Press Presented Community Service Award at MLK Jr. Prayer Breakfast
Tue, 01/16/2024 - 01:54pm | By: David Tisdale
Dr. Robert “Bob” Press, a professor of political science and legal studies in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Social Science and Global Studies, was presented with the Douglass T. Baker Community Service Award at Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s 18thannual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast, held Jan. 15 in the Thad Cochran Center on the USM Hattiesburg campus.
The Douglass T. Baker Award recognizes the late Hattiesburg attorney and civic leader who was the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He worked for Southeast Mississippi Legal Services and was a passionate advocate for racial reconciliation and social harmony, while also being a devoted and active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
After working as a journalist in Africa and the U.S., Dr. Press earned his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Florida in 2004. He combines lectures with classroom discussions, community service, and research assignments to encourage all students' critical thinking and knowledge. He is also the founding director of USM’s Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties; in 2012, he earned the then USM Department of Political Science, International Development and International Affairs' Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Press’s service to the university and local community includes as past president of the USM Faculty Senate and on the executive board of the Forrest County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
In accepting the award, Dr. Press said, “Those of us who have accomplished far less than Mr. Baker stand on his shoulders and those of countless others who have striven or are still striving toward that elusive, but still possible goal of Dr. King – racial harmony and brotherly love.”
Dr. Press is the author of three books, including Ripples of Hope: How Ordinary People Resist Repression without Violence (Amsterdam University Press/University of Chicago Press, 2015); Peaceful Resistance: Advancing Human Rights and Democratic Freedom (Ashgate, U.K., 2006); and The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent (U. Press of Florida, 1999). His articles on sub-Sahara Africa have appeared in various journals, including the Journal of Human Rights; Journal for Contemporary African Studies; Africa Today; Journal of Human Rights Practise; African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review; and Theory in Action.