{"id":117270,"date":"2022-01-31T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=117270"},"modified":"2022-01-31T11:54:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:54:56","slug":"honoring-a-mississippi-leader-anonymous-donor-seeds-fannie-lou-hamer-scholarship-in-african-american-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/honoring-a-mississippi-leader-anonymous-donor-seeds-fannie-lou-hamer-scholarship-in-african-american-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring a Mississippi Leader: Anonymous Donor Seeds Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship in African American Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A generous gift from an anonymous donor will provide the\u00a0University of Mississippi<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0African American studies program<\/a>\u00a0with an endowed scholarship that honors a Mississippi <\/strong>civil rights leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $100,000 gift establishes the Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship Endowment<\/strong> to help students who are pursuing an education in African American studies through the UM\u00a0College of Liberal Arts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As Mississippi’s flagship university, one of our core missions is to provide opportunities to the students of this state, and scholarships are a crucial component in maintaining and exceeding that ongoing goal,” said Lee Cohen<\/strong>, UM liberal arts dean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are truly grateful for this gift establishing a scholarship endowment in honor of the late Ms. Hamer. It will open doors for our students here at the University of Mississippi and provide for future generations for years to come, while commemorating past generations that laid the foundation for progress and change.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamer, a\u00a0Mississippi Delta<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0native who co-founded the\u00a0Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party<\/a><\/strong>, was instrumental in the fight for voting equality and women’s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ms. Hamer was vital to the progression of African Americans in Mississippi and nationally, and her work really began at the grassroots level and the struggle for voting rights,” said\u00a0Derrick Harriell<\/strong><\/a>, interim director of African American studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Naming the scholarship after Ms. Hamer, the Mississippi civil rights activist giant, will provide our students with the incentive to work harder and reach for higher goals while honoring Hamer’s important legacy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamer<\/a>, a renowned orator, spoke at the\u00a01964 Democratic National Convention<\/strong><\/a>, giving a speech that resonated with the scholarship’s founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She worked so hard for the state of Mississippi and is a folk hero,” the donor said. “I hope she continues to be an inspiration to students and that this scholarship can provide the financial support to help them achieve their goals.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The African American studies program seeks to develop and coordinate an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on the African American experience in the United States, especially in Mississippi and the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program provides students with an interdisciplinary understanding of Black history, culture, politics and society while preparing them for professional careers in relevant areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are hoping to grow our majors and our program and continue to be active on campus and in the surrounding community, in Mississippi and across the nation,” Harriell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To do so requires dynamic faculty and, more importantly, dynamic students who are at the heart of what we hope to represent as a program. These scholarships will assist in this mission, and we are grateful for the support.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship Endowment\u00a0is open to support from businesses and individuals. Gifts can be made by sending a check, with the fund’s name noted on the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655 or by visiting\u00a0https:\/\/give.olemiss.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mary Stanton Knight<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fannie Lou Hamer. Photo by Warren K. Leffler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Derrick Harriell (left), UM interim director of African American studies, talks with Patrick Alexander, an associate professor of English and African American studies. A new $100,000 scholarship endowment that honors Mississippi civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer will benefit students pursuing an education in African American studies. Photo by Kevin Bain\/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A generous gift from an anonymous donor will provide the\u00a0University of Mississippi\u00a0African American studies program\u00a0with an endowed scholarship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":117272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17687],"tags":[20471,20207,8327,20469,17231,5,6286,20470,7067,4,655],"class_list":["post-117270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ole-miss","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-1964-democratic-national-convention","tag-african-american-studies","tag-derrick-harriell","tag-fannie-lou-hamer-scholarship-endowment","tag-lee-cohen","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-delta","tag-mississippi-freedom-democratic-party","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Hamer-Gift-750.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}