Donna Brazile Celebrates Black History Month 2009 with St. Louis

St. Louis -- This week Donna Brazile was the keynote speaker at the St Louis library Black History Month series of events. Monday February 9th at the main branch of the St Louis public library Donna Brazile preformed a lecture with the theme "The Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas" which is also the national theme for Black History Month. Brazile has her own mark on history as an active member of the Democratic Party. She has worked on every presidential campaign since 1974 as well as many Congressional campaigns. Brazile was the first African American women to run a presidential campaign in the 2000 election for the Gore-Lieberman ticket. Other accomplishments include being a key contributor to making Martin Luther King's Birthday a national holiday. She currently is the Chair of the Democratic National Committee Voting Rights Institute, a Super Delegate for the Party, and a regular political commentator on CNN.

The event was a huge success right off the bat as the available seats filled up 30 minutes prior to her scheduled appearance. There was a mass of people who elected to stay and watch the lecture from the main hall on a projected screen due the huge turnout. Brazile decided to postpone the start of the lecture to allow the entire group to watch President Obama's news conference, which was much appreciated by virtually all attendee's. Lots of nods and "mmmmhmm's" throughout the statement and throughout the answered questions were common. When the moment finally arrived Donna was introduced and her laundry list of accomplishments were recited to a triumphant ovation as she entered the auditorium.

Brazile began speaking on the news conference we just saw as well as topical issues around the new President and issues concerning our times. Right away she described how CNN had contacted her about being on the coverage of the press conference we had just seen but refused to break her commitment to us. This was a perfect lead in to her major theme of responsibility. She talked about her recent visits to the Whitehouse and how she is excited but cautious as the "Mountain Top is closer than it ever was, but we still have a ways to go". This was followed by history's greats and reflecting on past heroes' accomplishments and struggles to get us to the point we are at today. She finished the evening with motivational stories and proposals of how individuals can keep the momentum going and continue to follow the path that has been laid before us. The Q/A section was brief and was followed by royal like procession out of the Hall and into the waiting spectators in the main lobby.

The entire evening was an inspirational night whether you were there to see the woman from the news or a real contributor to Black History in action and words. The crowd was excited and moved for the entire engagement and the line for pictures and autographs was around the building. We were lucky to have such a dynamic speaker and person and hope the continued events sponsored by the St Louis Public library will hold similar flair.

More information: http://www.slpl.org/slpl/library/article232768929.asp