Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By PATRICK COOPER
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- The lights will go up on the 23rd annual Black History Pageant at the Bayfront's Center Mahaffey Theater at 4 p.m. Sunday with a celebration of the survival of the black family.
At a rehearsal Friday evening, more than 40 children and young adults in this year's show prepared to become a part of the pageant's long history on stage.
The theme of this year's production is "A Family Reunion: The Black Family Thriving in Faith and Unity." Founder and director Peggy Peterman said Friday she hopes audience members and participants will take away important lessons.
"It hasn't been ordinary," said Peterman, a former St. Petersburg Times columnist and editorial writer. "The African-American family's journey hasn't been easy, but we survived."
Peterman said she started the pageant to fill a void in drama activities for black students, an unfortunate effect of desegregation and, afterward, discrimination in productions.
Now, years later, she said she is proud that the youths in her production still can learn about history through their work and also, for some, go on to work in productions in college.
More than 600 children and young adults have participated in the pageant.
This year's show, sponsored by Bethel Community Baptist Church, will bring out "all the little nuances" one sees at a family reunion, including the sociological and psychological nuances, Peterman said.
Part of the program will draw attention to the national suicide rate of black men ages 20 to 24, which has increased over the past two decades. Peterman said she doesn't think that statistic has drawn the national attention it deserves.
But the pageant also offers humor, reinforcing the joyfulness of African-Americans' survival, Peterman said. The young people in the show seem to have caught that spirit.
Dwight Gifford Jr., 21 and the oldest youth member of the production, was in a choir at Bethel Community Baptist when Peterman heard him singing a solo and invited him to join the 1998 pageant.
"It's hard work, but in the end you're glad you did it," he said.