The Harriet Tubman Purple Hat Society, Inc. will be sponsoring their annual Thomasina Williams Memorial Scholarship Award. The Scholarship is a one-time, one-thousand-dollar award presented to a student pursuing higher education in Elementary Education. The Scholarship Award will be presented at our yearly Juneteenth Celebration which is held on the second Sunday in June of each year.
Our mission statement is: To empower women to live in the spirit of Harriet Tubman, one of the greatest heroines of her era, by participating in cultural, social, economic and political activities that will have a profound impact on the quality of life in their communities.
In 1957, after graduating from Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Art, Mrs. Williams worked as an Assistant teacher in the Queensborough Day Care Center.
In 1963, she earned a master's degree in Special Education from the College of Staten Island. She also earned credits at New York University, Columbia Teachers College and Wagner College.
Mrs. Williams worked at several schools on Staten Island, including the former Willow Brook State School, where she taught Special Education students at PS 3, in Pleasant Plains. She taught for 25 years at the Hungerford School in Clifton until her retirement in 1995.
Thomasina Williams, a retired teacher, was recognized for her volunteer work and her commitment to the community in 2000 as a Staten Island Advance Women of Achievement. She devoted her life to educating children in the Staten Island Community and providing clothing and comfort to those in need.
Among Mrs. Williams' many accomplishments was her active role in co-founding and serving on The Reverend Arthur D. Phillips Scholarship/Humanitarian Awards Committee named for the activist and former pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church, who died in 1988. Her fundraising efforts on this committee resulted in dozens of monetary scholarships awarded to high school seniors entering college. In 2014, Mrs. Williams received the Martin Luther King Legacy Award for her longtime service to Fellowship Baptist Church.
In addition to her charity and church work, Mrs. Williams was a life member and former President of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. She was also a member of the Staten Island Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
In 2007, she was a co-founder of the Staten Island Chapter of the Purple Hat Society. To prevent the Purple Hats being confused with the Red Hats Organization, The Purple Hat Jubilee name was changed to "The Harriet Tubman Purple Hat Society, Inc." The organization's new name was incorporated on January 26, 2016.
We are seeking High School Seniors to apply for the Thomasina Williams Memorial Scholarship Award.
The student must be of African American descent and attend a High School on Staten Island.