Mary Church Terrell Literary Club, Inc. hosts 21st Annual Literary Luncheon

By Alice Thomas-Tisdale

JA Publisher Emerita

The Mary Church Terrell Literary Club, Inc. held its 21st Annual Literary Luncheon April 5, 2025, at the Hilton Jackson. Proceeds support the civic organization’s college scholarship program. This year, three Jim Hill High School seniors – Alicia Tolliver, Kennedi Howard, and McKorie Taylor – received $1,000 book stipends. 

The success of the luncheon was due in large part to co-chairs Rhonda C. Cooper and Brenda A. Roby, although both agreed, “This occasion was special because all Club sisters worked together.” 

The importance of the luncheon was shared by President Candice Love Jackson, PhD. “Our luncheon coincides with National Library Week (NLW). This year’s theme was ‘Drawn to the Library!’ As we face a world of censorship and book bans, the assault on literacy is an ever-present threat to our future.

“Libraries serve as the intellectual center of our communities, not only providing space for intellectual inquiry but also programming to enhance our daily lives. Just one visit to your local library can be a transformative event!”

Each year, Club sisters select one member as Woman of the Year to celebrate the recipient’s contributions to their namesake’s dictum: “Lift As We Climb”. The 2025 honoree is Valerie Blue, who was quite overwhelmed by the surprise recognition. 

Guest author was Nina Nelson-Garrett, MD., who grew up in Jackson, MS and now resides in Montgomery, AL. In 2018, Dr. Garrett published her first novel, Grace Will Lead You Home. Her novel was awarded as a finalist at The American Book Fest on August 4, 2019, in four categories, including Finalist: African American Fiction; Finalist: Best Cover Design,  Adult Fiction; Finalist: Christian Inspirational; and Finalist: Inspirational. 

The following is an excerpt from her speech:

Your theme, “Lifting As We Climb”, refers to the philosophy encouraged by Mary Church Terrell as she motivated her fellow sisters and brothers to actively support and empower others, particularly those who might be facing similar or greater challenges than themselves.

I wonder how she and so many other trailblazers who fought for civil rights and human rights for decades would react to what we see going on now. I suspect they would be both disheartened and horrified. 

I hope that what I say next is not taken from a strictly political perspective, but allow me to look at what I present to you from a place of ethics and humanity. 

On the day of the current president’s inauguration, January 20, 2025, no time was wasted on instituting project 2025. From day one, it appears the primary goal has been dismantling human rights and disregarding basic ethics.

So again, if you allow me to look at where we are from that lens of ethics and from the lens of my Spirit man, I will try to make my case. In ethics, there are four principles that guide us. I follow these tenets from a healthcare perspective as I approach all consults presented to us as a committee, whether brought by a patient, a patient’s family member, or someone on the healthcare team. Those principles are autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. 

What was on whitehouse.gov on January 20, 2025, undermines in many ways, the basic tenets of ethics. The complete assault on our civil rights gains under the guise of anti-DEI initiatives that are said to have been President Biden’s unlawfully enacted policies, violates our autonomy.

For a person to say, I and I alone, can fix this, debunks our rights to “our” decision making. Thus, our autonomy has been violated based on basic ethical principles. 

Since that day, we have seen the undoing of educational gains for all Americans but especially people of color… enactment of cruel anti-immigrant policies, willfully …the undoing of gains in the theatre/arts, literature, and now our museums.

Abdicating beneficence… and not being concerned about what benefits the masses and intentionally doing harm, appears to be a hallmark of this administration. It’s like one whiplashing change after another continues to overwhelm us.

So if I wear my ethics lens….our autonomy is not being respected. What is for public good… is not being considered. Causing harm to thousands of workers and not to mention people across the globe, especially children and seniors, is not a concern. And the lack of respect for the courts tell us that justice will not be a priority.

I counter with a plea for us all to stand up for decency, ethics, humanity, and simply promote loving your neighbor as yourselves. Follow the model of Mary Church Terrell and be a voice, be a lifter….