‘Freedom Is Worth Struggle’: Bonnie Thornton Dill Accepts the University of Maryland’s Highest Honor

Editor’s note: In September 2025, the University of Maryland awarded Ms. scholar and feminist leader Bonnie Thornton Dill the President’s Medal, the university’s highest honor. The award recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the intellectual, social, and cultural life of Maryland.” Thornton Dill—professor emerita and former dean of the College of Arts and Humanities—delivered the following remarks upon receiving the medal. Her words speak powerfully to this moment of both backlash and resilience in the struggle for equity, justice and community.

Remarks by Bonnie Thornton Dill

Upon receipt of the President’s Medal, Sept. 17, 2025 (revised Oct. 7, 2025)

Thank you for this extraordinary honor. Thanks to my family and friends who have joined me today, and those who are not present but here in spirit—especially the ancestors. Their legacy, among other things, is a faith deeply rooted in the survival, resilience and determination of Black people. It is a faith that gives me hope and confidence that freedom is worth struggle, and that love and care for others in community is the essence of life.

My thoughts upon receiving this honor are captured in the words of Pulitzer Prize-winner and Illinois poet laureate Gwendolyn Brooks. Her poem “Paul Robesoni” concludes:

we are each other’s
harvest:
we are each other’s
business:
we are each other’s
magnitude and bond.

I accept this award today taking Brooks’ words as a call to action for those of us striving to enact values of equity and social justice—values that have guided my scholarship, my leadership and my career.

When I joined the women’s studies faculty in 1991, I immediately found myself in a campus-wide community actively engaged in broadening the scope of higher education. Here, I found colleagues and friends whose scholarship unearthed and created new knowledge about people whose voices and experiences had been historically excluded. The energy generated by meeting new people, encountering innovative ideas, and creating new infrastructures was electrifying. I knew at once that I had come to a very special place.

I left a tenured appointment in sociology to expand my research in the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of women’s studies. I knew I was joining a team of feminist scholars who were building one of the top departments in the nation.

Upon arrival, I met an exceptionally strong group of Black studies scholars, many of them women, investigating race, gender, class and sexuality from a broad range of intellectual perspectives. Together, we extended and enhanced what is now known as intersectionality—the analytical approach revealing how systems of power create privilege for some groups and oppression for others. Rooted in equity and justice, intersectional ideas have inspired and informed my work as a scholar, administrator and leader.

In this fertile soil, I’ve grown as a teacher, scholar and leader. I’ve been given opportunities to influence structures, policies and programs both locally and nationally—and the space to experiment, learn and advance. It has been a remarkable journey.

I see this honor as a powerful indicator of the impact of the values and actions that have informed my work and that of my colleagues. In these times, it might have been easier—or safer—to give this institution’s highest honor to some other deserving recipient. After all, much of my life’s work is under assault. Women’s and gender studies departments are being eliminated nationwide. Concepts that best express my scholarship have been targeted for censorship. Many of the books and sources that inform or cite my work have been banned. Continuing struggle and strategic action are essential if the ideals that I and so many others have championed are to be reestablished.

Unfortunately, this backlash follows a familiar pattern in American history: Advancements in racial and social justice have always been met with what historian Carol Anderson describes as “a formidable array of policy assaults and legal contortions to punish” and reverse such progress.

I am, therefore, especially appreciative of the local climate and deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to make a few meaningful contributions to this state’s flagship university. I am humbled and gratified that the committee recommended me for this award and that the president chose to honor me in this way. It shows, more powerfully than words can express, why I feel so blessed to have been part of—and to have contributed to—this community.

My work here has reinforced my belief that naming and acting out our shared values is essential to the work of social justice and equity. Community building itself is resistance—resistance that challenges ignorance and erasure.

As we face the future, I urge us to heed Gwendolyn Brooks’ insight: Our collective voices are most powerful in a community that nurtures the contributions of all members, harvests them to conduct our business collaboratively, and through that challenging process, creates bonds so strong they magnify our strength and the impact of our mission.

Again, thank you for this honor.