Pride on Parade : 9th Annual Event Takes Steps to Honor Black History

It started nine years ago with a handful of floats and a couple of high school bands, eight units in all, marching down the streets of southwest Santa Ana through the heart of Orange County’s black community.

That was a far cry from Saturday’s spectacular version of the city’s annual Black History Parade, a countywide celebration that attracted more than 2,000 spectators, state, county and city officials, and more than 300 entries from all over Southern California.

“We’ve gone a long way,” said Carolyn Jimerson, a founding member of the Orange County Black Historical Commission, which started the parade and remains its primary sponsor.

About 35,000 blacks live in Orange County, most in the city of Santa Ana, said James Colquitt, president of the county chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

People of all colors, ages and social backgrounds cheered the succession of clowns, horses, bands and floats as a gentle breeze swept the sunny sky.

Grand Marshal Todd Bridges from the television program “Diff’rent Strokes” opened the parade, to the cheers of his teen-age followers. Santa Ana Mayor Dan Young, Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and other officials followed close by, waving to the crowd from 1955 Thunderbirds provided by a local car club.

P.D., a miniature, remote-control patrol car, zigzagged across the parade route, and Junior ROTC units performed their elaborate criss-crossing marching patterns.

Leo the Clown got the biggest laughs with his clumsy imitations of the marching bands. Leuticia Terrell, Miss Black Santa Ana, blew kisses from atop a multicolored float.

As the procession headed toward Birch Park, many remembered the parade’s finest moments. Jimerson recalled when Grand Marshal Yolanda King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, electrified the crowd with a powerful civil rights speech two years ago.

Margaret Ramsey, a founding member of the Orange County Black Historical Commission, remembered the pride she felt when baseball star Garry Templeton was the grand marshal four years ago.

“He lived two blocks away from the original parade route, and we were so proud,” she said. “He was a local boy that made good.”

In Birch Park, opening an afternoon of entertainment, gospel concerts and speeches, everybody stood and listened to the Black National Anthem: “Lift every voice and sing till Earth and heaven ring, sing with the harmony of liberty.”