Endowment Memorializing Shaw University Alum Ella Baker Establishes Scholarships
RALEIGH, N.C. — A $300,000 endowment honoring Ella Baker, a towering figure in the storied timeline of Shaw University, will make strides toward the education of students matriculating at her alma mater, the oldest historically Black university in North Carolina.
The Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship Fund in Memory of Ella Baker will assist Shaw University undergraduates.
“The intention for establishing the McMillan-Stewart Foundation is to create opportunities for talented, deserving students who have financial need,” McMillan-Stewart Foundation Board of Trustees President Kibebe Gizaw said.
“This gift coinciding with the Dec. 13 celebration of Ella Baker’s birthday is just right,” said Marilyn Baldwin Richards, the vice president for institutional advancement at Shaw University. “Alumna Baker was a driven individual who positively changed America by parlaying her Shaw University experience. The scholarship fund in her honor will enable students to arrive at Shaw University and come into their own for great impact.”
Baker graduated from Shaw University in 1927. She was class valedictorian.
In 1957, Baker helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC.
Decades later, Baker — a seasoned activist at this point — organized an April 1960 meeting on Shaw University’s campus to build upon the momentum of student sit-ins protesting the unfair treatment of Black people. That meeting birthed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC.
“From helping student activists establish SNCC in 1960 to an endowed scholarship fund that will help students in 2024 and beyond, Ella Baker remains a trailblazer,” Shaw University President Paulette Dillard said.
About Shaw University:
Shaw University, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the first historically Black institution of higher education founded in North Carolina and is among the oldest in the nation. The University was founded in 1865 by Henry Martin Tupper. Dr. Paulette Dillard currently serves as the University’s 18th President. For more information, visit: www.shawu.edu