The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change The Hooks Institute's mission is advancing social change and strengthening democracy through research, service and historical preservation.

The Hooks Institute implements its mission of teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change through research, education, and direct intervention programs. For 25 years we have addressed disparities related to education, diversity and inclusion, economic mobility, and civic engagement.

UPDATED DUE DATE! We know artists always need more time to make their piece 'just right,' so we're extending the due dat...
08/18/2026

UPDATED DUE DATE! We know artists always need more time to make their piece 'just right,' so we're extending the due date to August 31st!

Artists of all backgrounds, experience levels and mediums are encouraged to apply. Finalists and the award winner will be chosen by a diverse committee of specialists and experts in the fields of arts and culture and social change, including members of the Hooks Institute staff, the University of Memphis College of Communications and Fine Arts and members of the Memphis art community.

Ten to fifteen works will be chosen for the final exhibition in the Dr. Ralph Faudree Gallery area of the Hooks Institute offices in Wilder Tower on the Central Campus of the University of Memphis. The Institute will be hosting multiple public events in October specifically to showcase the exhibit. The winner will receive the Frances Dancy Hooks Art Award and a $700 prize. Artists chosen as finalists will have their work displayed in the public exhibit, and will have the option to offer their pieces for sale. https://loom.ly/nYlemG0

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

New blog post alert!!!In the summer of 1965, Stuart J. Mitchell III and Jim Paley were both Cornell University students....
08/17/2026

New blog post alert!!!

In the summer of 1965, Stuart J. Mitchell III and Jim Paley were both Cornell University students. They volunteered to spend their summer in Fayette County, Tennessee, with the Cornell-Tompkins County Committee for Free and Fair Elections, also known as the West Tennessee Voters Project.

Stuart and Jim, together with students from several colleges and universities, supported local African Americans who had been organizing to register to vote and to exercise their voting rights at the poll since 1959.

More than sixty years later, a new voting rights crisis is unfolding in Tennessee and throughout the United States. In their essay "From Fayette County to Memphis: Tennessee’s Long Struggle for Voting Rights," Stuart and Jim reflect on their experience volunteering in Fayette County, and on how we can use the lessons of the Fayette County voting rights movement to protect democracy and ensure equal participation at the polls. To read, click https://wp.me/pcNLga-po

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!Congratulations to Dr. Ashley D. Farmer and her "Queen Mothe...
08/15/2026

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!

Congratulations to Dr. Ashley D. Farmer and her "Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore," published by Pantheon Books.

Deeply researched and richly detailed, "Queen Mother" is more than just the biography of an American icon. It’s a narrative history of 20th-century Black radicalism, told through the lens of the woman whose grit and determination sustained the movement.

In the world of Black radical politics, the name Audley Moore commands unquestioned respect. Across the nine decades of her life, Queen Mother Moore distinguished herself as a leading progenitor of Black Nationalism, the founder of the modern reparations movement, and, from her Philadelphia and Harlem homes, a mentor to some of America’s most influential Black activists. And yet, she is far less remembered than many of her peers and protégés. In "Queen Mother," celebrated writer and historian Ashley D. Farmer restores Moore’s faded portrait, delivering the first ever definitive account of her life and enduring legacy.

Dr. Ashley D. Farmer is a historian of Black women's history, intellectual history, and radical politics. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of "Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era" and "Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore." Farmer's scholarship has appeared in numerous venues, including The Black Scholar and The Journal of African American History, as well as in several popular outlets. Numerous schools and foundations, including the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Whiting Foundation, have supported her research. Farmer earned a BA from Spelman College, an MA in History, and a PhD in African American Studies from Harvard University.

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!Congratulations to Elaine Weiss and her "Spell Freedom: The ...
08/14/2026

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!

Congratulations to Elaine Weiss and her "Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement," published by Simon & Schuster.

In the vein of "Hidden Figures" and "Devil in the Grove," "Spell Freedom" is the exhilarating story of ordinary citizens confronting injustice with courage and creativity, offering a revealing narrative “that illuminates not only the past but also a path forward” (Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize winner).

In the summer of 1954, educator Septima Clark, small businessman Esau Jenkins, and Myles Horton, a white southerner with roots in the labor movement, created the underground Citizenship Schools project. Risking their lives and livelihoods, the trio shared the mission of preparing Black southerners to pass the daunting Jim Crow era voter registration literacy tests that were designed to disenfranchise them, so that they could have a voice in their nation’s democracy.

Elaine Weiss is a journalist and author of books of narrative history. Her book on the women's suffrage movement, "The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote," was a GoodReads Readers' Choice Award winner, short-listed for the 2019 Chautauqua Prize, and received the American Bar Association's highest honor, the 2019 Silver Gavel Award. Her newest book, "Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement," has won high praise from scholars and readers alike, described as "a beautifully crafted and dramatic tale" told with "elegant writing, masterful storytelling, and prodigious research." "Spell Freedom" was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in nonfiction books, awarded by the American Library Association, and was selected by Amazon's editors as one of the best history books of 2025. Weiss is also a popular speaker and media commentator, and served as historical consultant to the Tony-award winning Broadway musical, SUFFS. She lives in Baltimore.

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!Congratulations to Juan Williams and his "New Prize for Thes...
08/13/2026

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!

Congratulations to Juan Williams and his "New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement," published by Simon & Schuster.

In "New Prize for These Eyes," Williams traces the arc of a new civil rights era. More than a century of civil rights activism reached a mountaintop with the arrival of a Black man in the Oval Office. But hopes for a unified, post-racial America were deflated when Barack Obama’s presidency met with furious opposition. A white, right-wing backlash was brewing, and a volcanic new movement—a second civil rights movement—began to erupt.

From Obama to Charlottesville to January 6th and a Confederate flag in the Capitol, "New Prize for These Eyes" is more than a recounting of history. An essential read for activists, historians, and anyone passionate about America’s future, "New Prize for These Eyes" is a forward-looking call to action, urging Americans to get in touch with the progress made and hurdles yet to be overcome.

Juan Williams is a prizewinning journalist and historian. He is the author of the bestselling civil rights history "Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965," which accompanied the PBS series of the same name. He also wrote the landmark biography of the first African American on the Supreme Court, "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary," as well as the New York Times bestsellers "Enough and Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate." Williams worked for The Washington Post as a celebrated national political correspondent, as White House correspondent, and editorial writer. His NPR talk show took ratings to a new high. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Ebony. He is currently senior political analyst for Fox News Channel and a columnist for The Hill.

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

UPDATED DUE DATE! We know artists always need more time to make their piece 'just right,' so we're extending the due da...
08/12/2026

UPDATED DUE DATE! We know artists always need more time to make their piece 'just right,' so we're extending the due date to August 31st!

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis invites submissions of visual-based artwork(s) from Memphis-area artists who are over the age of eighteen.

Interested artists can submit up to two pieces with no application fee. Along with the award, the winner will receive $700. The winning piece, plus ten to fifteen of the top-scoring finalist pieces will be part of the final exhibition!

For more information on eligibility, piece specifications, and how to apply, visit the Hooks Institute website https://loom.ly/nYlemG0

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!Congratulations to Dr. Marion Orr and his "House of Diggs: T...
08/12/2026

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!

Congratulations to Dr. Marion Orr and his "House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs, Jr.," published by the University of North Carolina Press.

"House of Diggs" is the first biography of Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., a legislative lion whose unfortunate downfall punctuated his distinguished career and pushed him and his historic accomplishments out of sight.

At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980, Diggs, Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, was the only federal official to attend the trial of Emmett Till’s killers, worked behind the scenes with Martin Luther King Jr., and founded the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also the chief architect of legislation that restored home rule to Washington, DC, and almost single-handedly ignited the American anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s.

Dr. Marion Orr is a political scientist and the inaugural Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy at Brown University. Professor Orr's expertise is in the area of American politics. An award-winning author, his work includes "Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore" and "The Color of School Reform: Race, Politics and the Challenge of Urban Education." In 2025, he published "House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs, Jr.," the first biography of Michigan’s first Black congressman. Orr was awarded the Biographers International Organization’s Francis “Frank” Rollin Fellowship for his work on Congressman Diggs.

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Submissions for the Third Annual Frances Dancy Hooks Art Award and Exhibition are now open! The Benjamin L. Hooks Instit...
08/11/2026

Submissions for the Third Annual Frances Dancy Hooks Art Award and Exhibition are now open!

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis invites submissions of visual-based artwork(s) from Memphis-area artists who are over the age of eighteen.

This year's theme, "Embracing Firestorms, Envisioning Futures," calls artists to explore the difficult and sometimes painful circumstances and challenges in social change that act much like a wildfire – a destructive force that must ultimately burn itself out, leaving space for regeneration and growth. This theme invites artists to consider both the Firestorm and the Future. What burns away and what comes next? What do you Embrace and Envision?

Interested artists can submit up to two pieces with no application fee. Along with the award, the winner will receive $700. The winning piece, plus ten to fifteen of the top-scoring finalist pieces will be on exhibit in the Ralph L. Faudree gallery of the Hooks Institute offices in Wilder Tower on the Main Campus of the University of Memphis.

For more information on eligibility, piece specifications, and how to apply, visit the Hooks Institute website https://loom.ly/nYlemG0

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." — Maya Angelou

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!Congratulations to Dr. Peniel Joseph and his "Freedom Season...
08/11/2026

Meet the 2025 Hooks Institute National Book Award Finalists!

Congratulations to Dr. Peniel Joseph and his "Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights Revolution," published by Basic Books.

In "Freedom Season," acclaimed historian Peniel E. Joseph offers a stirring narrative history of 1963, marking it as the defining year of the Black freedom struggle—a year when America faced a deluge of political strife and violence and emerged transformed.

Over one heartbreakingly tumultuous year, America unraveled and remade itself as the world looked on. "Freedom Season" shows how the upheavals of 1963 planted the seeds for watershed civil rights legislation and renewed hope in the promise and possibility of freedom.

Dr. Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values, founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and distinguished service leadership professor and professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author and editor of eight award-winning books on African American history, including "The Third Reconstruction" and "The Sword and the Shield." He lives in Austin, Texas.

"Hooks Institute: Advancing Social Change Through Scholarship in Action.”

Address

Wilder Tower, 11th Floor, 3675 Alumni Avenue , University Of Memphis
Memphis, TN
38152

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+19016783974

Website

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