Pittsfield — This year’s NAACP Berkshires Freedom Fund Awards will be held on Saturday, January 24, at the Berkshire Hills Country Club. The annual event raises money for the organization’s Freedom Fund, which awards scholarships to Black and immigrant high school graduates in Berkshire County planning to attend college or vocational school.
“We established these awards to celebrate individuals who are committed to justice and equality,” NAACP Berkshires President Dennis Powell told The Berkshire Edge. “Over the past nine years, we have raised close to $100,000 for our Freedom Fund through this award ceremony.”
This year’s awardees include:
- W.E.B. Du Bois Freedom Fund Award: Tanisha Sullivan. The award is named after the famous writer, sociologist, and civil rights activist who grew up in Great Barrington. Sullivan is a former four-term president of the NAACP Boston Branch and Boston Public Schools’ first chief equity officer. She now serves as the chair of Gov. Maura Healey’s Advisory Council on Black Empowerment and is the president of the NAACP New England Area Conference. Sullivan is also the keynote speaker for the event.
- W.E.B. Du Bois Freedom Fund Award: Wanda Houston. A singer, musician, actress, and performer, Houston is based out of Berkshire County and is the subject of the upcoming documentary “Unfinished Song.” She is a co-awardee, along with Sullivan, of the W.E.B. Du Bois Freedom Fund Award.
- President’s Community Allyship Freedom Fund Award: Robert Mulhall. Originally from Ireland, Mulhall has served multiple roles in organizational development, health, and education sectors. He is the former CEO of Kripalu, a yoga educational nonprofit organization based in Stockbridge.
- Jahaira DeAlto Freedom Fund Award: Jay Santangelo. This award is in honor of Jahaira DeAlto, a community advocate, anti-domestic violence activist, and a ballroom drag scene icon in Boston. She was murdered in May 2021 at her home in Dorchester at the age of 42. This year’s awardee is Jay Santangelo, the founder of WANDER Berkshires, a queer- and trans-owned community gathering space in downtown Pittsfield. Santangelo is also a storyteller and educator.
- Dorothy “Aunt Dot” Davids Indigenous People’s Freedom Fund Award: Shannon Holsey. A member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe of the Mohican Indians, Davids was a Native American educator, author, and activist based in Wisconsin. Holsey is also a member of the tribe and served as the tribal president for 10 years. She is now in her ninth term as the president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council;
- Emmett Till Youth Freedom Fund Award: Joey Pisani. In Mississippi in 1955, Emmett Till, 14, was accused of offending a white woman. White men kidnapped, tortured, and murdered him. His brutal death exposed the violent persecution Black Americans faced in the Jim Crow South. Pisani is a political science student at Suffolk University in Boston and is a campus leader advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, civic engagement, and social justice.
The event’s master of ceremonies is Greylock Federal Credit Union Vice President of Marketing Roberta McCulloch-Dews.
According to Powell, the awardees are selected by the Executive Committee of NAACP Berkshires. “Wanda Houston is a good example of what we look for in who we give these awards to,” he said. “Wanda has used her voice to speak out about injustice and inequality in her songs. Her songs revolve around civil rights and equal rights. The message behind the Indigenous People’s Freedom Fund Award is to ensure that indigenous people know they are not forgotten, especially here in Berkshire County. We occupy their land, and we want to bring attention to our community that these people were here before us.”
Powell said it’s important to honor those who carry on the legacy of civil rights advocates by speaking out against injustice in America. “If we the people are not pointing out real history on a continuing basis, then it’s we the people who will end up where we are before,” he said. “If you look at what is going on now in our country, you will see that the gains that we made in identifying real history have been under attack. A good example of this is the U.S. Treasury backtracking on their decision to feature Frederick Douglass, Ruby Bridges, and women’s suffrage on America’s 250th anniversary commemorative coins.”
According to news reports, the commemorative coins will have designs depicting George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and white Pilgrims at the Mayflower Compact.
“President Donald J. Trump’s administration is trying to erase real history,” Powell said. “As he is removing this history, he is trying to bring back all of the statues of Confederate Civil War leaders that were removed. That’s why it’s important to us, each year, to recognize the individuals who have mirrored the leaders in our history.”
Click here for more information on the Freedom Fund Awards and to purchase tickets to the event.
For more information on NAACP Berkshires, visit its website.
