Norman Seay, 81, has spent his life fighting for civil rights, but he never thought he would live long enough to see an African-American U.S. president. On Dec. 12, Seay will have the opportunity to meet President Barack Obama in person when he attends a White House holiday reception.
“It is unique because he is the first black president,” said Seay, a retired administrator at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, “and my being active in civil rights, this is indeed an honor for me to meet him in the White House.”
Seay’s unexpected opportunity came after he made a touching speech for UMSL’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony in February, said Betty Van Uum, senior officer for public affairs at UMSL.
Seay has suffered two strokes in the past five years. In a video interview presented at the ceremony, Seay explained that he was not well enough to attend Obama’s inauguration.
“He started to cry, and it was a touching moment,” Van Uum said. “We decided that we could help with that.”
Seay’s friends at UMSL contacted U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and asked if she could arrange an opportunity for Seay to meet Obama. McCaskill came through in a big way and secured an invitation to attend the White House holiday party.
From 1987 to 2000 Seay directed the UMSL Office of Equal Opportunity, where he started EEO programs for Asians, Native Americans, women and women faculty. The School of Medicine at Washington University has a lecture series named in his honor.
Seay is a founding member of the legendary Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). He spent three months in jail for participating in protests that sought jobs for African Americans in St. Louis banks and financial institutions. The protests included the monumental Jefferson Bank & Trust Co. pickets in 1963.
UMSL Chancellor Thomas George felt that Seay should have something significant to present to Obama – something that reflects Seay’s life work as well. George decided to award the president with the Chancellor’s Medallion, the highest award the university can bestow, for the president’s achievements in civil rights.
“It’s not something we do lightly,” Van Uum said. “The chancellor wanted to say ‘thank you’ to the president for all of the work he has done in diversity.”
It will be Seay’s first time meeting a U.S. president, but his second invitation to the White House.
His first invitation to the White House came in 1978 during Jimmy Carter’s administration. Seay’s brother, Ken Webb, said they were both in Washington, D.C. attending a conference for the organization called Blacks in Government. To their surprise, secret service officials interrupted the conference to invite the members to the White House’s rose garden the next day for a midday reception.
However, Webb remembers that he and Seay were busy working with a top education administrator in D.C. to get more funding to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
“We had to have the budget there before noon in order for the HBCUs to take advance of some money that was discovered available at the last minute,” Webb said. “We had to make a choice. We decided that getting money for the colleges was much more important.”
Webb ended up not attending the White House reception and continued working, but Seay was able to break away and attend.
Seay’s recent invitation came at a time when he could use some good news. The storm on Nov. 17 severely damaged his house, ripping away the roof and a portion of the wall of his 1896 brick home. He has been living in a hotel since then.
Seay said he is proud that his sister, Barbara Webb, will attend the reception with him. And he looks forward to presenting the Chancellor’s Medallion to the president, and to tell Obama, “I am proud of him.”
