After devoting the last six years of her life to social change since the unjust murder of her son, Trayvon Martin, this past weekend Benedict College and the city of Columbia presented Sybrina Fulton with an honorary doctorate degree and the Key to the City. Fulton was stationed as the Commencement Convocation speaker for the HBCU’s 2018 winter graduation ceremony.
The brewed social activist was awarded with the Doctor of Humane Letters by the seminary ultimately granting her the respective title of ‘Dr’ and was also presented with the Key to the City by the mayor of South Carolina Steve Keith Benjamin. She took to Instagram moments after the ceremony to share her profound title. “I present to you……Dr. Sybrina Fulton,” the caption reads. “I went from the 2018 Commencement Convocation speaker at Benedict College to Doctor & I also received the key to the city from the Mayor of Columbia, SC.”
The ceremony took place on Saturday (Dec. 15) inside of the institution’s Benjamin E. Mays Human Resources Center Arena. Upon the institution’s announcement, Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, President and CEO of Benedict College recognizes Fulton’s passionate endeavors towards social injustice, gun violence, and gender profiling by highlighting her cogent strength:
“Sybrina is a model of grace and strength, ” said Dr. Artis. Because of her passion and dedication, ‘we are all Trayvon’ and demand social justice for our sons.”
Since the senseless and tragic loss of her son in 2012, Sybrina started the Trayvon Martin Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the emotional and financial support of families who have lost a loved one to the unexpected about of gun violence which is the precursor of her “Circle of Mothers” enterprise and “Mothers of the Movement” initiative. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Last year, Fulton along with Tracy Martin, the father of Trayvon co-authored a book that turned into a six-part series with Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z as executive producer titled Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.
