Local NAACP celebrate 100 years of progression, history
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Sunday, July 12, 2009.
By ALEXA VAUGHN
Valley Press Staff Writer
PALMDALE – Members of the Antelope Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, city officials and more than 50 Valley residents celebrated the organization’s 100th year Saturday morning with music, cake and local stories of racial equality’s progression.
At the Poncitlan Square event, organized by Antelope Valley NAACP Vice President Juan Blanco, was Hank Dixon from “The Originals” singing the group’s 1969 hit “Baby I’m For Real,” a performance of the play “Slave Girl” by Palmdale High School graduate Naomi Derensbourg-Toppin and black leaders past and present from across the Valley.
Among those reflecting on the role of the NAACP in the Antelope Valley since the local chapter was founded in the 1960s, was the branch’s founding president, Lois Patton.
When Patton’s husband, an inspector who worked for Lockheed, was transferred to Palmdale, Patton said it was nearly impossible to get a house within the area’s white residential communities.
“Instead they would lead you to the outskirts, and I mean out – out in Sun Village,” Patton said. “Our house had an acre of land with it, but we didn’t want all that. We didn’t want to be farmers.