By Gail H. Marshall Brown, Ph.D.,
Contributing Writer,
In observance of Women’s History Month and to celebrate the often-overlooked heroines who have shaped our communities, The Mississippi Link shines one of its spotlights on Gloria Carter Dickerson, who is considered by many as a true changemaker in the Mississippi Delta.
“I have known her for at least 10 years or more,” said Director of Television Studio/MVSU Mass Communication Instructor Alfonzo White. “Ms. Dickerson is a seriously community-minded person who has dedicated her life’s work to helping youth and [to] public service.”
Born into an “impoverished family of sharecroppers” (mycnote.com), Dickerson’s life is a testament to resilience, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to her community. In 2015, she made history when she was elected to the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors (District 5) as the second woman to be elected. Then in January 2024, she became the first woman president of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors.
Currently, she is also the founder and CEO of We2gether Creating Change, a non-profit organization that has as its mission: to transform Sunflower County and the surrounding Delta communities from a place of struggle to one of opportunity and hope. Through We2gether Creating Change, she mobilizes residents to build a brighter future, much like her mother did decades before.
Dickerson grew up in a household that broke racial barriers. According to her biography, “In 1965, her parents, Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter, alongside their seven children, became the first Black family in Sunflower County to sign the “freedom of choice” papers, desegregating the Drew public school system.”
Their fight against segregation, which is documented in books such as “Silver Rights” and “The School Is Not White,” and in the documentary “The Intolerable Burden,” paved the way for more educational equity in Sunflower County.
That history-making activism for equal education helped shape Dickerson’s own education and career paths. She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., and an MBA from Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss. She became a certified public accountant.
Her financial expertise earned her a position with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich., where she served as controller before relocating back to Mississippi to become program director for Kellogg’s Mid-South Delta Initiative, an effort aimed at economic and community development.
Before Kellogg, she was vice president of financial operations for MINACT, Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi.
Even after retiring from Kellogg in 2009, Dickerson remained devoted to fostering growth and opportunity in the Mississippi Delta. “It was after retiring from Kellogg that I saw the need to help my community by establishing We2Together,” Dickerson recently told The Mississippi Link. “Being blessed to establish We2Together Creating Change is one of the proudest things that I have done.”
Her leadership goes beyond politics. She established the Mae Bertha Carter Learning Center in 2017, where she and her staff empower youth and adults through life skills training, health education, career readiness and African American history programs. The center is among the programs and services listed under the non-profit’s umbrella.
In fact, there is a page on its website dedicated in memory of her mother and the works her mother did to pave the way for her children and others. (https://www.we2gether.org/maeberthacarter)
Like her mother, ensuring that students get a good education is one of her main priorities. “I speak about the significance of getting a good education wherever I go,” Dickerson stressed. She did just that when she spoke to the students in one of White’s broadcasting classes at MVSU.
Dickerson’s awards and accolades are numerous. On June 15, 2022, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) announced her among 50 recipients of its Black Women Impact grants program. The program is a part of Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women initiative to fund Black women-led and Black women-serving nonprofits. The grants ranged from $50,000 to $250,000 over two years, according to goldmansachs.com
Back in 2014, she was recognized as a Purpose Prize Fellow by Encore.org, which has since changed its name to CoGenerate to collaborate with the younger generations “to solve our nation’s most pressing problems” (cogenerate.org).
The aforementioned are just of few of the awards and accolades she shared.
Today, alongside her husband Donald and their son Deidrick, she continues to embody the legacy of unsung heroines like her mother, ensuring that progress and empowerment remain at the heart of the Mississippi Delta’s future.
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