Montgomery, Ala. – The fifth annual Troy University Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Awards and Lecture Series will honor Reverend Gloria Elaine White-Hammond, who is the Chairperson of the Million Voice for Darfur Campaign and the Co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. This event will be held on June 15, at 6 p.m. in the Gold Room of Whitley Hall in Montgomery, Al. The event is free and open to the public.

Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, M.D., has been the Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston, MA since 1997 and a pediatrician at the South End Community Health Center since 1981. She has a long history of involvement in community service. She is the founder of and consultant to the church-based creative writing/mentoring ministry called “Do The Write Thing” for high-risk black adolescent females. The project, which began in 1994 with four girls, now serves over 550 young women through small groups in two Boston public schools, two juvenile detention facilities in Boston and on site at Bethel AME Church. In 2003, Rev. White-Hammond became the Co-Convener of The Red Tent Group with Rabbi Elaine Zecher of Temple Israel, which brings together Christian women and Jewish women for small group Torah/Bible study.

Dr. White-Hammond’s work as a humanitarian has achieved global impact. She has worked as a medical missionary in several African countries including Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa. Since 2001 Dr. Gloria has made eight trips into war-torn southern Sudan where she has been involved in obtaining the freedom of 10,000 women and children who were enslaved during the two decades long civil war. In 2002, she co-founded My Sister’s Keeper (MSK), a humanitarian women’s group that partners with women of Sudan in their efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities. MSK has developed two grinding mill projects and supports My Sister’s Keeper School for Girls in Gogrial County. In February 2005, Dr. White-Hammond traveled into Darfur, western Sudan to listen and learn from female victims of genocide in Internally Displaced Persons camps. She currently serves as the National Chairperson of the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign and the Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Board of Overseers for the Tufts University College for Community and Public Service, as well as the boards of the American Anti-Slavery Group (Boston) and Christian Solidarity International (Zurich). She was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Boston University, a Doctorate of Medicine from Tufts Medical School and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

Since 1973, Rev. Gloria has been married to the Rev. Ray A. Hammond, M.D., who is the founding pastor of Bethel AME Church, the Chairman of the Boston Ten Point Coalition and the Chairman of the Boston Foundation. They are the blessed parents of two adult daughters, Mariama and Adiya and one granddaughter, Ella.

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