HOOKS INSTITUTE HOSTED “TENT CITY” REMEMBRANCE OCT. 27-28, 2006

MEMPHIS – The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change hosted a series of events commemorating “Tent City” and other sustained efforts to gain economic empowerment and African-Americans’ right to vote in a hub of the Civil Rights Movement, Fayette County, Tenn. Events took place in the Rose Theater at the University of Memphis.

The highlights of the weekend included an exhibition of photographs and documents highlighting seminal events of the Fayette County Civil Rights Movement. The keynote address was given by Charles Payne, Professor of African-American Studies at Duke University, on the significance of the Fayette County movement and was followed with speeches by Movement leaders, including John and Viola McFerren. Read more...

ACE ACADEMY

On September 16th, 2006, over 200 7th-12th graders from the Mississippi Delta, rural Tennessee, and the greater Memphis area converged on the University Center at the University of Memphis to attend the opening session of The Achievement, Confidence, and Excellence (ACE) Academy under the direction of Jason Ogle, the Benjamin Hooks Institute’s Director of Global Education Partnerships. Mr. Ogle’s commitment to social justice, global diversity, and the empowerment of the historically disenfranchised compels him to commute to Memphis up to three weekends each month to run ACE Academy and cultivate corporate sponsorships. Mr. Ogle draws on his wealth of experience researching African diaspora literature and languages, most recently on a Fulbright in the Caribbean, to encourage global education partnerships. Throughout his career, Mr. Ogle has demonstrated a passionate commitment to rigorous standards in the classroom. He understands the students, conveys his belief in their abilities from the first day of class, and inspires them to achieve goals that few teachers imagine them capable of. Read more...

AWARDS AND CEREMONIES

Dr. Benjamin Hooks

During the week of September 5th, 2006 Dr. and Mrs. Hooks traveled to San Francisco, CA to attend an awards ceremony of finalists for the Purpose Prize awarded by Civic Ventures (underwritten by grants from The Atlantic Philanthropies and The John Templeton Foundation). Dr. Hooks was one of 15 finalists, and he is also a competitor for a Fund-for-Innovation grant sponsored by Civic Ventures. Dr. Hooks won the $10,000 prize for "Preventing childhood exposure to lead poisoning." The Purpose Prize is given to Americans “leading with experience.” According to the creators of the competition, it represents an “investment in a new generation of social innovators—individuals in the second half of life who are marshalling their accumulated experience to tackle some of America’s most urgent issues.” For more information, please visit: http://www.leadwithexperience.org/prize/finalists.

NEWSLETTER

Our fall 2005 newsletter is available online! Visit our newsletter page for a free copy.

NEWS

Hooks Institute Had McFerren as Visiting Scholar

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change welcomed Daphene R. McFerren, J.D. as a visiting scholar with open arms. Ms. McFerren is a 1984 graduate of Yale College, and a 1989 graduate of Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. McFerren practiced law as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice and was counsel to former Attorney Janet Reno from December 1999 to January 2001. She is also the daughter of Movement leaders, John and Viola McFerren, and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient. Read more...

Lecture, Discussion, and Reception

“The Fayette County, Tennessee Civil Rights Movement: How African-Americans Changed Themselves, their Community and their Nation by Demanding the Right to Vote”

Friday, October 27, 2006
1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.; Rose Theater Entertainment Lobby
More Information

Hooks Junior Scholars

Courtney Robertson, Darrell Sneed, and Keith Hammond won prizes at national competitions of NSBE and Microsoft “Computer Skins.” In the spring of 2006 all three young men graduated from Melrose. Darrell Sneed received the Lottery Scholarship and will major in Pre-Dentistry at University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Courtney Robertson received the Bill Gates Scholarship (a full ride from undergraduate through a doctoral program) and will major in Biomedical Engineering at Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis. He also received the African-American Association of Blacks in Energy, Kappa Alpha Psi and numerous other scholarships. Keith Hammond received the African-American Achievement Scholarship and was a finalist for a Apple Computer Scholarship. He also was a finalist in the 2006 Howard/Microsoft Skins Competition for his Breast/HIV Awareness skin posted nationwide on the AIDS foundation website. He will be entering this fall at The University of Memphis in the Biomedical Engineering program, and he will be working with the Hooks Institute as a Hooks Teaching Fellow at the ACE Academy, where he will teach computer skills and ACT/SAT prep methods to 200 students from the Mississippi Delta, Memphis City Schools, and Fayette County, Tennessee. Read more...

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