Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn ascended to join the ancestors on August 5, 2020. She was a deep, creative and engaging scholar and the foremost scholar on African-Americans in Alachua County. She was a core faculty member in the African American Studies Program and an affiliate of the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research, and taught courses in both units. In 2019, Dr. Hilliard-Nunn received the Distinguished Affiliate Faculty Award from the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research. In 2019- 2020 she received the UF College of Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year Award. The two awards reflect her record of distinguished service and her devotion to the profession and academic excellence.
She was among the principal advocates for transforming the African American Studies Program into a department. She was a scholar, activist, community organizer, filmmaker, performer, dancer, and publisher. She embraced academia from the standpoint of caring about humanity and activism.
Her enthusiasm for teaching about Africa and African American studies was infectious. The courses she taught include Black Women and Film, Introduction to African American Studies, Blacks in Film, and The Black Experience: Psychological Perspectives. One of Dr. Hilliard-Nunn’s more popular courses among students and even faculty at UF was Black Hair Politics. The course included an interdisciplinary examination of issues related to the history, culture, sociology, psychology, health, employment, and economics of Black hair. I would find Dr. Hilliard-Nunn enthusiastically preparing for the students’ presentations with food and drinks. And of course, she would invite everyone she knows to participate.
She worked tirelessly in the community. Indeed she was the true embodiment of uniting town and gown. Dr. Hilliard-Nunn was a natural at organizing and leading public events, bringing diverse people together, and extending love and warmth to all. She wrote and directed a video entitled “In the Shadow of Plantations,” about the history of Black enslavement in Alachua County, produced by the Alachua County Communications Office. In relation to the research she conducted public tours to educate people about African American history in Alachua Country. She also produced a DVD entitled: “45 Years of Triumph and Struggle: African American Studies at UF.”
Most recently she led the creation and unveiling of a plaque dedicated to recognizing the lynching of African Americans in Jonesville, Florida. She researched and wrote the information for the Florida State Historical Marker on the Newberry Lynching of 1916 and was the lead speaker at the official dedication of the marker in August 2018. She made several public presentations related to her research about the lynchings.
Patricia and I worked together on programs promoting Africa and African American history in K-12 and the community, even before she joined the university. She was always full of enthusiasm. She never said no to teaching and working in the community. A few weeks before she ascended, I asked her – I did not know her state – if she would lead a session in my summer institute on African-American history. Without hesitation she said, “I will be glad to do it.” I did not know then that she gave the presentation from the hospital. She was, as always, full of humor, talking about how if she was at home, she would be on the floor showing the teachers examples of teaching about Africa. As I went on to introduce her, she joked; “Agnes, you are taking my time for my presentation!”
Her engagement in the community has not gone unnoticed. In 2018 she was awarded the Andrew Mickle History Award by the Cultural Arts Coalition. In 2017 she received the Unsung Hero Award by Ayoka Gifts Homowo Festival in Monteocha, FL, an organization that focusses on African and African American history and culture. She also received the Ida B Wells Award from the Gainesville Commission of the Status of Women and the Santa Fe College Women of Distinction Award. She also served on the boards of most of the African American organizations in Gainesville.
Our lasting memory of this creative, eloquent, humorous, magnificent, beautiful and powerful scholar is the 50th anniversary celebration of African American Studies at the University of Florida on February 21st, 2020, which she orchestrated. It was one of the biggest academic celebrations the university has witnessed. Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn, dressed in a gold colored African outfit, strode majestically in the University Auditorium accompanied by drums and pomp leading all the African Americans she could assemble who were the first to attend the university. She proudly led the delegation of distinguished awardees including a judge, lawyers, academics, church people and private businesspeople up to the stage. The onlookers stared in admiration at her graceful command of the stage as she introduced the program and its importance for the University. She opened as she always did by thanking the ancestors. Her presence exuded knowledge, power, and beauty in an inclusive and nonthreatening manner. Alas, this would be our last glimpse of this dear sister, friend, teacher, colleague, scholar and activist!
African societies celebrate the ascendancy of seniors for having accomplished all they could in their lifetime. The ascendancy of Dr. Hilliard-Nunn in her prime, however, has jolted and left the university, and the community with a huge void and a collective ache. Our heartfelt condolences to her spouse, UF Professor of Law, Kenneth Nunn and daughters Foluke and Dayo, her mother Patsy Jo Hilliard, her siblings Robi Hilliard Herron and Hakim Hilliard. Nonetheless the imprint she has left is like an eternal flame. She will forever glow through her many accomplishments, the memories and how she impacted each of us in a unique and positive way. She has left many examples for us to emulate. No doubt she is already performing some higher activism in the company of distinguished ancestors including Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Dorothy Heights, Mwalimu (teacher) Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Wangari Maathai and John Lewis. “Hamba kahle lala kahle, Sis.” “Go well, sleep well, my sister.” (Sesotho).