CBTU hosting 32nd Annual Ernest & De Verne Calloway Awards Banquet Oct. 13

By TIM ROWDEN

Editor

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) St. Louis Chapter will celebrate the 32^nd Annual Ernest and De Verne Calloway Awards Banquet Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Marriott Grand Hotel in St. Louis.

The annual awards are given in honor and memory of the husband and wife team of Ernest and De Verne Calloway, who dedicated themselves to the struggle for human, civil and Labor rights.

Ernest Calloway worked in the Kentucky coal mines and as an organizer for the Congress of Industrial Organizations before moving to St. Louis in 1950, where he later became director of education for Teamster’s Local 688, president of the St. Louis NAACP and a professor of urban studies at St. Louis University.

De Verne Calloway taught school in Georgia and Mississippi before joining the American Red Cross and traveling to China, Burma, and India during World War II.  While in India she led a protest against the segregation of black soldiers in Red Cross facilities. In 1962, she became the first African American woman state representative elected to the Missouri Legislature and championed the causes of civil rights, equal rights, jobs, Labor rights, fair housing and prison reform.

2018 AWARDEES

The 2018 awardees are:

• Gwen Moore, curator of Urban Landscape and Community Identity at the Missouri Historical Society, who is being recognized for her work as a St. Louis African American historian as well as her leadership in the creation of the Missouri History Museum exhibit: “#1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis.”

• James Clark, vice president of Community Outreach for Better Family Life, Inc.,

is being recognized for his more than 30 years of commitment, leadership and dedication to stamp out poverty, injustice and violence in St. Louis African American Communities.

Lorretta Johnson, secretary/treasurer of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers and CBTU International Executive Council trustee will be the keynote speaker.

TICKETS

The evening will start with a reception and cash bar at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards program at 7 p.m.

Donations for the banquet are $85 per person or $850 for a table of 10.

Make checks payable to CBTU, P.O. Box 5034, St. Louis, MO 63115.

For tickets or more information, call Lew Moye, president emeritus CBTU St. Louis Chapter at 314-495-5635.