At the 2022 Race and Power Summit held in Baltimore, Gamaliel launched the Race and Power Institute and invited folks to become Founders’ Club Members by investing in the launch of the Institute. The Founders’ Club was highly successful but was a one-time opportunity. We are grateful to the Founders’ Club Members for their investment. Their names are listed below.

In honor of Claudette Colvin
$1000 or more
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Ana Garcia-Ashley
Angela K. James
Anonymous
Barbara Sibley
Cynthia Jarrold
David Liners/Julie Clark
Denis Detzel
Dennis Jacobsen
Juan F. Soto
Leonard Goodman
Michael Atty
Michael Hodge & Carleen Dowell
Ponsella Hardaway
Rev De Neice Welch
Rev De Neice Welch
Tamerin Hayward

In memory of Rep. Elijah Cummings
$500-$999
Brian Murray
Cheryl Liske
David Carl Olson
Helen Holton
John Welch
John Welch
Marilyn Miller
Marlon Tilghman
Rev Richard and Debra Freeman
Susan Shaw
Valerie Scott-Dishroom

In honor of Dolores Herta
$250-$499
Alexis James
Brian Zralek
Cynthia Bodewes
David Gerth
Dr’s. Bobby & Janice Love
Kathleen Schluter
Kelli X
Laura Barrett
María Uitti McCabe
Stephanie Nichols

In memory of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
$100-$249
Aaron Schutz
Audrey Stone
Betsey Amey
Cautia Wadood
Dea Bowers
DeMarco Davidson
Dr. Lorena Parrish
Dr. Stacy Spencer
Ingrid McIntyre
Jenniqual Johnson
John Claassen
Linda Watts
Luis Narvaez
Mary Lassen
Mary Lim-Lampe
Mary Priniski
Patrick Zukemura
Penny Robinson
Ponsella Hardaway
Rev. Hubert Ivery
Rosalyn Nichols
Stephanie Nichols
Tad Wysor
Valerie E. Patton
Vicky Vicars

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Jewish theologian and philosopher with a social consciousness that led him to participate in the civil rights movement. Considered “one of the truly great men” of his day and a “great prophet” by Martin Luther King, Jr., Heschel articulated to many Jewish Americans and African Americans the notion that they had a responsibility for each other’s liberation and for the plight of all suffering fellow humans around the world (“Conversation with Martin Luther King,” 2). From King Encyclopedia, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Education and Research Institute, Stanford University.

Dolores Huerta is the co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association (later the United Farm Workers) and one of the most influential labor and civil rights activists of the last century. She has continued to fight for the rights of workers and women, especially immigrants, and was a guest speaker during the Gamaliel Civil Rights’ for Immigrants Congressional Town Hall in 2021.

Rep. Elijah Cummings was a Congressman from Maryland’s 7th congressional district from 1996 to his death in 2019 and a civil rights advocate. Rep. Cummings was a “friend” to Gamaliel affiliate, BRIDGE Maryland, Inc., and worked with Gamaliel to secure more equitable federal surface transportation legislation. Rep. Cummings was the first African-American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.

Claudette Colvin was 15 years old when she challenged the law by refusing to give up her seat to a white person, just 9 months before Rosa Parks was arrested for the same action. The NAACP decided not to use her case as a test case because, according to Colvin, Parks was more reliable as an adult and had the right “middle class” look. It was not until 2021 at the age of 82 that Colvin’s juvenile record for refusing to give up her seat was finally expunged.