Dr. Verdell Lett Dawson selected for Hall of Fame

Dr. Verdell Lett Dawson was selected as a member of the 2024 Class of the Alabama Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

She was inducted on Sunday, August 11, 2024, during the annual awards ceremony at the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Conference Center in Prattville, Alabama.

Dawson’s 40-year career in education has seen her serve as a parochial college dean, public school educator, administrator and superintendent. Dawson worked at Stillman College and at the public school districts of Port Washington, Long Island, New York, and Selma. She was the first African American female superintendent of Selma City Schools.

Since retiring from her educational career in 2013, Dawson has founded two non-profit organizations: Women and Youth Services of Selma and the Legacy Foundation of Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church-Selma.

Dawson chaired the Board of Women and Youth Services for its first seven years. Their signature service project is Memory Keepers. This program allows Alzheimer’s patients, families and caregivers to receive information, nutrition and other support services. Under her leadership, the Legacy Foundation bought and furnished the Ivy and Pearl Complex, a community service complex and the first property owned by a Dallas County Panhellenic Sorority.

As Board Chairman of the Legacy Foundation of Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church-Selma, Dawson has led the foundation efforts for historic preservation of church structure and oral histories, grantsmanship, historic preservation partnerships, and organizational structure operations. Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church is a core member of the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium. Dawson serves as Tabernacle Site Representative, Strategic Planning Committee Member, and Advisory Committee Member. She also serves as the Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church Historian.

She loves historic preservation for its authentic preservation of past events, structures, and personalities that guide and advise present and future times for the progress of all mankind without borders.

Dawson was nominated by Joyce Nadine O’Neal.

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