Very pleased to have attended the presentation ceremony this evening for the John Inscoe Award, which recognizes the best article published in the Georgia Historical Quarterly in the previous year. As reported, that article is entitled “Black Student Experiences in the Racial Integration of Reinhardt College, 1966-1972,” and was composed by Dr. Kenneth Wheeler and nine of his students in the fall of 2017. Seven of the co-authors were present tonight to receive certificates from W. Todd Groce, president of the Georgia Historical Society, in the Ken White Atrium in Reinhardt’s Falany Performing Arts Center. 

L-R: Kailey Payne, Madeline Gray, Madelyn Montgomery, Pres. Kina Mallard, Dr. Kenneth Wheeler, W. Todd Groce, Abigail Merchant, Aliyah Reeves, and Jessica Fanczi. Dane Nidal, David Busman, and Gladys Guzman-Gomez, unfortunately, could not attend. 

This is a great honor and a testament to the opportunities available at Reinhardt, where professors can work closely with students to produce genuinely original scholarship. Props to the African-American students who integrated Reinhardt in the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as Stanley Porter and Jay Jordan, for their courage and for their willingness to contribute to this project.