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In 1964, 800 volunteers trained on the Western College for Women campus in Oxford as part of the Freedom Summer initiative to register Black voters in the South. 

The Western College Alumnae Association (WCAA) was formed a decade later, the same year the college graduated its final class. 

In a full circle moment, ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University President Gregory Crawford presented the Freedom Summer of ’64 Award to the WCAA during a ceremony held June 7 on the grounds of their beloved institution, near the campus memorial that bears the award’s namesake. 

“Western College was more than a place,” President Crawford said during the dinner and ceremony held at Western Dining Commons. “Western College was more than a curriculum. And Western College was much more than a degree. Western College was the garden that nurtured young students with solidarity, truth, and passion to change the world.” 

Established in 2018, the Freedom Summer of ’64 Award honors champions of civil rights and social justice. ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Freedom Summer memorial was dedicated in 2000 to honor the memories of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights workers who were murdered in Mississippi while registering Black voters. 

U.S. Rep. John Lewis was the award’s inaugural recipient. 

The Freedom Summer of '64 Award was given to the Western College Alumnae Association on June 7.

Prior to the dinner, Kumler Chapel housed a presentation commemorating Freedom Summer’s 60th anniversary, hosted by Western alumna Loretta Ryder ’63. 

ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú archivist Jacky Johnson spoke during the event, as did Rick Momeyer, ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú professor emeritus of Philosophy who assisted with the training at Western during Freedom Summer, as well as faculty members Stephanie Danker and Zach Tucker. Danker, associate professor of Art Education, and Tucker, assistant professor of Communication Design, helped create the .   

Past recipients of the Freedom Summer of ’64 Award include Mt. Zion Methodist Church, Western College alumna Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, radio host Joe Madison, Wayne ’58 and Teresa Embry ’60, director Reginald Hudlin, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and Wil Haygood ’76.

Ann Walton, a 1966 Western graduate and president of the WCAA Board of Trustees, accepted the award on behalf of the alumnae association. This year, the WCAA will be welcomed as part of the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University Alumni Association.

“Since our founding in 1974, our success has hinged on the support of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University,” Walton said of the WCAA. “Without them, we would not have had 50 years.

“The alumnae value relationships we have established with ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University and the Oxford community. We thank each of you here for collaborating with us on so many meaningful projects and events over the years.”

University Ambassador Dr. Renate Crawford speaks during the June 7 ceremony for the Freedom Summer of '64 Award.

Walton also spoke of the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship in the form of scholarships, endowments, lecture and concert series, and more provided by the WCAA for ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú students.

The city of Oxford was represented by Jerome Conley, dean of University Libraries and former two-term mayor. Conley read a proclamation from the city in honor of Western College.

Founded in 1853 as the Western Female Seminary and renamed the Western College for Women in 1904, the school was renowned as a forward-thinking institution on the forefront of international and multicultural education.

When Western closed in 1974, ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú purchased the land. It became part of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s campus and home of the university’s oldest residence-based learning community and division, the School of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú Studies/Western College Program.

“It’s been such a wonderful relationship, not just between the university and Western College on a global level but also so much on a personal level,” University Ambassador Dr. Renate Crawford said.

“It’s built on trust, respect, openness, and understanding. I know that will continue to grow.”