People
Patricia Reid-Merritt: scholar of Black social work and Africana studies
A short, sourced note on Patricia Reid-Merritt, a Stockton University professor of social work and Africana studies, and her public role in the Hamer statue.
In short
Patricia Reid-Merritt is Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Africana Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she has taught since 1976. Her books include Sister Power, Sister Wisdom and Righteous Self-Determination: The Black Social Work Movement in America. Press reports identify her as the chair of the national committee that raised money for the 2012 Fannie Lou Hamer statue in Ruleville, and in 2023 she donated a resin cast of that statue to Atlantic City.
- Position
- Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Africana Studies, Stockton University
- At Stockton
- Since 1976
- Doctorate
- D.S.W., University of Pennsylvania
- Books
- Sister Power; Sister Wisdom; Righteous Self-Determination
- Statue
- Donated a resin cast to Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, 2023
What is her academic work?
She is a scholar of social work and Africana studies at Stockton University, where she joined the faculty in 1976. Stockton's profile lists her doctorate in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and three books: Sister Power: How Phenomenal Black Women Are Rising to the Top, Sister Wisdom: Seven Pathways to a Satisfying Life for Soulful Black Women and Righteous Self-Determination: The Black Social Work Movement in America.
What is her public connection to Hamer?
DownBeach.com reported in October 2023 that she had chaired the National Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Statue Committee, which commissioned Brian Hanlon's statue in Ruleville, and that she donated a resin cast of it to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. The cast, over seven feet tall, was unveiled on October 10, 2023. See the statue page.
Why is she on this site?
This address was used by an earlier site on this domain, which is unrelated to us. We kept it so links still work. As she is a living person, we describe only her published, public work, and we do not speak for her or for the committee.
Questions readers ask
Is she connected to this website?
No. This site is independent and is not connected to her or to the statue committee. We describe her public work from published sources only.
Sources
- Patricia Reid-Merritt (faculty profile)Stockton University
- Stockton professor donates statue of Fannie Lou Hamer to Atlantic CityDownBeach.com, October 10, 2023
We checked every date and name on this page against the sources above. If you find an error, write to contact@fannielouhamer.info.
Continue in the archive
- PlacesThe statueFacts about the bronze statue of Fannie Lou Hamer dedicated in Ruleville on October 5, 2012: sculptor Brian Hanlon, the pose, the base and the Atlantic City cast.
- Her lifeLegacy and honorsHow Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered, from the words on her headstone to the Voting Rights Act renewal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and places named for her.
- PeoplePeople of the movementSourced profiles of Mississippi organizers who worked alongside Fannie Lou Hamer, including Amzie Moore, Annie Devine, Victoria Gray Adams and Lawrence Guyot.