The Awards

H.O.U.S.E. Theatre Arts Group in association with Mahogany Dime LLC present:

The Fifth Annual

Mahogany Dime™ Awards

Saturday April 12, 2008
Carolina Theatre of Durham
309 W. Morgan Street
8:00 PM

Tickets on Sale now at the box office

919-560-3030

What is the Mahogany Dime Awards?

Review the video to share in the experience
Mahogany Dime Awards Reel

The Hilton RTP is the official hotel of the Fifth Anniversary of the Mahogany Dime Awards
Reserve rooms at 919-941-6000
Ask for the "Mahogany Dime" Rate

Hosted by Gayle Hurd of Triangle Profiles

Enjoy an evening of honors and entertainment with performances by:

Saxophonist Marcus Anderson

The Award Winning Bouncing Bulldogs

The One Human Family Gospel Choir

Visions Jazz Ensemble

Comedian "Pastor Frank" of Cincinnati

Hidden Voices Theatre Ensemble

Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients 2006 (from left to right)
Dr. Linda Norflett, Dr. Jeannette Council, Angela Ray, Jane Johnson Chavis Dr. Alma Adams and Constancia Ross

Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients 2005 (from left to right)
Dr. Annie McCullough Chavis, Lori Gibbs, Angela Ray, Dr. Eunice Dudley, and Gloria Sawyer
not pictured (April Turner)

Meet the 2008 Mahogany Dime™ Award Recipients

The Honorable Cora Cole McFadden of Durham
The Mahogany Dime™ Award for Leadership

The Honorable Cora Cole McFadden is a member of the Durham City Council. She is the first African American female to be named Mayor Pro Tempore in the history of the City of Durham. She has served as a champion for uplifting the youth in the community and including them in the decision-making process for matters pertaining to them. Her zest and zeal for youth resulted in the creation of the first City of Durham Youth Council, now in its second year, the Hillside Drama Department's first production and appearance at the Carolina Theatre. Also, Cole-McFadden was instrumental in the creation of "Youth Teen Scene" a monthly production by youth for youth, along with the appearance of youth organizations at City Hall sharing with the community the good things happening in Durham.

Because of her work and focus on youth, a Youth Division now exists and the City of Durham clearly recognizes its importance because it directly reports to the City Manager. She assured the representation of the City of Durham's Youth Council at the first ever Youth Summit sponsored by the North Carolina League of Cities and the City of Durham's most recent budget process resulting in a teen center. Her efforts to change the way the City did business were recognized throughout the region with Durham having the reputation of a strong commitment to the inclusion of underutilized groups in its conduct of business and employment opportunities. Her work as First Vice President of the Durham Branch of the NAACP, Past Chair of the Durham County Democratic Party, President of the Ebonettes Service Club, and Star Panelist Coordinator for the United Negro College Fund.

McFadden was also the first woman to serve as Chair of the Durham Community Martin Luther King Steering Committee, the first African American female department head in City Government in Durham and the first recipient of the City of Durham's Diversity Change Agent Award, which all attest to her strength and commitment to changing the status quo, her understanding of the importance of embracing and education our youth and her responsibility to give back to the community knowing the struggle for liberty, justice, and equality never ends.

Carol Boston Weatherford of High Point
Mahogany Dime™ Award for the Arts

Carol Boston Weatherford of High Point is a New York Times best selling author. She composed her first poem in the first grade and dictated the verse to her mother. Her father, a high school printing teacher, printed some of her early poems on index cards.

Since her literary debut in 1995 , she has authored 30 books of poetry, nonfiction, and children's literature, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, winner of an NAACP Image Award, Caldecott Honor Medal and Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. Her book, Birmingham, 1963 won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and The Sound that Jazz Makes won the Carter G. Woodson Award from the National Council for the Social Studies.

Both Remembering the Bridge: Poems of a People and Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins won North Carolina Juvenile Literature Awards. Weatherford is also the recipient of the Ragan-Rubin Award from the North Carolina English Teachers Association and a two time North Carolina Arts Council Writers Fellow. She teaches at Fayetteville State University and earned a Masters of Arts in publication design from the University of Baltimore and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Born and raised in Baltimore, Weatherford now resides in High Point with her family.

Geneva and Wilma Dillard
Mahogany Dime™ Award for entrepreneurship

Geneva and Wilma Dillard of Durham are the owners of Dillard's Restaurant. The restaurant began as a neighborhood grocery store in 1945 that Sam Dillard, Geneva's husband founded.

An entrepreneur in her own right, Geneva operated a self-owned beauty shop adjacent to the Dillard's BBQ building and several years later, she accepted a teaching position at Piedmont Community College in Roxboro. After teaching at the community college for eight years, she answered the call to teach cosmetology at Durham High school at the onset of desegregation. In 1987, she retired from Durham City Schools.

Sam Dillard retired from his namesake restaurant two years before his death in 1997. In the spirit of love, Geneva and her daughter Wilma continue his legacy, appropriately summed up by the establishment's slogan, "We Feed Durham." During a 2004 visit to Dillard's, Food Network's Rachel Ray called the food, "amazing." Dillard's BBQ sauce is the official BBQ Sauce of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the sauce can be purchased locally in grocery stores and online.

Geneva is a member of North East Baptist Church and serves with several ministries. She enjoys her church fellowship and on Mother's Day 2001, she was honored as North East Mother of the Year for her dedication.

Dr. Lorine C. McLeod of Fayetteville
Mahogany Dime™ Award for Service

Dr. Lorine C. McLeod of Fayetteville of Fayetteville will be honored in the area of service. McLeod has given of lifetime of service to her church and the community. She has been a member of Lewis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church since 1942 where she has served as a Sunday School teacher for over 30 years. In the past, she has also served as former president of the Gospel Choir, past chairperson of the finance committee, and past director of the church training union, just to name a few.

In the community, she has been very active in the United Order of Tents, having led the organization in receiving a 2.6 million dollar grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the construction of a 48 unit apartment complex in Nash County for the elderly and handicap. The housing development was named in her honor. That was in 1992.

In 1993, the fellowship hall at Lewis Chapel Church was named in her honor. In 1996, she received the Long Leaf Pine Award from Governor James B. Hunt. Most recently in 2003, she received the Clarence Lightner Achievement Award sponsored by 103.9 FM Radio in Raleigh.

Dr. McLeod is a Life Member of the Fayetteville Chapter of the NAACP, former secretary of the Ashley Heights Community Club and former board of trustees member of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention. She has an honorary doctorate degree in Christian Letters from Shaw Divinity School.

The Honorable Eva Clayton
The Dr. Johnnetta Cole Living Legend Award

The Honorable Eva Clayton of Warren County made history in November 1992 when she became the first woman and the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress from the State of North Carolina. She served with distinction for ten years as the U.S. Representative of North Carolina’s 1^st Congressional District. While in Congress, she served on the Agriculture and Budget Committees and as a ranking member of the Agriculture Department’s Operations Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittees.

Before going to Congress, Clayton was a member of the Warren County Board of Commissioners, serving as Chairperson from 1982 to 1990. During her tenure, she was named “Outstanding North Carolina County Commissioner” by her fellow North Carolina Commissioners.

In 2006, Clayton completed a three year assignment with the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy as Assistant Director-General and Special Advisor to the Director-General; (ambassadorial rank). Currently, she manages her company Eva Clayton Associates International in Raleigh. Clayton remains an active member of Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Henderson. A native of Savannah, Georgia, she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Clayton received her Bachelor of Science Degree for Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and a Master of Science Degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham and also attended law school. She is the recipient of eight (8) honorary doctorate degrees from various American universities for her leadership and service.

Clayton is the mother of four adult children, Joanne, Theaoseus, Jr., Martin and Reuben. She is married to Attorney Theaoseus T. Clayton, Sr. and they are proud grandparents of six grandchildren.

Jordan Nicole Dodson
Mahogany Dime in the Making

Jordan Nicole Dodson of Raleigh is a straight A sixth grade student at Zebulon GT Magnet Middle School. Her favorite subjects are math and language arts. Her hobbies include basketball, soccer and tennis. In addition to an interest in sports, Dodson is also active in music, playing both the piano and the violin.

An avid reader, Dodson enjoys realistic fiction and fantasy books. Two of her favorite books include Holes and The Spiderwick Chronicles When this Mahogany Dime in the making is not in school, she enjoys attending church with her family at Baptist Groove in Raleigh.

A roster of some of North Carolina’s prominent men will serve as award’s presenters with entertainment by some of the area’s finest talents. Past presenters have included Christopher “Play” Martin, Motivational speaker and Biggest Loser contestant Ken Canion, and Dr. E. B. Palmer, founder of the African American Cultural Complex in Raleigh. The event is open to the public.

To learn about our past recipients, visit the links below:

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