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TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR BOBBY J. DONALDSON, PH.D., OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER IN SOUTHERN HISTORY AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIFE AND CULTURE.
Whereas, a native of Augusta, Georgia, the University of South Carolina History Department's Professor Bobby J. Donaldson received his undergraduate degree in history and African-American studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and his Ph.D. in American history from Emory University, where he served on the staff of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. Previously, he held the Thurgood Marshall Fellowship at Dartmouth College and the Susan Biddle Ford Fellowship at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University; and
Whereas, as a scholar of Southern history and African-American life and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Dr. Donaldson presents research and writings that explore African-American intellectual thought, print culture, education, and religion. Additionally, he has served as a consultant for museum exhibitions, archival collections, oral history initiatives, documentary films, and historic preservation projects, including the renovation of Booker T. Washington High School in downtown Columbia; and
Whereas, in recognition of his spirit of excellence and achievements, Dr. Donaldson has been granted various honors. In 2008, the Historic Columbia Foundation awarded Dr. Donaldson and his students the Helen Kohn Hennig Prize for their documentary project on the Ward One community in downtown Columbia. Further, Professor Donaldson has received a Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award (2010), the John N. Gardner Inspirational Faculty Award (2015), and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award (2016). From 2010 to 2016, he served as the faculty principal of Preston Residential College. In 2015, he was named a trustee emeritus of Wesleyan University; and
Whereas, currently, Professor Donaldson leads the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, housed in the Hollings Special Collections Library. He also serves as lead scholar for "Columbia SC 63: Our Story Matters," a documentary history initiative that chronicles the struggle for civil rights and social justice in Columbia. Dr. Donaldson is presently completing a monograph entitled "In Our Own Defense": New Negro Intellectuals in the Jim Crow South. The project critiques the varied and often competing rhetorical, ideological, and political strategies black intellectuals in Georgia employed as they battled white supremacy and negotiated African Americans' precarious "place" in both the South and the nation. He is also conducting research on a biography of William Jefferson White, a political activist, Baptist minister, and journalist, as well as founder of Morehouse College (1867); and
Whereas, the House takes great pleasure in saluting Dr. Donaldson for his outstanding scholarly endeavors and in wishing him much continued success in the days ahead. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor Bobby J. Donaldson, Ph.D., of the University of South Carolina for his distinguished career in Southern history and African-American life and culture.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Bobby J. Donaldson, Ph.D.
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