Overview

I, Barbara Bowie, had moved from San Antonio to Beacon, N.Y. to be close to my brother, who had fallen ill with a heart condition and had been given only several months to live.  I spent every moment I could with him talking and recording conversations about our early experiences at home in Jackson after the Freedom Rides had started.  One of my last conversations with him was his question of "why was I spending those years presenting the Freedom Riders and leaving myself out?"  I explained that I was so proud of him and what he had done by going to prison, I just wanted people to know your history.  He said, "you were too young to go to prison, but I remember you and your friends walking out of school to participate in the protests and the many Sit-Ins you did in places we weren"t allowed and Mama told me about your Front Seat bus ride where the White Guy cursed you out, you went to meetings with me.  We were in the news for going to prison, but it took all of that to get us to where we are today.  You're just as much a Freedom Rider as I am and you are doing something that no other Freedom Rider would or could ever do, bringing this living history to our kids and these communities.  I am proud of you for that and glad that I finally got involved."    Following the death of my brother in 2017 I moved back to Texas, settling in Sherman, and re-locating my Foundation to continue my mission in Grayson County with the intention of including myself in all presentations, launching the first "Black History Month Festival," featuring the Legendary Temptations with Nate Evans, honoring several Mississippi Freedom Riders in February, 2021.  On February 10 - 12, 2022, Dr. Bowie Scholarship Foundation held its 2nd Black History Month Festival for the cities of Sherman/Denison, TX, once again, honoring several of these Freedom Riders, to include myself, Founder and Executive Director, Barbara Bowie. This included the presenting of their history through an evening of film screening /Storytelling at First United Bank, Sherman, 2 youth summits for Sherman and Denison respectively, a Black History Month Freedom Parade, held in Denison on Saturday morning, followed by a scholarship competition and a 30 Up/30 Down “Passing of the Torch” Ceremony, recipients Mr. Bill Douglass of Sherman and Mr. Rayce Guess of Denison,  at our Grand Finale Freedom Banquet Saturday night, with Guest Speaker, Senator Royce West and entertainment by Fingerprints Jazz/R&B Band, both out of Dallas.

Freedom Riders are the men and women, Black and White, who paved the way for the integration of all races and opened the doors for opportunities such as the first Black President, first female Presidential Nominee and the first Black, Female Vice President of the United States. These brave men and women, in their very successful efforts to end segregation in interstate transportation across the south, challenged the use of racially separate restrooms, waiting rooms and lunch counters at train depots, airports and bus stations. They were verbally and physically beaten, spat upon, degraded at various Sit-ins and then, arrested for such actions as approaching the “White Only” waiting rooms to purchase bus tickets in Jackson, Mississippi, with over 400 of them spending 39 days on death row, in the Mississippi Penitentiary.

Specifications

BC Bowie Scholarship continues the development of this educational program and presented our 3rd Black History Month Festival 2023, with an extension that included the January MLK events bringing us into February, Black History Month.  Other organizations and businesses that joined this effort and our Calendar of events, starting January 14th thru February 28th, served to promote and grow Black History Month and this Festival in the Grayson County area. Please visit our Events Page and support these presentations, as well as the sponsors that support our efforts.

Our plans are to continue this grassroots level project for the Cities of Sherman/Denison, and to allow these Freedom Riders, dubbed by Judson ISD students as “Our Living History,” and other Civil Rights Activists, opportunities to share their stories of over 50 years of practical experience in various cultural communities as they promote change via peace and non-violent means. This awareness, starting in our local communities, spreading out in other cities, states, the country and, eventually across the world, will keep social justice issues like education, voting rights, workers’ rights and healthcare at the forefront, re-establishing them as basic constitutional rights. My brother, Freedom Rider, Jesse James Davis, trained by organizations like SNCC and CORE, joined and fought along beside Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Civil Rights Activists, on behalf of the brutal murder of Emmett Till, of which the vision never left his mind.  As I struggle to Keep this history alive, remembering the many Sit-ins and Protests I was involved in, that shaped my life, highlighting the ability of my brother and the rest of us Activists, to mobilize and organize, creating a certain type of bonding for people of different races and cultures to come together to build a movement that would go further into the future than we could ever have thought about, each one “MAKING A DIFFERENCE” in his or her own way, at such a young age. Our youth and young adults need to be reminded of and helped to build upon this foundation. 

Milestones

This year the BC Bowie Scholarship Foundation will sponsor our 4th annual Black History Month Festival, extended again to include another fundraiser, in partnership with the City of Sherman, a "Whodunit At Midnight" Murder Mystery and "Temptations" Concert as we continue encouraging students to research information on the civil rights era of the 1960’s and to make a difference now by registering and voting, as we support their efforts to pick up the torch and carry on the movement that was so effective during that time.

One of our goals is to ensure that the most vulnerable and at-risk groups in the Sherman/Denison area, our youth, are safe and have their basic needs taken care of. With your generous Sponsorship, Donations and Volunteering efforts, you have the capacity to help us in our endeavor of building this program to serve our youth, their families and this community. Contact us to learn more. ❤️🧡💛