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Below are awards administered in the past. Click here to establish a Memorial or Named Award.
Memorial Scholarships and Fellowships
Victor Quann Jackson Memorial Award
Victor Quann Jackson Memorial Award
Established in 2026
The Victor Quann Jackson Memorial Scholarship honors the legacy of Quann Jackson, an educator and first-generation college graduate who overcame significant challenges in his life.
About Victor Quann Jackson
Born in New York and raised in foster homes, Quann’s journey to success was anything but easy. After dropping out of high school to work, he took night classes to earn his GED, later earning both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Chicago State University. Despite facing childhood and health challenges later in life, Quann never let them hinder his pursuit of his goals or his ability to live life unapologetically.
For more than two decades, Quann taught within the Chicago Public Schools system, instilling not only knowledge in his students but also a belief in determination and self-confidence, encouraging them to persevere through adversity and strive for greater heights in life.
John M. Clark, Sr. and Annie N. Clark Memorial Scholarship.
Established in 2021
John M. Clark, Sr., and Annie N. Clark were founding pillows in the Mileston Community, near Tchula, MS. Mr. Clark helped establish Mileston Vocational School, which opened in 1941 as the first school for Blacks that offered high school courses in the Delta section of the county. He served as one of the school's trustees. His wife, Annie, helped provide an accommodating environment for students at Mileston. Together, the couple was instrumental in elevating the community during the Depression Era to its place history as one of the most economically successful Black Christian areas in Mississippi. John Clark, Jr., and his wife, Pearl, have funded this memorial award annually since 2021.
Chalmers Archer, Jr., as a Green Beret
Chalmers Archer, Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Established in 2023
(1928 – 2014) was born in Tchula, Mississippi, to Chalmers Archer, Sr., and Eva Rutherford Archer. His mother was a teacher/librarian, and his father was a World War I veteran and longtime farmer.
The Archer Family moved to Lexington, Mississippi, when Chalmers Jr. was 12. He graduated from Ambrose Vocational High School in Lexington. After graduating high school, the young man attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for one year. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1952. He served as a technician in a medical unit during the Korean War and achieved the rank of master sergeant. His unit's job was to retrieve wounded soldiers. After a year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. The young Archer began training at Fort Bragg's Psychological Warfare Center as part of the newly formed United States Army's Special Forces. He was among the first African Americans to become a Green Beret while the unit underwent racial integration. His unit was one of the first to enter Vietnam, where he trained original Special Forces teams of the South Vietnamese army.
Archer ended his army service in 1967 and returned to school. He received his B.S. degree from the Tuskegee Institute in 1972 and his Master's in Education degree in 1974. He received his Ph.D. in counseling and psychology from Auburn University in 1979. He completed a twelve-month post-graduate study at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
Dr. Archer became a professor of counseling and psychology at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) in Manassas, Virginia, in 1983. While a professor, he served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education and published numerous articles in academic journals. After retiring from NVCC he served as assistant to the president at Saints Junior College in Lexington, Mississippi, and as assistant to the vice president at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1992, he wrote the award-winning book Growing Up Black in Rural Mississippi, a non-fictional account of his experiences during the 1930s and 1940s. His second book, Green Berets in the Vanguard: Inside Special Forces, 1953-1963, was published in 1963. As one of the first blacks to integrate the Green Berets, Archer was uniquely positioned to tell a story of African Americans' struggle to integrate into the elite Army unit. Archer earned a doctorate in education at Auburn University and did postdoctoral work at the University of Alabama and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Archer died on February 24, 2014, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
Sponsors of the Chalmers Archers, Jr., Memorial Scholarships were friends of Dr. Archer. In addition to being his friend, they are descendants of the plantation owners who enslaved Dr. Archer's ancestors
The William Jordan Campbell & Hermie Campbell Memorial Scholarship was established in 2020. William Jordan Campbell was a native of the Poplar Springs Community in Holmes County, Mississippi. After graduating from Alcorn State University, he worked briefly as a classroom teacher at Mileston Vocational School in Tchula (MS), where he met Hermie Triplett.
The Hermie Triplett Campbell Scholarship was first awarded as a named award in 2022, while she was alive. It was earmarked for Illinois applicants. After Hermie passed on in 2024, the award was changed to a memorial award.
Hermie roots are in Tchula (Mileston Community) in Holmes County, Mississippi. Robert and Lula Triplett (Hermie's parents) made the community their home during the early twentieth century. They became landowners when few other blacks in the Delta section of Holmes County owned real property. Hermie attended local public schools, including Mileston Vocational High School, where she met William Campbell. The couple migrated to Chicago during the 1950s and had seven children, one of whom finances this award.
Geneva Nelson Memorial Scholarship
Established in 2021
Geneva Nelson gave more than four decades of service to public education in Mississippi. As a recent college graduate, she started teaching at Mileston Vocational High School near Tchula during the late 1950s. When Mileston relocated its high school students to Tchula Attendance Center (TAC) in 1961, Ms. Nelson relocated there. She remained at TAC until 1967 when she transferred to Jackson as a teacher and counselor at Blackburn School. She moved from Blackburn to Bailey School in Jackson in 1971 and became an assistant principal in 1978. Nelson transferred to Chastian School in Jackson in 1984 and remained in the position until she retired. An early morning fire that engulfed Nelson's West Jackson home in January 2012 brought a tragic end to her life.
More than five decades have passed since Ms. Nelson taught in Holmes County. She departed this life more than a decade ago. Still, She left lingering positive impressions on students who appreciated having quenched their thirst at her fountain of knowledge. Though many graduated and migrated from Mississippi to areas throughout the nation, their fond memories of the teacher remain.
Two of her former students started the memorial fund in 2021 to express their long-lasting appreciation. Since then, other alums made contributions to honor her memory. One donor perhaps summarized everyone's gratitude when he fondly recalled, "Ms. Nelson reached out to meet students where they were. She made all learners feel like equal human beings during the process. She treated all of them the same and found ways to demand and get quality."
The Reedy Family Memorial Scholarship
Established in 2014
The Reedy Family Memorial Scholarship is named for Laurie and John Reedy. In 1950, the couple purchased an infertile farm in a rural area outside of Durant, Mississippi. They had four children then and added six more within a decade. The Reedys managed to hold on to the farm throughout the years while earning a meager subsistence for their family of 12. The farm is one of many small plots in the community that remain in the ownership of immediate descendants.
The couple's children migrated to Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and Maryland. In their parent's memory, their descendants began financing a memorial award in 2013. The scholarship currently memorialized the couple and four deceased children--John Otis, Norman, Henry, and Alonzo. Their siblings are contributors, and they earmark their support of students with low-to-average grades, changing careers, single parenting, and other obstacles to admission to and success in college for low-income students.
The Maurice Wade Memorial Scholarship
Established in 2022
Mr. Maurice Wade entered this world a bright light. Although a part of a family imbued with both love and many contrasts, from an early age he was recognized as good, well-mannered, disciplined, dependable, devoted to his family, a person of his word and wise. These characteristics endured as an adult and as a parent.
He shared a joyful and loving bond with another bright light; his wife, Mrs. Christine Wade. They recognized each other as kindred spirits and bonded at young ages. Maurice taught Sunday school in his youth and his wife attended Jewel Academy Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, for a short period and gave a sermon, there, at the age of 14. These traits, refined while living and aligning through spiritual discovery and practice, were weaved into every aspect of his life. This connectedness to God was present throughout his healthy lifetime and exhibited in his example. This inner sovereignty provided solid and fertile ground for the perpetual evolution and unfolding of him, his wife and each of their children. The approach with their children was to love them, to be faithfully present, allow fun ventures and creative expression, and provide basic necessities, anything requested as needed for school, and freedom to unfold as Divinely inspired. Their contributions included prayer, sending God’s protective angels, allowing mentored presences, disciplined savings, clothing, meals, transportation, books, supplies, prioritization of time for study, scriptures reminding them of their capabilities and God’s promises and exemplifying the importance and benefits of having a relationship with God and spiritual practice.
All of their 7 children achieved scholarly degrees in higher education. Some also added credentialed skill development to their repertoire of growth.
Inspired by his views supporting the importance of education, a yearly donation is made to the Migration Heritage Foundation pursuant to helping persons in need of financial support for this endeavor.
The family of Maurice Wade appreciates this opportunity provided by the Migration Heritage Foundation, which helps students from all over, but predominantly in or near his dear hometown of Durant in Holmes County, MS, where his earthly remains are interred.
Named Scholarships and Fellowships
Individuals and organizations that contribute $500 or more may earmark their donation in recognition or memory of a particular individual or item. The donor's name will remain anonymous or be publicized, according to his/her request., The Foundation collects and administers the tax-exempt donation.
Migration Heritage Foundation Awards
The Foundation's awards are funded by monies from individuals and organizations that donate less than $500 annually. To the extent possible, non-earmarked funds are combined to total $500 for these scholarships. The criteria for qualification are the same as those for the Memorial and Named Awards.
Stipends
MHF awards stipends ranging from $50 to $300 to help elementary and high school students defray expenses for summer and after-school programs. These awards are issued to the program that serves the students.
Scholarships, fellowships, and stipends are awarded on a fund-availability basis.
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