Mignon Clyburn to Receive 2nd Annual Marjorie Amos-Frazier Pacesetter Award

CHARLESTON - The committee tasked with choosing the recipient of the 2011 Marjorie Amos-Frazier Pacesetter Award announced Friday that Mignon Clyburn will get the award when it is presented at the 2011 Blue Jamboree.

"There are people in public life that simply warm a seat and then there are those who make a difference," former S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges said. "Mignon certainly makes a difference."

Hodges served on the selection committee with Chair Kaye Lingle Koonce, Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon, Herb Frazier, F. Renee Gaters, Vertelle Kenion (daughter of Marjorie Amos-Frazier), Montez C. Martin, Jr., Carolyn Murray, Robert Rosen, Mary Ann Sullivan and Barbara S. Williams. Koonce and Condon also spoke at the press conference called Friday to announce Clyburn had been chosen as the award recipient this year.

Condon was one of two committee members that nominated Clyburn.

"I like that we have someone from my generation, someone that is still setting the pace," Condon said.

In announcing the award recipient, Koonce said "Our charge was to find another pacesetter that embodied what Marjorie stood for, she always reached back to bring others forward with her."

"We chose someone she personally mentored," Koonce continued. "Some might say we chose her because of her father, but actually we chose her in spite of her father."

Clyburn is the daughter of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Currently an FCC Commissioner, Clyburn previously served 11 years as the representative of South Carolina's Sixth District on the S.C. Public Service Commission. Before that Clyburn spent 14 years as the publisher and general manager of The Coastal Times, a weekly Charleston-based newspaper that focused primarily on issues affecting the African American community.

She has been a member of, and actively involved with, numerous community organizations. She served on the S.C. State Energy Advisory Council, the Trident Technical College Foundation, the S.C. Cancer Center Board, the Columbia College Board of Visitors, the Palmetto Project Board; was chair of the YWCA of Greater Charleston and a board member of Reid House of Christian Service, Edventure Children's Museum, Trident Urban League and the Trident United Way.

She was appointed to the S.C. Education Oversight Committee's Common Ground School Improvement Committee and the Edventure Museum's S.C. Great Friend to Kids Committee. She is a Life Member of the NAACP, a member of The Links, Inc. and a member of the SC Advisory Council of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Clyburn is also a past president of the Charleston County Democratic Women and Black Women Entrepreneurs.

Amos-Frazier, born in 1926, was a leader in the Civil Rights movement in the Lowcountry, registering black voters and driving them to the polls as early as 1947. She was a leader in the NAACP campaign to desegregate Charleston's theaters in 1963. In 1974 she was the first woman elected to Charleston County Council, and in 1980 was the first woman, African-American and non-legislator to serve on the S.C. Public Service Commission.

"In light of the fact that Mignon followed Marjorie into the Public Service Commission, it was obvious to me to nominate her," Condon said.

Clyburn was one of four candidates considered for the award, and three others turned down the nomination, saying they feared they couldn't live up to Amos-Frazier's example, Koonce said.

Individuals or organizations are eligible to be nominated for the Pacesetter Award if their primary work, mission contribution or service: advances societal well-being through involvement in civic or governmental affairs; achieves outstanding, favorable recognition in their field; adheres to democratic principles of justice, equality and diversity; promotes the cultural social and economic betterment of the lives of others (especially those struggling against societal barriers); and/or inspires or mentors others to engage in civic or humanitarian activities.