Freedom Middle Booker Awards Honor African American Role Models

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, held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 27, at the school. The 9th annual award ceremony is a continuing tradition at Freedom Middle, where the Bookers have become extended family to the faculty, staff and student body, inspiring the school community to uphold the family ideals of education, community spirit, deep faith and strong moral conviction.

The award day is a collaborative effort between the school and the 12 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 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 children 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: Keith Carter, Daniel Cox, Ayana Harris, Devin Lewis, Kristen Moneghan, DeMarcus McLemore, Malea Robertson, Mycah Stewart, and Arionna Turner. The student recipient will be announced at the ceremony. The community recipient is retired FSSD Student Performance Supervisor Annie Sawyers, who also spent many years in the district as a teacher and assistant principal.

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