The NAACP Dinner and Dance

My mother was a great organizer and proved her vast influence to me every year at her yearly fundraiser; the NAACP Dinner and Dance. Cleopatra's goal was to have this annual formal event at the best and biggest venue in the area which was the Colonial Terrace, a Victorian Manson in Corlandt Manor. Mom worked on this event all year long by getting local businesses to buy tables, soliciting adveristments in the journal, and hanging posters in their establishments. Cleopatra also schmoozed with the aristocrats and politicians in the area and invited them to attend, sit on the dais or speak at the event. The NAACP Dinner and Dance came to be known as "the event" of the year in the county and everyone looked forward to attending the gala with anticipation.

During the day of the big event our house buzzed with excitement, everyone in the house prepared for the night of festivities ahead. Between the trips to the beauty parlor, barber shop, tailor, cobbler, cleaner, and florist our mother orchestrated our every movement to make sure every child in attendance looked their best. Cleopatra Jones definitely lived up to her name, that year my mother went to the NAACP Dinner and Dance in a light blue and white Senegalese Bubu dress and head wrap ordained with elaborate embroidery.

The journal was filled with advertisments and letters of endorsement from local businessmen and polictians but it also contained the agenda for the evening ahead. During the cocktail reception my mother was a terrific host who made everyone of her guests feel at home and made introductions throughout the room. While dinner was served my mother conducted the introductions of the dais and set the stage for the speeches and activities to come. After all the scheduled speeches and honors were completed it was time to dance and all the guests enjoyed cutting a rug with Cleopatra. What a great time filled with great memories and the song of the evening: Me and Mrs. Jones by Billy Paul!