McConnell Middle School Social Studies teacher, Ronald Gay, has been awarded the coveted National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Teaching Fellowship by the Thomasville History Center. The workshop for educators is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Ronald is one of 62 educators selected from a group of more than 100 applicants. He will receive a $1,300 stipend to cover his travel and lodging costs. “The heart and soul of every history and social studies teacher should be to interpret social, cultural, and historical information accurately and within the historic and cultural context of the time. With that expectation, I'm grateful and excited to have been chosen to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities program, The Quest for Freedom:  The African American Community in the Aftermath of Slavery, 1865-1954,” says Mr. Gay.

The Thomasville History Center, along with several nationally recognized scholars, will teach educators about the long civil rights struggle that took place in Southwest Georgia from Reconstruction through Brown v. The Board of Education. The fellows will spend six days learning about the struggle for equality in the African American community, the challenges of racism and prejudice faced by this population, and how their paths intersected with other communities across the region. They will visit locations such as the Jack Hadley Black History Museum, Tall Timbers Research Station, Pebble Hill Plantation, and the Thomasville Regional Airport, among others.

The Thomasville History Center was formed in 1952 and opened the museum within the Flowers-Roberts House in 1972. Since 1972, the History Center’s collections have grown to include more than 500,000 artifacts and archival materials and eight historic structures. The History Center, in partnership with the state of Georgia, also operates the historic Lapham-Patterson House. For more information about the Thomasville History Center, please visit its website at www.thomasvillehistory.org