UMES hosts civil rights discussion with USDA for Founders Week

PRINCESS ANNE, Md.- “What’s inside of me is extraordinary because I had to fight my way out of oppression and poverty. I had to will myself out of it and I used education to do it,” Brown Reynolds said.

Tuesday, students and faculty at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore got a powerful message from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Dr. Penny Brown Reynolds. The event was part of the university’s Founder’s Week lineup. “Whether you’re a professor, a dean, or even a president, there’s no career where social justice does not touch that,” Dr. Brown Reynolds said.

“We had Dr. Brown Renyolds come to us to just talk to our students in general about social justice, the USDA’s mission, and how all that blends so well with who we are as an institution,” UMES President Dr. Heidi Anderson said.

Dr. Anderson said the visit was fitting as the university is an 1890 Land Grant Institution, which receive financial assistance regularly from the USDA. “We have gotten funding to be able to take care of our students with their scholarships and we have a center of excellence for food insecurity that will feed the world. It’s a global effort,” Dr. Anderson said.

Dr. Reynolds message hit home for students like Freshman Makayla Counts. “Farming has always been a passion of mine. It started when I was a young girl. I’ve always been into agriculture and had a love for animals,” Counts said.

Counts told 47ABC that she wants to be the change, especially in a field where not many look herself. “It showed me that there’s so many black women in agriculture and it made happy to see that I’m no longer the only one who’s interested,” Counts said.

Dr. Anderson added that the university is also getting funding to launch their veterinary science program which is thanks to funding from the USDA and support from local legislators.