Linda Faye Williams Social Justice Prize announced

Linda Faye Williams Social Justice Prize announced

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff
 
Rice has established the Linda Faye Williams Social Justice Prize to recognize work that furthers social justice and enables understanding across boundaries of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, class, nationality, sexual orientation and ideology.

The award is named for the late Linda Faye Williams ’70, one of the first two black undergraduate students to enter Rice and earn a bachelor’s degree after the university abandoned its charter provision that limited enrollment to white students. Williams died Oct. 16, 2006, at the age of 57.

”Linda’s tireless and impassioned support of gender and racial justice serves as a symbol of hope for future generations,” said President David Leebron, who announced the award Feb. 20 prior to Manning Marable’s presentation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Grand Hall of Rice Memorial Center.

Leebron expressed gratitude for Williams’ persistence, noting that she was ”one of Rice’s best examples of courage” and ”someone who understood the importance and value of education.” 

Williams was a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and a highly regarded expert on race and gender politics when she died. She also held positions with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Her most recent book, ”Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America,” won three national book awards, including the American Political Science Association’s selection as the year’s best book on race, ethnicity and politics. The association also honored Williams with a special award at its annual meeting last year in recognition of her special interest in mentoring black students.

Marable, considered one of America’s pre-eminent commentators on the black American experience, paid tribute to Williams at the beginning of his lecture.

”Linda was one of the most outstanding intellectuals within the African-American and American political science community,” he said. ”She was a true scholar and a great teacher, and only a great university could produce such a scholar.”     

The Linda Faye Williams Social Justice Prize, which includes a $1,000 stipend, will be awarded annually to a graduating senior or a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree (within five years of graduation). Rice’s dean of undergraduates will solicit nominations from faculty, students, staff and alumni and form a selection committee to review the applications. The recipient will be announced at Rice’s commencement ceremony each year.