Zora Neale Hurston was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South. Hurston broke literary norms by focusing her work on the experience of a black woman. Hurston was not only a writer, she also dedicated her life to educating others about the arts.
In Chapter XV of Dust Tracks on a Road, entitled "Religion", Hurston expressed disbelief in and disdain for both theism and religious belief. She states: "Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. I do not choose to admit weakness. I accept the challenge of responsibility. Life, as it is, does not frighten me, since I have made my peace with the universe as I find it, and bow to its laws."
Applications are now open for scholarships for Black students who are passionate about state/church separation and intersectional activism. The scholarships are available to full-time students enrolled in high school or college in the United States. The application deadline is July 31, 2023.
"Truth is a letter from courage!"
"There is two things everybody got to find out for theirselves. They got to find out about love and they got to find out about living."
"Gods always behave like the people who created them."
Before you start on the application below you may wish to take some time and write out answers to the following questions which will appear in part three of the application.
- What are your educational, career, and life goals?
- What is your secular identity? How did you come to your secularism and how do you see it remaining a part of your life?
- What other aspects of your identity intersect, interact with, or inform your secularism?
- What intersectional/secular activism have you been involved with (on campus or off)?
- What activism plans do you have for this academic year?
- What obstacles, barriers, or financial hardships have you faced in pursuing your academic goals? What role would this scholarship have in helping you overcome these challenges?
As part of the application process, please prepare a 30-60 second video in which you tell us a little bit more about one aspect of your application: about your secular identity, or why it is important to you, or why you are passionate about state/church separation or your activism, or highlighting something important to you.
Privacy Information: We do not collect information from website visitors. The information provided in the scholarship application is not shared with third parties. The selection process is blind and does not include contact information. Sponsoring organizations receive scholarship applications to review and select the recipient of their scholarship/s, and contact information after the scholarship process has closed. All recipients review and approve the text and description used to announce the scholarship recipients.
If you would not like to receive further communication, please email organizer@secularstudents.org to be removed from our database.