2026 FFRF awards scholarships to 2026 Lorraine Hansberry winners
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is excited to announce, in association with the Women’s Leadership Project, the awardees of the 2026 Lorraine Hansberry Humanist Scholarship Awards.
FFRF gave $2,500 to help fund scholarships for four college students this year. The honorees were chosen by the Women’s Leadership Project, which, with Young Male Scholars, conducts school and community-based peer education programming, outreach and professional development, offering invaluable life and job training skills.
The award memorializes Hansberry, the freethinking playwright who famously wrote in 1964: “Though it be a thrilling and marvelous thing to be merely young and gifted in such time, it is doubly so — doubly dynamic — to be young, gifted and Black.” Hansberry’s freethinking play, “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959), was the first drama by a Black woman produced on Broadway and features an atheist, feminist protagonist.
Awardees receive between $250-$1,000 in honor of their humanistic racial and gender justice community service, peer education and organizing engagement during their high school and college careers.
Participating students meet weekly with program coordinators and interns and are trained in sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention, LGBTQ-plus youth leadership outreach and homeless education.
For the past several years, these youths have demonstrated outstanding social justice leadership, peer education and community organizing. These multiyear college scholarships are designed to support Women’s Leadership Project and Young Male Scholars’ youth through graduation. The majority are first-in-the-family college students. Besides the Freedom From Religion Foundation, support was also provided by the Carrie and Ellie Harrington Fund.
This year’s scholarship winners are:
Ama Boateng (UC-Merced), $1,500.
E’niya Glover (Howard University), $500.
A’Mor Jackson (UC-Davis), $1,500.
Divine Omoruyi (U.S. Army), $1,000.
Ama Boateng
“I joined the Women’s Leadership Project when I was 16. I will be attending UC Merced and enter as a junior in the field of aerospace engineering. My alma mater is Alexander Hamilton Senior High School as well as West Los Angeles College. My academic and professional aspirations include attaining a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. I would like to use these degrees to join a start-up or large corporation to manage or contribute to aero and astronautical systems, while actively using my knowledge and skill set for prosperity.
“My profession of choice is indeed extremely male-dominated and those effects I have already felt in the STEM community. So, with these passions and game-changing goals, I will encourage inclusion in my field and potentially teach my profession later in my career.
“Many of these ambitions and skills are linked to my time in the Women’s Leadership Project. It was there that I learned the value of self-advocacy, persistence and intellect. Many times, I believed that my silence or lack of action would remove me from the truth and I would be able to live freely. But that’s not the case. Speaking against choices made for me allowed me to define what is to be me, to be intelligent. It allowed me to feel comfortable enough to speak against those in Public Comment, who make poor decisions for my community, and force them to recognize their shortcomings. It allowed me to march and protest with my peers and bring awareness to issues like sex trafficking and gender-based violence, issues I thought would not affect me. Women’s Leadership has brought me truth and community, themes that I always yearned to be a part of.”
E’niya Glover
“I am 17 years old and I joined the Women’s Leadership Project in 2025. I graduated from King Drew Magnet High School and I will be attending Howard University with plans to major in psychology. I hope to become a forensic psychologist who would bring meaningful change to society.
“I find myself eager and driven to advocate for equity and inclusion in my community. I am motivated to challenge myself every day to beat the stereotypes attached to me. I have no choice but to notice the constant disparities against minorities, and I find that my own intersectionality has brought its share of challenges. Constantly overcompensating, speaking out and refusing to be dimmed or pushed to the back are things that I deal with every day as a Black woman, navigating a world that wasn’t set up for me.
“By being involved in the Women’s Leadership Project, I was able to advocate and use my voice to inspire change among my peers and the overall public. I was able to cultivate the thoughts and concerns that were always in the back of my mind and was able to share them loudly without shame. The Women’s Leadership Project gave me the space to build, grow and learn.
“Events such as our recent beach retreat and the UCLA youth summit were opportunities given to my peers and me to hold space for each other and truly express the topics that hold the most value in our lives: equity, justice, alliance, racial equality and a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth who often struggle in silence. Through these events, we discussed real-world issues and what might need to change to improve those sad realities. We drummed, did yoga, collaborated and smiled. It’s these events that hold the most impact.”
A’Mor Jackson
“I am 17 years old and I joined the Women’s Leadership Project in 2023. I graduated from King/Drew High School and will be attending the University of California, Davis. My academic goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree in nutritional science and become a pediatric dentist with my own practice.
“Through my dental career, I hope to provide affordable dental health care in South Central Los Angeles and create confident smiles for children. By building a pediatric dental office, I plan to create a safe environment where children can have positive experiences, gain confidence and have access to resources for the youth at risk.
“The Women’s Leadership Project has taught me the importance of advocacy, leadership and using my voice to create change. Participating in the #Standing4Black rally for Missing and Murdered Black Girls showed me the importance of sharing people’s stories and voices, while speaking at City Council meetings taught me how to take action and advocate for my community. These experiences improved my leadership skills and inspired me to continue empowering others by being involved in my community. As I pursue my education and career, I will carry the Women’s Leadership Project teachings by advocating for communities, creating safe spaces for youth and using my leadership to make a positive impact overall.”
Divine Omoruyi
“I am 18 years old and I joined the Women’s Leadership Project in my junior year of high school. This month, I graduated from King Drew Magnet High School, and I will be attending California State University Long Beach. Some academic goals that I’m pursuing are to earn a bachelor’s degree in my chosen major and to then work toward a master’s degree shortly after. I have not yet decided what I would like to get my degree in, but through research studies and internship programs I am confident that I will be able to know what’s right for me and my future.
“I also intend to get a realtor’s license and start a few businesses to provide for myself and my community. I want to improve my community and other communities around the world. I want to be the person that younger generations can relate to.
“My goals align with the Women’s Leadership Project by being a person that others can see to know that their stories are valid and valued. I want to be a support system for everyone who needs it because I know how it feels to not have it. The Women’s Leadership Project has been extremely impactful in my life, making me realize that there is a plethora of things in this world that go unheard, unseen and unnoticed. Some recent events that have made me realize that was our annual rally that took place at Leimert Park. That rally helped me understand how others view our society because they are unaware of the tragedies that occur within our neighborhoods.
“Another action was definitely the LGBTQ+ youth summit. This summit made me realize that even though you can be open about your sexuality nowadays, it doesn’t mean that others still support your choices. All in all, the Women’s Leadership Project took my hand and made me look outside of the box and showed me what I had always known — that there was a bigger world out there.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 41,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Freethought Radio – August 6, 2026
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
After reporting problems created by — as well as victories against — Christian nationalism, we hear the co-chairs of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaking at the third annual Congressional Reason Reception in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored by FFRF.
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The real threat isn’t Muslims — it’s government religious favoritism
Tags:Freedom From Religion Foundation, Politics, Religion
The Freedom From Religion Foundation chastises a Senate hearing yesterday for promoting anti-Muslim fearmongering and undermining the First Amendment.
The Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee hearing was aptly and ominously titled: “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America,”
“Hidden in plain sight is the fact that Sen. Ted Cruz and others are engaged in a latter-day witch hunt to demonize a religious minority while at the same time seeking to use our federal government to promote Christian nationalism,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
The hearing repeatedly blurred the distinction between violent extremists and lawful Muslim religious and civic organizations, portraying constitutionally protected advocacy, litigation, coalition-building and civic engagement as evidence of a broader religious threat. Such rhetoric runs counter to the First Amendment’s twin guarantees of religious liberty: the Establishment Clause, which bars the government from favoring one religion over another, and the Free Exercise Clause, which protects every person’s right to practice their faith free from government discrimination.
Showing the dangers of such governmental disfavor toward a religious minority is the fact that the hearing was delayed from its originally scheduled date of May 20, after three people were killed two days earlier in a targeted attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
Cruz suggested that Muslim organizations must be viewed with suspicion because they file lawsuits, challenge government policies, organize on college campuses and engage in public advocacy. Those are ordinary First Amendment activities routinely exercised by religious and secular organizations across the ideological spectrum, including conservative Christian legal groups that frequently litigate against state/church protections and seek to influence public policy.
“When advocacy by one religious community is portrayed as evidence of extremism while similar advocacy by politically favored religious groups is celebrated, the government abandons the religious neutrality required by the Constitution,” adds FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “The First Amendment protects every American’s right to petition the government, speak freely and participate in civic life regardless of their religious beliefs.”
The hearing reflects a broader trend to portray Christianity as uniquely compatible with American government while treating minority faiths as inherently suspect or less authentically American. The Framers of the Constitution were first in history to prohibit religious tests for public office and adopted the First Amendment in part to assure that our government would not elevate one faith while marginalizing others.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the model for the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses, its protections extend equally to “the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.” The Constitution’s promise of religious liberty has always rested on equal treatment — not religious favoritism.
FFRF’s affiliated advocacy organization, the FFRF Action Fund, joined a broad coalition of religious liberty, civil rights and faith-based organizations warning that the hearing’s premise “is among the latest in a long line of attacks that are designed to sow fear and conspiracy theories about an entire religion and a diverse community for political gain.” The coalition cautioned that such attacks undermine the nation’s commitment to religious freedom for all.
Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee announced that they would boycott the hearing, calling it a “political creepshow” that scapegoats Muslims for political gain amid rising violence targeting houses of worship.
The government has a compelling interest in investigating and prosecuting terrorism wherever credible evidence exists. But congressional oversight must target unlawful conduct supported by evidence, not cast a cloud over millions of peaceful Americans because they belong to a disfavored faith. History has repeatedly demonstrated that when the government singles out one religion for suspicion, the religious liberty of all Americans is weakened.
“When elected officials exploit religious prejudice for political gain, they don’t just harm one faith community,” Gaylor says. “They erode the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government that protects everyone’s religious liberty. The government has no business deciding which religions are truly ‘American’ and which should be viewed with suspicion.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 41,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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