Queen Go Go isn’t interested in slowing down.

Education and community activist Sarah Stevenson celebrated her 90th birthday Sunday with at Johnson C. Smith University surrounded by more than 100 of her best friends at a fundraiser gala. There were well wishes, video tributes and music serenades to mark seven decades of advocacy.

“Thank you,” she said. “If I forgot to tell you how much I love you, I’ll tell you later.”

Stevenson, a native of Heath Springs, South Carolina, has been a force in Charlotte’s social, education and political circles since the mid-20th century – hence her nickname. She was the first African American elected president of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s desegregated PTA Council in 1970, the first black woman elected to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board (1980) and co-founder of the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum, which brings political and community concerns together for weekly conversations.

“Sarah Stevenson is a jewel in this community,” said AME Zion Bishop George Battle, a former school board member. “I am so glad we gave her flowers while she can still smell them.”

Stevenson is still active with the Tuesday forums as well as lobbying for new investment in Historic West End. JCSU President Ronald Carter, whose school anchors the area, said Stevenson has championed revitalization efforts by pushing business and government leaders to develop infrastructure and commerce in the area.

“Sarah Stevenson is the personal commitment and conscience of this city,” Carter said. “She continues to argue, demand, frustrate, upset anyone who believes that the Northwest Corridor does not deserve sustainable assets. She will challenge those who are intellectually dishonest, who will speak eloquently but do very little when it comes time to demonstrate their commitment to the Northwest Corridor.”

Stevenson, whose fundraising skills were honed when she led a PTA campaign to raise $6,000 for school band uniforms in the 1950s, lends her energy to the Sarah B. Stevenson South African Fund, which awards grants to students from that country to attend JCSU. Stevenson introduced freshman Portia Motsapi at the gala and challenged everyone to contribute to the scholarship.

“We made that promise two years ago,” Stevenson said. “Several (students) dropped out because we took so long, but thanks be to God and with your help we have Portia here and we want to keep her here a little longer.”

Carter, who has deep ties to South Africa as a college administrator, applauded Stevenson’s tenacity.

“When students need help, she will get in my pockets and your pockets to make sure these students are educated,” he said.

Stevenson contends her mission of helping others isn’t over. There’s always a cause worthy of her time and attention.

“I want to say letest thou servant depart in peace, “ she joked, “but I’ve got to say Lord, I know there’s some more stuff you want me to do, and I want to do it.”

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