Only a few decades ago, according to Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of
Smith College, looking out for African American youth was a challenge
more readily accepted by the African American community, at large – and
particularly by African American teachers.
Dr. Vernell Lillie, who taught Simmons when she attended Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas, is such an educator.
“When [teachers like Lillie] saw someone who needed a hand, they did
not question that,” Simmons says. “If that meant that they didn’t have
a place to live, they took them in; [if it meant] food to eat, they
gave food; or no money, they gave them money. Or if their mother had
died, they took them on. That’s very much the kind of spirit that
existed in those days. And to me what she did symbolizes that era.”
To recognize the legacy of such teachers – many of whom often don’t
realize how much what they did meant to the people they helped – and to
encourage the continuation of that spirit, Simmons has set up an
endowed scholarship to honor Lillie at Dillard University, the
undergraduate alma mater of both.
“We have relied in our time on federal forms of assistance and I
believe it is our responsibility to create additional scholarships for
young people coming along,” Simmons says. “I also wanted to do
something to emphasize the importance of HBCUs (historically Black
colleges and universities).”
The Vernell A. Lillie Endowed Scholarship was funded by Simmons with an initial $11,000 gift.
Honored and Grateful
