, Herstory: A Salute to African-American Sheroes, for her church but gets sidetracked planning her school prom.

Once the conflict is revealed, her parents restrict her from shopping for the dance and require her to focus on the play and take responsibility for her actions. In doing so, she researches historians and "starts revisiting the history of past ancestors," Riggs said.

Riggs is in her ninth year with the pageant. She said this year's production will feature 25 youngsters between 10 and 18, with six recent college graduates who are pageant alumni returning to the community to help out.

Peggy Mitchell Peterman, an ordained minister and retired St. Petersburg Times columnist, began the pageant through Bethel Community Baptist Church because she worried that school desegregation caused young blacks to lose ground in school drama and performance opportunities. "She leaves a lasting impression," Riggs said of her longtime mentor. "She was truly a role model for me, a great friend, an excellent leader and truly a woman of God."

[Last modified January 23, 2005, 00:14:21]