PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (July 17, 2020) – “I believe in a way that my path to Prairie View was written in the heavens,” said President Ruth J. Simmons, “for how else can I explain the improbable way I came to this task.”
Through a soft torrent of tears, she continued to a hushed audience of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members gathered to celebrate her inauguration as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) in 2018. “How could I turn away from doing for other young people what was done for me?”
While Ruth’s immense success may seem a distant dream to many students who walk Prairie View’s historic grounds, their travails are close to Ruth’s own experience.
“Like me,” she said, “they are first-generation college students.”
And, like Ruth, many come from low-income households and communities without the means to continue their education. And, like Ruth, many of their paths have been marked by persistent issues of inequality and discrimination.
As Ruth concluded her remarks, her tears seemed to say what her words did not: “They are me.” Similarly, following the murder of George Floyd, many in the Black community today have found themselves saying, “He is me. I am George Floyd.”
It has, perhaps, never been more evident—the plight of African Americans is shared. The understanding of which is imperative to mobilizing our collective identity to form policies that secure justice for all.
Yet, Prairie View, a historically black college conceived in a time of segregation in 1876, did not establish an African American Studies program until Ruth’s arrival.
Who could ignore her impassioned plea?
“Understanding one’s place in the world is vital to the knowledge needed to embrace the future and one’s role in it…African American and ethnic studies, in particular, amplify the wellbeing and understanding of our students,” said Ruth at her inauguration, having directed Afro-American Studies at Princeton and Chaired the African-American Studies Department Visiting Committee at Harvard. “Prairie View should make haste to provide a curriculum that reflects the unique history of the students we serve.”
A few short months after her clarion call, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded PVAMU a grant of $500,000 to establish an African American Studies Initiative. PVAMU reported at the time that an anonymous donor, inspired by the Mellon Foundation award, pledged an additional $250,000 to help fund the Initiative. “This generous donation,” stated the press release, “is eligible for a $250,000 university match, bringing the total support for the Initiative’s launch to $1 million.”
And the African American Studies Initiative at Prairie View was born.
“As the university celebrates the progress of the African American Studies Initiative,” Vice President of Development Carme Williams stated recently, “we are pleased to reveal that President Simmons is the anonymous donor whose extraordinary generosity catapulted the program into existence. Ruth’s philanthropy is a powerful testament to her commitment to our students and Prairie View’s powerful legacy.”
The African American Studies Initiative is divided into three areas—building an academic unit, inviting prominent scholars to campus, and enhancing the curriculum through faculty training. Scholars such as Nell Irvin Painter, Cornel West, Paula Giddings, Gloria Steinem, Renita Weems, Elsa Barkley Brown, Cheryl Wall, and W. Garbriel Selassie I ’88 have all presented lectures as part of the program.
“The African American Studies Initiative deepens our students’ knowledge of the diverse history and culture of Black people in the United States and its implications for the world,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs James M. Palmer.
“African American Studies at Prairie View is vibrant and on the move,” added acclaimed African American scholar Melanye Price ’95, who leads the program. “We are beyond grateful to Ruth for pushing such a transformative program forward.
“There is an enormous amount of excitement about the work. When you talk to students and faculty, it is clear that they have been yearning for an intellectual endeavor of this kind. They flock to hear the speakers and interact with them, they register for the new course offerings, and they share stories of their excitement.”
As the African American Studies Initiative grows, so does its role at the university. The program will serve as the cornerstone of the new Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice.
The Simmons Center positions itself as an interdisciplinary effort that will build upon existing curriculum in African American Studies to facilitate a greater understanding of racism and discrimination and the need for justice to strengthen civil society. The Simmons Center, named in honor of the president thanks to a $1 M gift from H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt, is pending the approvals of the Texas A&M System, Board of Regents, and Coordinating Board.
“How could Ruth have known that events in 2020 would make the need for an African American Studies program at PVAMU even more critical,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs James M. Palmer. “Ever prescient, Ruth’s vision optimizes Prairie View’s ability to seize this opportunity and help lead the progression of race relations in America.”
Equally important to Ruth is ensuring that PVAMU students have the support needed to complete their studies. In addition to her generous contributions to the African American Studies Initiative, she has made substantial gifts to the Annual Fund and established the Fannie and Isaac Stubblefield Endowed Scholarship Fund in honor of her parents.
“[My family and I] mean the Fannie and Isaac Stubblefield Endowed Scholarship Fund to be a testament in perpetuity to the struggle of so many like my parents to gain freedom and equality and have the basic respect and education that human beings are due,” said Ruth unafraid to expose that behind the struggle is pain—a shared pain that we, as a Black community, endure together, building formidable resilience and grit.
And as Prairie View’s students struggle together, they will rise together. And, like Ruth, take the world by storm.
To learn more about how you can join Ruth in advancing the lives of deserving students, please visit www.pvamu.edu/development or call 936-261-1550.
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By Kimberly Bernard Karol, APR, CFRE