The BAA Scholarship Benefit

This annual event honors important contributions to diversity and inclusion that align with the BAA mission. Although the event format and/or venue varies each year, the scholarship benefit always recognizes outstanding USC Black alumni and noted civic leaders. Past scholarship benefits have included a celebration of the work of groundbreaking Black architect Paul Williams (USC Class of 1919), as well as such stage productions as Speak of Me as I Am (the story of Paul Robeson); The Langston Hughes Project: Ask Your Mama, a multimedia presentation featuring USC Thornton School of Music professor Ron McCurdy and actor/musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner; Dreaming of Harlem Under a Southern Sky, a play with music by USC School of Dramatic Arts professor Gabrielle Pina; benefit performances by recording artists Howard Hewitt, Gerald Albright and Anthony Hamilton; and such noted presentations as “The Kinsey Collection,” Bernard and Shirley Kinsey’s private collection of paintings, sculptures and documents chronicling the Black experience in America from the 1600s to today.