Freedom Middle Booker Awards Honor Modern Day African American Role Models

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As part of an annual celebration of Black History Month, Freedom Middle School will honor two local African Americans during the Monroe and Mary Booker Awards for Leadership and Service, to be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 26, at the school. The annual award ceremony is a decade-old continuing tradition at Freedom Middle, where the Bookers have become extended family to the faculty, staff and student body. The family reunites every year in the school gymnasium, inspiring the school community to uphold the Booker ideals of education, community spirit, deep faith and strong moral conviction.

The award day is a collaborative effort between the school and the children of Monroe and Mary Booker, lifelong Williamson County residents who understood that education would take their children to places they could not, and whose 12 children never gave less than their best effort. The Booker Awards honor a student and a community member who embodies what the Bookers modeled in their own lives – the value of an education and the obligation one has to make their own community a better place.

All of Monroe (1921-2006) and Mary (1926-2004) Booker’s children attended Franklin Special School District schools. Affirming their parents’ strong belief in education, all 12 attended college – six of them at Fisk University, two at Vanderbilt, and one each to Harvard University, Spellman College, Tennessee State University and Concordia College. They have all led successful careers in law, social work, civil engineering, banking, broadcasting, teaching and coaching.

The Booker family provides each year’s student recipient a college scholarship fund, which is endowed each year of high school until graduation. This year’s student nominees are: Anissa Fleming, A’Lona Hardeman, Ray’Darrius Hayden, Taylor Henry, Savion Johnson, Solathus Johnson, Jamaria Smith, Jadyn Stewart, and Isaiah Tucker. The student recipient will be announced at the ceremony. The community recipient is Terry Waters, Franklin native and owner of Waters Funeral Home on Columbia Avenue.

Booker Children
Claudia Lisenby (deceased), Charlotte Hall, Janet Booker-Davis, Gwen Jones, Cyrus Booker, Linda Booker, Brenda Booker, Robert Booker, Joe Booker, Sherry Booker, Karen Booker and Barry Booker.

Picture: Eighth-grade student nominees for the Freedom Middle School Booker Award are: (left-right, front) Taylor Henry, A’Lona Hardeman, Isaiah Tucker, Jadyn Stewart, and Jamaria Smith. (Left-right, back) Ray’Darrius Hayden, Solathus Johnson, and Savion Johnson.

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