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Oklahoma Senate
Sen. Anastasia Pittman to be keynote luncheon speaker for Miss Black Oklahoma pageant festivities
State Senator Anastasia A. Pittman will serve as keynote speaker for the luncheon kickoff for the 45th Annual Miss Black Oklahoma and Miss Black Oklahoma Teen pageant events next week. This year’s luncheon will be held on Tuesday, July 28th at 12pm at the Waterford Hotel in Oklahoma City.
After Tuesday’s luncheon event, the pageant will be held the following weekend on Saturday, August 1, at 7:00pm at the Freede Little Theater located inside the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City.
Founded in 1968 by civil-rights activist Clara Luper, the Miss Black Oklahoma pageant has been a long-standing tradition in the state. Pittman says she’s proud and honored to support the pageant, as it gives young black women the opportunity to foster an appreciation of African American culture, history and pride, while at the same time providing a forum where the young women can express their opinions and showcase their talent, beauty and intelligence.
“I’m honored to help promote the legacy of Clara Luper through mentorship and civic engagement,” said Pittman, D- Oklahoma City. “One of the ways to protect and build on her legacy is to ensure young, emerging leaders learn how to access the political process through educational enrichment programs like the Miss Black Oklahoma pageant.”
Following in her mother’s footsteps, Clara Luper’s daughter, Chelle Luper Wilson, now serves as pageant director and has dedicated her efforts to ensure the legacy of the Miss Black Oklahoma pageant remains a vibrant and rich tradition in the state. The program is the longest-running and considered the most notable pageant system in the nation for young women of color.
“We are so excited that Senator Pittman accepted our invitation to be the keynote speaker to talk about civic engagement,” said Luper Wilson. “We know that her words will be inspiring and encouraging to everyone in attendance.”
