A civil rights pioneer and leader of the Cambridge Movement spoke of retaliation and social justice during the challenging time when races fought for freedom and equal rights.
“Demonstrations were illegal, picketing was illegal, but after that was over and at night, don’t come in and try to burn down my house,” activist Gloria Richardson, the 2015 Ivy Young Willis Martha Willis Dale award winner, said at the ceremony, which was held on April 8 at 4:30 p.m. in the Mansion Foyer.
Ivy Young Willis is one of whom the award is in honor of for her outstanding contributions in the field of public affairs. Her daughter, “Martha Dale, is [also] being honored as a friend and as a pioneer of the college in alumni relations,” Dr. Darryl Mace, history and political science department chair, said at the event after he and President Donald Taylor opened the ceremony by acknowledging the Willis family.
This is the first year with the new title for the award, now including the late Martha Dale. Also, no awardee has ever been a civil rights pioneer before, making this year notable for these two reason.
Dr. Joseph R. Fitzgerald, assistant professor of history and political science, presented in an interview format alongside Richardson for the audience and asked questions to reveal her story.
Richardson is an American human rights activist who is best known for her work in Cambridge, Maryland during the modern civil rights movement.
“In the early 1960s, she was a leader of the Cambridge Movement for the human rights struggle [and the group] established the goal of overthrowing Cambridge’s racial caste system that included inadequate living wages, poor housing and lack of health care,” Taylor said. “This signaled the beginning phase for the modern black liberation struggle.”
Richardson also began her own organizations, worked as a civil servant in New York City, was awarded two honorary doctorates among many other awards. She has also completed many other greatly respected accomplishments that have been a contribution to society.
At the ceremony, the awardee also discussed the march in Washington, D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King, violence, voting and the public’s reactions to these topics during these testing times.
Richardson said, “We were citizens, been through all wars, generations, born in this country, so why should [all other races] be allowed to vote?”
Richardson graciously accepted the award after the Q&A, placed it with her granddaughter who brought her to the event, then continued with faculty, students and the audience to a reception, following the event in the Mansion.
