Kharley Redmon
The biennial Black Alumni Reunion is making its return today, Thursday, Feb. 29, boasting a weekend full of events and opportunities for alumni and current students to connect.
Alexandria White, president of the Black Alumni Chapter Board and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Education, said that close to 400 people have registered for the event with graduation years as far back as 1972.
“We are excited to see Black alums come back to network, to reminisce and to enjoy how the university has grown over the past two years,” White said.
White said that the Black Alumni Reunion holds a special importance in building and maintaining the Black community at the University of Mississippi.
“I think it’s important for this reunion to show undergrads that there is a community, even after you graduate,” White said. “You do receive your degree, but your relationship to the university continues.”
Erica Avent, a member of the Black Alumni Chapter Board and assistant professor at the University of Mississippi, reiterated the event’s focus on connecting past and present students.
“We have curated a weekend that is catered to Black alumni interacting with each other, current students (and) faculty departments. It is really a return to the university for them,” Avent said.
White and Avent highlighted Career Coachella, taking place on Saturday, where students can chat with alumni in their respective fields while enjoying refreshments and appetizers. White and Avent said that the reunion also gives the university a chance to honor alumni who have made contributions to the community.
“I’m looking forward to the masquerade ball, where we are highlighting and amplifying trailblazers here at the university,” White said.
Six awards will be given out this year. John H. Hawkins III, the first African American UM cheerleader, and Tyrus McCarty, the first African American faculty member in the School of Engineering, will be honored with the Dr. Jeanette Jennings Trailblazer Award. Velsie Pate, the global engagement coordinator for the Intensive English Program, will be honored with the Jackie Certion Guiding Light Award.
DT Shackelford, co-executive director for the Neighborhood Christian Center in Decatur, Ala., will be honored with the Alumni Achievement Award. Coolidge Ball, the first African American athlete at UM, will be posthumously awarded the Celebrated Athletic Award. Asya Danielle Branch, Miss Mississippi USA 2020 and Miss USA 2020 winner, will be honored with the Wayne Johnson Community and Civic Award.
Branch, who has not visited the university in around two years, talked about her excitement to return to campus.
“There’s just something about stepping foot back on campus that is always refreshing for me and just takes me back to my time as a student at Ole Miss,” Branch said.
The Wayne Johnson Community and Civic Award recognizes exceptional service by Ole Miss alumni through commitment to their community in a civic, ministerial or volunteer capacity. Throughout her terms as Miss Mississippi USA and Miss USA, Branch advocated for criminal justice and prison reform. She is still active in this work today.
“I began working with children of incarcerated parents, and that extended into working with parents who actually are incarcerated and government officials to implement change,” Branch said.
Branch worked with organizations like Prison Fellowship to help incarcerated family members connect with their children by organizing visitations, letter writing or delivering gifts during the holidays.
“I grew up as a child of incarcerated parents for 10 years of my life,” Branch said. “It really was a healing journey, being able to work with these families and share my personal experience and show them that I’ve been in your shoes, but I didn’t let it define me or the trajectory of my future.”
Shackelford earned his doctorate of higher education with an emphasis in equity, ethics and social justice and has spent much of his career in educational advising and advocating for neighborhoods that experience inequitable practices.
“I’m a first-generation college student,” Shackelford said. “There was a lot I didn’t know, but now I’m able to go back at 33 and shake the hand and hug the necks of those who’ve helped me become who I am.”
In addition to networking and highlighting specific honorees, the reunion is meant to be a celebration of Black excellence and joy for all.
“The Black alumni reunion is a time of celebration, to celebrate the fact that we are here. The students have attended, they have matriculated, they have graduated and they have extended into society doing productive things,” Avent said.
A full list of events and information can be found on the Ole Miss Alumni Association website.
