Giving Voice to the Voiceless
Giving Voice to
the Voiceless
Overview
The Charlayne Hunter-Gault Giving Voice to the Voiceless Program invites proposals from students from across the University of Georgia to undertake projects that amplify marginalized voices and thus carry forward the work of distinguished alumna, journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault (ABJ ‘63).
The committee’s goal is to recognize and financially support compelling student projects that center on marginalized people or issues, advancing social justice and creating bonds of empathy and understanding.
Ms. Hunter-Gault and her husband, Ron Gault, established the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Giving Voice to the Voiceless Fund to help UGA students engage in projects that amplify the voices of people who have been underrepresented, which has been the guiding light of Ms. Hunter-Gault’s own journalistic and humanitarian career for more than a half century.
In Ms. Hunter-Gault’s words: “I hope this fund will help students find and affirm the voices of people everywhere who fight for freedom, justice and equality for themselves and their people.”
About Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a 1963 graduate of Grady College, is the first Black woman to attend the University of Georgia. After graduating from UGA, Hunter-Gault joined the staff of The New Yorker, followed by The New York Times, PBS’s MacNeil/Lehrer Report and what is now the PBS NewsHour. In 1997, she became the chief correspondent in Africa for National Public Radio. She joined CNN in 1999 as its bureau chief and correspondent in Johannesburg, South Africa, and returned to NPR as a special correspondent in 2005. She has published several books, including most recently “My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives.” In 2023, Hunter-Gault was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and she has been honored with several awards, including two Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards.
PROGRAM GRANTS
An example of some recent program grants include:
(2023) Funds will go towards supporting “Cardamom,” a short film about a South Asian immigrant living in an abusive marriage. The film seeks to shed light on the decisions women living in abusive relationships must make to survive, showing the not-so-violent, and often public, side of abusive relationships and how the conflicting behaviors can further hinder survivors from getting help. Bommana is a student earning her MFA in Film, Television and Digital Media.
(2023) The funds will go to support a dissertation research project conducted through the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR), an indigenous-led, interdisciplinary, feminist and anticolonial marine science laboratory, that aims to change science into a more equitable and just space. Crespo is a Ph.D. Candidate, Institute for Women’s Studies.
(2023) Funds will go towards creating a web platform to help indigenous Peruvians understand and fight for their internationally-recognized rights to their lands and waters in the face of growing pressures from extractive industries. Foster is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology & Integrative Conservation.
(2023) Funds will go towards recognizing, restoring and preserving historic African American burial sites, using the Zion Hill Cemetery restoration as a template. Since 2018, there have been ongoing efforts to research, restore and preserve the Zion Hill Cemetery in Monroe, Georgia, which had fallen into a deep state of abandonment. Jones is a Master’s of Historic Preservation student in the College of Environment and Design.
(2023) Funds will go towards supporting research to help inform implications for reentry policy and practice tailored to Black women transitioning from imprisonment to community and help improve the narrative placed on this population. Paseda is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Social Work.
Make a donation
Add your voice with a gift to help students give Voice to the Voiceless.
Help students through supporting innovative projects, internships, study abroad experiences, field study and other endeavors.
For information about collaborating with this project or how to add your voice with a gift to students, please contact Taejah Harper.
Taejah Harper, Development Associate
tjharper@uga.edu
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