Four people who have shown persistence, vision and leadership  on issues of racial equality and with outstanding service were honored this weekend by the Lincoln branch of the NAACP.

Retired Lt. Col. Paul and Alda Adams were presented the 2004 Lenora Letcher Award for outstanding leadership at the 2004 Freedom Fund Scholarship Banquet.

Paul Adams served in World War II as the first black pilot from South Carolina. As a young second lieutenant in the Army Air Force, he was sent to Italy, where he flew a P-40 Warhawk on combat missions and helped create the legendary Tuskegee Airmen.

The Tuskegee Airmen were highly respected by the pilots and crews whose planes they escorted during the war, said Jimmi Smith, who presented the award But that respect failed to travel back across the Atlantic when peacetime resumed.

When he returned from the war, Paul Adams put himself in the forefront of the battle for Civil Rights and became involved in other civic activities, Smith said.

He taught at Lincoln High School and has served as a role model and mentor to both students and adults in schools, his church and the community.

Alda Adams, his wife, who worked at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. during World War II, has served multiple roles in Lincoln as a worker, volunteer and homemaker.

Volunteer activities has included  the Missionary Society and other activities of the Quinn Chapel AME Church, Les Cheres Amies and Destinaers  high school youth groups, and WICS (Women in Community Service) home for girls.

She is a charter member of the National Council of Negro Women-Lincoln section, a life member of the Malone Center and a lifelong supporter of the NAACP.

"Lincoln is a better place to live in because of (the Adams') many contributions," Smith said.

Peter Ferguson, director of the Youth in Action Center, and Susan Scott, executive director of the YWCA, received the organization's community awards.

Ferguson has been persistent in his work with youth leadership, said banquet committee  member Ann Stokes.

Through his work with Youth Leadership Lincoln, the Youth in Action Center, the Martin Luther King Jr. rally and the Malone Center, he has nurtured youth leaders and gotten them involved with the community, she said.

"He has a vision. He's motivated and persistent," Stokes said. "He knows how to nurture and give young people that sense of ‘You can do this.'

"Then he can step back and they can find that vision for themselves with him being there to support, nurture and guide them."

Scott received her award for her commitment to the mission of the YWCA and her vision of the role women play and their impact in the community, Stokes said.

In organizing a Unity Rally in July — "No Place to Hate, Nebraskans Celebrate Diversity" — to counter a National Socialist Movement rally held at the state Capitol, Scott turned a negative event into a positive one for many Lincoln residents, Stokes said.

"Every group, every person … could feel pride and be appreciated and respected through that rally," she said. "She brought a collective group together. They all had one mission. Through her leadership that happened."

Scott was also the 2001 winner of the Alice Paul Award from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Women's Commission for her ability to motivate, guide and enlighten people in the community. 

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.