Grants for African American Women Interested in Getting a Master's Degree

Many degree-specific and life experiences-based grants are available to African American woman. Whether you are obtaining a masters in the humanities or in a scientific field, there are many grants which can help defray some educational costs.

Grants for the Humanities and Education
The Abafazi-Africana Women's Studies Essay Award provides $400 to an undergraduate or graduate-level African American woman in the field of women's studies. There are also grants for those interested in other areas of the humanities. For instance, the National Coalition for Independent Scholars website provides information on various grants including a Guggenheim Fellowship for advanced professionals in a variety of areas including the creative arts and humanities. The National Endowment for the Humanities also provides money for arts-related projects. For those interested in education, the Lydia Donaldson Tutt-Jones Memorial Research Grant is a grant awarded to African American graduate students, regardless of gender, to study the qualities of successful African Americans. The grant was named after Florida educator who brought teachers from around the country to teach in her school district. The grant seeks to improve the lives of African Americans by increasing positive behaviors which lead to success in the Black community. The grant is for $3,000 and the research project is meant to last a year. Participants study areas like parental involvement in education and academic performance in primary and secondary schools, which may lead to better understandings of how to increase academic success among African American students.

Grants for the Sciences
The Ford Foundation Fellowship Program aims to increase the diversity of American college and university faculty by providing grants for future professors. In doing so they financially support students working on their dissertations, or who are at the pre-doctoral or postdoctoral level of their education. The National Physical Science Consortium gives grants to woman interested in getting graduate degrees in geology, chemistry, biochemistry and related areas.

Grants Based on Life Experiences
African American women who are the surviving spouse of a solider who died or became missing in action (MIA) can apply for a grant sponsored by the Veterans Affairs Administration. The grants may be up to $31,275 dollars. The money may be used for not only getting a degree but also for on-the-job training, a certificate program, apprenticeships as well as other types of training. A maximum of 45 months of education may be supported by this program. Raise the Nation is a not-for-profit organization which provides educational grants to single mothers, as well. The money is used for women who want to return to school or continue their education. The organization also offers scholarships for children of a single mother who want to attend college. For female students who have been out of school for at least five years, the clothing retailer Talbots offers $1,000 and $10,000 scholarships annually. Additionally, the American Association of University Women have grants for women seeking to advance their career by returning to school after completing a bachelor's degree.
See the links after the article to get more information about these grant opportunities.

http://oedb.org/grant/african-american
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/FordFellowships/index.htm
http://oedb.org/grant/single-mothers
http://www07.grants.gov/search/agency.do
http://www.raisethenation.org/
http://www.ncis.org/funding.asp
http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/pdf/Awards_09Dec_Pt1_ALtoKY.pdf
http://www.aauw.org/education/fga/fellows_directory/index.cfm