MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
Reflections of Excellence FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 1 p.m.
A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE
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Order of Program introduction of moderator
Cameron Nolan ’21 (voice of god)
Economics Major, Jackson, Miss. 89th President, Student Government Association opening remarks
Fredricka Whitfield American Journalist and News Anchor, CNN greetings
David A. Thomas, Ph.D. 12th President, Morehouse College honorees
Gordon L. Joyner ’72
Kenneth C. Frazier
Bennie Achievement
Candle in Law and Innovation
Robert “Rob” Gore, M.D. ’98
Darren Walker
Bennie Service
Candle in Education and Philanthropy
Raphael G. Warnock ’91
Byron Allen
Bennie Trailblazer
Candle in Business, Arts and Entertainment
q & a session
closing remarks
Fredricka Whitfield
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2021 REFLECTIONS OF EXCELLENCE MODER ATOR
fredricka whitfield American Journalist and News Anchor, CNN
Fredricka Whitfield is an anchor for CNN/U.S. She is based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Whitfield anchors the weekend edition of CNN Newsroom. Since joining CNN in 2002, she has reported from all over the world, including the Persian Gulf region during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, London at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and Washington, D.C., during the 2009 presidential inauguration. Prior to CNN, Whitfield was a correspondent for NBC News and served as an Atlanta-based correspondent for NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, and Dateline NBC. She covered stories such as the highly contested 2000 presidential race, and the resulting ballot recount, as well as the 1996 Olympics, the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, and the manhunt for bomber Eric Rudolph. Whitfield also reported on the 1999 refugee crisis in Macedonia during the Kosovo War. Before her time at NBC, Whitfield was a reporter and anchor at WPLG-TV in Miami, an evening anchor for News Channel 8 in Washington, D.C., and a general assignment reporter at KTVT-TV in Dallas, as well as at WTNH in New Haven, Conn. She began her professional career as a reporter and morning anchor for WCIV in Charleston, S.C. In her nearly three-decades-long career, Whitfield has garnered multiple awards and honors for her broadcasting. In 2000 she earned an Emmy Award nomination for long form storytelling. Her other notable awards include the 2002 Howard University School of Communications Alumna of the Year recognition, the Alfred I. duPont Award for CNN’s team coverage of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, a 2005 George Peabody Award for the network’s live coverage of Hurricane Katrina and aftermath, the 2005 Ebony award for Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications, a 2007 Emmy Award for outstanding live coverage of a breaking news story long form, a 2008 NAMD Communicator of the Year Award, Howard University’s 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award in the field of journalism, and 2009 NYABJ (New York Association of Black Journalists) long form feature. Whitfield was also a part of the network’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill and the 2011 Arab Spring. Whitfield earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Howard University.
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2021 BENNIE AWARD HONOREES
Gordon L. Joyner ’72
Robert “Rob” Gore, M.D. ’98
Raphael G. Warnock ’91
Owner, The Law Offices of Gordon L. Joyner
Physician and Founder Kings Against Violence Initiative Inc.
U.S. Senator (Georgia) Senior Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church
Robert “Rob” Gore, M.D., is an attending physician and clinical assistant professor at Kings County Hospital–SUNY (State University of New York) Downstate Department of Emergency Medicine in Brooklyn.
On Jan. 20, 2021, the Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock was sworn in as a U.S. senator from the state of Georgia. He is the first African American to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.
Fmr. Executive Director/Administrator State of Georgia Civil Rights Department GA Commission on Equal Opportunity During his career, Gordon Lane Joyner has been selected for positions in government leadership by U.S. Presidents, Georgia governors, Atlanta mayors, and Fulton County, Georgia, voters. A distinguished civil rights attorney, he has served as executive director of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, which enforces Georgia’s statutes against housing and employment discrimination. Joyner grew up on a Georgia farm, and at 16 started the local civil rights movement in Peach County, successfully leading efforts to integrate the public school system. He attended Morehouse College, graduating summa cum laude in 1972 with majors in business administration/economics and political science. And he later earned his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. After relocating to Washington, D.C., Joyner worked for the American Bar Association, and served in the administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. As director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), for example, Joyner helped to coordinate the federal government’s nationwide effort to combat discrimination in housing. After returning to Atlanta, Joyner resumed full-time law practice, and later served as a judge on the Atlanta Municipal Court, chairman and chief registrar of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, and an elected commissioner on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Joyner’s recognition and awards include the Thurgood Marshall Award for achievements as a civil rights lawyer, and inclusion on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.
Gore left his native New York after high school to attend Morehouse College. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1998, and later earned his doctor of medicine degree from SUNY at Buffalo, finished his emergency medicine residency training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, and served as assistant program director for the Kings County-SUNY Downstate Emergency Medicine Residency Program. For some 20 years, Gore has helped to develop programs and solutions focusing on community violence, and other disparities affecting urban and global health. He is, for example, the founder of the youth violence intervention, prevention, and empowerment program Kings Against Violence Initiative. Gore is also co-chair of the Health Tech and Innovation Division at SUNY DownstateKings County Department of Emergency Medicine, and founder and director of the Minority Medical Student Emergency Medicine Summer Fellowship. Gore was a member of the 2016 inaugural class of the TED Residency program, and, in 2018, was named to CNN Heroes and became a Presidential Leadership Scholar. He is a sought-after speaker and educator who has trained physicians, health professionals, activists, and students from around the world.
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Born in Savannah, Georgia, Warnock earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology, cum laude, from Morehouse College in 1991, where he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. He went on to earn master’s degrees and a doctorate from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and, in 2005, became the youngest person called to the senior pastorate of Ebenezer Baptist Church, spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Warnock is a recipient of the Rev. Dr. William A. Jones Justice Award from the National Action Network, and the National TRIO Achiever Award, and was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers. Other honors include having his footprints placed on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame, and being recognized as one of “Atlanta’s 55 Most Powerful” by Atlanta Magazine, and one of the “New Kingdom Voices” by Gospel Today Magazine. He is also the author of the 2013 book “The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety & Public Witness.” Warnock is a Lifetime Member of the NAACP and belongs to the 100 Black Men of Atlanta Inc.
2021 CANDLE AWARD HONOREES
Kenneth C. Frazier
Darren Walker
Byron Allen
Chairman, President and CEO Merck & Co. Inc.
President and CEO Ford Foundation
Founder, Chairman and CEO Allen Media Group
Kenneth C. Frazier has served as the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Merck & Co. Inc. since 2011.
Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $13-billion international social justice philanthropy. Before joining Ford, Walker was a vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs. And in the 1990s, he served as COO of the Abyssinian Development Corp., Harlem’s largest community development organization.
Media Mogul, Philanthropist
A native of Philadelphia, he received his bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. Frazier worked for the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath after graduation, and then joined Merck & Co. Under his leadership, Merck has increased its investment in research, while refocusing on the launch and growth of key products. Frazier has also led the formation of philanthropic projects and other initiatives at Merck. Frazier’s contributions in the legal, business, and humanitarian fields have been widely recognized. He was included in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2018” issue, and that same year was named one of the “World’s Greatest Leaders” by Fortune magazine. As a strong advocate for social justice and economic inclusion, Frazier is the recipient of numerous honors, including the AntiDefamation League’s Courage Against Hate Award and the Columbia Business School’s Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics. And, in 2019, Frazier became the first recipient of the Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award for Healthcare. Frazier sits on several boards, including those for PhRMA, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Exxon Mobil Corp. He is also the co-founder and cochair of OneTen, a coalition of leading organizations committed to upskilling, hiring, and promoting 1 million Black Americans into family-sustaining jobs.
Walker is a member of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Reimagine New York Commission, and co-chair of New York City’s Census 2020. Currently, he co-chairs New York City’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, and has served on the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. Walker has served on several boards, including the Museum Council of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and has been named to numerous leadership lists, including the Time magazine annual “100 Most Influential People” list. He is also the recipient of many honorary degrees and awards, including Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. Most recently, Walker was named Wall Street Journal’s 2020 Philanthropy Innovator. Walker was a member of the first Head Start class in 1965, and he received bachelor’s degrees and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Comedian, producer, media mogul, and philanthropist Byron Allen founded his Los Angeles-based global media company, Entertainment Studios, in 1993. The company is the first African American-owned, multi-platform media studio producing and distributing widerelease motion pictures and content for all platforms. Born in Detroit, Allen moved to Los Angeles at 8, and often accompanied his mother, an NBC-TV tour guide, to work. That allowed him to meet popular comedians and become familiar with sets for shows such as “The Tonight Show,” where he would make his network TV debut as a comedian in 1979, at 18. Allen attended the University of Southern California, wrote for TV shows, such as “Good Times,” co-hosted the show “Real People,” hosted and produced his own talk show, and made many other television appearances. He made his acting debut in the movie “Case Closed,” and formed his own production and distribution companies. Today, Allen owns one of the largest cable network portfolios in the industry, featuring ten, 24-hour HD television networks, including The Weather Channel and Comedy.TV. And his Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, a full-service theatrical movie distribution company, released 2017’s highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller “47 Meters Down.” He was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2019.
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