First elected African-American governor speaks at King dinner

Southeast Missouri State University hosted L. Douglas Wilder for its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner on Wednesday night.

The university has brought many prestigious speakers to past Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinners, but Wilder is the first speaker with political influence.

Wilder, who is the first African-American to be elected governor, delivered a message titled "Equality in the Past, Present and Future" to a packed Show Me Center following a dinner catered by Chartwells. Wilder, who was elected governor of Virginia in 1990, won the election with four out of five of his supporters being white. Since then he has gone on to serve as mayor of Richmond, Va., and travels the country speaking about equality in politics and in life.

The dinner was attended by nearly 1,000 people, the majority being Southeast students.

Southeast student Prentice Ivy Jr. came to the dinner knowing he would leave changed.

"This is my first year at SEMO, and I think it's great that the university does an event like this," Ivy said. "I think we all have something to learn from Mr. Wilder tonight. Diversity and equality in politics has come a long way, but there is definitely room for improvement. I know that we're on the right track and things will keep getting better."

Danielle Nance, a Southeast student originally from St. Louis, brought her mother and younger brother to the dinner. She was given tickets by the university and knew she wanted to share the event with those closest to her. Nance is a member of the Student Support Services at the university and was recently elected to the Unity First Council.

"I'm just glad that we came," said Nance's mother, Christina Woolf, who came to town for the speech from her home in St. Louis. "Danielle wanted us to be here, and I'm glad we're able to support her in that way."

"My mom is my best friend, and I wanted to share this event with her," Nance said. "I think that people should have more patience with politics. It is going to take awhile to see change."

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