Book Award

2019 Smith – Kharif Book Award

     The C. Calvin Smith-Wali R. Kharif Book Award is named for the late C. Calvin Smith (1943-2009) and Professor Emeritus Wali R. Kharif (1950-). The award recognizes the most distinguished scholarly book on African American Studies by a SCAASI member published in the calendar year preceding the SCAASI Annual Conference.  The book may focus on any of the interdisciplinary subject areas addressed by SCAASI but must relate to African American Studies.  Eligibility is open only to books authored by SCAASI members.   Anthologies, encyclopedias and edited works are not considered.  The award recipient receives a plaque and $300 honorarium.

     The 2019 C. Calvin Smith-Wali R. Kharif Book Award recipient is Dr.  Darius J. Young, author of the book, Robert R. Church, Jr. and the African American Political Struggle, published by the University Presses of Florida (2019).  The book is a ground-breaking introduction and assessment of the contribution made by Robert R. Church, Jr. in the early twentieth century in Tennessee.   Dr. Young is an Associate Professor of History at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee.

[Note:  The C. Calvin Smith Book Award was established in 2011 (the first award recipient recognized in 2012); it renamed on February 7, 2020 as the C. Calvin Smith – Wali R. Kharif Book Award.]

Scholarly Recognition
2019 SCAASI Ambassador Award

            An ambassador, by definition, promotes the best interest of an organization.   Such individuals deserve recognition. The SCAASI Ambassador Award recognizes a SCAASI member who brings national recognition to African American Studies, and in the process to SCAASI, who may otherwise go unrecognized because their contribution falls outside of the criteria of other SCAASI awards.  The SCAASI Ambassador Award bridges that gap by affording the opportunity to recognize members who make exemplary contributions in scholarly research, writing, and academic service.  The award recipient will receive a plaque, and a $100 honorarium. 

            The Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI), proudly announces that Dr. Michele Valerie Ronnick, is recipient of the inaugural SCAASI Ambassador Award, which was recognized at the 2020 SCAASI Annual Meeting in Shreveport, Louisiana.   Dr. Ronnick is Professor in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, at Wayne State University.  Dr. Ronnick directed an exhibition on Blacks in the Classics.   The exhibition, “15 Black Classicists: A Photo Installation,” has traveled across much of the country from Detroit to Washington, D.C., to Boston. It is presently on view at the Center for Hellenic Studies, at Harvard University.  In addition, Dr. Ronnick edited and wrote the introduction, the latter which has received raving reviews, for the 2019 republication of William Sanders Scarborough’s 1881 Greek textbook, William Sanders Scarborough’s ‘First Lessons in Greek’: A Facsimile of the 1881 First Edition.  This work received glaring reviews in The Classical Outlook: Journal of The American Classical League, and the Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2020.01.24).

Quiz Bowl Recognition
2020 Hornsby-Lockett Academic Quiz Bowl

            The SCAASI Quiz Bowl is a student competition held at its Annual Meeting allowing institutionally affiliated teams of students an opportunity to compete for a $300 first prize.  Questions in the competition come from study materials disseminated well in advance of the conference.  Answers in the competition must conform to those provided in the study materials. 

            Three teams competed in the 2020 Hornsby-Lockett Student Quiz Bowl held at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc., held in Shreveport, Louisiana.  The three teams and their team members were:

Purdue University – Northwest, Hammonds, Indiana
DaQuan Williams
Joel Tokarczyk
Calvin-Charles Mead
Charmaine Connell
Michelle Horton
Zakyra Jordan

Southern University – Baton Rouge
Jonathan Banks
Ike Adams
Brianna Green
Kerry Wilson

Southern University – Shreveport
Jessica Knight
Mary Steele
Rhonda Winn
Martina Williams

Purdue University – Northwest was winner of the 2020 Quiz Bowl competition.  Southern University-Baton Rouge placed second. The first place team will receive a $300 award and the second place team $200.

Congratulations to all team participants.

[Note: The Quiz Bowl was named for Dr. Alton Hornsby, Jr. (1940-2017), Fuller E. Callaway Professor Emeritus at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was renamed in 2020 to include late Dr. Raymond J. Lockett (1935-2018) of Southern University-Baton Rouge who was a strong supporter and organizer of the Quiz Bowl.]

2020 Hornsby-Lockett Quiz Bowl Participating Teams

Purdue University – Northwest

Southern University – Baton Rouge

Southern University – Shreveport