OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The Offutt Diversity Team hosted an African American History Event Feb. 12 at the Warhawk Community Center in correlation with Black History Month.
The event, designed to celebrate accomplishments, pride and diversity, featured guest speakers Dr. Cheryl Logan, Omaha Public School District superintendent, and Daisy Sudderth, 2019 Miss Omaha Outstanding Teen.
Logan made her mark on history by becoming the first African American superintendent in Omaha, an accomplishment she accredits to her upbringing. Logan’s father dropped out of high school, joined the Marine Corps and later graduated from a historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Wanting to provide an easier path for his children, Logan and her four siblings were taught the importance education from a young age.
“I was lucky to have two loving and amazing parents,” Logan said. “One with a velvet glove and one with an iron fist who instilled in us early that an education was not only expected, but they were going to provide the right home environment so we could take advantage of everything public education had to offer.”
Headed down a similar path of success, Sudderth having earned her title locally, will go on to compete at the state-level for Miss Outstanding Teen, but her goals don’t stop there. She aspires to be named Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, study law at Howard University, and, one day, run for Senate.
“Platforms of this magnitude will give me a stage to make an impact on the world concerning diversity and inclusion,” Sudderth said. “I don’t let my ethnicity or gender hold me back.”
It is with that spirit that she empowers courage within herself and those around her.
“I stand up for what’s right even if I am the only one standing; we must accept people for who they are,” Sudderth said.
When President Gerald Ford named February Black History Month in 1976, he had a very similar idea in mind. He wanted the month to be used as a means of recognizing the past and encouraging continued growth and equality,
“Seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history,” Ford said.
More than 40 years later, men and women like Logan and Studderth are seeing the former president’s charge through.
“I am passionate, determined, and ask you to stand with me and hold up the mantle of peace and acceptance to embrace diversity,” Sudderth said.