By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
HOLLYWOOD — With only days to go before the 30th annual Little African American Scholarship Pageant takes place, Lisa Ruffin, the creator and producer, is putting the finishing touches on the event.
There’s a lot to do but after three decades of producing the pageant, Ruffin and her team, many of whom have been with her since the beginning, know what to do.
This year’s pageant will take place at 4 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Barnsdall Art Park.
For 30 years, Ruffin has dedicated herself to ensuring young Black girls grow up believing in themselves and having the self-assurance to accomplish whatever they want to do in life.
She was able to achieve that through her organization, which is an art educational program designed to increase the confidence of African American girls between the ages of 6 and 12.
The pageant host this year is actor Michael Beach (“Dead Boy Detectives,” “Third Watch,” “Soul Food,” “Mayor of Kingstown”), and the pageant judges are Ruffin, actor James Pickens Jr. (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Ella Joyce (“Roc”), Lamon Archey (“All American”), Elia Cantu (“Days of Our Lives”), Stacey McBride-Irby (former Black Barbie doll designer at Mattel), Ingrid Hadley (founder of ILH Possibilities) and Parker McKenna Posey (“My Wife and Kids”).
Grammy Award-winner Erica Campbell (“Mary Mary”) and Warren Campell are the music producers. There will be a special performance by Kristal Campbell (Erica Campbell’s daughter).
For this year’s event, Ruffin has invited the pageant’s alumni. She notes that of the 800 participants over the years, more than 300 have graduated from colleges like USC, UCLA and Spelman.
“This is going to be overwhelming,” she said. “The alumni are such amazing women, doing amazing things. They are changing the world. One of my girls works on Capitol Hill. Some are lawyers, doctors and artists, and one has even been on Broadway.
“They tell me that they have learned to wear the CAP, our core guideline, which is “Confidence, Awareness and Pride.” They tell me I’ve put something special in their lives.”
Ruffin was feeling emotional about the 30th anniversary but admitted that it “Feels like it’s been 30 years” when she looks at the young daughters of previous participants who are now taking part in the pageant.
“I still look at the previous participants as being 10 years old,” said Ruffin, a Pittsburgh native and the mother of a son who recently graduated from college. “When I look at them now, it’s different. I can see that they learned how to wear their confidence.”
One of the reasons Ruffin started the pageant is because she wanted “To make sure the next generation is going to be smart and confident.”
“It’s about having the confidence to go after your dreams,” said Ruffin, who choreographed “Carmen Jones” at the Ensemble Theatre in Santa Barbara, a show that won two NAACP Theatre Awards. “That’s the one thing I wanted to teach them. I want them to have confidence in who they are. I want them to know that we were kings and queens. We come from royalty. We were also mathematicians, scientists and artists. Excellence and creativity run through our blood. That’s what I want the girls to know.”
This year, 35 girls whom Ruffin calls “academic and intellectual princesses,” will participate in the program.
During the show, the 6 year olds will do poetry and the older girls will talk about reparations and voter registration. Each age group has a different category.
Some participants come from strong, supportive families, while others are from underserved, single-family homes and have never owned a dress or experienced being a “princess,” Ruffin said.
A professional choreographer who studied at Julliard, Ruffin said the pageant provides an early introduction to the arts and training in public speaking, “while promoting individual creativity and stimulating a heightened cultural understanding.”
This year the pageant will award more than $10,000 in scholarships and prizes.
Through personal funds combined with the efforts and “the help of friends and angels,” Ruffin said, “They would not let these girls down. They hope to help create incredible lasting memories for these young ladies.”
Ruffin, whose credits include “Moesha” and “The Steve Harvey Show,” has performed and/or choreographed in more than 20 countries and worked with Stevie Wonder, George Clinton and the late Tina Turner and James Brown. She said before his death, Michael Jackson sponsored the event for several years, and actor Will Smith has also “been helpful.”
“Gene Hale, the CEO of G&C Equipment Corporation, held us up during the pandemic,” said Ruffin, whose credits are in film, television, commercials, music videos and theater. “He took care of everything the last three or four years. He is truly an angel.”
This year, for the first time, the pageant will have preliminary judging.
“It’s usually closed but this year it will be open,” Ruffin said. “Alumni are invited. They are the judges. During that time, the girls get a chance to meet the doctors, lawyers and those in politics. They’ll get a chance to see the results of the pageant.”
When she was the age of the girls participating in her program, Ruffin said she was precocious and quiet, but creative.
“Back then, I participated in a beauty pageant called the Hal Jackson Miss Black Teenager,” Ruffin said. “Back then I sewed, made up plays and just wanted to dance. I would have needed and wanted my pageant.”
Ruffin is proud of what she has accomplished with the pageant over the years.
“We are the longest-running program for African American girls in this age range,” Ruffin said. “We’re also one of the most successful. When it comes to the success of the girls, I am so proud. I’m proud that I put something special in their lives. I hoped to help create some incredible lasting memories for these young ladies. A lot of hard work goes into this. It feels good.”
The alumni night preliminary judging will be at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd.
Information: www.littlemissafricanamerican.org.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
