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Press Releases
CONTACT: Joe Cooney c/o The Terrie Williams Agency
CREATION OF BILL COSBY PHILANTHROPIC AWARD ANNOUNCED AT BLACK HISTORY MAKERS AWARDS DINNER RUTH SIMMONS, BROWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-ELECT, HONORED WITH DR. BENJAMIN CARSON AND DR. SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON ASSOCIATED BLACK CHARITIES DINNER RAISES $750,000 New York, NY (February 7, 2001) - Entertainer and scholar Bill Cosby served as host for the 15th Annual Black History Makers Awards Dinner presented here tonight by New York City's Associated Black Charities at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Cosby, who holds a doctorate in education, Presented the elegant "Immortal" Award to Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, recently appointed the first African-American president of Brown University and first African-American to head an Ivy League University, world pre-eminent pediatric surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to be awarded a doctorate in physics from MIT and to head a major national research institution as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The dinner raised $750,000 for Associated Black Charities and its member agencies. Also announced at the annual gala, which recognized the achievements of outstanding African-Americans, was the creation of the William H. Cosby Jr. and Camille O. Cosby Philanthropic Award. The Award sponsored by Associated Black Charities, will be presented annually to an African-American or in selected instances a non-African-American who most exemplifies the Cosby's philosophy of philanthropy in service of improved education and health and human services to disadvantaged African-Americans. In addition to the Award a cash grant (in the initial amount of $25,000) will be presented each year to finance a leading-edge innovative study or project designed to advance educational progress and understanding of health and human service issues affecting African-American participation in American society. The annual Black History Makers Awards Dinner benefits Associated Black Charities a federation of 26 community-based charitable health and human service agencies in New York City. In these times of unprecedented economic growth-yet diminished government support for the socially and economically disadvantaged-there is an urgent need among the African-American community for improvement in meeting the educational needs of today's youth and for expanding traditional philanthropic efforts. Associated Black Charities is therefore assuming a leadership role in promoting educational improvement to prepare our children for the opportunities of the technology-driven Information-Age and to strengthen Black philanthropy as an ideal and practical obligation. So numerous are the pioneering achievements of Shirley Ann Jackson that her name almost seems incomplete without the prefatory phrase "first African-American woman". In addition, to the aforementioned attainments, Dr. Jackson was the first African-American woman in the country to earn a physics doctorate and in 1995 she became the first African-American woman to receive a presidential appointment to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dr. Jackson is a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame for her work as a distinguished scientist effective teacher and promoter of public policies. She is a tireless advocate of education and supporter of the role of women and minorities in science. One of the world's foremost surgeons and a trailblazer in his field of medicine, Dr. Benjamin Carson is Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. In 1987 Dr. Carson came to the world's attention when he led a medical team that separated Siamese twins who were joined at the cranium. He has since devised and refined several neurosurgical and plastic surgical techniques that have saved the lives of hundreds of hopelessly ill children. Dr. Carson's vision for the youth of American is to reward their academic achievement early on to establish a lasting pattern of success. To make his vision a reality he and his wife, Candy, created the Carson Scholars Fund, which grants scholarships to elementary through high school students who are academic achievers. Dr. Ruth Simmons made history when she assumed the presidency of Smith College in 1995 becoming the first African-American woman to head a top-ranked college in the United States. In July she will again rewrite the history books when she begins her tenure as the 18th president of Brown University. The great-granddaughter of slaves, Dr. Simmons holds a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. At Smith she established the nation's first engineering program at a woman's college and galvanized the campus through an ambitions campus-wide self-study process that resulted in a number of landmark initiatives. Throughout her stellar career she has worked tirelessly toward opening higher education-particularly elite private institutions-to disadvantaged minorities a mission she had described as "a matter of national salvation." Rayton Gerald the chairman of the board of directors of Associated Black Charities
said, "In New York City Associated Black Charities plays a significant role
in education and youth development. It is fitting that Associated Black Charities
embark on this quest by celebrating Drs. Benjamin Carson, Shirley Ann Jackson
and Ruth Simmons three outstanding African-Americans who have blazed new trails
in the world of academia and medicine and indeed left enduring imprints for American
youth to emulate. Associated Black Charities is very proud to salute their benchmark
achievements."
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