By Janice K. Neal-Vincent, Ph.D.,
Contributing Writer,
When you come in contact with Malena Winfrey Dow, you’re bound to see a woman who has a wealth of knowledge and shares it in a variety of ways. You’re bound to find her putting you at ease with her natural motivational tactics in her strides to communicate effectively, despite the topic of conversation. She’s that kind of person.
Her heartfelt “warmth” generates positive images that make the “soul” of humanity a wonderful resting place. In that place, you converse because you’re invited to the table that makes you a key player. You’re in the perfect spot for open-mindedness to take control and bring you both to a utopia of admiration and respect.
Malena Winfrey Dow is a 2025 Women’s History Month honoree with character, confidence and resilience. Her compassionate spirit exceeds that of many. The school of life has been generous to her. It has also taught her how to weather the storms that have bounced her way.
What made this woman the woman that she has become? “My parents and family instilled in me that I was smart, and they expected me to succeed. Though [formerly] uneducated, they were industrious. They believed in God, first of all, and that every person should do the best he/she could to achieve and not to depend on others to take care of him/her,” said the woman from Kilmichael, MS who has resided in Jackson many years with her husband, Robert Dow (deceased) and together, raised their two adult sons.
Malena Winfrey Dow, her brother, and sister (who died of breast cancer at a young age) were taught many lessons of life from family members on both their mother’s side and their father’s side. “On each side, they were hard workers. There were also four school teachers on my daddy’s side,” she voiced.
The honoree says she was four-years-old when she started school. “There was a lot that I already knew. I had good teachers. Continuing to progress in the learning process, she was appalled to see when she was in the seventh grade that “a person in an authoritative position was cursing” the oldest student in the class and quipped, “I don’t care what your mammy and daddy would do. I got mine! You got to get yours!”
The witness vowed from that appalling incident, that she would never pattern after that teacher’s behavior. “When I was in line to get my B.S. degree from College Park Auditorium (now the McCoy Auditorium) at Jackson State, she was in line getting the same degree as mine. She evaded me.” What, then, did the honoree learn? She discovered that she could overcome obstacles with focused positivity.
“Mrs. Dow is an intellectual genius because she has done a rare quality of making a country boy like me and shaping and molding me into a confident and competent communicator. She saw in me [the things] I couldn’t see in myself when I was a 17-year-old young man coming to the university and impacted me to go around the world and engage at every level: the humility to engage in people at the lowest level and at the same time to not be afraid to engage with government officials and business corporate leaders,” claimed Dr. Isaac D. Thompson (ID), a former student.
Thompson further commented, “I’m leading a very prosperous nonprofit organization that’s doing really great things because of Mrs. Dow. One of the proudest moments of my life was for her to adopt me as her son, and that’s a reflection of her love for Christ. The heart of a Christian woman is her core being, and we get all the fruit of her genuine personality and laughter.”
Thompson reminisced about being a speech major at Jackson State which was (JSC) when he was a student: “The faculty set some standards and modeled those standards and held [us] to them.” He stated that the honoree’s Oral Interpretation class taught him three most profound concepts: individuality, universality, and suggestion “that compelled me… when you apply them to the craft, you’re doing something, [not just performing].” It must “last” or “linger” a while.
Like Dr. Thompson, I have fond memories of Malena Winfrey Dow. When I became the first speech scholarship major, I had an opportunity to see her for the first time. I loved the way she taught us. She made learning fun, yet challenging, and she knew how to get us involved. She referenced me as her “star student,” and I wanted to talk like she talked. From her I learned the art of performance and how to deliver the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech with fervor. When I was teaching at Northern Illinois University, she contacted me about coming to JSU for an interview. I had just returned to Northern from a school break and took another flight back to Jackson, the place where I grew up, for the interview. At the end of the school year, I resigned my teaching job at Northern and started teaching in the highly held esteem Department of Speech and Dramatic Art. I found the honoree to be a genuine colleague with integrity, and to this day, I have that same point of view.
Spanning into time is Dr. Mark G. Henderson (JSU professor and founder/director of MADDRAMA) who recalls bright moments with the honoree. “As a little, very unguided boy from Canton, Miss. [with very limited vision], I was very excited [to learn from Mrs. Dow]. A lot of the MADDRAMA I got from her, and that opened up a lot of literary greats like Claude McKay, Langston Hughes (who I knew about but I got a chance to dig deeply into him), Naomi Long Maggett and Micki Grant. I took an organizational communication class from Mrs. Dow and did effective communication theory workshops [based upon her influence],” he added.
Mary Collier, state president of Forward Lookers (an affiliate of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.), commented, “The honoree is a woman of her word. If she has an opinion, she speaks it with authority. She’s always encouraging and uplifting. If she tells you that she’s going to do something, you can count on her doing it. She also believes strongly in honoring people who deserve to be honored for their noble contributions to society.”
Well-rounded in community affairs, the revered woman was asked if she considered the upcoming mayoral election for the City of Jacson a priority. She responded: “Yes, because we need to look and see how much we have achieved in Jackson physically…We see when we look back, where we made strides in the Civil Rights Movement as we worked hard to achieve educationally, economically, and [now] see the physical deterioration taking place. People in positions of responsibility must realize that they are servants. Our people worked hard to prove that they were worthy of that responsibility that they have been given [but they don’t appear to have any idea of how to get things done].”
Proceeding with her concern, the esteemed woman of wisdom asserted, “There was a time when the city would call and tell you to repair neglected houses, and now nobody seems to care. It seems as if we have been abandoned. The mayor needs to be somebody who cares about the city and bring forth the right team.”
Malena Winfrey Dow brought back to the City of Jackson her Midwestern learning experiences with a master’s in speech from Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) to the halls of high schools and Institutions of Higher Learning, churches, social events, and other outings. Her love of teaching pours into the hearts and minds of many from all walks of life. The “youth” and the “aging” in her rest with many who are appreciative of her feistiness, her dedication, her love of human dignity, her independence, and her strides to be a faithful steward in what God Almighty has given her.
“It is our advantage to do the best that we can, and be the best that we can be in whatever situation we find ourselves. It’s also important to encourage others to be the best that they can be in whatever they are doing. [Then] we can all be winners to help each other,” said the woman of the month.
Malena Winfrey Dow retired from Jackson State University as a speech professor in 1989 (the year that I returned from leave, having earned by doctorate at Ohio University as “The Most Outstanding Scholar in Speech Communication Studies)” and served as a lecturer and speech faculty member at Tougaloo College. She served as a community activist in the Arts Center, Planetarium, NAACP and Jackson Library System.
Past President of Forward Lookers, she is a professional writer, public speaker, leader and mentor. We are fortunate to have her in our midst.
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