Book Award (Names)
Awards are named in Memory of Prominent Historical Figures
Women Activists during the Civil Rights Movement
1) In memory of Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)/Coretta Scott King (1927 – 2005):
In Memory of Rosa Parks
(1913 – 2005):
Although Rosa Parks was not the first person to refuse to give up their seat on the bus, it was her action December 1, 1955, that set-in motion the Montgomery bus boycott that eventually led to desegregation of the buses throughout the south.
In Memory of Coretta Scott King
(1927 – 2005):
In addition to supporting her husband at many rallies and demonstration, Coretta Scott King she founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolence Social Change and helped to establish a national holiday to celebrate her husband.
2) “In Appreciation” Award:
This book award was established to help a student who may not qualify for academic excellence but who works hard and is always ready to assist when asked.
3) In Memory of John Henrik Clarke
(1915 – 1998):
An expert on African and African American history who dedicated his life countering widely-held stereotypes and misconceptions of people of color and the continent of Africa. He was a lecturer, writer and an expert on Black History; he wrote six books and edited or contributed to seventeen others. In addition, he was a poet and fiction writer publishing more than fifty short stories. He joined the faculty of Hunter College where he became a full college professor with a PhD without the benefit of a high school diploma.
4) In Memory of Anna Pauline Murray
(1910 – 1985):
She was a lawyer, poet, scholar, educator, administrator, civil rights activist and feminist. She was the first black deputy attorney general in California and one of the founders of the National Organization for Women. She was denied admission to Harvard Law School due to racial and gender discrimination and later sued Harvard. In 1977 she became the first African American and the second woman ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. She was the author of three books.
5) In Memory of Vivien Thomas
(1910 – 1985):
The depression and racism prevented him from continuing his college education therefore he took a position as the assistant to Dr. Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University. When Dr. Blalock left to work at John Hopkins, he took his assistant Vivien Thomas with him. Mr. Thomas did the research that led to the success of the blue baby syndrome surgery. He guided Dr. Blalock in preforming the procedure. He was never given credit for his research on the blue baby research and other cardiovascular surgeries. Although he supervised and taught various world-famous surgeons, he was never allowed to operate on a living human being or was he given credit for his research or accomplishments. This award has additional eligibility criteria, a Medical career path of study and of African Descent.
6) In Memory of Ida B. Wells-Barnett
(1862 – 1931):
After college graduation she moved to Tennessee where she was a crusader for justice, a teacher, a journalist and lecturer. In 1884 when she refused to sit in the Jim Crow car of the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad Company she got off and sued the railroad company. Although she initially won her suit, it was overturned on appeal. Embittered on injustices she began focusing on civil rights. She became part-owner of the black newspaper, Free Speech where she wrote about injustice everywhere. She wrote editorials criticizing inadequate education for black children, protesting lynching and murders of black men and used her newspaper editorials to denounce injustices, murders and call for arrest of the perpetrators. In 1892 while at a convention in Philadelphia, intruders burned down her newspaper office and warned not to return to Memphis. She became part-owner of the “New York Age” in New York, an African-American weekly newspaper, where she continued her crusades. She continued to write and lecture at home and abroad.
7) In Memory of Marva Collins
(1936 – 2015):
She received a degree in secretarial Science from Clark Atlanta before being hired in the Chicago public school Garfield Park neighborhood. Due to shortage of teachers, she was hired without a teacher’s degree. She developed her own method of teaching; rejecting the “look-say” prescribed method of teaching used in the Chicago school systems . She developed her own teaching methods using phonics, incorporating literary classic and poetry in the curriculum. Facing a bureaucratic teacher’s union , she resigned. She worked with the forgotten learning disabled or uneducable or “written off loser” students and proved her method was successful. In 1979 she withdrew $5,000 from her savings and renovated the second floor of her home, stocked it with secondhand desks and books and launched the Westside Preparatory School. She proved that these children could learn and excel. She refused Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush offer to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education choosing to remain in the classroom.
8) In Memory of John Lewis
(1940 – 2020):
In 1957 while attending the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville Tennessee he learned about nonviolence protest and helped to organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He was arrested during a demonstration and then became committed to the civil rights movement. He was chair of the Student Nonviolence Coordination Committee and helped plan the March on Washington. He continued his civil rights demonstration, sit-ins and marches and in 1981 he ran for and won a seat on Atlanta City Council. In 1987 he was elected to the US House of Representatives where he served until his death. He worked for healthcare reform, fought against poverty and for improvements in education. During the civil rights movement he was arrested more than forty times. His well known quote “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America” was made on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama March 1, 2020, commemorating the Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965.
9) Cattleya LLC Remembers Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951):
Henrietta Lacks, a poor Black Southern tobacco farmer was the source of the first “Immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today although she has been dead for more than 60 years. Her cells were named HeLa cells and were harvested without her knowledge and/or permission while she was being treated for cancer. The cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine, cancer research, research and treatment of viruses, research of the effects of the atomic bomb, advances in vitro fertilization, cloning, gene mapping, and research and development of the COVID-19 vaccine. They have been sold all over the world generating billions of dollars while her family lived in poverty. They did not know about the cells and did not receive a dime of the money from the use of the cells until the July 2023 settlement. Elsie Lacks, Henrietta’s older daughter was committed to the hospital for the Negro Insane where she was not properly cared for, mistreated, and physically abused as was the case for poor uneducated “Negros” confined in public institutions.
Additional eligibility criteria, a) Medicine, Psychology/Psychiatry, Law, and Social Work; professions that lend to the treatment, research, or care of people who are mentally or physically disabled and of African Descent and (b) be of African American descent.
10) In Memory of Ruby Dee (1924 – 2014)
& Ossie Davis (1917 – 2005):
Wife and husband actors, writers, directors, and activists who frequently performed together. Although they were known for the movies in which they performed and the awards for which they were recognized, they were also active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. They joined Martin Luther King in the crusade for jobs and freedom and helped raise money for the Freedom Riders. They served on numerous boards and groups associated with racial equality and raised funds for legal defense for civil rights workers arrested for demonstrating. Ruby established the Ruby Dee Scholarship in Dramatic Arts for young black women entering the acting profession. She
also made recordings for the blind and raised money to fight drug addiction.
11) In Memory of Maggie Lena Walker
(1864 – 1934):
Maggie Walker, America’s first African American woman bank president, was reared in Richmond,
Virginia, and graduated from the Normal school in 1883 after which she taught primary and
grammar grades. While still in school, she joined the Independent Order of Saint Luke, a mutual aid
society that identified and provided for the needs of African Americans and grew from a burial
society to a fraternal order and life insurance company. She moved up in its ranks and in 1899 was
elected secretary, or head, of the Right Worthy Grand Council. Under her leadership, she made it
mandatory for all members to have life insurance which increased the revenue of the society. She
embarked upon Saint Luke membership drives that spread to twenty-two states. She spoke
everywhere speaking to Black people encouraging cooperative enterprise and economic
independence. She led Saint Luke into a series of new businesses that included the Saint Luke
Herald newspaper, the Emporium Department store, and the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank. She
spent time with the Merchants Nation Bank of Richmond to learn the banking business. The Saint
Luke Bank and Trust made loans for homes and businesses that black people were unable to secure
from white banks. She was an activist who served on many boards that promoted the advancement
of colored people.
12) In Memory of Reverend Coleridge
(1930-2023):
In Memory of Reverend Coleridge (1930-2023):
Bishop Clarence N. Coleridge, born in Georgetown, British Guyana, relocated to the United States
to further his education and received his Master of Social Work and Doctor of Ministry degrees.
Coleridge was torn between pursuing his path of study in Veterinarian Medicine or theology. After
hearing Reverend Martin Luther King speak, he “felt his heart warmed” and decided to pursue
theology. The first black bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, the Episcopalian clergyman started
the Bishops Fund for Children, a fund to enhance awareness of the plight of children at risk
throughout Connecticut and to raise funds to underwrite social service programs that aid children
in urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods.
Additional eligibility criteria,
(a) active within your
church(supported by letter from church office) and (b) be of African American descent.
Come join us!
We appreciate your support. Our events honor and recognize members of the community for their accomplishments and service. Contact us to be notified of future events. Service Awards include:
– Community Service Award
– Business/Professional Service Award
– Professional Service Award
– Religious Service Award
– “We See You” Youth Award
Our theme for 2024
“Holding on to Hope in Tough Times.”
Our Fund Raisers and donations are used to help fund our Book Awards.
– 32 Graduating seniors applied for Book Awards
– 11 Graduating seniors received Book Awards
– Of the 11 Graduating seniors, 10 received a $1,000 Book Award and 1 received a $2,000 Book Award