GROUP HONORS BLACKS

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Twenty black senior citizens of Cape Girardeau will be recognized at a ceremony Sunday in celebration of Black History Month.

Three of the honorees are in the their 90s and the remainder are in their 80s. The event is sponsored by the SEA (Southeast Area) Cape group, which was founded last year to help revitalize the city's south side.

The event will be held at 3:30 p.m. at the Second Baptist Church, 426 S. Frederick.

William Thompson, an assistant professor of social work and gerontology at Southeast Missouri State University, will be the featured speaker.

Hayti Heights Mayor David Humes, who is an active member of a national organization of black mayors, will participate in the ceremony honoring the senior citizens.

"Dr. Dorothy Hardy, who is a poet, will also participate in the program," said Bernice Coar-Cobb, an associate professor of biology at Southeast and an adviser to SEA Cape.

The university's Ebony Players will perform. Also, an original painting will be unveiled.

Members of Delta Sigma Theta, a black sorority, will serve as hostesses for the event, said Coar-Cobb.

A black history display will be set up in the church annex.

The event is open to the public and refreshments will be served following the program, she said.

Coar-Cobb said the senior citizens are being honored because they "have contributed so much" to their community.

"These people have a long history of having participated in the civil rights activities in the 1950s and 1960s," she noted.

"We just mainly want to recognize them for their ages," said Michael J. Sterling, one of the leaders of SEA Cape.

"When you get to be 80 or 90 years old, that is a great feat these days," he said. "They have weathered the storm of segregation and depression.

"And a lot of them had (ancestors) who were in slavery. You know they have been through a lot in this country and a lot in this city," said Sterling.

He said these senior citizens suffered through segregation. "At one time, blacks couldn't check out books at the library," he noted.

"They have seen a lot of changes in Cape Girardeau, but we still have so much further to go.

"These black citizens have been pioneers. A lot of them were active with the NAACP back in the early years," noted Sterling.

They witnessed the formation of the local chapter of the NAACP in the 1950s and a voter registration drive, said Sterling.

He said SEA Cape hopes to annually hold a number of events to recognize the contributions of Cape Girardeau's black residents.

Those contributions, he maintained, have often gone unrecognized in the past. "You know there is no publicity about what the black citizens contribute to this city.

"We plan to do it (such events) several times a year so at least these young kids can see that blacks contribute a lot to this city," said Sterling.

SEA Cape members last year led an effort to clean up the South Cape neighborhood.

"We are on our way to becoming a chartered organization in Cape Girardeau," noted Sterling.

Among other things, the group plans to assist the May Greene School PTA on projects.

Sterling said SEA Cape also plans to push for a change in how City Council members are elected.

SEA Cape members want to scrap the at-large system in favor of a ward system on the grounds that the latter system would "give blacks a chance to be heard."

Said Sterling, "Historically, whites don't vote for blacks." With an at-large system and a minority of black voters, he said, black candidates have little chance of being elected to the council.

"The NAACP has sued a lot of cities because they won't get rid of it (at-large systems)," said Sterling.