Awards

The Mary McLeod Bethune Award for Academic Excellence

The Mary McLeod Bethune Award recognizes academic and scholarly achievement by a Black Studies graduating senior who embodies the academic vigor of Mary McLeod Bethune. Candidates for this award have significantly contributed, in terms of academics and scholarship, to the intellectual discourses of African and African American Diasporic research and praxis.

Who was Mary McLeod Bethune?

Mary McLeod Bethune was born to former slaves in South Carolina and was raised in a family that labored in cotton farms and experienced economic inequality. McLeod Bethune was the first from her family to attend school, and eventually college. She was particularly passionate about education and its role in equality and civil service, which led her to found a school for African-American girls called the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. Eventually, this school merged into Bethune-Cookman College. McLeod Bethune is a well-known civil activist, who promoted the rights of African-Americans and women for various affairs and even founded the National Council for Negro Women. Among her lasting legacy is her commitment and dedication to education as means of achieving equality.

2023 Recipient – Tauryn Jennings-DuBose
2023 Recipient – Lisa McNamara
2022 Recipient – Nicole Patano
2022 Recipient – Kathryn Doner
2021 Recipient – Cameron Liesching
2021 Recipient – Abigail Waldron
2020 Recipient – Ariel Tavares
2019 Recipient – Caleigh Rockwal
2018 Recipient – Courtney Krakowski
2016 Recipient – Rilwan Ilumoka

The Amílcar Cabral Freedom Award

The Amílcar Cabral Freedom Award recognizes a Black Studies minor graduating senior who has promoted the principles of Black Studies through leadership. The recipient displays a deep commitment to social justice and has shown an ability to transform this commitment into effective action while at Providence College.

Who was Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral?
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral, was an anti-colonial leader born on the 12th of September 1924 in Bafatá, a small town in central Guinea-Bissau. Cabral was the critical leader in the nationalist movement for liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Island.

2023 Recipient – Brittney Smith
2022 Recipient – Ernest Frimpong
2021 Recipient – Jerriscia Johnson
2020 Recipient – Ariel Tavares

2019 Recipient – Fartun Abdulle
2018 Recipient – Adriel Antoine

2016 Recipient – Karissa Diaz