The James and Henrietta Payton Next Generation Scholarship…

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – Dr. George Washington Carver

Building an intelligentsia is serious work requiring not only a plan for tackling current problems, but also a vision for shaping the future. Thank you for supporting a CWSC Scholarship.

The James and Henrietta Payton Next Generation Scholarship is awarded annually to a graduating, college bound high school senior, current undergraduate or graduate student who exemplifies a strong commitment to educational excellence and community service as demonstrated by superior academic achievement and community involvement. 

The Scholarship is established in honor of the late Mr. & Mrs. James and Henrietta Payton who while themselves being denied access to educational opportunities in the State of Texas because of their ethnicity, nevertheless struggled against all odds to ensure their four daughters would have a better educational opportunity. 

Mr. & Mrs. Payton, formerly cotton field laborers in the same plantation area of their slave ancestors, toiled for meager wages in the fields for years until they saved enough to finally move the family to California to help their children access education in a state with a more liberal climate and less discrimination.

Leaving behind their extended family, they left in the still of a hot summer’s night in rickety transport that was as much a test of their faith as their belief in the family’s pending future. With what little they had and after getting waylaid along the way with breakdowns and repairs, they finally arrived just in time for the start of the school year.

That fateful night that began their journey to California and the many days and nights that followed, along with constant reminders and actual nightly family lectures emphasizing that mediocrity and hence failure were not options for the Payton girls, led to a brighter future generation. Mr. and Mrs. Payton told their daughters, ‘the stakes were too high’…that they had to get an education and prepare themselves to take their place as new citizens with new opportunities and that they were the new generation upon which future generations rested their hopes.

Mr. & Mrs. Payton lived to see all their daughters walk across the stage and graduate at a level they as parents had only dreamed of.

The Payton Next Generation Scholarship seeks to recognize and assist today’s students who hold close to the Payton’s ideals that through faith, patience and hard work, nothing shall stand in the way of a good education.

Submitted by the Payton Family Scholarship coordinator, A’isha Kareem, Ph.D., daughter of James and Henrietta Payton.

Click here for Scholarship Requirements.

Help us help deserving students. Click on the donate button below to make a convenient and secure single time or recurring tax deductible contribution today to the Payton Next Generation Scholarship and/or include the Scholarship in your estate plan.  CWSC Scholarships…investing in tomorrow’s leaders today.

Help us help more students afford a higher education while simultaneously preserving cultural heritage. Read about the MAP Program to learn how you can preserve your family’s cultural heritage and history through nationally supported tax deductible college scholarships!