The Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis ’52 Award for Social Justice

Westover is proud to announce the 2022 establishment of the Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis ’52 Award for Social Justice. This award is in celebration of an alum who has made a significant contribution in the advancement of social justice through their advocacy, activism, and leadership. 

Dr. DeCosta-Willis believed that education was a tool that positioned one to give back. She blazed many trails and was an activist, an academician, an author, and the first African American student at Westover.  Dr. DeCosta-Willis was a civil rights activist, professor, and author. She was Westover's first African American graduate. She was also the first Black graduate with a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and, in 1965, was the first Black faculty member at Memphis State University.

A college professor and administrator for more than 40 years, Dr. DeCosta-Willis began her career in 1957, teaching French at LeMoyne College. She later taught French and English at Owen Junior College. In 1966 she became the first black faculty member at Memphis State University, first as assistant professor and later as an associate professor of Spanish. She joined the faculty of Howard University in 1970 and was elected chair of the Department of Romance Languages four years later. From 1979 to 1989, she served as professor of Romance Languages at LeMoyne-Owen College, where she founded and directed the Du Bois Scholars Program. In 1989 she was appointed Commonwealth Professor of Spanish at George Mason University. She completed her career as a professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She retired in 1999.

Miriam authored, edited, or co-edited 15 books. Over the course of her career, Dr. DeCosta-Willis received several fellowships and awards, including a Johns Hopkins Fellowship, Wellesley College Fellowship for Graduate Study, Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award, Prominent Black Woman Award, Torchbearer of Afro-Hispanic Studies, Carter G. Woodson Award, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award. 

An activist throughout her life, Dr. DeCosta-Willis organized a student protest at Wilkinson High School, joined her mother in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and was jailed in Memphis for participating in civil rights demonstrations. She served as advisor to the Black Students Association, campaigned for Black political candidates, and, as chair of the Memphis NAACP’s Education Committee, led a boycott of local public schools in the 1960s, and joined protest marches in Washington in the 1990s. 

Dr. DeCosta-Willis was a life member of the NAACP, chaired the Tennessee Humanities Council, and served on the boards of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, Shelby County Historical Commission, and MSU Center for Research on Women. As co-founder and chair of the Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop, she organized symposia such as “The Memphis Story … Lest We Forget: 1950-1980,” put together a Black History series for WHBQ-TV Channel 13, and co-edited Homespun Images: An Anthology of Black Memphis Writers and Artists.