Today the Joy for Juneteenth campaign focuses on why keeping scholarship programs like the Gloria Brown Scholarship going year after year is so critical for students.
A little background on Gloria Brown:
Gloria Brown was a Lake Oswego resident and Respond to Racism leadership team member. Raised in Washington D.C., earned a BS in Journalism from the
University of Maryland and landed an early job as a dictation transcriber with the U.S. Forest Service. That work led Brown to receive her certification in natural resources management from Oregon State University in 1991, as she moved west within Montana, California, and Washington state, Brown also moved up into prestigious positions. In Washington, she served as Monument Manager for the Mount St. Helens National Monument on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and in 1999, Brown became the
first Black woman to supervise an entire national forest, Oregon’s own Siuslaw National Forest. All in all, Brown served with the U.S. Forest service for 33 years.
Why your contribution matters:
Respond to Racism’s higher learning scholarship for graduating Black, Indigenous, Bi-racial and/or Students of Color was started to honor Gloria’s legacy. Brown wanted to provide opportunities for talented individuals whom, she knew from personal experience, are
too-often overlooked for educational and professional opportunities. “Representation counts because of the message to the public about belonging,” Brown once said.
Joy for Juneteenth acknowledges the often hidden story of higher education as an exclusionary place for people of color and, in particular Black Americans. "’The story of the American college is largely the story of the rise of the slave economy in the Atlantic world,’ says Craig Steven Wilder, a historian at MIT and author of Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities.” The majority of American colleges founded before the end of the system of chattel slavery relied on fortunes derived from slavery. Additionally, many enslaved people were forced to build the campus buildings
to which they were simultaneously denied access. Though a few colleges and universities have acknowledged this unpleasant past (almost all of them since the turn of this century, and many only after the 2020 uprisings), many institutions are still reluctant to examine their true histories. "There's not a lot of upside for them,” Wilder says. “You know these aren't great fundraising stories."
Even if students of color do not attend a university built by enslaved labor,
the legacy of violence and discrimination may still haunt students whose ancestors were not allowed through hallowed doors. Additionally, erasures of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and the gutting of Affirmative Action imay have students of color wondering how they belong at their chosen place of higher education.
In contrast, contributing to the Joy for Juneteenth campaign for programs like the Gloria Brown Scholarship is a great fundraising story! Your
contribution will be a boost for students and future scholarship recipients, acting as a reminder that this community has their back and wants to see them succeed and thrive.
One of the best ways to continue the legacy of Gloria Brown is by becoming a monthly donor. Donating monthly offers sustainability for critical operating funds, which enable programs for students to thrive. And, if you already donate monthly, could you consider increasing your existing contribution
even by a small amount? Each contribution you make is tax-deductible and goes directly into RtR’s work.
Finally, in the words of RtR co-founder Willie Poinsette, “There’s so much work. We need little Gloria’s all around to help stir up and not back down.” We know this year’s Gloria Brown Scholarship recipients are already out there stirring up good things and we wish them all the joy in the world as they embark on their higher education and professional
journeys.
P.S. You can learn more about Gloria Brown’s story in her own words in the book she co-authored, Black Woman in Green, Gloria Brown and the Unmarked Trail to Forest Service Leadership.
