Celebrating Five Years of the Fleming-Morrow Lecture
Tiffany M. Gill, associate professor at the University of Delaware, delivered the Fifth Annual Fleming-Morrow Distinguished Lecture in African-American History, February 27, 2020. In her presentation, “The World is Ours, Too: Black Women, Global Activism, and the New Black Travel Movement,” Gill explained that the new black travel movement is not new at all, but a continuation of a phenomenon that began in the 1940s and one that has a great deal to teach us about the tensions between political activism, leisure, and global freedom struggles.
Gill’s presentation was especially exciting as it marked an important milestone for the Fleming-Morrow Lecture, as we celebrated five years of its existence. In February 2015, Professors Shannen Dee Williams (now at Villanova University) and Brandon K. Winford co-founded the Fleming-Morrow Endowment in African-American History through the University of Tennessee Foundation. The endowment honors the distinguished careers of Professors Cynthia Griggs Fleming and John H. Morrow Jr., two pioneering African-American professors in the UT College of Arts and Sciences and Department of History. The endowment provides annual funding for a lecture in African-American history and two student awards in African-American and military history.
In fall 2017, the Fleming-Morrow Endowment reached the fully endowed level whereby it is now self-supporting and approaching the $50,000 mark. It has become a premiere event with attendance from faculty, staff, and students from the university, as well as from members of the broader Knoxville community. We welcome your continued support moving forward as we seek to grow the Fleming-Morrow Endowment and take it to greater heights.