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Gloria Dickerson, CEO & Founder

Previously she worked for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. She was hired as the Controller for the Foundation and was later named the Program Director to coordinate the Mid-South Delta Initiative, an economic and community development initiative. She retired from that position in, August, 2009. Prior to her work at Kellogg, Dickerson was Vice President of Financial Operations for MINACT, INC. in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Dickerson was elected to the Sunflower County Board of Supervisor in November, 2015.

She was born and raised in Drew Mississippi of Sunflower County. In 1965 her family, parents Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter, along with her seven siblings, were the first black citizens of Sunflower County, Mississippi to sign their school district's "freedom of choice" papers to attend the white schools in Drew, Mississippi. Her family's struggle for equality in educational opportunity was captured in the books, Silver Rights by Constance Curry, a children’s book The School Is Not White by Doreen Rappaport, and a documentary, Intolerable Burden, also produced by Constance Curry.

Dickerson opened the Mae Bertha Carter Learning Center in September, 2017 where she directs youth and adult programs including workshops o  life skills, health, African American history, education, healthy relationships and career readiness.

Dickerson received her bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi in Oxford and her MBA from Millsap’s College in Jackson, Mississippi. She is a former Certified Public Accountant. She is an instructor/trainer and is certified in Heal Your Life®, Mindful Schools®, and  Primordial Sound Meditation. Additionally, she is a Life Coach.  

Dickerson lives in Drew, MS.She is married to Donald Dickerson and has one son, Deidrick.

Gloria Dickerson: Choosing to make a positive impact

By Jack Criss, The Bolivar Bullet

Only the second woman in Sunflower County history to serve as a Supervisor, which she currently does, Gloria Dickerson’s brush with Delta history goes back to 1965.

Born and raised in Drew, Dickerson, along with her six brothers and sisters (another three were at home), were the first Black children to integrate the Drew public school system during that pivotal year. 

“I was in the seventh grade, 12 years old, and things were incredibly heated. Not a pleasant memory at all,” said Dickerson. “It was a year after the murders in Philadelphia and the Civil Rights movement was really coming to a head in ‘65. And we, as kids, were thrust into the middle of it. Momma and Daddy knew what all was going on, but we really had no idea what we were getting into at the time.”

Dickerson added that, while her parents never shielded her from outside events, she still didn’t quite grasp the enormity of what was happening in the country, and Mississippi, during that Fall of 1965 when school started.

“I was innocently excited about going to a new school and meeting new friends,” she said. “I never expected the kind of treatment we received and the hostility directed towards us. Even before that first day we got pushback. Our parents had enrolled us in the Drew public school because of the Freedom of Choice plan which came out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and included a federal mandate to integrate all schools or lose funding. Most Black people at the time, though, were too scared to send their children to the public schools--but not my parents. We were sharecroppers at the time and the land owner even came to us and told Momma and Daddy that they better not send their kids to school. But, both of my parents valued education and wanted us to receive the best we possibly could--and rightfully--get. They knew the books were better, the buses were better--everything was better. We worked the fields where we lived, but Momma wanted us to get a good education and not be poor for the rest of our lives.” 

The whole story is chronicled in the 1996 book ,Silver Rights by Constance Curry--including the gun shots fired into Dickerson’s family house one evening and the cutting off of their credit for groceries and subsequent burning of their garden--and provides background on the decisions of Dickerson’s parents, Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter, during those tumultuous times.

Skipping far ahead in her already-storied life, Dickerson went on Ole Miss, receiving her degree in Accounting--and working in Oxford as a CPA--before moving to Jackson in 1982 to work for the late Booker T. Jones with MINACT as an accountant and financial advisor as Vice-President in charge of financial operations. She then moved to Battle Creek, Michigan where she worked for the Kellogg Foundation for six years. She returned to Jackson to open an office for the Foundation where she was a Program Officer. 

“I was in charge of grants and helping communities which is where my heart was really at,” said Dickerson. “I wanted to return to Mississippi to help the community and the people I came from and Kellogg allowed me to do that. I didn’t want to be a bean counter my whole life!”

Not long after, Dickerson “retired” and moved back to Drew to start her own non-profit organization, We2Gether Creating Change. “Because I wanted to give back to the community where I grew up and be on the ground working with and helping others,” she said. “While here working, trying to get things done to transform the community and make many improvements, I just ran into too many roadblocks and people who wouldn’t commit to their promises so, after being prodded by a lot of people, I decided to run for Supervisor in 2016. Well, I did just that, and won out over a 16-year incumbent--but only by 25 votes. So every vote does indeed count!”  

When she ran again this year, against the same former candidate, she won by a little more comfortable  margin of 200-plus votes.

We2Gether Creating Change, based in Drew. It exists to inspire young people to use their talents, skills and passions to help their communities and create hope, prosperity and opportunity in the process, said Dickerson. The organization’s website is we2gether.org.

With her non-profit still going strong and her role as Supervisor, Dickerson’s life and career has been a testament to service to the community--and forgiveness for that same community.

“I give credit to my parents, both now deceased, who always taught us to love everybody,” she said. “That’s what has carried me through my life: to abide by what the Bible teaches and remember the lessons Momma and Daddy instilled in us. I’ve never hated anyone--I might not like what they did, but I never hated them. I always tried, and still try, to love. And, we all need to try to make a positive difference in the lives of all people.”