The Modernette Civic Club will have a virtual Black History Month program at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 26.
Retired educator Bettie Esters Broady, of Hopkinsville, will give the program. Broady told Hoptown Chronicle she plans to focus her talk on the ways women can empower each other.
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Broady is the former director of adult education for Bowling Green Independent Schools. She also was a classroom teacher for 27 years and now runs a home-based business as a seamstress.
The Modernettes’ annual African American Heritage Breakfast, which marked its 26th year in 2020, has been on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. The popular event typically hosted 400 to 500 guests, but it was canceled for the first time 2021.
The club members did not want to skip the event entirely again this year, so they opted for a Zoom program. The fee to participate is $10.
Anyone who would like to join the Zoom should register no later than Feb. 21 by calling Modernette president Billie Todd at 270-885-1232 or program chair the Rev. Lisa Lewis Balboa at 270-305-6204.
It has been a tradition for guests to dress in their Sunday best or in African-inspired designs for the breakfast program at the Bruce Convention Center.
“We are encouraging everyone to get dressed up and attend online with us,” said Balboa.
Todd said she is hopeful the club can return to an in-person event in February 2023.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
