The 1968 Fund

Four women entered Emory College in 1989 and became fast friends, partly because they came from families who stressed the importance of giving back. They volunteered with multiple organizations within the college and throughout Atlanta. They vowed to set up a scholarship for future Emory students who shared their commitment to community service. With matching funds from the Scholarship Endowment Initiative, their goal blossomed into the endowed 1968 Scholarship, named for the year that the first African American women graduated from Emory College. “Someone had to come through that door first at Emory, and that made it easier for us. We hope this scholarship will make it easier for others,” said Torya Parker Ridley 93B, who joined with Tara Dyson 93C, Necole Irvin 93C and Angel Randolph 94C to create the scholarship. As friends, we wanted to see an African American woman similar to us be able to focus on the Emory experience, Randolph said. The first beneficiary of the 1968 scholarship was Eboni Freeman 18C, who embodies a commitment to community service that these donors value. The women are also networking on behalf of Freeman, who is thrilled. “I can never express in words how much our relationship has impacted my time at Emory, and how much I can’t wait to give to others because of what you have done for me” she told them in a letter. According to Emory archives, the first African American women who graduated from Emory were Sylvia Dawson, Marsha Houston, Yvonne Oslin, and Gloria Silver.