Posse Miami Honors Education Pioneer Ruth Greenfield

In October, Posse Miami held its third annual Power of 10 event, which recognizes the transformative power of a Posse of 10 Scholars and celebrates diversity, equity and leadership in higher education and the workforce. This year’s event acknowledged Posse supporters and honored Ruth W. Greenfield for her contributions to the Miami education system.

A gifted musician, composer, concert pianist and a devoted teacher for over 60 years, Ruth founded Florida’s first interracial school for the arts in 1951 when one of her most talented students, a young man from Overtown named James Ford, was denied access to musical recitals because he was African-American. She called public attention to the discriminatory practices of the music teachers association and, for the next 25 years, provided arts education to children from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds.

 “The courage and fortitude of pioneers like Ruth inspires me as an individual and is so well aligned with our social justice mission as an organization,” says Posse Miami Director Nadine Dalrymple.

The evening’s celebration was proudly sponsored by Capital Group, Greenberg Traurig, The Grover-Watson Family, KPMG, Berger Singerman P.A., Michael Peacock, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Sabrina R. Ferris, Tobacco Road and Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin, P.A.

With leaders from Miami’s corporate, civic, education and philanthropic communities in attendance, Bank of America presented Posse Miami with a $100,000 award in support of the program.

"This year's Power of 10 truly captured the Posse spirit,” says Posse Miami Advisory Board member Joanna Grover-Watson. “There was such a strong sense of connection and fellowship in the room, which is what Posse is all about."

Speaking about her experience as a Scholar, Vanderbilt Posse alumna Ethel Jones told attendees, “Posse gave me the power of a family, the power of leadership, the power of friendship and the power of education.”  

Posse Miami would like to thank the Power of 10 captains whose leadership made this event a success: Tom Avazian, David Black, Sabrina Ferris, Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz, Joanna Grover-Watson, Eleni P. Kalisch, Michael Peacock, José Tomas and Jean-Pierre Trouillot.