Yasmine Ware, a University of Mississippi junior and finalist for a Truman Scholarship, visits the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Ware interned with the House Committee on Homeland Security in 2023. Submitted photo
Junior Yasmine Ware to interview for award this month
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation has named a University of Mississippi junior as a finalist for this year’s Harry S. Truman Scholarships.
The foundation selected Yasmine Ware, from Madison, from a pool of more than 700 applicants from 288 institutions nationwide. If chosen, she will become the university’s 20th Truman scholar and will receive $30,000 toward furthering her education.
“My passion is not only telling stories but protecting them,” she said. “If I’m awarded the Truman, that would give me the skills to do it from local, national and international levels, especially for communities that don’t always get to speak for themselves or tell their stories the way they want them to be told.
“Storytelling is the way that we understand ourselves and society. It’s an avenue toward understanding identity. It’s much bigger than just ‘Listen to this story and enjoy it.’ It’s a way to understand your place in the world.”
Ware is an interdisciplinary studies major with concentrations in international studies, Chinese and global security. She wants to use her passion for storytelling to bring communities together in Mississippi and around the globe, said Whitney Woods, assistant director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement.
“Yasmine’s goal is to make lasting systemic change through amplifying the voices of those who are overlooked and marginalized to preserve cultural heritage and influence global peace efforts,” she said.
“She truly embodies what it means to be a Truman Scholar through diligent and personal commitment to serving communities through her passion for cultural heritage in Mississippi and across the world.”
Ware will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to participate in regional interviews for the award on Wednesday (March 19).
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation offers the annual award as a memorial to the United States’ 33rd president. The scholarships are merit-based awards granted to students who are committed to careers in government or public service.
Recipients receive funding for graduate or professional school, participate in leadership development programs and get opportunities for internships and employment within the federal government.
“Yasmine is deeply committed to listening to and raising the stories of others to make meaningful community and global change,” Woods said.
Ware is a Stamps Scholar and president of the Undergraduate Black Law Student Association, as well as a member of the Associated Student Body. Her podcast, Yasmine’s Warehouse, won a New York Times podcast contest in 2021. The winning episode, “OREOntation,” is available in classrooms nationwide as part of the New York Times Learning Network.
Ware served as a congressional intern in the summer of 2023, when she worked on the House Committee on Homeland Security. She also studied abroad in Switzerland and Austria, where she learned about nuclear disarmament and liberation through her work with the United Nations.
In her most recent work, Ware has told the story of Mound Bayou, the first all African American town in America. As the inaugural winner of the James H. Meredith Community Transformation Award, which helped fund the project, Ware spent more than a year studying the Mississippi town and chronicling the stories of those who live there in her documentary series, “The Mound Bayou Memoirs.”
“My parents are from the Delta, and they never knew this story,” she said. “That’s why I think storytelling is so important. It can change the way you see the world and yourself. That’s why I want to amplify stories like Mound Bayou around the world, because we’re so much more than the stereotype the world makes of us.
“People have invested in me and helped me articulate my passions, and that’s what I want to do.”
By Clara Turnage
