SU to honor Southern Belles

The Southern Belles will be honored in the homecoming pregame activities Saturday, for their historical achievements as the first dance team assembled at the university and as the original dance performers with the marching band.
The Southern Belles Dance Corps was assembled in 1963, under the direction of T. Leroy Davis, to perform as a part of the growing fame of the Southern “Marching Counts of Sound.”
“We had to create our own half time show,” said Rosalind Scott, a member of the team. “We would listen to the band, go in another room and create our own dances.”
The Southern Belles brought a new element to the band, which proved to be an essential in the marching bands culture.
Although the ladies were small in number—there were only six—and had little resources, they entertained the crowd and brought a different aspect to half time performances.
They wore “hand me downs,” according to Cheryl Huckabee, an original Southern Belle. They did not have the luxury of “new costumes” and “choreographers.”
“It was an honor to be a Southern Belle,” Huckabee remembers. “It was one of the things that made going to the university special to me; and under the direction then of T. Leroy Davis, it was an experience I’ll never forget.”
When Davis retired as director of bands, Ludwig Freeman continued in the marching bands tradition of the female performers.
“We learned how to be responsible, we had to be creative,” said Huckabee. “Mr. Davis made it a special place and a special time for us. You learned social gracious; you didn’t just dance. You were a part of something very special.”
Issac Greggs became the band’s director in 1969. Under his direction, the Human Jukebox, along with the Dancing Dolls, has become a nationally recognized marching band after several performances abroad.
Both the Dancing Dolls and the band have continued to be successful under the leadership of Lawrence Jackson Gregg’s successor.
Today, the marching band that was once “just a group of students that he [Davis] developed into an impressive band, according to Angela Proctor, Southern Archivist, has grown to ” a band of 200 plus,” said Jackson.
Although the marching band has grown in number and prestige, the contributions of the original dance performers, The Southern Belles, have proved to be an everlasting tradition of elegance and class.
“What I have carried away from Southern University, which I’m still there, is bleeding blue and gold; that’s just something you can’t just take away,” said Ave Bonham, an original Southern Belle. “It’s just in our blood and it shows when you walk among the Jaguar Nation or your just walking outside of your domain; you just carry that elegancy and the poise of what we were taught and what we have came from, being a part of one of the mighty, mighty HBCUs.”
The annual homecoming parade will begin at 8 a.m. The Belles and Dolls will share a float during the Homecoming parade. Pre-game activities will begin at 4:45 p.m., which include a pre-game ceremony to honor the 50th anniversary of the Belles. Presentations by Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter and SUBR Chancellor Kofi Lomotey are also on the pre-game schedule. Other SU System campus queens will be crowned as well.