PEMBROKE — Former Bladen County resident Sylvia Baugham Banks was greeted in a “homecoming celebration” at UNC-Pembroke during the Martin Luther King celebration on Jan. 18.
As the keynote speaker of the MLK event, Banks reminisced about her challenges, perseverance, and goals while encouraging the UNCP student body to follow their dreams. The warm reception by the students and staff of the UNCP Office of Diversity/Inclusion will always remain a highlight of the event.
Banks, the daughter of the late Arneta Holloway Baugham and the late G.C. Baugham of Blanch, was born in Lumberton and raised in Elizabethtown. She is the first black graduate of UNCP, earning a bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1969.