On Saturday, Feb. 17, I will be among several individuals inducted into the 2024 Class of the Black Legends of Silicon Valley. This is quite an honor. Previous recipients in the News and Documentary category in which I am being honored include journalists with stellar credentials. Loretta Green, an award-winning reporter for several local papers and a former columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, has been a mentor and role model, not only for her work as a journalist but as someone who is well regarded for her community service. David Early, another seasoned award-winning editor and writer whom I also have looked up to since I arrived in the Bay Area, is a previous Legend. Henrietta Burroughs, executive director of the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media, is 2018 winner of this award and someone I deeply admire for her commitment to the East Palo Alto and Belle Haven communities.
The award recognizes my work as a journalist and communications professional including Essence magazine, where I wrote and edited articles on a variety of subjects, including careers, relationships and travel. At the Boston Globe, my editorials effected policy changes in city and state education reform, child welfare, domestic violence and community development. I also wrote editorials, op-ed articles and features on Haiti and South Africa.
This recognition also honors my community service. In addition to my work at Stanford and in journalism, my significant contributions in Silicon Valley have been in the nonprofit and educational advocacy space. I currently serve as vice president of the board of the Pear Theatre, a performance theater based in Mountain View, Calif. The Pear strives to amplify diverse voices through the performing arts. I served for several years as a board member and board president of Foundation for a College Education, an organization based in East Palo Alto, Calif. that is committed to college access and success. In 2005, I co-founded the Parent Network for Students of Color, an advocacy group for students attending the Palo Alto Unified School District. That organization has evolved into Parent Advocates for Student Success. I was a founding board member of the Girls’ Middle School, when it was established in 1998, with a core vision of recruiting and retaining high-achieving girls from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
We live in an age in which journalists are verbally denigrated as purveyors of “fake news,” and politicians insult our intelligence with “alternative facts.” Journalists across the world are physically assaulted and even killed simply for trying to do their jobs.
Our democracy requires a free press to ensure that our political leaders and public institutions act in our interests and to make sure our tax dollars are used to support, protect and uplift all of us and particularly those most in need. We need well-resourced media organizations to make sure that corporate interests do not harm or exploit us in the name of profit.
At Saturday’s ceremony I will accept the award on behalf of my father, Ebenezer Ray, a journalist for Harlem’s New York Age and the Pittsburgh Courier, whose commitment to truth telling is in my blood.
The Black Legends of Silicon Valley awards ceremony takes place Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Hammer Theatre in San Jose, Calif. Visit the website for information.
Here is a list of all of the 2024 inductees and a bit more information about the award vision behind the effort:
The Alexander-Green News & Documentary Award recipient is Elaine Carolyn Ray. This honor is awarded to journalists, historians, photojournalists, documentarians, editors and community people who record local black community history & events, as well as significant world events that have enhanced the quality of life in the Black Community and the broader community.
The Banks-Gage Education Award recipients are Brenda J. Smith-Ray and Dr. Harriett B. Arnold, (Ed.D). This honor is awarded to individuals who had outstanding careers as teachers, administrators, and policymakers, who had a significant impact on the quality of educational services for the community, and who enhanced the lives of people in the Black community.
The Clay-Williams Business & Entrepreneur Award recipient is Reginald Swilley. This honor is awarded to those business owners and entrepreneurs who created successful businesses or services in the community and used their success to enhance people’s lives in the Black community.
The Dean-Greene S.T.E.M Award recipient is Donald G. James. This honor is awarded to individuals who helped produce, enhance, and improve today’s social network and were instrumental in landmark changes in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to enhance and improve the general public’s lives and those in the Black community.
The English-Higgins Health & Medicine Award recipient is Dr. Carol A. Somersille, (M.D.) This honor is awarded to those doctors, nurses, and health practitioners who provided healthcare to people in the broader community and enhanced the lives of people in the Black community.
The Joyner-Stroughter Community Service Award recipients are Angela Warren and Robert Hoover. This honor is awarded to businesspeople and volunteers who created and/or volunteered for non-profit agencies that provide essential services to enhance the quality of life for people in the Black community.
The Piper-Whye Art/Theater/Music Award recipient is Ron E. Beck. This honor is awarded to individuals who have distinguished themselves and have had outstanding careers in art, theater, television, or movies in the broader community and have used their influence to enhance people’s lives in the Black community.
Community Organization Award recipients are Santa Clara County Black Lawyers Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. San Jose Alumnae Chapter. This honor is awarded to Black organizations that have served and enhanced the lives of people in the Black community and Silicon Valley.
Black Legend Awards Silicon Valley also celebrates the publication of Legacy: The History and Stories of African Ancestry & African Americans in Silicon Valley. More than a history book, it is the must-have missing piece of the puzzle that firmly reinserts African Ancestry and African Americans back into the halls of history. Legacy is available in Hardcover and Paperback and can be purchased on site at the Hammer Theatre before the event begins. It can also be purchased online at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and various bookstores. For bulk purchase for schools and other organizations, please contact Black Legend Awards Silicon Valley at 408.320.2111 or info@blacklegendawards.org. The books are available for individual purchase online or at bookstores.
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