October 29, 2026
The Westin Jackson
407 South Congress Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39201
The Champions of Justice Reception and Dinner kicks off the Social Justice Empowerment Experience, setting the stage for a weekend of learning, inspiration, and action. This signature event brings together advocates, community leaders, partners, and supporters from across Mississippi to honor leaders whose courage, service and advocacy has advanced justice while reaffirming our shared commitment to building a more equitable future.
Join us on Thursday, October 29, at 6:00 p.m. at The Westin Jackson as we honor distinguished leaders whose work has advanced civil rights, voting rights, and social justice while also recognizing emerging changemakers who are carrying that legacy forward. Together, they represent the power of advocacy across generations and remind us that meaningful progress depends on people who are willing to speak up, step forward, and TAKE A STAND.
The evening will feature the presentation of the Champions of Justice Awards, recognizing individuals whose leadership, service, and dedication have made a lasting impact on communities across Mississippi. From fearless truth-tellers and advocates for democracy to leaders expanding opportunity and protecting fundamental rights, this year’s honorees embody the values that drive the movement for justice. They include:
The Honorable Robert G. Clark, Jr. (Posthumous), Pioneering educator, legislator, and advocate
Mamie Cunningham, Social Justice Advocate, Okolona, MS
The Honorable Denise Owens, Former Chancellor of Mississippi’s Fifth Chancery Court District
Reshonda Perryman, Multidisciplinary artist, muralist, graphic designer, and illustrator
Arekia S. Bennet-Scott, Executive Director, Mississippi Votes
Mississippi Today, Nonprofit, nonpartisan digital newsroom
As the opening event of the Social Justice Empowerment Experience, the Champions of Justice Dinner invites attendees to celebrate extraordinary leadership, reflect on the progress that has been made, and recommit to the work required to strengthen our communities, protect democracy, and advance justice for all.
Begin the Social Justice Empowerment Experience with an evening that celebrates courageous leadership, strengthens connections across the movement, and inspires us all to continue advancing justice in Mississippi.
Get to know more about our honorees below.
For sponsorship opportunities:
Tosha Taylor • ttaylor@mscenterforjustice.org • (601) 709-0859
Click here to return to the main event page for the Social Justice Empowerment Experience.
The Experience includes the Champions of Justice, Justice Brunch, and The Great Mississippi Road Trip
Honorable Robert G. Clark, Jr. (1928-2025) (Posthumous)
The Honorable Robert G. Clark, Jr. was a pioneering Mississippi educator, legislator, and advocate whose life helped reshape political representation in the state. Born in Ebenezer, Mississippi, in 1928, Clark began his career as a teacher and educational administrator before entering public service.
In 1967, two years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Clark was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, becoming the first African American elected to the Mississippi Legislature since Reconstruction. He served for more than three decades, rising to Speaker Pro Tempore in 1992.
Throughout his legislative career, Clark championed education and greater opportunity for Mississippi families. As chair of the House Education Committee, he played a leading role in the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1982, which restored compulsory school attendance and established publicly funded kindergarten in Mississippi.
Clark also understood the importance of political participation and representation. His election marked a significant breakthrough in a state where Black Mississippians had long faced barriers to voting and political power. His public service helped create a path for future generations of Black leaders to participate more fully in Mississippi government.
Clark retired from political life in 2003. His legacy continues through the Robert G. Clark, Jr. Building in Jackson and the annual Robert Clark Symposium at Jackson State University. He died on March 4, 2025, at age 96.
His life remains a testament to the power of public service, perseverance, education, and the fundamental importance of having a voice in our democracy.
Mamie Cunningham
Mamie Cunningham has been a social justice advocate all of her adult life. She first became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1964 at Rust College, where she participated in voter registration. Because that work, she was chosen to travel with Fannie Lou Hamer, Stokely Carmichael, and other members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the all-white, all-male Mississippi Democratic Party delegation to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
She has organized and worked on a number of social justice initiatives, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNNC); the first NAACP Youth Council in Aberdeen, Mississippi; and SAD, Students Against Drugs. She partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Disability Rights Mississippi, and League of Women Voters to successfully sue the State of Mississippi over voting rights. She successfully sued Chickasaw County, Mississippi to establish the first voting precinct in a minority community after county supervisors used county funds to construct a building that black voters were routinely denied access to—even to vote.
Recently, she was a plaintiff in the lawsuit that gained court-ordered redistricting after gerrymandering was found to have diluted the voting power of black residents. The resulting election created the first black House district in Chickasaw County and narrowed the Republican supermajority in the state Senate.
Cunningham has also been honored by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Mississippi Votes. A graduate of Rust College and of Mississippi State University, Cunningham travels frequently as a member of BVM, the NAACP, and One Voice to stay abreast of political, social, and economic developments to help keep her neighbors informed and aware of issues that affect their community.
Honorable Denise Owens
Judge Denise Owens has devoted more than four decades to the law, judicial service, and expanding access to justice in Mississippi. A graduate of George Washington University Law School, she began her legal career serving low-income and elderly clients before being elected Chancellor of Mississippi’s Fifth Chancery Court District in 1989. She served for more than three decades on the chancery bench, eventually becoming the district’s senior chancellor.
Throughout her career, Judge Owens has worked to make the justice system more accessible, fair, and equitable. She served for approximately a decade as Co-Chair of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, helping advance efforts to make Mississippi’s courts accessible to all people. Her service has also included work addressing gender and racial bias within the judicial system and promoting fairness and equality in the courts.
Beyond the courtroom, Judge Owens has been an educator and mentor, encouraging young people—particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds—to see the legal profession as an attainable career. Her work has helped promote diversity on the bench and within the bar while preparing and inspiring future generations of legal professionals.
Now serving as a senior status judge, Judge Owens continues a legacy grounded in public service and the belief that justice should be accessible to every person the legal system exists to serve. Read full bio here.
Reshonda “Shon” Perryman
Reshonda “Shon” Perryman is a Mississippi-based multidisciplinary artist, muralist, graphic designer, and illustrator who uses art to connect people, place, and purpose. With more than 20 years of experience as an artist and more than 15 years in graphic design, she is the founder of Pixels & Paint and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Her work spans public murals, fine art, illustration, branding, and environmental design, with a strong focus on community development, social awareness, and nonprofit collaboration. Through her public art, Shon has helped preserve history, celebrate culture, strengthen communities, and bring greater visibility to the people and stories that have shaped Mississippi. Her commissioned works have explored themes ranging from civil rights and literary history to economic empowerment, innovation, and community revitalization.
Among her work are murals honoring civil rights leader Medgar Evers and Mississippi cultural and historical figures including Dorothy Moore, Richard Wright, James Meredith, Hezekiah Watkins, and Angie Thomas. Rooted in the South, Shon brings bold color, symbolism, and lyrical composition to work designed to uplift, inform, and inspire. Across every medium, her mission remains consistent: to illuminate beauty, meet community-based needs through positive artistic expression, and use creativity as a tool for belonging and change.
Arekia S. Bennett-Scott
Arekia S. Bennett-Scott has dedicated her life to liberatory work in the Deep South for and with Black women and girls. For more than 15 years, she has worked to build self-sustaining communities across Mississippi through a Black, queer feminist vision that centers human dignity and the belief that all people deserve the conditions to live full and thriving lives.
She currently serves as the Executive Director of Mississippi Votes and Mississippi Votes Action Fund. Since its founding in 2016, Mississippi Votes has registered more than 100,000 voters and engaged thousands of young people across the state through civic education, organizing, and leadership development. Its sister organization, Mississippi Votes Action Fund, advances policy advocacy and strategic organizing efforts aimed at expanding voting rights and building the next generation of civic leaders in Mississippi.
Arekia’s work to expand democracy in the South has been recognized nationally. She is a recipient of the Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Award and the NAACP Medgar Evers Award. In 2021, she was named an Emerson Collective Fellow and received the Unita Blackwell Justice Award. That same year, Mississippi Votes was recognized as Community Organization of the Year in Mississippi.
In addition to her leadership at Mississippi Votes, Arekia serves as Board Chair of the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute.
Perhaps the role she is most grateful for is being a wife and mother. She is married to her best friend and the love of her life, Timothy T. Scott III. Together they are raising three incredible children: a curious baby, a spirited toddler, and a pre-teen who loves learning.
Founded in 2016 as a statehouse watchdog, Mississippi Today launched with a focus on Capitol coverage and has since expanded into the state’s largest newsroom. Today, its reporting spans politics, education, public health, justice, the environment, equity, and investigations—with every story grounded in the belief that free, nonpartisan journalism is the antidote to apathy and the cornerstone of accountability.
Backed by a team of leading journalists, business minds and innovators, Mississippi Today earned the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. It has received national recognition from the Institute for Nonprofit News, the American Journalism Project, the Knight Media Fund and the Online News Association as a model of newsroom innovation and public service journalism.
As the flagship newsroom of Deep South Today—a nonprofit network dedicated to strengthening local journalism across the South—Mississippi Today serves communities statewide as a trusted source dedicated to holding power to account.
Take a Stand – Presenting Sponsor
Kazan McClain Partner’s Foundation
Stand for Democracy – Reception Sponsor
Dr. R. Edward Bergmark
Ellen Weiss
Mary and Sam Miller
Social Media Victims Law Center
Stand for Justice
BankPlus
Barbara and David Lipman
Jennifer and Walter H. Boone
Kimberly Jones Merchant
MS Votes
Terry and Dick Molpus
Stand for Equality
Aafram Sellers
Bonnie Allen
Jones Walker LLP
Lisa Percy
Marcie and David Baria
Martha Bergmark and Elliot Andalman
Nissan North America
Vangela M. and Thandi Wade
Take Action
Andrés Costas-Centivany
Barbara Phillips
Bob Owens
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
Butler Snow LLP
Emily Maw & Rob McDuff
Innovative Performance
The Hill Country Project
Virginia and Luther Munford
Click here to return to the main event page for the Social Justice Empowerment Experience.
The Experience includes the Champions of Justice, Justice Brunch, and The Great Mississippi Road Trip.
