Three ambitious sisters who are all at different stages in their life, have all passed through Tuskegee University‘s gates! Jamilah, Hadiyah and Ayannah Page, two of whom have also gone to other institutions, value what their HBCU experience has given them as a foundation for their futures. Get the full story from Alyssa Wilson and BNC. TV below.
Ayannah, Hadiyah and Jamilah Page all graduated in 2021 and they are ready to take the world by storm. (Photo: Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins)
In 2021, Jamilah, Hadiyah and Ayannah Page, the Page sisters, graduated after displaying academic excellence at various institutions. All of them are Tuskegee alumnae who are now ready to show the world what Black excellence looks like in their respective fields.
Jamilah, the eldest of the trio, received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition sciences and dietetics. Now, she has a Ph.D. from Auburn University. Hadiyah, the middle sister, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2019 before obtaining her Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The youngest of the three, Ayannah, graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a concentration in biology.
The sisters celebrated their 2021 graduations on social media, noting their parents “understood the assignment.” Ayannah said education was highly valued in their family. “I feel like our mom, well both of our parents, really valued education. But our mom, especially because her mom graduated with her Juris doctorate at 66 years old. So our grandma was very influential in teaching us the importance of education,” she said.
Although their father passed away when they were young, they still feel his impact. “Our father passed away when we were little, so he didn’t have the chance to teach us too much about [education], but while he was here, I did feel like he was influential in instilling those values in us,” Ayannah said.
For Hadiyah, it’s about the spirit of resilience and the example her parents set for them. “Not only did my mom understand the assignment when it came to modeling and being a good example for her children, but she also understood that hey, they need a mother that shares values that I would like for them to understand,” she said, citing the lessons of preparedness and being hardworking.
Tuskegee University, a private historically Black university in Tuskegee, Alabama, also played a role in the Page sisters and their success. As women born and raised in Alabama like their parents, attending the institution seemed like a no-brainer.
“I could not have gone to a [predominately white institution] without an HBCU,” Jamilah said. Citing her experiences at Auburn, she was often the only Black person in her classes. As she strived to get her Ph.D., she often found many of her white counterparts were shocked she was aiming so high. “I had to kind of assert myself on why I’m here and I was confident in myself because of where I came from. I was confident in what I could do because I was pushed so hard at Tuskegee.”
For Ayannah, it was about being in a place where she wasn’t just tolerated but celebrated. “Being in that type of environment helps to cultivate young students into believing in themselves,” she said. “I feel like HBCUs help you to see different types of Black people.”
(Credit: Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins)
The influence Tuskegee had on Hadiyah was similar. When she was a rising senior at the institution, she had the unique opportunity to conduct research at Penn State. She was the only Black person in the room during the program orientation. Rocking her Tuskegee shirt, natural locs and her Black pride, she stood firmly and introduced herself to the group. “That moment set the tone for the rest of the summer because I knew that moment I made myself felt and there was a standard I had to uphold,” she said.
The support from Tuskegee was not just motivational, but it also came in the form of financial contributions. “They also taught me that I’m so worth the investment,” Jamilah said, reflecting on the fact that a dean paid her remaining balance every semester because he believed in her.
When Ayannah was applying to colleges, she wanted to follow the money to avoid crippling student loan debt. Her 4.2 GPA and 28 on the ACT didn’t get her a significant scholarship at other institutions. Tuskegee offered her more, and at an open house, an academic advisor said he’d take care of her. “He told me not to worry about the ACT and that he had scholarship money for me and that I wasn’t going to have to pay anything,” she said. “That really encouraged me and also made me feel like I was appreciated and worth the investment.”
The year 2021 and their newly acquired degrees are just the beginning for the Page sisters. They are off to change the world across the United States and beyond. Jamilah has accepted a position as an assistant professor of nutrition with a tenure track at Berea College. She also has an interest in community gardens and their impact on wellness.
Hadiyah, a former Albert Schweitzer fellow, conducts mindfulness courses with students who have experienced trauma at Impact Family Counseling. In the fall, she’s heading to medical school at the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados.
The story and untimely death of Freddie Gray still sends chills through our spines. Now students who attended Gray’s high school will be supported in attending Baltimore HBCU Coppin State University through new a scholarship! Get the full story from Lillian Reed, who covers education for The Baltimore Sun in the story below.
Freddie’s Sister Fredericka Gray (Left) with Coppin State University President Anthony Jenkins (Right) (Credit: The Baltimore Sun)
Coppin State University has created a scholarship named for Freddie Gray that benefits graduates of his alma mater, Carver Vocational Technical High School in Baltimore.
Gray’s sister, Fredericka, joined Coppin State officials on campus Tuesday to announce the scholarship. Gray’s death in 2015 from injuries suffered in police custody sparked days of unrest in Baltimore and drew national attention to the policing of Black communities.
The scholarship was created after an alumnus contacted the school with the idea to offer financial aid in Gray’s name with his family’s permission, Coppin State President Anthony Jenkins said. Local organization Philanthropik helped facilitate the discussions and a $25,000 donation from McDonalds to the fund.
University officials say the scholarship will be awarded to a graduate or graduates of Carver’s class of 2022. Organizers said they still were working out details about the scholarship program, such as how many students will benefit and whether it will continue after this year.
Credit: The Family of Freddie Gray
Fredericka said it was good to see her brother’s name attached to the Baltimore community. Gray lived about a mile from the Coppin State campus.
“I think it’s real nice that someone is giving back to the community that we grew up in,” she said.
Jenkins hopes the scholarship will build more opportunities for students in surrounding communities and solidify the university’s role as an anchor institution in Baltimore.
“This is about the young people and the opportunities they’re going to have leaving Carver and where they get to go,” Jenkins said.
The 8 remarkable women chosen are Tracee Ellis Ross, Robin Roberts, Ruth E. Carter, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Erivo, Alice Walker, Ursula M. Burns, Debra Martin Chase!
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. announced its 2021 honorary members today, and the list is full of flourishing black women. The 8 women chosen are well known, with decades of accomplishments that span industries in sports, cinema, plays, music, reporting, costume design, and writing. In fact, there is at least one Tony Award, Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Award, WNBA MVP Award, and Pulitzer Prize among these women!
Credit: Bossip
Tracee Ellis Ross is notably known for her acting roles in the T.V. show Girlfriends, which ran for 8 seasons, and Black-ish, which has run for 7 seasons. She has also worked extensively in modeling, singing, hosting, producing, and directing.
Robin Roberts is a renowned television broadcaster and entrepreneur. She’s anchored ABC’s Good Morning America, which has won 4 Emmys, for years even despite a harrowing breast cancer diagnosis. She also was a sportscaster on ESPN for over a decade. Always multi-talented, Roberts attended Southeastern Louisiana University, where she graduated cum laude and was inducted into its Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Robert’s late mother, Lucimarian Roberts, attended Howard University and is also a member of AKA.
Ruth E. Carter is an Oscar-winning television and film costume designer. Carter, who graduated from Hampton University, has almost 70 credits to her name including classics like Black Panther, B.A.P.S., and Coming 2 America. Her ability to master required different looks has lead to her becoming the first-ever costume designer to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
Lisa Leslie is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA. She is a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts. She is a three-time WNBA MVP winner, as well as a four-time Olympic gold medal winner, and professional Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Leslie was also the first-ever player to dunk in a WNBA game.
Cynthia Erivo is an accomplished singer who has acted in film, television, and on Broadway. She is one award away from becoming a rare EGOT winner (a person who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). She won a Grammy, Tony, and Emmy Award for her Broadway role in The Color Purple. She has been Oscar-nominated for her performance as Harriet Tubman in “Harriet” and another for co-writing song “Stand Up,” on the film’s soundtrack.
Alice Walker is a novelist, writer, poet, and activist. You can say she helped Cynthia Erivo reach her near-EGOT status, as Walker wrote best-selling novel The Color Purple. For that work, she won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for hardcover fiction.
Ursula M. Burns an accomplished executive who made history at the Xerox Corporation by becoming the first Black woman who served as CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Initially joining Xerox as an intern, Burns seved as chairman and CEO of Xerox, both for 7 years.
Debra Martin Chase is the first Black female producer to ink an overall deal at any major Hollywood studio. She has executive-produced the Cheetah Girls, Courage Under Fire, the documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dreamand more!
According to an official Instagram post by AKA, the women “join an international sisterhood of more than 300,000 members across the globe who are committed to service to all mankind.”
Florida A&M University has found its leader in financial affairs in W. Rebecca Brown! Recently, the university experienced a resignation in the position, but they were happy to find Brown, an alumna who’s spent over 20 years perfecting her craft. Learn about the woman that FAMU President Larry Robinson is happy to announce in the FAMU Forward article by Andrew Skerritt below.
Florida A&M University (FAMU) President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., has announced the resignation of Alan Robertson, Ed.D., as chief financial officer (CFO)/vice president (VP) for Finance and Administration, and the appointment of W. Rebecca Brown as interim CFO/VP for Finance and Administration.
Credit: FAMU Forward
“I want to thank Dr. Robertson for his contributions to FAMU during his tenure,” Robinson said. “I also want to welcome and thank Ms. Rebecca Brown for agreeing to serve as the interim CFO and vice president of Finance and Administration.”
A FAMU alumna, Brown has filled various senior roles during her 22-year tenure with the University. Most recently, she has been assistant vice president for Finance and Administration in charge of Business & Auxiliary Services. In that role, Brown provides oversight of Dining, Bookstore, Rattler Card, Business Center, Snack Vending, Drink Vending, Laundry and Commercial Solicitation. She was responsible for more than 150 staff and contracted personnel and a consolidated operating budget of about $33 million.
“Serving Florida A&M University is a privilege I do not take lightly. This appointment to interim CFO and vice president for Finance and Administration is a monumental undertaking, and I am honored that President Robinson has placed his confidence in me. I will continue to represent the University to the absolute best of my ability,” said Brown, who received a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration from FAMU.
Robertson joined FAMU on January 1, 2020, with more than 30 years of senior and professional leadership experience, most recently as senior vice president and CFO of Morehouse College.
A Maryland high school graduate with a life full of achievements will be welcomed into Morgan State University in the fall! Olivia Carter hasn’t missed a day of school since kindergarten, earned a 4.2 GPA, and more! Learn about the all-star heading to Morgan State in the CBS Baltimore article by Rachel Menitoff below.
Credit: CBS Baltimore
An outstanding GPA, numerous awards, and 15 college acceptances are just some of the accomplishments of Pikesville High graduate Olivia Carter.
Carter is not one to brag about her accomplishments but her success speaks for itself.
“It was just every day I genuinely enjoyed going to school,” Carter said.
She’s a 2021 graduate of Pikesville High School with a 4.2-grade point average and more than a dozen college acceptances.
“And then I got the emails back, that I had been accepted into all of these colleges, and the first one, I was like super excited. I was like ‘Oh my God, I got accepted,’ and then the rest kept coming in,” Carter said.
She has also done something that no one else in her class was able to do — she hasn’t missed a day of school since kindergarten.
“Never, not one day,” she said.
Even when she injured her toe in elementary school, she put on some comfy shoes and walked herself back to class.
Her dad, Jon Carter, said his daughter’s love of school came naturally.
“She realized every day in school is a learning experience and ‘I do not want to miss a day of that experience.’ That’s what she tells me,” Jon Carter said.
Olivia’s 13-year milestone was recognized as she walked across the stage at her high school graduation. She’s now ushering in a new era as a soon-to-be freshman at Morgan State University.
WJZ Reporter Rachel Menitoff asked Carter: “What are the factors that have played such a significant role in your success?”
“I have a community of people around me that are supporting me and uplifting me, making sure that I know that I am capable of doing everything that I want to set my mind to,” she answered.
Olivia took Advanced Placement psychology at Pikesville High School. She said it inspired her to now minor in psychology with a major in business administration.
Semester after semester, the college classes requiring textbooks can amount to a very costly bill for young students who are often strapped for cash. Luckily, for the undergraduate students coming into Winston-Salem State University this fall, textbooks will be one less thing to pay for! Get the full story on how WSSU is taking care of the tab in the Winston-Salem Journal article by John Newsom below.
Credit: iStock/Fizkes
Undergraduates at Winston-Salem State University won’t have to pay for textbooks this fall.
The university announced Monday that it will cover the cost of all printed and digital textbooks and other course materials for undergraduates for the upcoming fall semester.
That’s an average savings of roughly $650 per student, according to the university’s posted cost of attendance, though textbook prices can vary widely by class and academic major.
The university also said it will give all graduate students a $500 credit to use towards books.
Chancellor Elwood Robinson in a statement called Monday’s announcement “a game-changer” because it covers a significant college expense.
A university spokeswoman said Winston-Salem State might extend the free-textbook offer to the spring semester.
WSSU will cover the expense with a portion of its federal COVID-19 relief funding. The university has received $100 million since early 2020 from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.
The federal government created the fund to help the nation’s colleges and universities weather the pandemic. Institutions have used the money to cover lost revenues, buy personal protection equipment, pay for COVID-19 testing and other pandemic-related expenses and cover the cost of summer classes. The federal government also required institutions to pay out some of the money directly to college students as financial aid.
Roughly a quarter of Winston-Salem State’s HEERF funding went directly to students. The university can decide how to spend the rest with some conditions.
Winston-Salem State is the second area university to announce that it will buy textbooks for its students. N.C. A&T in June said it will cover the cost of instructional materials for its undergraduates for the next two years. It’s also using federal COVID-19 relief funding.
In a related announcement Monday, Winston-Salem State said students will receive all course materials on or before the first day of classes. This new program, called First Day Complete, is a service offered through Barnes & Noble College, which operates the university’s bookstore.
Amid plans for her to be honored on Beale Street in Memphis, the legacy of writer and icon Ida B. Wells is extending into the futures of young students at Rust College, an HBCU that Wells herself once attended! Get the full inspiring story from Hannah Grabenstein in her article on MLK50 below.
Nearly 130 years after Ida B. Wells was forced to leave Memphis when white mobs destroyed her newspaper office, Friday’s unveiling of a statue of the investigative reporter will shine a light on a courageous civil rights figure, an organizer of the event said.
Ida B. Wells documented the circumstances of the killings of Black people by white mobs in the U.S. and was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50.
“Memphis has a chance to say we were wrong and we want to get it right. And we want to honor this (woman), even if it’s posthumously,” said L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., chairman of the Memphis Memorial Committee, which organized the effort to erect the statue in the newly named Ida B. Wells Plaza at Beale and Fourth Streets.
The bronze statue will be unveiled at 11 a.m. Friday on the 159th anniversary of Wells’ birth. It’s the culmination of a little over a year and a half of work by the committee in partnership with the Neshoba Community Resource Center, a community service nonprofit organized by Gray.
The idea for the statue came to Gray in December 2019 in a conversation with the late civil rights activist Miriam DeCosta-Willis. They agreed that “without debate, Ida B. Wells deserves to be honored” with a monument.
The committee commissioned local artist Andrea Lugar and her husband, Larry, to design and create the statue.
The committee’s work, including raising more than $260,000, continued amidst the pandemic. They needed to raise $250,000 for the project, Gray said, and money is still coming in. Some will be used to further develop the plaza; the excess will go to scholarships at Rust College, the historically Black college Wells’ father helped found and that she briefly attended.
The committee also returned a $5,000 donation from Byhalia Pipeline, which killed a proposed project in Southwest Memphis two weeks ago. Gray said he did not think Wells would have supported the crude oil pipeline through Black communities, which vigorously fought it.
‘Ring out injustice’
In a city with deep and tragic civil rights roots, Wells’ legacy is a piece of that story, said Ruby Bright, the Memorial Committee’s honorary co-chair and the president and CEO at the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis.
The corner of Fourth and Beale Streets will soon be the site of Ida B. Wells Plaza. The unveiling of a statue in honor of the pioneering journalist will take place on Friday morning, July 16. Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50
“She made a significant contribution to ring out injustice … I think that there is the linkage of history that connects to the National Civil Rights Museum and the assassination of Dr. King,” she said. In doing so, it’s important to focus on the whole story, including the leadership and courage of both trailblazers, Bright said.
Wells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. When she was nearly 6 months old, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. She dropped out of university at 16 to care for her younger siblings after her parents died in yellow fever outbreaks. They moved to Memphis in 1882.
Two years later, Wells successfully sued a railroad after she refused to give up her first-class ticket and sit in the car for Black passengers. The state Supreme Court later overturned the ruling.
Wells, who was a teacher, began writing about race and politics, and eventually left teaching to become a full-time journalist. After a lynch mob murdered Wells’ friend, People’s Grocery owner Tom Moss, as well as his associates Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart in 1892, she turned her attention to exposing lynching in the South. On May 27 that year, while on a trip away from Memphis, white mobs destroyed her office and equipment. After that, she permanently left the city, moving to Chicago.
She devoted the rest of her life to writing about lynching and fighting for the rights of Black people and women, particularly Black women. She was crucial to the women’s suffrage movement. When white organizers told Black marchers they could not walk together in a 1913 parade in Washington, D.C., Wells refused to march at the back.
The statue, which Gray said is the first in the world of Wells, will not stand alone in the plaza. Joining it will be an antique printing press in honor of Wells’ investigative work, four large plates describing various eras in Wells’ life and an award recognizing her work as a “warrior,” Gray said.
There will also be a memorial to Wells’ three friends who were lynched called the “Tree of Strange Fruit,” which Gray described as a “limb made of copper rods” that leans to the north, a symbol of freedom. The men’s names will hang from the tree.
Statues of Confederate leaders continue to be taken down nationally, but Gray wouldn’t talk about the erection of Wells’ statue in that context.
“It’s meaningful,” he said. But he added, “I do not discuss Ida B. Wells in the same sentence with Confederate statue removal. There’s no comparison.”
Friday’s unveiling will follow a week of events honoring Wells and her legacy, including a Zoom panel today at 5:30 p.m. that includes MLK50: Justice Through Journalism editor and publisher Wendi Thomas, a Thursday pilgrimage to the lynching site and gravesite of the men, and a minister’s workshop that evening entitled “How to Stay Awake in the Midst of a Revolution.”
Before the unveiling, there will be a parade from Main and Beale streets to the unveiling site at Beale and Fourth streets.
When she was growing up, Bright had to seek out information about Wells to learn about her, she said.
“But to have a statue of Ida B. Wells on Beale Street – it just seemed to me a full circle come around to honor her and her legacy. She didn’t get to come back to Memphis and tell her story, and it’s one that is unfortunate and the story that she told was horrific. However, I think young people need to have the opportunity to learn about it.”
Chadé Johnson, daughter of football Hall of Famer Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, is heading to the illustrious Prairie View A&M University after her recent graduation from high school! The future PVAMU Panther will be repping the Class of 2025, and many await the gems she will learn during her HBCU journey!
PVAMU makes complete sense as a choice for Chadé. Although her father Chad Johnson transferred to Oregon State University from Santa Monica college, he consistently shares his admiration for Florida A&M University. As a Florida native, Johnson has shared that he would like to one day be a student and coach at FAMU. The former wide receiver was a second round pick for The Cincinnati Bengals can the 2001 NFL Draft.
Chad has gone to great like to show his children the value of hard work. For example, earlier this year he was in the spotlight for a controversial tweet telling one of his children, who shared that they were looking forward to receiving new expensive Yeezy’s, that they would have to work for it like he did. When asked “How imma get a job and I have school & track practice to attend throughout the day,” Chad was asked. Always a frugal but hard worker, he responded frankly “I caught the bus to school, then went to football practice, caught the bus to McDonald’s for a 6hr shift all while maintaining a 2.2 gpa & being a star athlete.”
However, it’s not that Johnson won’t spoil his daughter. Around Christmastime last year, Ocho Cinco gifted Chadé her first car, a new grey Nissan Altima, among other gifts! Kim Kardashian even sent Chadé a special message on a truck at her graduation party!
Undoubtedly, Chadé is looking forward to her time at Prairie View! The incoming freshman recently posted a graduation photo, sharing that “Now is my time to pursue my purpose!”
Even the team at Prairie View A&M University are looking forward to Chadé attending the university. Chad Johnson tweeted yesterday, “So excited for my daughter,” as he asked whether any PVAMU alums follow him. The university responded to the tweet, adding “Welcome to the Hill, @babyychade!”
Morehouse College alum and civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt has announced his run for Texas Attorney General! The lawyer has worked on key cases related to the murders of Botham Jean, Ahmaud Arbery and more. Learn more about his run in the NewsOne article by Bruce C. T. Wright below.
Credit: Montinique Monroe/Getty
Months after announcing his intentions to run for Texas attorney general, civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt is making good on his promise and officially launched his campaign on Tuesday.
Merritt, running as a Democrat, is also an activist who has played instrumental roles in seeking justice for victims of gun and police violence by notably representing the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson, said he is confident he can beat the incumbent Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — whom he has called “associate of white supremacy and tool of voter suppression” — in a general election.
Merritt is basing his campaign on several urgent pillars, including protecting the right to vote, energy, education, and criminal justice and policing.
A campaign toolkit sent to members of the media made it a point to remind of Paxton’s role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and supporting Donald Trump’s widely debunked claims that he was a victim of election fraud.
“We are up against the worst of the worst,” the toolkit says in part. “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has aligned himself with the most conspiratorial, most Trumpian wing of the Republican party. He refused to join his peers in condemning the January 6th riots, sued to prevent the results of the 2020 presidential election from being certified, and has continued to push the Big Lie in an attempt to strip millions of Texans of their right to vote. He is a threat not only to our democracy but also to the lives of everyday Texans. Instead of cracking down on the energy giants that control power in our state after the power failure of 2020, he did nothing. That’s probably because he takes millions of dollars from energy lobbyists to ensure he stays in power.”
This is Ken Paxton, associate of white supremacy and tool of voter suppression. He has failed the people of Texas and his time is up. https://t.co/coqjBChdzI
Paxton, the current Texas attorney general, was elected in 2014 with overwhelming support from Republican voters. Democrats closed the gap a bit in 2018, but Paxton still won by a few hundred thousand votes despite lingering controversies.
Former Galveston, Texas, Mayor Joe Jaworski, who announced his intent to run for attorney general last September, pointed to Paxton being under investigation for securities fraud. In November, the Texas Tribune reported some of Paxton’s top aides accused him of bribery and abusing his office.
A few weeks after that news broke, Paxton joined in efforts to undermine the 2020 election results. In support of Trump’s big lie, Paxton sued four states making vague allegations in support of a clearly partisan effort to overturn the election.
It’s been 6 years since Sandra Bland‘s death, and in that time her story has unfolded, with many questions still unanswered. However, in that same span of time, the Prairie View A&M University alumna has left a lasting legacy in the U.S. and beyond. Read the beautiful story about Sandra Bland’s reach in the NewsOne article about Bruce C.T. Wright below.
(Credit: Kena Betancur/Getty)
The 28-year-old was driving from her native Illinois to begin a new job at Prairie View A&M University when she was pulled over for a minor moving violation. But what should have been a routine ticketing experience quickly devolved into brutality when State Trooper Brian Encinia failed to de-escalate the encounter, which resulted in Bland being charged with assault.
Dashcam video from Encinia’s cruiser suggested he was the aggressor.
Three days later, on July 13, 2015, Bland’s body was found hanging from her jail cell, where she had been remanded because of an inability to afford a $5,000 bond.
Even though Bland’s death was ruled a suicide, suspicion of officers in the Waller County Jail has lingered as no one has ever been held accountable.
Bland’s death took place amid a spate of controversial police-involved deaths of unarmed Black people, thrusting her name onto a growing list on which no one wants to be.
The WNBA’s Atlanta Dream observe a moment of silence for Sandra Bland before a game in 2020. (Credit: Julio Aguilar/Getty)
Since Bland’s death, her legacy has grown immeasurably. Notably, Texas has reformed its laws surrounding protocol during traffic stops. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot in 2017 signed the Sandra Bland Act into law, which set new mandates for county jails to divert people with mental health and substance abuse issues toward treatment and requires that independent law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths.
The law was recently involved when an inmate was found unresponsive and pronounced dead in his cell at Bexar County Jail on Saturday. In that instance, the local sheriff’s office, as well as the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, were notified of the in-custody death of Michael Rene Johnson — two groups that, prior to the Sandra Bland Act being enacted, may not have been told promptly, or at all, about the incident.
About a thousand Black Lives Matter activists in Brooklyn honored the life of Sandra Bland exactly one year after she died. (Credit: Erik McGregor / Getty)
Bland’s name also lives on with the launch of the brand new Sandra Bland Center for Racial Justice in Austin. When it opened back in May, Bland’s mother explained what the organization wants to accomplish, local news outlet KSAT reported.
“We’re trying to really assist families with being whole again. So we’re doing scholarships, we’re doing training, we’re teaching financial literacy,” Geneva Reed-Veal said at the time.
And in an indication of how important and widespread Bland’s name and legacy has become for the Black Lives Matter movement, a new “Say Their Names” Memorial was opened last week in San Diego and prominently includes Bland.
Not all has been positive since Bland’s death. The justice being demanded by her family since Day 1 has been elusive. Her family noted last year amid the national protests against police violence and demanding racial justice and equality that law enforcement was still killing Black people with impunity.
“I’m angry,” Shante Needham told ABC News last year. “I’m angry that my sister passed five years ago and they are still killing us. I’m angry.”
Savannah State University has a new director of bands and assistant professor of music! Learn more about Gabriel Arnold and how he plans to change the face of music at Savannah State in the Savannah Business Journal staff report below!
Savannah State University has named Gabriel Arnold, Ph.D., assistant professor of music and director of university bands.
In this role, Arnold will direct the Savannah State University Band Program including the Powerhouse of the South marching band, pep, jazz and symphonic wind ensemble bands in rehearsals and performances. He will provide leadership in recruiting band members and music majors, coordinating auditions and scholarships, and maintain active and collaborative relationships with university Athletics, Advancement, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs as well as public schools and band programs throughout the state of Georgia and beyond. Arnold will provide quality instruction, vision and leadership for all aspects of a traditional Historically Black College or University band program repertoire.
“As a native son of Georgia, I am so excited to lead the Powerhouse of the South! I look forward to infusing my core values of excellence in musicianship, strong character, and high academic achievement into the Savannah State University Band Program,” he said.
With more than 18 years of experience teaching music, Arnold comes to Savannah State from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., where he was director of athletic bands and assistant professor of music since 2018. A retired Marine, Arnold served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1994 – 1998, achieving the rank of sergeant in three years.
He earned his doctorate in music education, a master of music education and a bachelor of music in education from Florida State University, Tallahassee. In addition, he is a graduate of the Armed Forces School of Music, Norfolk, Virginia. Arnold is a member of the National Association for Music Education, Georgia Music Educators, Florida Music Educators, Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Music Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity.
An extension of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Savannah State University Band Program provides the excitement of tiger pride at university athletic events and showcases the enrichment of student life. The Powerhouse of the South marching band is an award-winning band and the most visible of the SSU bands, performing regularly at home and selected away football games, parades and Battle of the Bands competitions. The marching band accepts invitations to perform throughout the Southeast.
Morgan State University will be offering 24 cybersecurity scholarships by way of a $3 million grant! Get the full story from Security Magazine below!
Morgan student works on cybersecurity project at University’s CAP Center. (Credit: Office of Morgan State University)
Morgan State University’s (MSU) Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center has been awarded a $3.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to implement the agency’s novel CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at Morgan, providing 24 cybersecurity scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students. As the only HBCU recipient to be awarded the grant this year, Morgan joins six other universities distinguished by the NSF to administer the CyberCorps program at their respective institutions. The award, which carries a term of five years, recognizes MSU’s CAP Center as a leader in cyber defense education and the study of secure embedded systems. Kevin T. Kornegay, Ph.D., the director for the CAP Center and professor at Morgan, will serve as principal investigator.
Designed to recruit and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, CyberCorps alongside its partner institutions creates pathways for students to receive critical training and education. At Morgan, the program will afford scholarships to 24 MSU students (10 bachelors, eight masters and six doctoral) providing them with an opportunity to participate in a unique educational program and innovative curriculum rooted in secure embedded systems integrating active learning experiences and mentoring.
The CAP Center will oversee the program’s implementation at Morgan branding it as the Secure Embedded Systems Scholarship (SES2). The resources provided will assist the Center in recruitment, mentoring, and will afford students pursuing cybersecurity-focused bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees with financial support.
“The innovation and high-degree of instruction Dr. Kornegay and his team are pursuing within the Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy Center is not only a model to follow, but it is representative of the high-value research and experiential learning opportunities that we afford our students here at Morgan,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “We thank the National Science Foundation and its partners for recognizing the critical role that Morgan will play in preparing future qualified digital security professionals as well as for the investment in our students to fill these roles.”
Livingstone College is among several HCBUs like Wilberforce College and more that have used substantial funds to forgive student debt! Get the full story in the release by K. Harrington at Livingstone below.
Carnegie Library at Livingstone College. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Livingstone College announced today an initiative that will forgive the debt of students who attended Livingstone during the spring 2021 academic semester.
The Livingstone College Debt Forgiveness Persistence Initiative (DFPI) will award more than $2.8 million in persistence grants to qualifying students of the spring 2021 semester who have outstanding student account balances. This is in addition to the more than $4 million in need-based student aid Livingstone College already provides from its general operating budget each year.
“The economic hardships created by the COVID-19 virus is unprecedented and has made it extremely difficult for students to pursue their dreams of obtaining a college education during this period of economic uncertainty,” said Livingstone President Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins, Sr. in a letter to qualifying students. “The population we serve relies heavily on student loans to pay for their college education. Therefore, as we look forward to the fall 2021 academic semester, we would like to remove one of the primary barriers related to persistence – student debt.”
This initiative will enable students to pursue their college education in the absence of student debt, he said.
The college will utilize the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to support this critical initiative.
“Access and affordability must work in tandem,” said Dr. Anthony J. Davis, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Livingstone College. “The population we serve has been significantly impacted by this pandemic. Therefore, we are deploying every resource possible in support of our students and their families.”
To take advantage of this opportunity, students will receive a letter and document from Livingstone College that will require their signature. The document must be signed and returned no later than July 15, 2021.
Florida Memorial University will be on probation for a year, but faculty and staff at the university think it’s now moving in the right direction. Learn more about the decision and how FIU plans to weather the storm in the Inside Higher Ed article by Sara Weissman below.
Credit: BlackPast
Florida Memorial University has been put on a yearlong probation by its accreditor due to financial mismanagement and failure to comply with fiduciary requirements.
According to the accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), university leaders failed to maintain a governing board that exercises fiduciary oversight over the institution, manage financial resources in a responsible manner, utilize appropriate control over all its financial resources and comply with program responsibilities related to financial aid programs.
The accreditor said in a disclosure statement last month that the university was put on “probation for good cause.” This sanction is imposed when an institution makes insufficient progress toward meeting requirements over a two-year monitoring period but has had “significant recent accomplishments in addressing non-compliance” and “provided evidence” that it can fix problems within a year. The university remains accredited despite this action by the SACSCOC, which was first reported by the Miami Times.
Adrienne Cooper, provost and executive vice president of the university, said administrators are complying with the accreditor’s demands and she is confident the institution will successfully address the problems and be taken off probation, because this particular kind of probation “doesn’t happen unless there’s clear evidence that you’re moving in the right direction.”
She said the academic standing of the institution was not in question.
“We have been messaging to students and we continue to reiterate that we continue to offer quality education, that this has nothing to do with academic quality,” Cooper said. “The degrees are absolutely still valid and will continue to be valid, that we will continue to educate students and they are still eligible for financial aid.”
Credit: Florida Memorial University Athletics
SACSCOC also put three other institutions on “probation for good cause.” The accreditor sanctioned Pfeiffer University, a private Methodist liberal arts institution in North Carolina, for failing to sustain sound financial resources and responsibly manage its finances. Southwestern Christian College, a private historically Black Christian institution in Texas, was similarly put on probation for not maintaining sustainable funding and exercising appropriate control over finances. South Louisiana Community College in Lafayette was penalized for failing to adequately measure and assess student outcomes for undergraduate degree programs and provide proof of efforts to improve.
Florida Memorial’s new probation status comes after long-standing financial problems and enrollment declines at the historically Black private university in Miami Gardens, Jaffus Hardrick, the institution’s president, said in a July 7 video statement. Hardrick was the university’s third leader in less than two years at the time he started as interim president in July 2018.
“The issues that need to be addressed are financial and are the result of a combination of underinvestment and low enrollment at the university for over the past 10 years,” he said.
One of the goals outlined in the university’s strategic plan, released in October 2020, is increasing student enrollment to 3,000 students. The total head count for the 2018-19 academic year was 1,445 students, compared to 2,287 students in 2009-10, a decrease of more than 36 percent over nearly a decade, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Cooper said enrollment held fairly steady from fall 2019 to fall 2020 in spite of the pandemic, however, the college has not made its 2020 enrollment numbers publicly available.
Hardrick said the university plans to draw more students with new academic and athletic programs.
“Just this past year, we’ve launched 12 new certificate programs to really inspire and spur enrollment growth here at the university,” he said.
The university has had problems with institutional finances in the past. Roslyn Clark Artis, a former president, told the Miami Herald that she inherited a $3 million deficit when she became interim president in 2013. She said the institution reduced the deficit to $1 million through a series of belt-tightening measures, which included about a dozen layoffs, salary freezes and a decrease in nonessential travel by administrators.
Florida’s three private historically Black colleges were also among the institutions that took a state funding hit in 2011. The state appropriation to Florida Memorial, Bethune-Cookman University and Edward Waters College collectively decreased 7 percent that year compared to the previous year, Florida Trend reported. The decrease represented a 27 percent decline from fiscal years 2006 and 2007 funding levels, according to the publication.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently increased funding for Florida Memorial in his 2020-21 budget and allocated $7 million to the institution, up from $3.5 million the previous year. Florida Memorial was also among the 45 historically Black institutions granted loan forgiveness in the December 2020 federal coronavirus relief bill. The debt relief went to colleges and universities that borrowed money through the federal government’s HBCU Capital Financing Program, which provides access to low-rate capital for refinancing existing debt and making infrastructure improvements.
Florida Memorial has a year to address and fix the problems cited by the accreditor, which will send a special committee of representatives to visit the university during that time frame to assess and report on its progress. SACSCOC will also review a report from university leaders on the institution’s progress in June 2022. The accreditor could then take the university off probation, keep it on probation for a second year or cancel the university’s accreditation. The university would be ineligible for federal funding, including federal financial aid and Pell Grants for students, without accreditation.
“This is an opportunity of checks and balances and accountability,” said Janea Johnson, public relations and data specialist at SACSCOC. “Institutions often become compliant and then are removed from probation. That’s more often than not.”
Many small colleges have struggled to stay accredited in recent years as enrollments decline and tuition revenues drop, said Robert Palmer, chair of the educational leadership and policy studies department at Howard University. Those challenges have been particularly acute at small, historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, such as Florida Memorial.
He noted that even before the pandemic, which led to drops in enrollment across higher education systems, colleges and universities faced a demographic cliff, a sharp falloff in the number of traditional college-age students in the United States. Long-term enrollment decline is a “more systemic issue,” he said, one that might be hard for the university to address in a single year.
Cooper, Florida Memorial’s provost, agreed that the demographic cliff was partly responsible.
“I think we’re facing what every university is facing,” Cooper said. “We have a declining population of 18- to 24-year-olds. HBCUs across the board have seen, for the most part, a decline in enrollment over the last few years.”
Enrollments increased at some HBCUs after the killing of George Floyd prompted a “national reckoning” about anti-Black racism in this country and Black students sought refuge on HBCU campuses, where they felt more welcome and protected. However, smaller, private HBCUs are still in competition with more affordable public colleges to enroll students, and they tend to have smaller endowments to offer financial aid, if they have endowments at all, Palmer said. HBCUs also serve high numbers of first-generation and low-income students, who often need more financial support, he said.
“When they start losing students, when students start to go elsewhere, that really takes a heavy toll on their tuition [revenue]. They have to start cutting in other areas,” he said of HBCUs.
SACSCOC, which currently accredits colleges in 11 Southern states, including 72 historically Black institutions, has revoked the accreditation of several small, private HBCUs in the past. The commission stripped Morris Brown College in Atlanta of its accreditation in 2002 after a former college president and financial aid director misappropriated Department of Education money. The college has since become a candidate for accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) this year. Barber-Scotia College in North Carolina lost its accreditation two years after Morris Brown. Paul Quinn College followed in 2009 and is now accredited by TRACS, and Saint Paul’s College in Virginia closed in 2013 after losing its accreditation. Bennett College’s accreditation was canceled in 2018, but the North Carolina women’s college is now a candidate for accreditation with TRACS.
“We feel like there is disparate treatment very often where HBCUs tend to get the harshest penalties and tend to get called out … much more often than other types of institutions,” said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president of public policy and government affairs at the United Negro College Fund, a membership organization representing private HBCUs. He pointed to a UNCF white paper, published in 2019, which alleges that SACSCOC has imposed disproportionate sanctions on minority-serving institutions because of the potential for bias in the accrediting process.
Johnson, of SACSCOC, said the accreditor holds “all institutions accountable to the same standards” and predominantly white institutions received similar sanctions this year. She also noted that small, private institutions of all types tend to be more “tuition-driven,” which can come with “more challenges in their financial arena.”
“If there is a shortfall in enrollment, and particularly first-year enrollment, that impacts the budget, so it’s more about the nature of being a private institution,” she said.
Estelle Taylor, president of the Orlando chapter of the Florida Memorial University Alumni Association, said she was unaware of Florida Memorial’s probation but had prior concerns about spending decisions that she and other alumni believed were not in the best interests of the university and did not contribute to its financial health. She pointed to the decision to revive the university football team in fall 2020 — after more than 60 years without one — as an example.
“I can’t say all of us, but a lot of us, really questioned that and didn’t approve of that,” she said. “We know that the school needs other things. They need a brand-new music room; they need new instruments and different academic things. The classrooms need new tables and chairs and things to go in there that’s comfortable for the students.”
An anonymous online petition by an account called “FMU ALUM” calling for the removal of the university’s president and signed by about 100 people has sprung up in response to Florida Memorial being put on probation. The petition alleges lax campus safety measures, problematic technology such as unreliable Wi-Fi, and falling enrollments, the Miami Timesreported.
Cooper said the college is employing a number of strategies to increase enrollment and revenue, including a new health-care program, a bachelor’s degree in health care with a concentration in administration and a new online master’s program in exceptional student education approved by SACSCOC. There are also new classes focused on preparing students for the fast-growing video game industry. She also described recent updates to the infrastructure of the 53-year-old campus, such as the replacement of the electrical grid this past year.
“We know we are moving in the right direction,” she said.
Morris Brown College is establishing its staff amid its accreditation with a new provost and VP of Academic Affairs! Get the full story on Dr. Anthony Johnson, who will fulfill both roles, from The Black Wall Street Times below.
After a national search by AGB Search Firm, Morris Brown College is proud to welcome Dr. Anthony B. Johnson as its new provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Kevin James, President of Morris Brown College said, “As we continue to work through the hard reset, we are thrilled to have Dr. Johnson. He has a wealth of experience in leading HBCU’s through accreditation, student progress, governance, fiscal stability, and academic affairs. I welcome him to my senior team to take Morris Brown College’s academic department and its programs to the next level in our storied history.”
Experience and Leadership
Dr. Anthony Johnson brings to Morris Brown College extensive administrative experience having served at a broad range of higher education institutions, including HBCUs. This experience includes the development and implementation of accreditation and program review processes, procedures, assessment, and accountability measures. He most recently served as the Interim Vice President for Academic Affair and Chief Academic Officer at Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas; Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor at Grambling State University, Grambling, Louisiana; and, Associate Dean and Assistant Dean at Howard University’s School of Education, Washington, DC.
Moreover, Dr. Johnson served as the Assessment Coordinator and Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Grambling State University and served as a Distinguished Faculty Member in the Summer Teachers’ Institute sponsored by Florida International University.
Dr. Johnson’s experience with assessment and accreditation includes serving on visiting teams for The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). In addition to leading efforts to develop assessment systems that embrace both initial and advanced programs, his work has resulted in reaffirmation of accreditation.
Dr. Johnson attended University of Southern Mississippi and earned his bachelor’s degree in Counseling Psychology; a master’s degree in Elementary Education from Jackson State University, and a Doctorate in Education with a concentration in Special Education, Research & Statistics from Jackson State University. Dr. Johnson currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Institutes for Historically Underserved Students.
Prairie View A&M University is set to receive an engineering scholarship after receiving over $200,000 from an engineering firm! Learn about the donor and how PVAMU is planning to use the funds in the new release below.
Credit: 123RF
Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) is the grateful recipient of $240,000 from Fluor Corporation, an engineering and construction firm headquartered in Irving, Texas. One of three Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) slated to receive funds in Fluor’s newly initiated $1 million Engineering Scholar Program for HBCUs, PVAMU will use the money to establish the HBCU Engineering Scholar Program and Global University Sponsorship Program (GUSP) in its Roy G. Perry College of Engineering.
“Dean Pamela Obiomon and I have worked in our respective areas to promote an environment conducive to advancement, growth, creativity, outreach and discovery,” Quincy Moore, the director of PVAMU’s Honors Program, who is leading the new program with Obiomon, said at the announcement of the donation. “Given this opportunity, we strive to engage civil, chemical and mechanical engineering students with real discovery and create a learning environment that enhances learning and gives the students real-world experience for training the next generation of engineers.”
Moore noted that while the College of Engineering has partnerships with various companies, which propose to fund different activities, this particular partnership is different. “One unique feature of this one is that the Honors Program is teaming up with engineering, as some of our Honors students coming through the engineering program don’t otherwise have scholarship opportunities,” Moore said. “In a way, Fluor is helping provide the infrastructure so students are qualified for the industry once they leave PVAMU, and potentially providing a pipeline into their company. But beyond that, they are reaching out to underrepresented minorities with their HBCU program. With this, students not only get opportunities to do research, but they also have more direct engagement with engineers from the industry.”
Fluor Corp. headquarters in Irving. (Credit: Fluor Corp)
Fluor, a national leader in corporate giving, established the Fluor Foundation, its charitable arm, in 1952. Torrence Robinson, president of the Fluor Foundation, said that selection criterion for the Engineering Scholar Program for HBCUs included proximity to Fluor’s offices, faculty research expertise, students’ overall academic success profile and the results of College of Engineering administration interviews. “We also considered which universities conferred the most degrees to Black graduates in civil, chemical and mechanical engineering. What stood out to us was the enthusiasm expressed by Prairie View A&M about the potential of the partnership. We are excited about what we can do together to better equip students for successful engineering careers.”
While noting PVAMU’s success in conferring engineering degrees, Robinson called workforce diversity an “ongoing challenge” within many academic disciplines. “According to the Hechinger Report, from 2001 to 2016 in the United States, the percentage of engineering degrees awarded to Black graduates declined from 5 to 4 percent,” Robinson said. “Black workers make up 5.6 percent of the science and engineering workforce, and Fluor is committed to taking additional steps to help narrow that gap.”
As part of the new program, six $5,000 merit-based scholarships will be awarded each year to civil, chemical and mechanical engineering majors at PVAMU who have demonstrated outstanding performance in the classroom, as well as leadership and campus involvement. Scholarship recipients will be required to participate in a lecture series, research modules, tech talks, technical writing workshops, mock interviews and career fairs. They will also benefit from professional development workshops with Fluor engineers, including an innovative design pitch competition. Students selected are thus provided a framework for promoting innovation and creativity, helping to prepare them for a global market. Under the terms of Fluor’s partnership, PVAMU may earn additional monies, matched dollar-for-dollar by the company in coordination with external donors.
“A lot of engineering students would like to have more experiential learning that can help land them their dream job after college,” said Moore. “So having those opportunities for them while they’re on campus is going to be a positive for these students and for students coming down the pipeline. It will make an impact on the whole campus experience.”
