Hooks Institute to honor award-winning author Feb. 5
Tanisha C. Ford is this year’s winrer of the Hooks Institute National Book Award. (Submitted)
“Our Secret Society” lifts up the role Black women played in the Civil Rights era by tracing the life of Mollie Moon, founder and president of the National Urban League Guild, and the work she did to to raise money for the era’s activists. (Submitted)
The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis is presenting its Hooks National Book Award to Tanisha C. Ford at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Ford is receiving the award for “Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement.”
Ford, a history professor at City University of New York’s graduate center, will lecture as part of the evening, which begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception in the Michael D. Rose Theatre on campus.
Ford, well known for her scholarship in Black style/fashion and social movements, is being honored for the light her book sheds on the Civil Rights Movement and its legacy, one of the foundations of the Institute’s work at the University of Memphis.
“Our Secret Society” lifts up the role Black women played in the Civil Rights era by tracing the life of Mollie Moon, founder and president of the National Urban League Guild and her work to raise money for the era’s activists.
The book, published in 2023 by Amistad, also won the 2024 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Work of Biography/Autobiography.
She also wrote “Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul” and “Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion.”
The Hooks Institute annually selects a National Book Award-winner. The work of nonfiction is chosen by a panel of judges representing a variety of disciplines and institutions across the city. There were 49 nominations this year.
The free event is presented in partnership with the U of M Graduate Association for African American History. Tickets are required and may be reserved through Eventbrite. Parking is available in the Zach Curlin garage.
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Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change Tanisha C. Ford University of MemphisJane Roberts
Jane Roberts has reported in Memphis for more than 20 years. As a senior member of The Daily Memphian staff, she was assigned to the medical beat during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also has done in-depth work on other medical issues facing our community, including shortages of specialists in local hospitals. She covered K-12 education here for years and later the region’s transportation sector, including Memphis International Airport and FedEx Corp.
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