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The young women were chosen to participate after an SRBWI application process that included an essay and questionnaire.  Some of the young women have aspirations to be the first black female mayor of their town or becoming president of the United States.  All the applicants reside in one of the 18 targeted SRBWI counties in Mississippi.  Following careful review, the five fortunate SRBWI young women who were chosen to participate were Stephanie Brown, Kelcey Govan, Shawaunda Lomax, Bianca Norman, and Ansley Scott.  CDF-SRO and SRBWI staff, Latisha Latiker, Wendy Shenefelt and Fallon Sutton, accompanied the young women to the events in Memphis.

The young women were picked up from John f. Kennedy High School in Mound Bayou, Mississippi early Tuesday morning, October 23^rd and drove to the late Bishop G.E. Patterson’s church, Temple of Deliverance, Church of God In Christ, (COGIC).  The Temple of Deliverance hosted the 2007 Freedom Awards Public Forum which was targeted to youth.  The Mistress of Ceremonies was the young actress Keke Palmer who won critical acclaim for her starring role in the motion picture Akeelah and the Bee.  The three honorees gave speeches and were saluted by arts performances from Watoto de Afrika, an African Dance company based in Memphis, the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Temple of Deliverance Mime Ministry.  At the forum, the National Civil Rights Museum presented awards to local middle school and high school students for their academic achievement but more importantly for their civic and social activism.

Following the forum, the SRBWI young women took in the local sights, sounds and tastes of downtown Memphis before changing in to their finest attire for the evening’s festivities.  The young women headed to a VIP hotel for a private meeting with President Johnson-Sirleaf, arranged by one of the CDF-SRBWI staffers.  While waiting in the lobby, the SRBWI young women were thrilled to meet a few of the celebrities: Keke Palmer, Ed Gordon formerly of Black Entertainment Television and National Public Radio, who served as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening’s events and along with Donnie McClurkin, world-renowned gospel singer.  The young women were then whisked upstairs to the Presidential Suite by both American and Liberian Secret Service for their meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  President Sirleaf is the first woman elected head of state on the continent of Africa.  The young women prepared questions to ask President Johnson- Sirleaf which she graciously answered in depth.  After the meeting, the young women waited in the lobby while President Johnson Sirleaf’s motorcade pulled off.  While waiting, the young women experienced time talking with the other two honorees, John Hope Franklin and Magic Johnson.

The young women’s night was capped off with the gala which took place at the Cook Convention Center.  The honorees gave different but no less poignant speeches at the night’s celebration which concluded with a medley of songs from Donnie McClurkin and the over 4,000 people in attendance.

The Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative (SRBWI), is an economic and social justice program that promotes the first human rights agenda in the United States aimed at eradicating historical race, class, cultural, religious and gender barriers experienced by Southern rural black women.  The Children’s Defense Fund’s Southern Regional Office (CDF/SRO) is the SRBWI grantee, regional program administrator, and state lead in Mississippi.  Key components of the SRBWI Young Women’s Leadership Program are the Annual Unita Blackwell Young Women’s Leadership Institute at Tougaloo College, regional gatherings, workshops, community service projects and college visits.  For more information about SRBWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Program, please contact Wendy Shenefelt, SRBWI Regional Youth Organizer, CDF-SRO, 601.321.1966 or wshenefelt@childrensdefense.org.