It is with heavy hearts that we announce Frederick S. Humphries, the eighth president of Florida A&M University, has passed away. Humphries became a popular president during his tenure at the university from 1985-2001. Learn more about the beloved president in a Tallahassee Democrat article by Byron Dobson and contributor Bill Cotterell.
Credit: Mark Wallheiser
Frederick S. Humphries, one of the most celebrated and revered presidents in Florida A&M University history, died Thursday in Orlando. He was 85.
Humphries had been in declining health in recent years, but continued to bounce back. He served as Florida A&M University’s eighth president 1985-2001.
“It is with great difficulty and emotion that I share with you that my father, Dr. Frederick S. Humphries, former President of FAMU & TSU (Tennessee State University) passed away,” one of his sons, Laurence Humphries, posted on Facebook.
“Please know that he transitioned peacefully surrounded by family. More details for services will be provided once they are finalized. Thanks so much to everyone for the love and support to us in this difficult time.”
Former FAMU president Frederick S. Humphries (left) and FAMU interim president Larry Robinson laugh during a speech at FAMU’s Leon County Alumni Chapter 9th Annual Roast and Toast Scholarship Gala honoring Humphries. Democrat Files
Before returning as president to FAMU, where the Apalachicola native earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1957, Humphries served as president of Tennessee State University in Nashville, from 1974-85.
“The dark clouds have indeed gathered on the horizon,” current FAMU President Larry Robinson said in a statement late Thursday.
Humphries “is one of FAMU’s favorite sons,” he added. “He committed his life to the advancement of higher education, in particular within the HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) community, and changed the trajectory of FAMU.
“We join the Humphries family, friends and Rattlers around the world in celebrating a life dedicated to service and one well lived.”
Congressman Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, called the 6-foot-7 Humphries “bigger than life. There will never be another like him.”
FAMU President Frederick Humphries applauds the accolades given by Miami representative Frederica Wilson during FAMU Day at the Capitol. Mike Ewen
He said Humphries “brought FAMU to tremendous heights and really cared a lot for the students. People have celebrated him ever since he left the university and he was respected by the students, faculty and alumni for all he did for FAMU and HBCUs.
“He was not only a great educator; he never stopped being sort of a home boy from Apalachicola. He was also very well respected in the Legislature,” added Lawson, who also served in the state House and Senate 1982-2010. “He had an aura of respect around him at all times.”
The university said Humphries is survived by his son Frederick S. Humphries Jr., daughter Robyn Tanya Humphries as well as son Laurence Humphries, among other family members. His wife, Antoinette McTurner Humphries, died in 2006.
Texas Southern University has a new band director for its legendary Ocean of Soul band! Get the full story from the recent Texas Southern release below.
Texas Southern University has named Mr. Brian Simmons as the new Director of The Ocean of Soul Marching Band and an instructor in the Music Department. He will step into this new role on Monday, July 5th, 2021.
“It is an honor to join the TSU Family. Texas Southern has always been a respected rival of mine. I am excited to work with a program with so much history both in the band and HBCU world,'” said Brian Simmons. “I look to honor the rich history and traditions of the “Ocean of Soul” while incorporating new and innovative ideas. Fans and alumni can expect to see what the band is known for as we rise to the next level. Ultimately, it will be the same Ocean, just a new wave!”
The TSU band was founded in 1945 by Mr. Allen E. Norton. The Ocean of Soul, affectionately known as the 9th Wonder of the World, was founded by Mr. Benjamin J. Butler II in 1969. The Ocean of Soul has performed at numerous high-profile events, including Super Bowl XXXVIII, the 2013 NBA All-Star Game Pregame Concert and the 2018 NCAA Final Four. Most recently, the Ocean was featured in the 2021 Netflix series High on the Hog.
Notable parade performances include the 2014 NFL Hall of Fame Induction Parade, the 2017 Houston Astros World Series Victory Parade, the HEB Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Krewe of Endymion Mardi Gras Parade. In addition, the Ocean has performed with celebrities, award shows, movie premieres and several musical performances for various NBA, MLB and NFL teams. You can always catch the Ocean on select TSU televised home football and basketball games during the school year. The band consists of more than 200 students majoring in different disciplines, all of whom rehearse and perform as part of a year-round program. Mr. Simmons will be the 5th Director of The Ocean of Soul and succeeds Dr. Darryl Singleton.
Credit: Smiley N. Pool / Houston Chronicle / DMN Archives
“The College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences welcomes Mr. Simmons to TSU, to the Ocean of Soul and to the Music Department. I would like to thank all members of the search committee for moving us to this point,” Needha Boutte-Queen, Dean College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences. “We are thrilled that Mr. Simmons accepted this opportunity to lead the historic Ocean into the future. His talents are widely known and will help propel the Ocean of Soul to new heights.”
A native of New Orleans, LA, Mr. Simmons earned a Bachelor of Music and Master of Educational Leadership from Southern University. He also serves as an adjudicator and clinician to middle and high school bands nationwide. In addition, Mr. Simmons is an exceptional euphonium and trombone player. He is also a prolific arranger and educator respected throughout the country. He has received many awards and critical acclaim for his performances and arrangements.
Mr. Simmons was appointed Director of Bands and Director of Fine Arts at the Louisiana Leadership Institute (LLI) by Louisiana Senator Cleo Fields. In January 2021, Simmons led LLI as they were selected to participate in the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mr. Simmons was inducted into the Southern University Alumni Federation: 40 Under 40. He has also participated in the HBCU National Band Directors Consortium, Music Educators National Conference, and Louisiana Music Educators Association. He is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity.
With many effective HBCUs churning out top Black talent, yet suffering from staggeringly poor funding, a new app has been created solve the problem. The innovative “HBCU Change” app is a fresh and unique way for HBCU alumni, students, and allies to donate passively. The app is not only solving the financial problems that many HBCUs are experiencing, but finding extra ways for them to thrive as well.
It has long been known that HBCUs are underfunded, drastically more than PWI counterparts. HBCUs are often either skipped or shorted when it comes to federal funding. Celebrities and philanthropists like Travis Scott and MacKenzie Scott have stepped up to fill in the gaps, giving millions for scholarships and programs. Yet when it comes to those closer to these colleges and universities, there is a disconnect.
The app conveniently works by allowing you to passively donate your spare change to HBCUs! So for example, if you swiped your credit card for a purchase totaling $85.12, HBCU Change would round that purchase to $86.00. That $0.88 cent difference would then go to the HBCU of your choice. In fact, HBCU Change has made its mission to raise $1 billion for HBCUs over the next 5 years! And with industry-standard encryption and the app never storing your banking credentials, it’s definitely a secure way to serve our HBCUs.
In addition to general fundraising, this app offers additional valuable benefits. For donors, it easily provides a way to track donations, which is helpful for tax purposes. It will also help with research purposes. On a larger scale schools can see which classes are donating more. Many HBCUs don’t have good data on the whereabouts for their alumni, which will help with targeting for future fundraising.
To learn more about HBCU Change, click here today!
More HBCUs are recognizing the value of forgiving debt. Especially with the pandemic, liberating students financially will free them of generational debt, and more. Learn all about the HBCUs making unprecedented moves in the article from Inside Higher Ed by Sara Weissman below.
Wilberforce University graduate Rodman Allen and his mother at graduation. (Credit Marsha Bonhart)
Historically Black colleges and universities are forgiving students’ debts with the hopes of alleviating some of the financial strains of the pandemic and possibly providing them more financial freedom in the future.
Historically Black colleges and universities across the country are making efforts to lighten the debt loads of their recent graduates after a tumultuous and financially difficult academic year. To the surprise of many graduating seniors, some HBCUs announced that they would clear part or all of the balances owed in tuition, fees and fines.
These moves came as a relief to the mostly Black students who attend HBCUs, who on average bear significantly heavier student loan debt burdens than their white classmates and whose communities suffered from high rates of infection and financial loss during the pandemic.
HBCU leaders are hoping the debt forgiveness will reduce financial strain on their students, many of whom are very likely to still have federal and personal student loans to pay back after graduation.
“These are students who have had some very difficult decisions to make, and this is a population that over all has been disproportionately impacted,” said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president of public policy and government affairs at the United Negro College Fund, a membership organization that represents private HBCUs. “These institutions are showing a great deal of compassion and a great deal of leadership during a time of tremendous uncertainty for their student populations.”
At least 11 HBCUs are putting money toward reducing student debt.
For example, Wilberforce University, a private HBCU in Ohio, announced at a joint commencement ceremony in May for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 that it was clearing the debts of all those graduates who owed money to the institution. The $375,000 in debt relief was funded by scholarships from organizations including Jack and Jill Inc., which focuses on initiatives that benefit young people, and the UNCF.
Elfred Anthony Pinkard, president of Wilberforce, saw the debt relief as a reward to graduates for their resilience through an abrupt shift to online learning and an economic downturn, but also as a pragmatic gift. He said more than 90 percent of Wilberforce students are eligible for the Pell Grant, the federal financial aid program for low-income students.
“The pandemic has upended all of our lives,” Pinkard said. “We’ve all lamented the impact that it’s had on our psycho-social and emotional well-being. Just imagine that for a young person while they’re in pursuit of a very important life goal … and yet these students persisted. They did not allow the uncertainty of the pandemic to derail them in pursuit of an undergraduate degree.”
He hopes the debt forgiveness will act as a “financial runway” and a “leg up” for students as they start their career paths.
Black graduates have an average of $52,000 in student loan debt, about $25,000 more on average than the debt of their white counterparts, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That larger debt burden has long-term effects on the financial well-being of Black students and graduates and their ability to accumulate wealth relative to their white peers, which contributes to a stubborn racial wealth gap. More than half of Black student borrowers report the amount they owe in student loan debt exceeds their net worth. Four years after completing their degrees, 48 percent of Black borrowers owe an average of 12.5 percent more than they borrowed. A 2018 analysis by the Brookings Institute found that Black graduates default at five times the rate of white graduates and are more likely to default than white students who stop out.
“There’s not really much reason to think things would have radically improved since then,” said Judith Scott-Clayton, author of the Brookings Institute study and associate professor of economics and education at Teachers College at Columbia University.
Students at Shaw University were similarly hard hit by the pandemic and its aftereffects, prompting the private HBCU in Raleigh, N.C., to relieve a total of $116,000 in debt for its graduates, said David H. Byrd, vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer at Shaw. The money for the endeavor came from the second COVID-19 stimulus package, passed last December.
Byrd said he has grown accustomed to seniors coming to his office around commencement time, worried that their unpaid balances to the university will prevent them from graduating. The amount owed by graduating students this year was unprecedented. He noted that many students lost work-study or service industry jobs as restaurants and stores closed in response to COVID-19.
“The rent is still due,” he said. “Car payments are still due.”
Delaware State University also drew on federal relief funds to take some of the financial pressure off students. Administrators announced last month that the university will cancel up to $730,655 in student debt using money from the American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 stimulus package passed in March. The average eligible student will qualify for about $3,276 in debt relief, estimated Antonio Boyle, vice president for strategic enrollment management.
“Too many graduates across the country will leave their schools burdened by debt, making it difficult for them to rent an apartment, cover moving costs, or otherwise prepare for their new careers or graduate school,” Boyle said in a press release. “While we know our efforts won’t help with all of their obligations, we all felt it was essential to do our part.”
This flurry of debt cancellation initiatives at HBCUs is possible in large part because of the “once-in-a-century” influx of federal relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Murray. Through the three stimulus packages, Congress directed at least $5 billion to the institutions, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Murray also credits the example set by billionaire Robert Smith, who cleared $34 million in student loan debt for Morehouse College graduates in 2019 as the institution’s commencement speaker. That was a grander gesture than what most HBCUs can do with their philanthropic gifts and federal stimulus money, but he motivated alumni and university leaders to think about ways to lighten students’ debt loads.
“He has showcased a model for how to do this,” Murray said. “You add inspiration like Mr. Smith and others and then you add in opportunity, like Congress has made available, and now you have a perfect storm during what has been one of the most turbulent times for African American students and specifically students at historically Black colleges and universities.”
HBCUs also saw an upsurge in philanthropy after the killing of George Floyd last summer sparked protests against racism across the country. Notable philanthropists such as MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, gave multimillion-dollar gifts to HBCUs.
Byrd noted that there hasn’t been another gift comparable to Smith’s to combat student debt for HBCU students, and often it’s more financially stable and more well-known HBCUs such as Howard University, Morehouse College and Spelman College that are the beneficiaries of philanthropic largess.
“Those stories are far and few between in the HBCU world,” he said. “It’s just a different apple. You can’t stick all HBCUs in one basket. That’s what the outside community tries to do, and that’s just not the case.”
Pinkard, of Wilberforce, said while his university’s debt relief efforts don’t directly address federal student loans, he believes reducing what students owe will help them at least put more money toward paying off that larger debt sooner.
Roderick L. Smothers Sr., president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark., echoed that sentiment. The institution wiped out $80,000 in debt owed by graduates of the Classes of 2020 and 2021, which he announced during commencement last month. The funds came from alumni and private gifts, plus a grant from Jack and Jill Inc.
“Although this gesture may not entirely eliminate their student debt load, it will certainly allow them to receive their diplomas immediately,” Smothers said in a release. “Armed with their credentials, they will be free to pursue a graduate education or take those first steps towards their chosen careers with one less burden to bear.”
The stark disparities in student loan debt can be attributed in part to racial discrimination in the labor market and the racial wealth gap, which means Black students get less financial help from their families, said Scott-Clayton. She also noted that students who don’t graduate can be saddled with small but stubborn amounts of student debt because it’s harder to earn high enough wages to pay it back. Black students also disproportionately attend for-profit colleges, which tend to have high student loan default rates.
These differences in Black students’ lived experiences can account for some of the student loan debt disparity, but it isn’t a complete explanation for why the inequities are so large, she said. “There’s still a big gap that’s hard to explain.”
Federal student loan payments are currently frozen through at least September in response to the pandemic, so no one is going into default. However, it’s a “temporary Band-Aid” to the student loan debt crisis and does nothing long term to reduce the racial gap in student loan debt, she said.
That’s partly why President Biden drew the ire of some activists for not including student loan debt cancellation when he announced his plan to narrow the racial wealth gap at an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre last week.
“You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis,” Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, told The Washington Post.
Scott-Clayton admires the attempts by HBCUs to rid students of their debts, but she ultimately believes policy makers have the power and resources to make the most impactful difference. For example, lawmakers could enact widespread student loan debt cancellation targeting borrowers at high risk of defaulting.
“I think those are great efforts,” she said of the HBCUs. “Certainly those are things that will make a real difference for students at those institutions. But I don’t necessarily see there being a one-off, institution-by-institution solution to this problem.”
Tennessee State University is exploring a groundbreaking partnership that will bring hockey to an HBCU for the first time ever. Learn more about how pucks may finally come into play with the article by Derek Major at Black Enterprise below.
Credit: The Nashville Predators
Tennessee State University (TSU), is exploring the idea of being the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to add ice hockey programs for men and women.
In a partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL), the Nashville Predators franchise and College Hockey Inc. TSU is currently conducting a feasibility study to determine how viable it would be to have ice hockey programs. Results are expected sometime in the fall.
If the HBCU chooses to add the programs, it would not only be the first HBCU ice hockey programs, but it would also be the first varsity hockey programs in the state.
“The idea of establishing a collegiate hockey program at TSU is a tremendous opportunity as the nation’s first HBCU to take on this endeavor,” President Glenda Glover said according to CNN. “This allows us to expand the sport, increase diversity, and introduce a new fan base.”
Tennessee State University is exploring the idea of adding hockey programs. (LinkedIn/Tennessee State University)
Hockey is growing among both Black and Hispanic Americans. According to the NHL, there are at least 13 Black players on NCAA Division I and III women’s hockey rosters this season. In 2019, there were just four.
However, the NHL has come under increased scrutiny by its Black players for not doing more to protect its Black players and reach out to Black fans. Last summer amid the Black Lives Mattermovement a group of former and current Black NHL players created the Hockey Diversity Alliance in an effort to “eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey.”
The group broke from the NHL in October saying the league wasn’t supportive of their cause.
TSU and the Nashville Predators have partnered in the past, collaborating on the GUIDER (Growth, Understanding, Inclusion, Diversity, Equality and Representation) initiative, founded with the objective of diminishing the prevalence of social injustice.
Kevin Westgarth, NHL Vice President of Hockey Development and Strategic Collaboration told CNN an HBCU hockey program could help grow the game in an new and exciting way.
“Taking this initial step with Tennessee State University, led by their ambitious and visionary leadership, awakens thought on potential playing opportunities, new facilities, and new avenues to watch live hockey, all driven by an HBCU and NHL club in the heart of Nashville,” Westgarth told CNN. “This could be a game-changer.”
The recipients of the Bridging The Gap scholarship have received funds to create an unprecedented opportunity for HBCU students to thrive in the fashion industry. Learn about how Gap Inc. and Harlem’s Fashion Row plan to create a new lane for HBCUs in the WWD article by Rosemary Feitelberg below.
Brandice Daniel Photo courtesy of HFR
Gap Inc. and Harlem’s Fashion Row have revealed the winners for scholarships that are being awarded to historically Black colleges and universities as part of the “Closing the Gap” initiative.
As reported in late April, the program will provide $510,000 in funding to 10 fashion departments at HBCUs. The inaugural effort is designed to bridge the gap between education and fashion’s new generation of leaders who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color. That realization is being made possible through the work of Gap Inc., Harlem’s Fashion Row and Icon360, a nonprofit that is a subsidiary of Harlem’s Fashion Row.
Emphasizing the importance of educating and mentoring the next generation of talent entering the field, Harlem’s Fashion Row founder Brandice Daniel said in a statement, “We look forward to extending this initiative and opportunity by welcoming all incoming professionals.”
Other companies have also recently stepped up to create more of an educational pipeline for Black creatives in order that they may have more job opportunities in fashion and various design disciplines. Last week, a consortium of design-minded companies including the Herman Miller Group, Levi Strauss, Gap Inc. and others launched the Diversity in Design collaborative to tackle systemic issues around diversity in the design industry. Separately, musician Travis Scott is supporting young Black creatives by developing a fashion design program with Parsons through his Cactus Jack Foundation that will be unrolled in his hometown of Houston.
The Bridging the Gap award recipients include two scholarships of $100,000 to North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T. Five scholarships of $50,000 will be given to Delaware State University, Howard University, Bowie State University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Tennessee State. In addition, three scholarships of $20,000 will be given to the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, Clark Atlanta University and Norfolk State University.
Last week, Harlem’s Fashion Row debuted its first “Fashion Playbook” that was sponsored by Gap Inc. and is an online content library that had youth, middle school, high school and collegiate levels. Users will find stories, tips and insights from fashion professionals to give them a better understanding of the opportunities that exist in the industry. Among the 22 new videos that will be released in the next year, seven Gap Inc. employees will be featured.
6 men consisting of 5 former HBCU players and a coach were the chosen ones out of a group of 25 finalists for the Black College Football Hall of Fame! Get the full details from Kyle T. Mosley at Sports Illustrated below.
The Black College Hall of Fame enshrined its 2021 Class of inductees in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 19, 2021. The BCFOH Board of Trustees selected one HBCU football coach and five former players for this year’s honors.
The six men selected come from 25 finalists to become members of the 2021 BCFOH class.
Coach Willard Bailey (Virginia Union, Norfolk State University, St. Paul’s College, Virginia-Lynchburg College).
“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, congratulations to the Class of 2021,” said BCFHOF Co-Founder and 2011 Inductee Doug Williams. “It is a significant achievement to be considered one of the best to ever play or coach football at a Historically Black College & University.”
NFL Network’s Steve Wyche and Fox Sports broadcaster Charles Davis.
Blount emceed the 2021 Black College Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Juneteenth Celebration. The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons organization sponsored the event held on June 19, 2021.
BCFHOF LOUISIANA ROOTS AND FLAVOR
The organization has enshrined several players with Louisiana roots.
James “Shack” Harris and Doug Williams, the co-founders, were tremendous quarterbacks who studied the game of football under the legendary Eddie Robinson at Grambling State University.
Mel Blount was the SWAC MVP at Southern University and became a Pro Football Hall of Famer after winning four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Eddie Robinson mentored Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Brown at Grambling University. Brown earned two Super Bowl championship rings with the Oakland Raiders and played 12 years in the NFL with 54 inceptions in his career.
The Black College Football Hall of Fame inducted former HBCU football players who starred in the NFL: Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Deacon Jones, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Willie Lanier, Larry Little, Greg Lloyd, Steve McNair, Shannon Sharpe, Jackie Slater, John Stallworth, Everson Walls, Ernie “Big Cat” Ladd, Ken Houston, Richard Dent, Hugh Douglas, and “Bullet Bob Hayes.
These are not the entire members enshrined but are notable players who impacted college and professional football.
Joe Gilliam
Joe Gilliam
SAINTS FROM HBCU PROGRAMS
New Orleans Saints left tackle Terron Armstead is a former HBCU player out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s football program. Armstead was drafted in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by New Orleans. Armstead has been considered one of the best left tackles in the National Football League. Last week, he opened a ‘Scholars Education Center’ in the New Orleans area for youth.
BCF Hall of Famer quarterback Joe Gilliam had a short career with the New Orleans Saints. He was an outstanding quarterback at Tennessee State before Pittsburgh drafted Gilliam in the 11th round in the 1972 NFL Draft.
Little Rock, Arkansas native Solomon Bozeman is intending to have an eventful tenure at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Learn about his ambitious plans for UAPB’s basketball team int he article from I.C. Murrell at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette below.
New UAPB men’s basketball head coach Solomon Bozeman, center, was introduced at a press conference, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Solomon Bozeman vowed the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff would win multiple championships with a pace-and-space offense and tough-and-gritty defense during his introductory news conference Tuesday.
“We’re going to win here,” the 33-year-old former Magnolia High School and University of Arkansas at Little Rock standout said. “We’re going to win multiple championships. We’re going to get to the NCAA tournament multiple times. And when we get to the NCAA tournament, we will shock some people.”
Bozeman, who was born in Little Rock, got a big taste of March Madness during a Sweet 16 run as an assistant coach with Oral Roberts University. Bozeman completed his third season on Paul Mills’ staff in Tulsa.
UAPB announced Bozeman as the successor to George Ivory, who spent 13 years at the helm and led the Golden Lions to their only Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship as a Division I program in the 2009-10 season. That team won the NCAA opening-round game against Winthrop University.
Ivory resigned April 7 following a 4-21 season.
Bozeman credited Mills with teaching him the nuances of the pace-and-space offense, which scored 81.1 points per game and produced the nation’s leading scorer in Max Abmas.
Bozeman plans to build a team that can score 80-85 points per game.
“We’re going to put in some work,” he said. “Trust me, we will work at it. How we’re going to do that is by creating a winning culture. How we’re going to create a winning culture is by having enthusiasm, integrity and commitment.
“I want you guys to know that I’m going to recruit high-character guys. I’m going to recruit guys who love being in the gym. I’m going to recruit guys who love being coached, and I’m going to recruit guys that want to get a college degree, because at the end of the day, the ball will stop bouncing. And when it stops bouncing, I will be that guy that helps these guys get degrees. I will be that guy that helps these guys be successful in the real world.”
Chris Robinson, who was announced as UAPB’s athletic director a week before Bozeman was hired, revealed that Bozeman won the job over finalists Mike Bibby, a former NBA star and national championship player at the University of Arizona, and Shawn Forrest, the Golden Lions’ all-time leading scorer in the school’s Division I era (since 1997) who is now a Georgia Southern University assistant.
Credit: UAPB Athletics
“One thing about [Bozeman] as a whole is the developmental aspect, developing students – definitely student-athletes, and you can see that time and time again,” Robinson said. “And his connection with the state as well, we want to help him do some things within the state, within our borders, and try to be as a great representative of the state of Arkansas and of course right here in Pine Bluff. A big tradition of athletes [rests here], and we want to get those things going again.”
Bozeman, whose father Eric has been a head coach at Henderson State and Southern Arkansas universities, admittedly went against his wife Myla’s wishes and told those in a packed STEM Conference Center meeting room there’s a reason why the word Arkansas is tattooed on his back.
“I’ve done a good job recruiting Arkansas guys, and they helped me get to where I am today,” he said, adding he landed 2016 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Jaylen Franklin while at Abilene Christian University and recent ORU senior R.J. Glasper from the Natural State.
An official list of new signees would be released next week, Bozeman said, but one of them was apparently revealed on social media Tuesday morning.
Three Rivers College in Missouri announced Brahm Harris, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound wing from Maumelle, committed to UAPB. Harris averaged 13.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and shot 41.7% from the floor (36.5% from 3-point range) for the two-year college.
Bozeman said he went to work before behind hired to address the Golden Lions’ needs, having the feeling he would be the search committee’s top choice. For two months following Ivory’s resignation, the Golden Lions were faced with having to replace their leading scorer, Shaun Doss Jr., and second-leading rebounder Markedric Bell to transfer. Both earned degrees from UAPB.
“We’ve just got to work,” Bozeman said, asked about the program’s most pressing needs. “We’ve got some good guys coming back, some good kids, some tough kids. Then, we’ve got an incoming recruiting class. I’m telling you, it’s going to be a special season.”
Like many teams in the SWAC, UAPB has been known for taking its lumps against bigger-name competition in “money games” to bolster the athletic department coffers as a limited-resource institution, but Bozeman made clear he doesn’t want to settle for any blowout losses against anyone. He confirmed the Lions will play a rare nonconference home game against Arkansas State and are looking for a second opponent to host.
“We will win here, and I expect to win here,” Bozeman said. “And I’m not planning on taking two to three years. I want to get this thing done Year One.”
FAMU is among the institutions that will receive funding due to a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture! Read about what the funding was set up, and what it means to FAMU in the article from staff at the Tallahassee station WTXL below.
Credit: WTXL
Florida A&M University is receiving a portion of $19 million in grants for scholarships from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s 1890 Land Grant.
FAMU is one of 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to receive the funding, proposed by FAMU alumnus U.S. Rep. David Scott as part of the 2018 Farm bill.
For the 2021-22 academic year, AMU College of Agriculture and Food Sciences received $500,000 in mandatory funds from USDA/NIFA to continue supporting the 1890 David A. Scott scholars.
FAMU said the investment in undergraduate student scholarships is designed to “stimulate interest in food and agriculture careers.”
Dean Robert Taylor, Ph.D., with FAMU College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, said the grant will help recruit top students to the program. FAMU currently has 92 students on the 1890 scholarships.
“These NIFA Scholarships will attract some of the brightest minds in the nation to study agriculture at FAMU as is needed to address the predicted global food shortage by 2050 while enhancing food and agricultural production in the USA,” Taylor said.
Scholarship recipients received 2-year and 4-year scholarships for the 2020-21 academic year who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in food and agricultural sciences.
FAMU says these scholars are expected to be funded each year until their graduation in 2022 and 2024.
CAFS also received $505,263 in discretionary funds in the 2022 fiscal year, which will fund about 80 new scholars, who are new first-time-in-college majors, with a minimum FAMU recalculated GPA of 3.0 and a minimum combined ACT score of 21 or a minimum combined SAT score of 1080, qualified new college/transfer students, and qualified returning CAFS majors.
Allen University has brought two new professionals onto its leadership ranks, and one of them is a titan who has quite the impressive resume. Read the release from Allen below to learn about new Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. J. Michael Harpe, who graduated from both North Carolina Central University and Fayetteville State University.
Allen University welcomes new faces in leadership as it continues to experience steady growth. Dr. J. Michael Harpe, Vice President for Student Affairs and Mr. Ti Barnes, Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Director of Development joined the leadership team at Allen University in June of 2021.
Dr. J. Michael Harpe
Dr. J. Michael Harpe
With over 20 years of experience in education, Harpe joins the executive leadership team as a visionary and multifaceted professional with a diversified portfolio of higher education experience. His experience in executive level HBCU student affairs spans the east coast. Additionally, Harpe lends his expertise on the faculty side at multiple institutions. His dedication to effective leadership and impact in higher education is evident as he was the first recipient of the Joseph and Lynne Horning Faculty Fellowship at Mount Saint Mary’s University as well as was the youngest sitting dean in the North Carolina Community College System.
Harpe holds a Bachelor of Arts in English/Media Journalism and Masters of Arts in Counselor Education with a minor in Educational Psychology from North Carolina Central University, and Ed.D in Educational Leadership/Higher Education from Fayetteville State University. He holds K-12 school counselor and principal certifications. Harpe comes to Allen University highly decorated with administrative and professional acumen, earning him participation in the American Association of State College and Universities (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Institute for Senior Administrative Leadership and acceptance into the prestigious Harvard University Institute for Educational Management for prospective aspirants for college or university presidential appointments.
Mr. Ti Barnes
Mr. Ti Barnes
Barnes comes to Allen University standing firm on his experience as an Executive Director and Chief Fundraising Officer of the Bowers-Rodgers Children’s Home in Greenwood, SC where he led the planning, fundraising and, programming efforts benefiting abused, abandoned and neglected children from across the state.
He earned a Bachelor of Media Arts with a minor in Journalism from the University of South Carolina and a Masters of Arts in Public Administration from Strayer University. Barnes also holds a certification of constitutional law from the Prestigious Duke Law DC Summer Institute on Law and Policy. Barnes may be a familiar face to some as he is also a multiple Emmy Award Nominee and former photojournalist for WOLO-TV 25 in Columbia SC and WSPA News Channel 7 in Spartanburg, SC.
Staying connected to his community, he has also served as the NAACP Political Action Chair for the Greenwood and Ninety Six Chapters and is a member of the Greenwood Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.
Barnes a native of Greenwood, SC, is the son of the late Deacon Herbert Barnes and the Rev. Dr. Clara O. Barnes. He is happily married to Christine Barnes and is a proud “Girl Dad” to Halee Camille Barnes who is a rising senior at Claflin University, Patricia Claire Barnes and Katherine Clark Barnes.
Harpe will lead the Division of Student Affairs overseeing enrollment management, admissions, career and counseling services, and student activities. Barnes will serve as a fundraising officer, developing community partnerships, seeking investors for the institutions growing economic impact and liaising with Allen University Alumni. Both Barnes and Harpe will play a integral part in the institutions strategic plan.
Kentucky State University is battling several allegations of misconduct after accounts from several students have resulted in lawsuits. Read the troubling details in a piece from The State Herald by Austin Horn below.
The lawsuits range from the firing of a whistleblower who complained of alleged sexual harassment of students by former university officials to a now-settled complaint alleging that President M. Christopher Brown II “improperly interfered” in the bidding process for a student dining contract.
Kentucky State University is facing several lawsuits that allege misconduct by administrators, including President M. Christopher Brown II, per a report by the Herald-Leader published on Friday.
The lawsuits range from the firing of a whistleblower who complained of alleged sexual harassment of students by former university officials to a now-settled complaint alleging that Brown “improperly interfered” in the bidding process for a student dining contract.
Of note, another lawsuit alleged that Brown used crude or offensive language to refer to women’s appearance, including “ratchet, ugly and dirty,” as well as “kitchen bitch.” The school denied this claim in its court response, per the Herald-Leader.
n a statement sent out to the campus community following the article’s publication, Brown said that he was “struck by how far our campus community has come” during his tenure.
“Earlier today I read an article examining the experiences of several former Kentucky State University students and employees,” Brown wrote. “I was immediately struck by how far our campus community has come over the last four years and equally weighted by the need to redouble our efforts toward creating a healthy, strong, and sustainable campus community. Every student, professor, staff member, and visitor to our campus deserves the right to learn, work, and live in an environment free of intimidation, offense, or fear.”
Brown also said that a campus climate and culture assessment survey was forthcoming, and that prior to the article’s publication the university had engaged a company to assist in “developing best-practices for creating a climate of compliance and support for individuals who unfortunately experience harassment, hostility and/or retaliation.”
In an interview with the Herald Leader, Brown said that he would not talk about any specific allegations made in lawsuits “past, present or future.”
The lawsuits
One lawsuit, per the Herald-Leader, involved former assistant director of Student Support Services at KSU Xavier Dillard.
Dillard, a KSU alum and former longtime employee, claims in the suit that he was fired for advocating on behalf of two students who had made sexual harassment complaints. KSU said it fired him for violating a federal law by including the students’ names in a mass email sent to KSU admin, then-Gov. Matt Bevin, as well as state and national media outlets.
Dillard told the Herald-Leader that KSU was a “toxic environment” and that students “don’t feel like they have any help.” He also noted that he had written authorization from the students to share their stories.
One of the students Dillard consulted was Miyache Ashworth, who already complained of sexual harassment from her softball coaches publicly on social media in 2017. She also said at the time that the university was not adequately responding to her complaint.
The State Journal wrote about Ashworth’s complaint, which involved two former coaches — a father-son duo — allegedly commenting on players’ sexuality and inappropriately touching Ashworth. Those coaches were since terminated for unrelated reasons, but later filed wrongful termination lawsuits, which were dismissed in federal court.
Last month, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled against KSU’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. He said there was a real question of whether the university fired Dillard for bringing the allegations to light.
“Was the university — in terminating Mr. Dillard — were they really trying to protect the privacy of students?” Shepherd asked. “Or were they trying to protect some administrators who engaged in what is alleged to be some really shocking, shocking and horrible course of conduct of preying on students for sexual favors in an absolutely horrible fashion? And frankly, I think it’s going to be up to the jury to decide.”
The other student, whose name has not been released, filed a lawsuit himself against KSU in U.S. District Court of Eastern Kentucky. He also named Brown, former school Title IX Coordinator Brandon Williams and former director of admissions Justin Mathis in the lawsuit. The State Journal has previously reported on this lawsuit, which now has a jury date set for next January.
Mathis is identified as allegedly insisting that he and Doe sleep in the same room during a school trip to Washington, D.C., and later making sexual comments that led the student to complain to the university. The perpetrator moved on to work in admissions in Georgia, resigned from KSU shortly after Doe’s mother called Brown directly — five months after Doe started complaining to the university in 2017 per the lawsuit.
“The night of Sept. 29, 2017, and into the morning of Sept. 30, 2017, Defendant Mathis made multiple comments to the Plaintiff that were sexual in nature and refused to book the additional room for the Plaintiff until one of the Plaintiff’s friends sent Mathis a message telling him to get another room or they would have to report him,” the complaint reads.
Another lawsuit identified in the Herald-Leader story includes a whistleblower suit in which KSU settled for $150,000. Holly J. Clark claims she was fired for pointing out that Brown “improperly interfered” with the bidding process for a dining services contract in favor of Sodexo, the school’s current dining service provider. Brown denied this claim, per the Herald-Leader.
Brown, who was hired in 2017 in a 7-3 vote by KSU’s Board of Regents, resigned from Alcorn State University in 2014 as state investigators were looking into the school’s purchasing practices.
An Associated Press story from the time details Alcorn State’s spending $89,000 on the president’s house without following state bid law, as well as other expenses auditors were researching. After Alcorn State, Brown held positions at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and Southern University.
Two other lawsuits involve alleged wrongful termination — KSU denies the circumstances described in both.
Geraldine Young, a former associate professor of nursing, claims that she was fired for expressing ethical concerns to her bosses about the school allegedly misusing federal funds and admitting unqualified students “to increase the numbers,” according to the Herald-Leader.
Damien Hodge, former executive director of KSU’s Office of Building, Recruitment, Enrollment and Discovery Services, also claims he was wrongfully fired, and alleges “a pattern of hostility in the working environment” at KSU.
He claims that Brown used crude language to refer to women, including “ratchet, ugly and dirty,” as well as “kitchen bitch.” KSU denied Hodge’s claims in court documents, per the Herald-Leader, and submitted its own complaints about Hodge’s behavior in response.
The new owner of the Fuddruckers burger franchise is a graduate of both Howard University and Fayetteville State University! The move is one for the books, because his latest business move has made him the first 100% black owner of a national burger franchise. Read about Nicholas Perkins, the man behind the business, in a recent article from Black Enterprise by Andrea Blackstone below.
Luby’s, Inc. announced that the Fuddruckers franchise business operations will be sold to Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC, which is a newly formed affiliate owned by the visionary, Nicholas Perkins, an HBCU Howard University grad.
Perkins earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the long-respected university, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Administration and Management from Fayetteville State University, as stated in his LinkedIn profile. Perkins will make history through the $18.5 million purchase, according to Howard University.
A number of Fuddruckers restaurants were previously sold to a Perkins affiliate, making Perkins one of the largest Fuddruckers franchisees, according to a press release. Perkins is the CEO of Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC. MSN reported that Luby’s, Inc. is a Houston-based cafeteria chain which planned to liquidate its assets and dissolve it. In agreement with this, Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC was formed for the sole purpose of owning the Fuddruckers.
“We’re excited to be purchasing Fuddruckers and look forward to working with Fuddruckers’ many dedicated, highly capable franchisees to further build this brand,” Perkins said. “As a Fuddruckers franchisee, I have a vested interest in ensuring that all Fuddruckers franchisees have the resources, infrastructure, and operational and marketing support they need to maximize their return on investment. This strategic alignment, when combined with the fact that we sell the ‘World’s Greatest Hamburgers’™, will ensure the long-term success of the brand and our franchisees.”
As stated in Perkins Management Services Company’s website, Perkins is Chairman, President, and CEO of the Washington, DC based company, in addition to Perkins and Robinson Investment Group. Perkins’ empire and affiliates are inclusive of retail fast food industry dining services. However, custodial, facilities, and grounds maintenance were also mentioned as areas of specialty along with subsidiaries
Perkins –who now owns a multi-million-dollar enterprise—was born and reared in Fayetteville, NC, according to Johnson C. Smith University. He was raised by a single mother and Mrs. Laurene W. Perkins, which was his grandmother who opened his eyes to culinary interests, Johnson C. Smith University reported. The businessman has also provided employment for individuals from underserved communities.
“My grandmother was a phenomenal cook, she nurtured my passion for the kitchen, I knew that I loved to cook and had a passion for it but I also wanted to become an entrepreneur, so I merged the two and established Perkins Management Company,” Nicholas said.
Pennsylvania State Representative Ed Gainey is set to make history as Pittsburgh’s first black mayor after a rare win over the current mayor in a recent primary election. The presumable upcoming win is historic in two ways, as his his dethroning of a current mayor in the area hadn’t been done in almost 100 years. Learn more about the disruptive Morgan State University alum in the article by Nick Keppler at The Washington Post below.
Ed Gainey defeated Pittsburgh’s mayor in the May 18 Democratic primary. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post)
More than five decades after Cleveland became the first, followed by Cincinnati, Detroit and virtually every other major city in the Midwest and Northeast, Pittsburgh is finally poised to join their ranks and make history this fall by electing a Black mayor.
The all-but-certain victory of state Rep. Ed Gainey (D) comes as the once-battered former steel town, these days dubbed one of America’s most livable cities, looks hard at the racial inequities that have meant vastly different experiences and opportunities for its African American residents. Gainey’s campaign this spring reflected such soul-searching, especially in the wake of nationwide protests over police force in communities of color.
“I believe this city right now is thinking differently,” the 51-year-old native says. “For so long, there has been isolation. There has been institutional racism that has dominated the area in many ways, and I think what you are seeing is a new city emerging.”
Gainey is the first candidate to defeat a sitting mayor here in nearly 90 years. He received 46.1 percent of the vote in the May 18 Democratic primary to Bill Peduto’s 39.5 percent; given that only one political party has power locally, primaries serve as the de facto election.
During the campaign, the incumbent also had talked about the separation of “White Pittsburgh and Black Pittsburgh” and how he had “worked hard to change that, but we’re not there yet.”
The challenger, however, highlighted priorities that responded specifically to Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the 2020 murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. He would ban no-knock warrants, he pledged, strengthen the Citizen Police Review Board and redirect police funding for military-style gear to other public safety needs.
The ideas won out. “Gainey putting forth a plan to redirect funding away from military equipment for the police to better training is a small step in the right direction,” said Matt Frankwitt, a hospital administrative assistant and former Peduto voter. And Gainey’s proposal to deploy trained professionals on 911 calls involving mental health issues “is an even bigger step in the right direction.”
Gainey celebrates his primary victory, which made him the first candidate in decades to defeat a sitting mayor in Pittsburgh. (Steve Mellon/AP)
Despite all the outside accolades in recent years over Pittsburgh’s livability — part of a renaissance driven by tech jobs, health care and an increasingly vibrant art scene — the story line has been much different for the 23 percent of residents who are Black.
Their neighborhoods often are burdened by too many abandoned buildings and too few grocery stores. Some are being overtaken by gentrification and residents pushed out. The neighborhood of East Liberty, four miles from downtown, now features luxury apartments and stores like Bonobos and Warby Parker. A retail business development, anchored by a Whole Foods, stands where 200 people lived in an affordable-housing complex until 2017.
A 2019 city-commissioned report on gender and racial equity quantified the problems: For Black women in Pittsburgh, 18 out of every 1,000 pregnancies end in a fetal death, compared with 9 out of 1,000 for White women. Black women in Pittsburgh are five times as likely to live in poverty as White men.
“Black women and men in other cities have better health, income, employment, and educational outcomes than Pittsburgh’s Black residents,” the report stated.
Gabriel Winant, a University of Chicago historian of social structures and inequality, said these racial inequities are rooted in history. During the 1940s, as a second surge of the Great Migration drew more African Americans from the South, fewer Black families settled here than in other Midwestern and Northern cities. Their numbers remain proportionally smaller today.
Pittsburgh’s labor history is another factor. Unions helped ensure that the best positions in the steel mills went to White men, with Black men holding the least lucrative and most dangerous jobs. “Racial hierarchy gets reinforced through economic structure,” Winant noted.
As a boy, Gainey lived with his mother in a federally subsidized high-rise called Liberty Park. It seemed disconnected from civic life.
“Growing up, I never met a politician,” he said. “They didn’t knock on my door. They didn’t come to my school. We didn’t get calls asking what candidate we would like to support. That didn’t happen in my area. We didn’t have community meetings.”
The building slid into disrepair, and he saw drug deals in the lobby and fights in the halls. Yet he remembers positives, too, including basketball games on nearby city courts and sledding on snow-covered hills. The adults in the neighborhood “poured love onto us,” he recalled.
Gainey attends a celebratory gathering of Unite, a grass-roots organizing group in western Pennsylvania that endorsed his mayoral bid. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post)
His first exposure to politics came in 1990, when he was a freshman at Morgan State University in Baltimore. The campus was in turmoil, with students occupying administrative buildings and demanding more state funding for Maryland’s historically Black colleges and universities. On his very first day, a professor asked him why he was in class instead of protesting. “It was liberating at the time,” he said, “and it was informative. I had never been in that environment, everyone working towards one goal.”
Gainey majored in business management, but when he returned to Pittsburgh, politics drove his ambition. He took a job as a legislative aide to a state representative and, after switching to a city economic-development position, ran against that same representative.
He lost in 2004 and 2006, kept working in the administrations of two successive Pittsburgh mayors, then ran a third time in 2012. That campaign ended in victory, and he has served in the legislature ever since, focusing on affordable housing and gun control and pushing to legalize cannabis. His district includes a swath of majority-Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh as well as in the eastern suburbs in Allegheny County. (Homewood is among those city neighborhoods. It is where the legislator’s younger sister was shot dead in 2016.)
Jasiri X, a local hip-hop artist and activist, said Gainey “loves being around people” and has a knack for creating rapport with others. He noticed this at Black Lives Matter demonstrations. “We were walking through East Liberty,” he said, “and [Gainey] knew everybody, said hi to everybody. That’s his personality.”
Last year’s rallies were volatile in Pittsburgh, with armored police dispersing some crowds with tear gas. When officers arrested one protest leader last August by pulling him into an unmarked van, others regrouped outside the mayor’s home. For several nights, they clogged his street and demanded his resignation before being forced to leave.
Peduto, who declined an interview request for this article, seemed to take it personally. He responded months later to a conservative detractor on Twitter. “You do realize the Protestors from last year also oppose me?” he wrote. “Interesting to know. Radical right and Radical left joining together. This happened 90 years ago. It ended up terribly.” The tweet elicited hundreds of replies, some aghast at the mayor’s apparent reference to Nazi Germany.
For some voters, the local and national dialogue on race changed their priorities. Artist Kirsten Ervin canvassed for Peduto in 2013 and supported him again four years later. She credits the mayor — a policy wonk whose enthusiasm for urban planning earned him the nickname “Bike Lane Bill” — with streamlining bureaucracy and cutting red tape during his two terms. But in May she voted for Gainey.
As “a middle-class White woman” — one who lives in the trendy neighborhood of Lawrenceville — “my life won’t change depending on who is mayor,” she said. “But I feel like we need leadership that gets these things a little better.”
Gainey greets supporters at the Unite event this month. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post)
She also remembers Gainey’s check-ins at the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, where she volunteered during the pandemic. “He was there. He seemed to know everyone,” she said.
“Peduto is like the principal who goes into his office and makes a plan for the semester,” Ervin said, “and Gainey is like the principal who knows every kid’s name.”
Gainey plans to spend the four-plus months before the November general election continuing his work in the state Capitol and preparing for his expected administration. He has discussed some concrete goals, such as elevating Black women to prominent positions in city government and requiring businesses that seek a public subsidy to contribute to a centralized job-training fund, but acknowledges that racial inequities will take decades to resolve.
His “greatest hope” is that Pittsburgh starts to truly become “a city for all.”
“If we can build that and pass it on to somebody else and continue to build on that,” Gainey said, “then we are changing the dynamics and the course we’re faced with.”
Recently, Twister actress Helen Hunt shared something about a proposed sequel that no one saw coming! Apparently, the follow-up film was to feature HBCU students getting in on the infamous tornado action seen in the first film. Hear more about the interesting plot she proposed in the story from Nivea Serrao at SYFY below!
Billd Paxton and Helen Hunt in the original Twister film. Credit: Warner Bros. via Getty Images
Looks like we’re stuck in the “suck” zone — or at least a slightly different version of it!
Turns out that as recently as last year, Twister star Helen Hunt tried to get a sequel made to the 1990 fan-favorite thriller — in which she and Bill Paxton (RIP) play a broken-up storm-chasing husband and wife who are attempting to settle their divorce while also going after a tornado. But as the Oscar-winningactress (for 1997’s As Good as It Gets) revealed in a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, not many studios have been receptive.
“We could barely get a meeting,” she explained about the movie-that-could-still-be. “And this was in June of 2020, when it was all about diversity. And it would have been so cool.”
She went on to add, “There’s an HBCU near Nashville, where we wanted it to take place. And a rocket science club. And in this one, they shoot the rockets up into the tornado. It was going to be so cool!”
Had the sequel taken place, Hunt, who recently appeared in Starz’s Blindspotting series, would have directed and co-written it with that show’s producers, Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer) and Rafael Casal (Are You Afraid of the Dark?). The plan would have been to feature an inclusive cast of Black and brown actors to play the storm chasers at the heart of the film.
According to Hunt, she would have also returned to act in the feature, and hinted that her character, Dr. Jo Harding, could have possibly perished via tornado in the opening scene.
This wouldn’t have been the only Twister-related project twirling around, either. It was reported last year that there is a reboot in the works, though no news has emerged since. However, there have been some scientists examining the classic movie to check whether the science depicted within is real or not.
Artist Cordae is showing his philanthropic side by deciding to create funding for HBCU students, and it’s set off an amazing chain reaction! After announcing his decision to create scholarships, Disney and ESPN have agreed to match his donations! Read all about it in a new article by Joe Walker at Hip Hop DX below!
Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images
Cordae has teamed up with Disney Dreamers Academy and ESPN’s The Undefeated to fund scholarships for underrepresented communities attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The Maryland rapper was asked to appear on the upcoming Liberated/Music for the Movement Vol. 3 EP and chose to donate money to HBCU students, which Disney and The Undefeated then matched.
“So many people need the money more than I do,” Cordae said in a statement. “I feel as though when you’re in such a blessed position, it’s important to pay that forward to be a blessing to others. It’s especially important to me to invest in our youth and the future. Young people are the future of our society and the world, so we must do all we can to ensure they are properly positioned to succeed.”
He added, “If I can spark the brain of a few future world leaders and geniuses, I’ll die a happy man.”
Cordae is contributing a Common collaboration called “What’s Life” to the Liberated/ Music for the Movement Vol. 3 EP, which is set to arrive on Friday (June 18) with other songs from Lucky Daye and Chloe Bailey. On the same day, he’ll perform as a special guest on Stephen A. Smith’s Stephen A’s World on ESPN+ to celebrate Juneteenth.
Grammy-nominated Cordae went to college himself but dropped out of Towson University in 2018 to focus on his music career.
“This art form is about having fun and expressing yourself,” he told Highsnobiety in August 2019. “When it is just a job then that takes the whole kick out of it [for the fans]. I dropped out of college because I was miserable as fuck and making music was my dream, so having fun is important.”
In April, he released his Just Until… EP with features from Q-Tip and Young Thug alongside production credits from Raphael Saadiq, Terrace Martin, Take a Daytrip and Cardiak.
This Saturday, local Louisiana station is highlighting HBCU bands with a tribute called “National Battle of the Bands: A Salute to HBCU Marching Bands.” Learn more about it in the article by Judy Bergeron at news station WAFB below!
The Human Jukebox marching band performs during half time as Southern University plays against FAMU at Bragg Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. on, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2019. FAMU won against Southern 27-21. (Aileen Perilla for The Advocate) ORG XMIT: 10030138AFILE PHOTO
In celebration of Black Music Month, the “National Battle of the Bands: A Salute to HBCU Marching Bands” film will be airing at 11 a.m. June 19 on WAFB, Channel 9, cable Channel 7.
From the blues, gospel, and jazz to rock and roll, rhythm and blues, hip hop and rap, the musical contributions of African Americans throughout the fabric of history can be seen, heard and felt in the precision, sound and show-shopping performances of Historically Black College and Universities marching bands.
The hour-long film captures and showcases the history behind the heritage, pride and pageantry of HBCU marching bands and the institutions they call home.
“HBCU marching bands are a source of pride and prestige for the Black community,” said Derek Webber, Executive Producer & CEO of Webber Marketing. “As an alumnus of Hampton University, it feels amazing to produce a film paying homage to the legacies of HBCU marching bands and the trailblazers of the past and present who pathed a way for their existence today.”
Featuring Southern University’s Human Jukebox Marching Band and other notable HBCU bands from across the country, the film introduces viewers to the people who make the magic behind the music and moves HBCU alumni, fans and audiences love to hear and see.
“We are excited about contributing to this amazing story about HBCU Bands and their importance to society,” said Kedric D. Taylor, Southern University Director of Bands. “The world needs to know this significant part of African American history and the Southern University Marching Band and staff are appreciative to the National Battle of the Bands for conveying it in such an excellent manner.”
The film also reveals how much sacrifice, dedication and passion goes on behind the scenes to create the performances fans look forward to witnessing during football halftimes, homecoming parades and the coveted battle of the bands’ showdowns.
From presidential inaugurations and national holiday celebrations to major award shows, HBCU marching bands have been front and center at some of the biggest moments in ther country’s history, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment, and politics.
“HBCU marching bands play an instrumental role in educating aspiring musicians and developing future leaders, which is why any time we have an opportunity to elevate their visibility – whether through television and in-person events – we will do so in a major way to honor their insurmountable influence and impact,” Webber added.
