Fergus Area College Foundation Reception and Bigwood Lecture - Frances Rice

Lieutenant Colonel Frances Rice, United States Army, Retired is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and retired from the Army in 1984 after 20 years of active service. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Drury College in 1973, a Masters of Business Administration from Golden Gate University in 1976, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1977. In 2005, she became a co-founder and Chairman of the National Black Republican Association.

Frances Rice is a Screenwriter, Director and Executive Producer with Block Starz Music Television LLC. The studio is best known for its documentary film, Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood, that was nominated for a Black Reel Award as the Outstanding Independent Documentary by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film. She is an alumnus of ScreenwritingU, based in Hollywood, and is represented as a screenwriter by Hollywood-based Accelerate Entertainment.

At the 2016 Bigwood Lecture she will lead us through her life's journey. The Bigwood Lecture is free for all to attend and is meant as a way to recognize engaged leaders and citizen participation and make us each think how we can become more engaged.

Other events are currently being scheduled in the community around Frances Rice's time in Fergus Falls.

Some interesting information about Frances:

• Education - Juris Doctorate from University of California, Master of Bus Admin from Golden Gate University, Bachelor of Science from Drury College in MO.
• Military Career - going from a Private in the Women's Army Corps in 1964 to retiring as a lawyer and Lieutenant Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps twenty years later in 1984. Awarded Legion of Merit for her years of service.
• African-American - Accorded the distinction of being one of America's top 100 Black Business and Professional Women by the editorial board of Dollars and Sense magazine.
• Film - Screenwriter, Director and Executive Producer with Block Starz Music Television LLC. The studio is best known for its documentary film, Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood, that was nominated for a Black Reel Award as the Outstanding Independent Documentary by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film. 
• Political Activism - Frances Rice's great-great-grandparents were slaves.  She spent her formative years in poverty in the segregated South during the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. She suffered personally from discrimination in the Democrat-controlled South and while in High School participated in civil rights protests. Frances became politically active in 1982 and served as a member of President Ronald Reagan's Private Sector Initiatives Task Force.  She worked as a volunteer in the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, as well as Florida Governors Jeb Bush and Rick Scott.