Documenting Fifty Five Years of Impact - Haderah Phillips (Attending Honors Program events: 3 points)

     On February 12th, 2026 I attended the African American Honors Collective Faculty Fundamentals Virtual Speaker Series on Zoom Featuring TaKeia Anthony. Dr. Anthony served as the 2021 Vivian A. Ware Research Fellow, where she researched and documented the history of the Delta Research and Educational Foundation. Her talk focused on her book, Delta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF): 55 Years of Black Women's Intellectual and Philanthropy, 1967-2022". She explained how her research charts the first fifty five years of DREF's development and highlights leaders at the local and regional levels, not just those on the National Executive Board. Her work centers Black women's intellectual and philanthropic contributions. Overall, the main theme of her presentation was the importance of recognizing and documenting Black women's intellectualism and philanthropy, especially because Black women are often undervalued in history. 

    I appreciate how Dr. Anthony emphasized the need to reimagine Black women as intellectuals and to create new research values that honor their work. It made me realize how important writing and achieving are because they allow us to be examples of Black women's intellectualism and to contribute to history in ways we may not recognize at first. I can connect her talk to my coursework in my African Diaspora In The World class, because we discuss history, social justice, and research. In class we also often talk about whose voices are centered in history and whose stories are left out Dr.Anthony's research directly speaks to that issue by highlighting leaders on the local and regional level, which is rare when discussing large organizations. It connects to ideas about representation and the importance of documenting underrepresented communities. Her overall message shows how research can reshape the way we understand organizations and movements. It also connects to lessons about perseverance, leadership, and creating pathways to success. As Dr. Anthony stated "If you have an idea, create a pathway because you never know how you might become a part of history." That idea encourages me to see myself as someone that can contribute to a larger legacy. Overall, attending this virtual speaker series helped me see the power of research, and the importance of honoring Black women's intellectual and philanthropic contributions. It reminded me that there are many ways we can contribute to our communities, whether through scholarships, service, or using our voices.

-Haderah Phillips