Howard PhD Student Tapped For Two Leadership Positions At Xavier University of Louisiana

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HBCUs challenge you in ways you might never expect, and yet leave you feeling more prepared than ever. Kerri Alexander can attest to that, as she will have her hands full with two new positions at Xavier University of Louisiana. She has various experience that includes leading initiatives racial justice, and social justice for women. She has also worked for Howard University and is currently pursuing her PhD there as well. Read more below from Xavier’s release about why Kerri Alexander was such a standout choice!

Courtesy of Xavier University of Louisiana

Xavier University of Louisiana has selected Kerri Alexander to serve as Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Chief Inclusion Officer. Alexander joins the institution after having served as Director of Discipleship and Christian Education at Kingdom Fellowship A.M.E. Church where she created courses meant to engage and encourage spiritual and personal growth amongst the 6,000-member congregation. As Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Chief Inclusion Officer, she will work alongside leadership within the Division of Student Affairs to fulfill their mission of providing Xavierites with opportunities to cultivate co-curricular experiences which compliment their academic endeavors and ensure a safe and affirming environment.

“We are extremely excited to have Ms. Kerri Alexander join our Student Affairs family here at Xavier,” says Curtis Wright, Vice President of Student Affairs at Xavier University of Louisiana. “We conducted a national search with many talented leaders and her candidacy emerged as the right fit for this moment in our University’s history.”

Alexander brings a multifaceted background with her to the University. Prior to Xavier, she served as an Education and Public History Fellow at the National Women’s History Museum where she assisted in creating public programming focused on highlighting women. During her time at the Museum, she worked with Google to curate a digital exhibit for the site’s 2019 Black History Month feature. Before her role at Kingdom Fellowship A.M.E Church, she began teaching as a Teacher’s Associate at Howard University within the History Department concentrating on uncovering black history lost in traditional grade-school education. Alexander has also worked at Womanspace Inc. Domestic Violence Shelter as a Shelter Chaplain Resident where she addressed the needs of women and children who were survivors of  domestic violence and sex trafficking while simultaneously leading an agency-wide employee development workshop addressing feminism, racism, and intersectionality.

Courtesy of West Hartford

“Xavier already has such a rich legacy of making important and lasting change on-campus and within the community that when I saw the opportunity I knew it was a no brainer,” said Alexander. “I am thrilled for the opportunity to engage Xavierites in the important conversations that are taking place in our society while also staying true to the strong traditions that have established the excellence of Xavier as the notable institution it is today. I hope to be able to take the lessons we’ve learned from the past as a society and instill those lessons in our students to ensure a brighter future.”

Within her role as Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Chief Inclusion Officer, Alexander will serve as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator for the University and oversee the Office of Inclusion and Social Justice, Campus Ministry, the Office of Violence Prevention Education and Advocacy, veteran affairs, and help to push civic engagement initiatives. 

As a member of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, Association of Black Seminarians and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Alexander has received a Bachelors of Science in Arts Administration from Wagner College, a Masters of Arts in Theological Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary, and has completed her coursework towards a PhD in History and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Howard University.  She is currently finishing her dissertation focused on the sale and separation of enslaved families during the nineteenth century and the pervasiveness of institutional separation to this day.

28 Black Inventions Used Today

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In honor of Black History Month, we find it necessary to pay homage to those in Black history who have paved the way for all of us today. We’re taught in school about Thomas Edison and the light bulb and other great inventions that changed the course of history, but there are many people who looks like you and me to thank that provides our lives with the day-to-day necessities.

Lewis Latimer, Carbon Filament

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Latimer was hired by The Edison Electric Light Company to contribute to the paper filament where he later created the carbon filament, which resulted in the light bulb.

George Washington Carver, Peanut Butter

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Thanks to history books this maybe the most popular Black invention we know of. Carver is credited for inventing peanut butter and is also the driving force behind the earliest instant coffee.

William H. Richardson, Babby Buggy

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Richardson created the baby buggy, the first mode of mobile transportation for babies.

L. Love, The Pencil Sharpener

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Love’s 1897 invention of the pencil sharpener is still found in millions of classrooms today.

Garrett Morgan, Gas Mask

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Morgan is credited for creating one of the world’s first effective gas masks, and one of the earliest versions. He also made the first real traffic signal, which was patented in 1923 by the United States Government.

Dr. Patricia E. Bath, Laser that cures Cataracts

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Dr. Bath invented the laser that cures cataracts. It was patented in 1988 which to date has helped save the eyesight of millions and also restore sight.

Richard Spikes, Automatic Gearshift

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Drivers worldwide can thank Spikes for his 1932 invention of the automatic gearshift used to drive cars.

Charles R. Drew, Blood Bank

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The Blood Bank was thought of and created by Drew, during World War II, after his extensive experience with blood transfusions.

Lonnie G. Johnson, Water Gun

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Johnson invented the popular childhood phenomenon water gun, the Supersoaker.

Frederick M. Jones, Air Conditioning Unit

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We have Mr. Jones to thank for the cool summers and warm winters with his invention of the air conditioning unit in 1949.

 Henry T. Sampson, Cell Phone

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In 1971 Sampson invented the one thing we can’t get our hands off of today – the cellular phone.

G. T. Sampson, Clothes Dryer

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Before we through our clothes in the dryer and went about our day, we were hanging them on clotheslines outside to dry in the sun. Thank you to Sampson, we got the clothes dryer in 1862.

Alexander Miles, Automatic Mechanism

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Though he didn’t directly invent the elevator, Miles improved the method of the opening and closing of elevator doors in 1867. He is also credited to inventing the closing of the elevator shaft by making an automatic mechanism.

T. Marshall, Fire Extinguisher

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This invention has saved many lives and homes from destruction. Marshall invented the fire extinguisher in 1872.

Robert Flemming, Guitar

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Many greats in music have Flemming to thank for his invention of the guitar.

Paul L. Downing, Four-legged Metal Mailbox

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In 1891 he created the four-legged metal mailbox that millions still use today.

Imhotep, Stethoscope

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Travel back to Ancient Egypt for the invention of the stethoscope.

T. A. Carrington, Stove

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Created in 1876, the stove is still in millions of households today.

Madam C. J. Walker, Straightening Comb

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Madam C.J. Walker is widely popular for her Walker Hair Care System and the invention of the straightening comb.

Burridge & Marshman, Typewriter

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This 1885 invention was used to create books, manuscripts and other great forms of writing. Burridge & Marshman is credited for inventing the typewriter.

Otis Boykin, Artificial Heart Pacemaker Control Unit

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There were many versions of the pacemaker created before Boykin’s, but his artificial heart pacemaker control unit is what is still used to help millions to this day.

Gerald A. Lawson, Lawson’s Home-Video Gaming Console

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There would be no Playstation, Wii or Xbox without Lawson’s home-video gaming console. His invention was the first that used interchangeable cartridges.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Caller ID & Call Waiting

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Many know that Dr. Jackson was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT (specializing in Physics), but she has made numerous contributions to telecommunications that we take advantage of today; such as touch-tone phones, Caller ID and Call Waiting.

George E. Alcorn, Imaging X-ray Spectrometer

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His invention of the imaging x-ray spectrometer revolutionized the way NASA conducted research.

 

Marc Hannah, 3-D Graphics

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Hannah invented 3-D graphics technology that is used in special effect films.

R. Johnson, Bicycle

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Johnson created the frame of a bicycle, which is still a form of transportation to many.

Frederick M. Jones, Refrigerator

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There would be tons of food wasted and spoiled daily if it wasn’t for Jones invention of the refrigerator. He founded Thermo King, which became a leading manufacturer of refrigerated transportation.

Ludwick Marishane, Dry Bath

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The University of Cape Town graduate developed DryBath at the young age of 21. This has allowed billions worldwide to bathe who may not have access to clean and healthy water.

Recent Study Explores Whether Hate Crimes Have Led To Higher HBCU Enrollment

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The recent increase in enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can be attributed to many recent factors. Kamala Harris, who attended Howard University, has inspired many as the first Black Vice President in United States history. There has been a historical pandemic that has led many to reconsider their career paths and go back to school. Nevertheless, two Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) recently came together to study whether the recent increase in enrollment could be attributed to hate crimes. Read about the gripping study below from University Business.

A study done by professors at SMU and UC Berkeley shows an increase in enrollment in states where those crimes became more prevalent.

A new study done by researchers from Southern Methodist University and the University of California, Berkeley, appears to show a correlation between an increase in the number of African American first-time students enrolling in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and states that experience a rise in hate crimes.

Courtesy of Getty Images

Professors Dominique Baker at SMU and Tolani Britton at UC Berkeley performed the study “Hate Crimes and Black College Student Enrollment” that looked at enrollment figures from HBCU institutions from 1999-2017 and compared them with other data – such as hate crimes occurring on and off campuses during that period.

In the working paper published by Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, they concluded that increases in such crimes in individual states – racial, religious, gender-based or against those with disabilities –  caused a 20% spike in the number of African-American students opting to attend HBCUs.

“The number of reported hate crimes is almost assuredly an undercount of the actual number of incidents,” Baker said. “Even so, this study helps fill in the gap by exploring the association between Black students’ college enrollment and the number of reports of hate crimes at two levels: the state and the institution.”

They say hate crimes had reached their highest point in a decade in 2019, spurred by “rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump in referencing immigrants and persons of color.” In fact, of the nearly 15,000 law enforcement agencies participating in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program two years ago, 14% reported at least one hate crime occurring in their jurisdictions, or more than 7,000 in total in the U.S. The overwhelming majority were race-based.

Campuses are not immune. The Center for American Progress, in an article done in 2019 and citing data from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, noted a 40% rise in campus hate crimes to more than 1,000 incidents across the U.S. They say the hate extends to “white supremacist propoganda” that has circulated across campuses.

Courtesy of Radcliffe “Rudy” Rowe, National Geographic

Researchers Baker and Britton say African-American students, for a number of reasons, are more likely to enroll at HBCUs than at non-HBCUs, especially when race-based hate crimes rise in individual states.

“It could be that students coming from more racially similar home communities seek to replicate these spaces in a college community due to prior experiences of an increased likelihood of student safety in predominantly Black spaces,” Britton said.

The study also noted: “It could also be that the reports of hate crimes on HBCU campuses are perpetrated by individuals who were not affiliated with the institutions, and therefore, students still find their campus to be a welcoming environment.”

The Center for American Progress and Baker and Britton note the scarcity of reporting data available and the lack of information on the specifics on those incidents.

They say colleges can do their part to help increase knowledge and dialogue by:

  • Adding training for those charged with reporting hate crimes
  • Ensuring that information related to these crimes is accurately reported
  • Offering additional support systems to Black students and their families, including the promotion of mental health services and other available health options. The Center for American Progress notes the disparity in African Americans who are helping deliver these services on campuses directly to students.
  • Fostering a welcoming campus, while providing open forums for dialogue on current topics and encouraging positive behaviors both in person on online. And denouncing behavior that isn’t.
  • Don’t just offer rhetoric or hollow mission statements on diversity and equity. Create programs and initiatives on campus that make a difference and lean on faculty who can support them.
  • Allowing students to more easily report hate crimes via an online, secured reporting system.

Baker also pitched that colleges and universities further research on hate crimes and enrollments for other groups of color. The goal of all support, they say, is to increase the “likelihood of college persistence and graduation.”

11-Year-Old Sells Candles To Fund Education At Dream School Howard University

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There are a million ways to reach your dreams, and it’s never too early to get started. This is a lesson Hart Wilson has learned early! The young boy is learning the ropes of entrepreneurship selling a product that everyone seems to love. It is all in an effort for Hart to better himself at the HBCU he has his heart set on. Read how Hart Wilson is working his way to Howard University in the story from Because Of Them We Can below.

An 11-year-old started his own candle business to help pay his way to Howard University.

Courtesy of Candles From The Hart

Hart Wilson is the owner of Candles From The Hart, a handmade candle company he started from the ground up. The inspiration began after a trip to Howard University when Hart was just 6-years-old. It was then that he decided the D.C.-based HBCU was his dream school. He decided if he were ever going to have a chance at going, he would have to find a way to make some money. Last year, he finally put his plan into action and began raising money to attend his dream school.

Courtesy of Candles From The Hart

“I got on the internet and saw that people were making different things to sell to earn money, and I settled on candles. My parents and I watched YouTube videos and started experimenting with making candles, and we figured it all out, and that’s when it all started,” Hart told Because Of Them We Can. 

Utilizing the online marketplace Etsy for independent sellers, Hart began selling his one-of-a-kind candles, boasting scents like “Cashmere Plum,” in honor of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, “Tranquil Sea,” “Guava Fresca,” “Grapefruit and Mint,” and “Asian Pear and Basil.” He also sells wax melts and scents to put in your car. Eventually, the company started picking up some traction.

The New Orleans Pelicans staff ordered a batch. Then Inda Craig-Galvan, a television writer for ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder, ordered some and spread the word even more. Actress Keena Ferguson from Tyler Perry’s Sistas placed an order, and Queen Sugar actress Tracey Bonner. Before he knew it, the business was booming. Eventually, Hart started getting requests to sell his candles in stores, starting with restaurant owner Gabriel Devarssy in Chicago before expanding to local shops in Houston and then stores in his hometown of Pearland, Texas.

While Hart is enjoying the business, his main goal is to fund his college education and make it Howard. He’s hoping to diversify his business portfolio by then and start even more businesses. But in the meantime, he’s focused on keeping his grades up so he can prepare academically. Hart hopes his story serves as an inspiration for other young entrepreneurs and encourages them to stay motivated.

Courtesy of Candles From The Hart

“The advice I would give other young people trying to pursue business is simple…DO IT! You can do anything you want. Don’t let anyone tell you no. Whatever you like doing, figure out a way to get paid from it and be successful,” Hart told BOTWC.

Hart is currently looking to expand his in-store sales to other cities, focusing on upstate New York as the next rollout. He was also recently featured in Biore’s Buy Black campaign, which helped raise his profile and drive sales. We can’t wait to see what this young kid does next!

Who Is ‘The Real HU?’

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Get to know the background of this heated debate a little better before the upcoming homecoming season. 

Some of the music industry’s most prominent rappers have named-dropped HU in songs over the years. Nah, not Harvard University. But Hampton University and Howard University, two Black Ivy League historically Black colleges. 

Take The Notorious B.I.G., for example, who name-dropped Howard in his song Kick In The Door, or Drake’s Used To (Hampton). 

Each year, whether during a Debate team competition, Battle of the Bands, or Cheerleading, school pride is at an all-time high for Hampton and Howard alumni and students, particularly if and when they face off against one another. The winner of the game gets bragging rights as “The Real HU.” 

The above could not be more evident than at the Hampton versus Howard football games, which has spilled over into pop culture. 

To that end, let’s get to know the background of this heated debate a little better before homecoming season.  

According to many, the illustrious Hampton University has one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association founded Hampton as Hampton Institute in 1868 after the American Civil War to educate freed slaves.

In contrast, Howard University was founded in 1867. The historically Black university derives its name from a Civil War hero, General Oliver Otis Howard, the university founder. And according to many, Howard is the most prestigious historically Black university in the country. 

Considering the institution’s founding date, Howard was “HU” before Hampton. Of course, the latter school became Hampton University much later in 1984. 

On the HBCU level, The Real HU football rivalry is Ohio State versus Michigan. The first meeting between Hampton and Howard was back in 1908, where the former defeated the latter 6 to 0. 

These institutions have since played nearly 100 matches against one another, even crossing over to popular music and literature, like when rapper Ludacris named-dropped Howard in his 2000s’ hit song Pimpin’ All Over The World:

“Then jump in the car and just ride for hours/ Makin’ sure I don’t miss the homecoming at Howard.”

“Now, before we get started, I just want to say, I’m excited the Battle of the Real H.U. will be taking place in Washington this year,” President Barack Obama said during his commencement address at Hampton in 2010. Of course, Obama was referring to the football game where these two historically Black universities compete against one another.

“You know I am not going to pick sides. But my understanding is it’s been 13 years since the Pirates lost. As one Hampton alum on my staff put it, the last time Howard beat Hampton, The Fugees were still together,” he continued. 

It is true. Hampton won 13 consecutive football meetings against Howard from 1997 to 2009. The school added another W to the column in the Fall of 2010 to make it 14 straight dubs against Howard before the former president threw shade at Howard while he delivered Hampton’s commencement address in May of that year. 

What is more, Howard went on to win the next four football meetings against Hampton from 2011 to 2014, and besides, Obama did precisely what he was supposed to do down the road. He delivered the commencement address at “The Mecca” Howard University in 2016. 

He also gave a commencement address to the graduating seniors at the historically Black all-males Morehouse College in Atlanta in 2013. 

Even Obama is indecisive here. 

But no matter who you believe is “The Real HU,” both of these private historically Black institutions are needed now more than ever. And thus, you have to respect Hampton’s and Howard’s, along with the other 99 HBCUs in the country, name because these institutions are the last cultural jewels that Black people have left in this country. 

That is on period.

Grambling State University Received $250,000 For Permanent Endowment Thanks To Alum

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Funding has hindered many HBCUs from expansion and maximizing student support. However, as more HBCUs receive record donations from people like MacKenzie Scott, they are gaining more funding than perhaps ever before! Grambling State University is one of those HBCUs, which just received a quarter-million-dollar donation for a new endowment that will benefit at least 10 students per year! Read below for the full story from Grambling State below to find out more details!

Courtesy of KTVE

Grambling State University has received $250,000 from Diageo North America to create a permanent endowment fund and provide financial aid grants to talented students across different disciplines and majors. This is part of a broader innovative program that Diageo North America announced to support 25 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), focused on building opportunities to develop future leaders and help shape a more equitable society. The initiative is expected to benefit thousands of students over the years across the country.

The Diageo Endowed Scholarship Fund will be used to provide scholarships to at least 10 students each year. Qualified applicants must be of African heritage; enrolled in an academic program at Grambling State University; currently pursuing a degree in any major (preference will be given to Engineering, Chemistry, Marketing, and Communications majors); maintain a 2.75 grade point average and meet the University’s general scholarship requirements (e.g. academic standard, code of conduct).

“We appreciate the support of Diageo and are so proud of Perry Jones and the role he has taken in advocating for his alma mater and other HBCUs,” said Grambling State University President Rick Gallot. “This generous gift will help Grambling State continue to produce graduates that are valued for their leadership and innovation.”

Perry Jones, courtesy of Grambling State University

With a goal of helping to change the complexion of the industry, Diageo North America has also committed to taking a step to build a pipeline of talented leaders through an internship platform over the coming years and Grambling State University will be part of it. The company will provide opportunities for HBCU students to gain valuable work experience at a fast pace that could help them with their future career aspirations or jump-start their career in the consumer goods industry.

“We are proud to partner with these esteemed institutions and to do our part to help shape a more equitable society by providing opportunities for future leaders,” said Debra Crew, President, Diageo North America. “This initiative further deepens Diageo’s commitment to making a long term and sustainable impact on underrepresented communities.”

“As an HBCU grad, I’m proud of the partnership Diageo is announcing today. This is an incredible step in furthering Diageo’s commitment to diversity and inclusion to colleges and universities that have a legacy of producing some of our most recognized minority leaders,” said Perry Jones, President, Diageo North America Supply and Grambling State University Alum. “I look forward to the development of new young leaders as a result of this investment in our HBCUs.”

This initiative was created by working closely with Diageo North America’s African Heritage Business Resource Group (A.H.E.A.D.) to focus on the priorities and actions, along with the right partnerships, to make the most meaningful impact in the Black community.

To learn more about Diageo’s work to support the communities where it operates, including company values, visit www.diageo.com.

28 Black History Landmarks

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Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Greyhound Bus Station, Montgomery, Alabama

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The Freedom Riders were attacked by a local mob at this bus station in 1961.

Bethel Baptist Church Parsonage, and Guard House Birmingham, Alabama

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Bethal Baptist Church was built in 1926 in the African American working class neighborhood of Collegeville. Reverend Shuttlesworth was a pastor at Bethel Baptist Church.

The Campground Mobile, Alabama

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This district was an important role in the historical development of the black community of Mobile, Alabama since the 1860s.

Fort Huachuca, Sierra Vista, Arizona

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This U.S. military fort was created during the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 1880s to protect settlers and travel routes that later housed black troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Little Rock Central High School

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Where the first major confrontation over the Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Supreme Court ruling in 1957.

Fort Lyon, Bent County, Colorado

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Several companies of African American Buffalo soldiers were stationed here during the Indian Wars from the 1860s to the 1890s.

First Church of Christ, Farmington, Connecticut

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This church was at the center of community life for Amistad captives and their famous 1840-1841 trial.

Austin F. Williams Carriagehouse, Farmington, Connecticut

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This site served as living quarters for the Amistad Africans on their way back to Africa, and as a “station” on the Underground Railroad.

Lincoln Park

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This park features the Mary McLeod Bethune memorial and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. Bethune’s statue lies to the West. In 1964 this is the first monument to a black person, or even a woman.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

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This solid granite sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stands in the “National Mall” in Washington, D.C.

Mary Church Terrell House

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This house, built between 1873 and 1877, was the home of Memphis-born Mary Church Terrell, who at age 86 led the successful fight to integrate eating places in the District of Columbia.

Public Schools of Washington D.C.

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This landmark includes Alexander Crummell School, William Syphax School, and Military Road School, all formerly African American segregated schools.

Striver’s Section Historic District

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This area has been associated with African American leaders in business, education, politics, religion, art, architecture, science and government. The most renowned of these figures was Frederick Douglass.

Howard Thurman House, Daytona Beach, Florida

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Howard Thurman spent most of his childhood in this late 19th-century house. His influential work influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. and provided the philosophical foundation for a nonviolent civil rights movement.

The Mary McLeod Bethune Home, Daytona Beach, Florida

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This was the residence of the educator and civil rights leader on the campus of Bethune Cookman College from the early 1920s until her death in 1955.

Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, Jacksonville, Florida

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Bethel Baptist Institutional Church is the oldest Black Baptist church in Florida.

Sweet Auburn Historic District, Atlanta, Georgia

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The sweet Auburn Historic District is where African American businesses moved after the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906.

Mount Zion Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia

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Served as the religious, educational, and social center of Albany’s African American community, especially during the Civil Rights Movement.

Chicago Bee Building

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In 1926, the Chicago Bee Building was commissioned by black entrepreneur Anthony Overton, who owned the renowned Black newspaper The Chicago Bee.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett House, Chicago, Illinois

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This was the former home of late 19th Century and early 20th Century civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells.

Robert S. Abbott House, Chicago, Illinois

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Abbott lived in this house from 1926 to 1940. He founded the black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.

WROX Building, Clarksdale, Mississippi

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From 1946-1954, this building served as the site of a radio station that catered to an African American audience.

Natchez National Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi

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This cemetery is the final resting place of many blacks who fought in the U.S. Civil War.

Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, Mississippi

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Founded in 1869 by the American Missionary Association. During the 1950s and 1960s, it became a primary center of civil rights movement activity in Mississippi.

Cartland House, Lee, New Hampshire

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The Cartland House is where Moses Cartland, one of New Hampshire’s premier antislavery activists, aided those fleeing from slavery in the mid-19th century.

Dunbar Apartments, Harlem, New York

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This apartment complex, constructed in 1926, is located in Harlem. Labor reformer and unionist Asa Philip Randolph helped to battle racism in American industry.

Hotel Theresa, Harlem, New York

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One of the major social centers of Harlem. Serving from 1940 until the late 1960s, when it was converted into office use, it was one of the most important community institutions for African Americans in New York.

Bowie State To Become The First HBCU With A Stop-Motion Animation Studio

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HBCUs are not just leaders in the education of Black professionals, they are the innovators! In fact, Bowie State University just announced a ground-breaking new opportunity for students interested in the art form that is stop-motion animation! As a result, the new partnership between BSU and LAIKA will drive an immeasurable increase in diversity in an industry that could desperately use refreshing talent! Read the full release from Bowie State below for more information.

LAIKA, the Oscar®-nominated and BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning feature film animation studio best known for Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings and Coraline, is partnering with Bowie State University to build the nation’s first stop-motion animation studio at a historically Black college and university (HBCU). The partnership will enhance BSU’s animation curriculum, with the goal of providing a career pathway for BSU students into the animation industry.

Courtesy of Bowie State University

LAIKA’s donation will fund upgrades to Bowie State’s green screen studio to allow stop-motion animation production. The art form, one of cinema’s oldest techniques, entails the incremental movement of objects, such as puppets, filmed 24X per second to create the illusion of movement.

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn valuable skills that will carry them into the professional world of animation,” said Tewodross Melchishua Williams, chair of the BSU Department of Fine & Performing Arts. “There are a lot of storytelling and narrative elements that have yet to be brought to life via stop-motion animation, especially in the arena of children’s programming. We are looking at this partnership to be an internship and career pipeline that can help diversify the animation industry, which has been a traditionally underrepresented sector when it comes to the voices of people of color, women, LGBTQ and other communities.”

“LAIKA is thrilled to be partnering with as prestigious an institution as Bowie State University,” said LAIKA’s head of production Arianne Sutner, the Golden Globe-winning and Oscar®-nominated producer of Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings and ParaNorman. “At its heart, LAIKA is a community of artists, craftspeople and scientists committed to expanding the technological capabilities of our animation medium in order to tell everyone’s stories with boldness, compassion and excellence. Helping BSU students to express their experience, their artistry and their potential through the stop motion art form speaks to our creative and corporate mandate. We’re so excited to explore their talents and to provide mentorship and tools that will enlarge the scope of their filmmaking vision.”

The partnership between LAIKA and Bowie State developed as a way to create internship opportunities for BSU students. As the relationship grew, LAIKA committed to making a long-term investment at Bowie State to prepare students for success in the animation industry.

Courtesy of Grimm + Parker

Bowie State’s animation & motion graphics concentration is part of the visual communication & digital media arts (VCDMA) bachelor’s degree program, which is one of the university’s fastest-growing majors. Bowie State was recently recognized as one of the nation’s top HBCU art programs by The Hundred-Seven, which specifically highlighted the five concentrations in the VCDMA program.

Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, LAIKA’s five films have been nominated for Academy Awards for “Outstanding Animated Feature Film.” In addition, Kubo and the Two Strings also received an Oscar nomination for its visual effects, only the second time in Academy history that an animated film received such distinction. Kubo and the Two Strings won the BAFTA Award and the National Board of Review, and Missing Link was this year’s Golden Globe winner. LAIKA’s films have won multiple Annie Awards, animation’s highest honor, as well as a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing in facial animation.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER: President Dr. Aminta Breaux of Bowie State University

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Today we launched an exclusive weekly digital series: President’s Corner! Our host/HBCU Buzz CEO Luke Lawal Jr. invites various HBCU Presidents nationwide to discuss the latest topics surrounding your HBCU and the Black college community. The one-on-one informative format will cover an array of hot topics, issues and initiatives of the featured HBCU. Tune in live on Facebook and Youtube every Tuesday at 12pm PT/3pm ET. You can also listen to #PresidentsCorner anywhere you get your podcasts. 

Episode 1: Interview with Bowie State’s President Dr. Aminta Breaux

We are so excited to have Dr. Aminta Breaux as our very first #PresidentsCorner guest as our HBCU Buzz CEO Luke Lawal Jr. is a proud Bulldog! President Aminta Breaux is the 10th president and 1st female president of Bowie State University. Dr. Breaux joined Bowie State in 2017 and has since made it her mission to enrich the lives of students by engaging them in the learning process and pathing a path to succeed after Bowie. President Breaux talks with a deep sense of pride in Bowie’s rich history of molding leaders and she has made it her personal responsibility to carry this legacy forward. Dr. Breaux’s idea of a perfect day is when she is able to interact with students one-on-one around the campus and she can’t wait to embrace students again once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. President Breaux truly is a passionate educator. In this episode you will learn about her shared Bowie State pride with Luke, the history and culture at Bowie, her plans for the recent $25M MacKenzie Scott donation, Bowie’s entrepreneurship program, and Black History Month programming. Read more about the exciting conversation below!

On the History of Bowie + Enrollment

Luke: Tell me a little bit about the history of Bowie State. As the first HBCU in Maryland, there is so much rich history there that a lot of people don’t know about.

President Breaux: Bowie State is the first HBCU in Maryland, we were founded in 1865… to educate former slaves and ensure that they had the ability to contribute back to their communities and to have the wherewithal to lift up their families. Today we have 23 undergraduate majors, over 35 graduate and certificate programs, 2 doctoral programs and we are growing, the enrollment is over 6,200. You can share that with your family members and ask them… how many were in the graduating class. I think you’ll see a vast difference so we are changing and growing with our academic programs. We’re putting up a new building: the entrepreneurship living-learning community. It’s going to have three components including a new residence hall component because enrollment is up…we had the largest first time full time enrollment this year of any of the universities in the state system this year and we grew our first-time students attending Bowie State by 20%.

On Culture at Bowie

Luke: You know when I was at Bowie State, there are so many things that I remember… one being Bowie State will prepare you for the real world. I love Bowie, I couldn’t imagine who I would be today without Bowie State University. Tell me about your experience joining the Bowie State culture and comparing your other institutions.

President Breaux: When you come to Bowie State University you feel a part of a family, it’s a very nurturing environment… We have a very close-knit community and so it’s a very special place and it’s hard to describe until you come to the campus… Here once you get to know a person a little bit you get a big hug that makes you feel so good that you can go out and do anything… someone’s lifting you up and making sure that you’re the best person the best at whatever you’re doing here on this campus.

On Bowie’s Entrepreneurship Program

Luke: Bowie State is the reason why I started HBCU Buzz. Bowie State helped me get HBCU Buzz off the ground, it’s the understanding and commitment you guys have toward entrepreneurship. Can you tell me a little bit more about the entrepreneurship program?

President Breaux: I would love to tell you more about the program. How much time do you have? That building is to support students who are aspiring entrepreneurs but it’s more than that, it’s going to serve as that hub for accelerator businesses, to accelerate the business, to grow businesses, to serve as an incubator. We are fortunate to have the Bowie Innovation Center separate 501(c)(3) enterprise that is here on this campus presently. When we open up that new building we can have a closer alignment with our Entrepreneurship Academy that’s part of the university and it is all designed to be part of the larger entrepreneurial ecosystem. There’s so many individuals who want to start a new product, create a new business and we need to support them in those endeavors. We have hundreds of our students who are already participating in our Academy and also getting mentoring from the Bowie Innovation Center. Every student is afforded opportunities to explore their creativity, their innovation and develop those skills… Part of my vision for this institution is to make sure that they graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset and that means that they’re able to navigate with the changes and what’s happening out in the workforce in any organization. I want them to be able to provide value added benefits to an employer so if mergers and acquisitions are happening graduates will be ready to position, to think differently about how they contribute to the success of an organization.

On Bowie State Today + Partnerships + The $25M MacKenzie Scott Donation

Luke: Tell me more about what is going on today at Bowie State University.

President Breaux: Today we are continuing on… as I say racing to excellence strategic plan. That includes developing new partnerships to support students in their learning to ensure students are successful, that we have the resources we need to invest and reinvest in our academic programs, growing new programs, developing new initiatives that are keeping pace with the needs of our communities including the workforce. We are developing new partnerships with industry leaders such as Apple and Google. It’s great to see the support that is coming to Bowie State University to help us realize our vision. Those partnerships have met so very much to us and one of the great pieces of news right before the holiday and I hope you heard about it. 

That is the largest gift that we’ve ever received here at Bowie State University, a private gift and that came through MacKenzie Scott. She is a true philanthropist and she gave a wonderful gift of $25 million dollars but I’m sharing that to say thank you and we appreciate that gift but what’s most important to the donor, to MacKenzie Scott was that service as a leadership gift for others to give to Bowie State University because we still have a lot of need here to build up our infrastructure. 

Luke: Right now there’s obviously a big trend on HBCU and a lot of people are highlighting the wonderful things and the wonderful alumni from these great institutions. We see donors like MacKenzie giving over millions of dollars to HBCUs. I am wondering what Bowie State has done with that impact and those resources. Tell me some of the things in your agenda moving forward that will propel students in this new era.

President Breaux: First and foremost you need to make sure that students have access to higher education and here at Bowie we are focused on closing the financial gap and making higher education affordable here at BSU. That means putting a great deal toward scholarships for our students… The way we do that is by investing and putting much of those funds into the endowment. We’re able to provide scholarships at a higher level because we’ve grown our endowment. The programs that we have today may not be the programs that are going to be needed just five years from now because technology is reshaping the workforce. We need to have academic innovation… and ensure that we have the quality we need to deliver education virtually and then having what we call stackable credentials certificates, more certificates, more badges as employers are looking to enrich their workforce. Those who may have been laid off, maybe their jobs are gone now and they have to retool, re-skill and some will not need a 4-year degree. They may just need another certificate in a certain area or a badge that certifies they’ve had a certain amount of learning so we want to partner with business leaders and industries in that way. 

On Black History Month

Luke: Tell me about some of your Black History Month program that’s coming up this month.

President Breaux: We start Black History Month with our convocation ceremony where we have a Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks who will be speaking. We will have symposia held throughout the week and the goal is to raise awareness about our history of course, but it’s also to anchor the learning experience in the history and to help students understand the context for what they’re learning here. So I’m very pleased that our faculty will have a number of seminars and programs to do just that.

On Legacy

Luke: I heard you mention legacy and when I was an undergrad one of the biggest things for me is I wanted to give back. So tell our fan base about your legacy and what you want to leave behind.

President Breaux: I hope what will be part of my legacy is that this institution will continue on providing value for generations to come, and being respectful and mindful of the history of the shoulders that we stand on, those people who came before us in 1865 that were faced with so many challenges yet they were able to overcome these challenges and create Bowie State University. I hope that Legacy that I leave behind will show that I left Bowie State University and Rich and in a better position than the way I found it. One other element to the legacy is that I am the first woman to be appointed as the president here at Bowie State University I don’t want to be the last. I hope that women, young ladies who are watching this, and wherever they are realize that they have the potential to rise to greatness and achieve their hopes and dreams. You can do what I’m doing and then some and you can surpass where I am today because you have the ability to do so.

The Chicago Bears Reflect On Their Greatest 2 Players Hailing From HBCUs

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The NFL is no stranger to recruiting qualified talent from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). However, for many athletes, HBCUs were providing top athletes the opportunities and platforms for greatness that Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) were not. Thankfully, that HBCU access lead to the legendary careers of at least two Chicago Bears, who were profiled in an article today by the team itself. Read below for the full article about Walter Payton of Jackson State University and Richard Dent of Tennessee State University, along with extraordinary photos of their best plays!

Walter Payton, courtesy of Dynasty Football Factory

Walter Payton was an all-state running back at Columbia High School in Mississippi. But he wasn’t recruited by any SEC schools.

It wasn’t because Payton lacked the ability to excel at the major college level. Or that he didn’t possess the grades required to qualify for enrollment. It was simply because of the color of his skin. Even as recently as the early 1970s, SEC schools only offered scholarships to a limited number of Black students.

With few other opportunities, Payton headed to Jackson State University, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in Jackson, Miss., where he joined his older brother, Eddie, on the football team.

The future Bears star enjoyed an outstanding college career, rushing for 3,600 yards and a school-record 63 touchdowns. He was named Black College Player of the Year in each of his final two seasons at Jackson State.

As a sophomore in 1972, Payton set a SWAC single-game scoring record with 46 points, rushing for seven touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions in a 72-0 drubbing of Lane College. He also set a school record with 279 rushing yards in the game. Payton rushed for a school-record 24 TDs as a junior in 1973 and ran for 19 touchdowns as a senior in 1974. He graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

In his autobiography, “Never Die Easy,” Payton discussed the impact that attending Jackson State had on his life.

Walter Payton, courtesy of The Chicago Tribune

“I’ve always said that the best thing that happened to me was going to a school like Jackson State,” Payton wrote. “I am really glad that it worked out that way, that schools such as Alabama or Mississippi State or Louisiana State didn’t recruit me. Obviously I do not support the reason why those schools wouldn’t recruit me; the idea that they didn’t want black kids to attend or play at their schools was reprehensible. They turned their back on so many great kids and great players. They really denied people opportunities they deserved. But I needed a school like Jackson State to keep my feet planted.”

Payton credited Jackson State coach Bob Hill with maintaining his humility and hunger as a player and person.

“He kept it real,” Payton wrote. “I don’t care how good you were, you were treated like everybody else. You weren’t put on a pedestal by Bob Hill. It is why I am so happy that I went to a school like Jackson State and met a man such as Bob Hill. Coach Hill’s whole focus helped make me. I don’t know exactly how coach Hill felt about me, but when I was there I always felt like a son. I had that special kind of relationship with him. I always, always knew that he had my best interests in mind when he made decisions.”

Payton was selected by the Bears with the fourth pick in the 1975 draft. He played his entire 13-year NFL career in Chicago, retiring following the 1987 season as the league’s all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards. While that record was eventually eclipsed by Emmitt Smith, Payton is still widely considered the greatest player in Bears history. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Black College Hall of Fame in 2010.

Sadly, Payton passed away Nov. 1, 1999 at the age of 45 due to bile duct cancer. But he remains an all-time Chicago icon.

Dent also was an HBCU product

Payton isn’t the only Bears Super Bowl XX champion and Pro Football Hall of Famer who was drafted by the team from an HBCU.

Defensive end Richard Dent was a two-time All-American at Tennessee State from 1979-82, setting sack records for a career with 39.5 and a single game with 4.5 in 1982. He also recorded 158 tackles and six fumble recoveries during his college career.

Courtesy of Pinterest

Selected by the Bears in the eighth round of the 1983 draft, Dent played 12 of his 15 NFL seasons in Chicago and remains the Bears’ all-time leader with 124.5 sacks. He led the NFC with a Bears-record 17.5 sacks in 1984 before recording a league-leading 17 sacks in 1985 in helping the Bears win their first NFL title in 22 years. The 6-5, 265-pounder registered 10 or more sacks in five straight seasons from 1984-88 and in eight of 10 years from 1984-93.

Dent was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. His official presenter at the ceremony in Canton was his former defensive coordinator at Tennessee State, Joe Gilliam Sr.

“I’ve been around football all of my life and Richard Dent was relentless and I don’t believe you can teach relentlessness,” Gilliam said in presenting Dent for enshrinement. “Richard honed in like a guided missile.”

During Dent’s speech, he lauded Gilliam and the impact the coach had on him.

“You don’t meet this kind of person too often,” Dent said. “I used to hate this person, but I learned to love him. You know what I mean? I learned to love him because he shaped me and he made things work for me. Coach, thank you. Coach, thank you. Thank you.”

Trustee-Owned Finance Firm To Support The Growth Of The Spelman College Innovation Lab

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At times, who you know can be more important than what you know. And for the educated ladies at Spelman College, a business leader on their Board of Trustees will help students learn even more! Read the full release from Spelman below to learn how Suzanne Shank is driving innovation and business initiatives at the College!

Siebert Williams Shank & Co. LLC., the nation’s top-ranked minority and woman-owned investment banking firm, recently announced plans to support educational programs for the next generation of African American innovative business leaders. 

Suzanne Shank, president, CEO and majority owner of SWS, and a member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees, will partner with Christopher Williams, chairman of SWS,and equity partner Gary Hall, to provide a monetary gift in support of a new fellowship designed to support bourgeoning business leaders. 

In partnership with Spelman’s Innovation Lab, a campus-wide resource for creative inquiry, the fellowship will support students as they learn key elements of business strategy and entrepreneurship. 

Courtesy of Biography Tribune

“Even prior to my joining the board, I knew Spelman College was a strong training ground for women who lead and excel in their careers and communities,”  said SWS President and CEO Suzanne Shank, who has been a member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees since 2011. “I knew this first-hand, as my mother was a Spelman graduate who gave me an appreciation for the impact of a quality education on changing the trajectory of one’s life. Supporting an educational institution that has a rich history of matriculating Black leaders in many fields, including business, is the perfect way to kick off Black History Month.”

During the year-long program, students will develop their professional skills, create a sustainable business model, and have access to mentorship and internship programs. 

“We are grateful for this generous gift from  Siebert Williams Shank to Spelman’s Innovation Lab, a space on campus that enables students to experiment with technology to realize their entrepreneurial and creative efforts,” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman.

Founded in 2016 within the Division for the Arts, the Innovation Lab serves as a center for creativity at the intersections of science, art, engineering and technology. Through the Lab, students have access to 3D printers, laser cutters, 4-axis CNC routers, 3D scanners and other conventional hand and power tools that make prototyping possible.

America’s top-ranked women- and minority-owned investment bank, Siebert Williams Shank. Left to Right: Henry Cisneros, Vice Chairman, Suzanne Shank, President and Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Williams Chairman of the Board of Directors. (Courtesy of Travis Curry)

A veteran of the business industry, Shank joined the Spelman’s Board of Trustees in 2011. She has been widely recognized in the industry, including being named one of the Top 25 Women in Finance by U.S. Banker and one of the 50 Most Influential Black Women in Business by Black Enterprise.

Siebert Williams Shank & Co., is dually headquartered in New York City and Oakland, California. With more than 20 offices throughout the country, the firm is among the most diverse in its industry, with 64 percent of its workforce comprised of women and minorities.

The firm will also gift Howard University’s School of Business with a donation in support of its 50th anniversary strategic initiatives.

Bowie State Enlisted To Analyze Racial Impact Statements In Maryland Crime Bills

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The state of Maryland is bringing on Bowie State University as a resource in its efforts to create fairer criminal justice bills. Officials are looking for Maryland to join a small group of states who consider racial impact statements in these matters. The impact of these efforts will increase the likelihood that well-informed decisions are the basis for bills that will affect communities around the state. Get the great news from Maryland Matters in the article below.

House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore County) announced Monday that they plan to initiate a pilot program to include racial impact statements in the legislative analysis of criminal justice bills.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) testifying. (Courtesy of Danielle E. Gaines)

“There is finally a broader understanding across Maryland and the country of the existence of structural racism – but we have to have better and deeper information in order to reverse its impact,” Jones said in a statement. “I am pleased that the Maryland General Assembly is leading in this area and I’m hopeful that it will lead to better decision making and policy decisions in the coming years.”

The General Assembly will work with Bowie State University and the University of Baltimore Schaefer Center during the 2021 legislative session to compile nonpartisan racial impact statements for major criminal justice bills that will move through the chambers. The analyses will be made available to lawmakers and members of the public for review during policy debates.

Maryland joins Connecticut, New Jersey and Iowa as the only states to run this type of program. Florida, Minnesota and Oregon have conducted similar reviews on certain bills. 

According to a news release, Jones and Ferguson worked with Del. Jazz M. Lewis (D-Prince George’s) to stand up the program. In a statement, Jones thanked Lewis for his “tireless effort over the last several years to make this happen.”

In 2019, Lewis sponsored legislation to require the Department of Legislative Services to work with the University of Maryland Lab for Applied Social Science Research to prepare racial impact statements on bills that would establish new or alter existing misdemeanor and felony offenses. It would have also required these analyses on bills that adjusted the penalties for crimes or changed sentencing, parole or probation protocol.

Courtesy of Bowie State University

Lewis’ bill was heard in the Executive Rules and Nominations Committee but never made it to the House floor.

“I am elated Speaker Jones and Senate President Ferguson have worked with me to ensure that we can review our criminal justice-related legislation from a racial equity lens,” said Lewis. “Racial impact statements recognize that our criminal justice system has disproportionally affected low-income and minority communities and will provide the legislature with a clearer picture of the cost of sentencing, parole, probation, and penalty charges.”

Maryland lawmakers are reckoning with the aftermath of 2020, which brought not only the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but months of civil unrest following several high-profile killings of Black individuals at the hands of police. And as they move into the thick of the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers are looking to eradicate the disparities in health care, socioeconomics and criminal justice that were laid bare last year.

“Undoing issues of systemic inequity requires us to develop intentional strategies for measuring and combating disparate impacts,” said Ferguson. “This is an important step forward, and it will provide a more holistic picture of the effect of legislation proposed and debated by the General Assembly.” 

“Communities of color deserve our best effort to ensure fairness in the legislative process.”

Grambling State University Alum Jon-Al Duplantier Is New Director At AltaGas

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2021 is off to a great start for Jon-Al Duplantier. Just late last month the Grambling State University alumnus was welcomed onto the Board of Directors for bank holding company Allegiance Bancshares, which heads the subsidiary Allegiance Bank. Duplantier will now bring his legal, leadership, and business experience to AltaGas. The global energy company’s Board of Directors has just tapped him for the coveted Director role! Read today’s full release from AltaGas via Cision below.

AltaGas Ltd. (“AltaGas” or the “Company”) (TSX: ALA) announces the appointment of a new Independent Director, Jon-Al Duplantier, effective today and the planned retirement of Allan Edgeworth from the Board effective upon the conclusion of AltaGas’ next Annual General Meeting of shareholders, to be held in late April of this year.

Mr. Duplantier is a recently retired executive who comes with more than 25 years of experience across the energy value chain. Most recently Jon-Al served as President, Rental Tools and Well Services at Parker Drilling and was previously Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel within Parker. Prior to joining Parker, Jon-Al spent more than a decade with ConocoPhillips, which spanned a number of senior legal, commercial and environmental roles that included posts across the United States, Indonesia and the U.A.E. Mr. Duplantier holds a Juris Doctor Degree from Louisiana State University and Bachelor of Science from Grambling State University.

“I am very pleased to welcome Jon-Al to our Board,” stated Pentti Karkkainen, Chair of the Board of AltaGas. “Jon-Al not only brings a wealth of experience as a business leader but also a natural intellectual curiosity that will enrich the character and depth of discussion at the Board. He brings with him career experiences across a range of disciplines spanning across complex regulatory settings that will be of significant benefit to all our stakeholders.”  Mr. Duplantier will also serve as a member of AltaGas’ Governance Committee.

Mr. Edgeworth joined the Board in 2005. He brought his extensive industry knowledge to his service on the Board in a variety of roles over that time. He currently serves as a member of the Audit Committee and is Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee. Previously Al served as the Chair of the Environment, Health and Safety Committee, where he played a leadership role in shaping AltaGas’ culture of safety and environmental responsibility.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and all our stakeholders, I want to thank Al for his substantial contributions during his tenure. He has been a very valued member of the AltaGas team over the past 15 years and will be missed,” said Karkkainen.  

Following Mr. Edgeworth’s planned retirement, AltaGas’ Board will revert to being comprised of eleven directors with Nancy Tower assuming the role of Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee.

A Howard Alumna Establishes Six-Figure Oncology Scholarship Honoring Mother

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Howard University students who have taken on the selfless work of caring for cancer patients will now have an angel on their side. Shirley Smith Charles dedicated her own life to working at Howard University’s Cancer Center. When she passed away, her family wanted to see her legacy live on in others at Howard. Thanks to Charles’ Howard alumna daughter, a new substantial scholarship will support the students putting others first. Read the full story from Howard below.

Howard alumna Lisa Charles Lewis (’85) has established a scholarship for the Howard University College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences in honor of her late mother, Shirley Smith Charles, a member of the Howard University Hospital family. This six-figure endowment is one of the largest single gifts ever given to the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.

Shirley Smith Charles joined the Howard University Cancer Center as a health educator in December 1978. Earlier that year, Mrs. Smith Charles had lost her mother to cancer, and, as a result, was impassioned to improve access to screening and early detection of cancerous conditions for all people.

“My mother dedicated years of her tenure at the Cancer Center working on community outreach efforts, which educated the public about all aspects of cancer, specifically cancer prevention and early detection. She volunteered hundreds of hours with the American Cancer Society and other cancer awareness programs, while advocating for patients in need of treatment or supportive care,” said Charles Lewis. 

Shirley Smith Charles worked at the Howard University Hospital for 24 years, culminating her service as manager of the ambulatory care clinic in 2002. She was not the only one in her household committed to prioritizing the health of the community. Her husband, Leslie Charles, MD, (’60) completed his premedicine undergraduate training at Howard, which further exposed her to the academic complexities and financial sacrifices endured by so many health care students.

“It gives us tremendous joy to establish a scholarship fund in honor of my mother, and through this endowment, our family is continuing her passionate work towards finding a cure for this dreadful disease. Providing financial assistance to nursing students who are dedicated to caring for the sick and possess an interest in oncology are of interest to us,” says Charles Lewis, who is joined by her brothers, L. Derek Charles, Robert D. Charles and Wayne C. Charles and her husband, David Baker Lewis, in establishing this scholarship. “Our hope is to impact the lives of students as sincerely as my mother did. She would be pleased to reward students who demonstrate academic excellence and she would be fully committed to easing the financial burden of students who encounter financial obstacles in completing their college education.”

The scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate nursing majors in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences who demonstrate leadership and/or service in the community while pursuing studies in oncologic nursing in preparation for a career in the field. Selected students will be in good standing and demonstrate need for financial assistance as determined by the University’s Office of Financial Aid. Awarded scholarships will also include students who are single parents or who are being supported by a single parent. The recipients will be known as Shirley Smith Charles Nursing Scholars. 

“The work of Shirley Smith Charles as an educator-pioneer at Howard University Hospital sets the pace for so many. The generous gifting led by her daughter serves as a beacon of hope. The family joins Lisa in honoring Shirley Smith Charles at Howard University Hospital,” says Gina Brown, Ph.D., RN, MSA, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. “The scholarship will help countless numbers of nursing students within the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences become successful practitioners within the field of nursing. I am humbled and honored to work with Lisa Charles Lewis in bestowing such a generous and heartfelt gift to honor the memory of her precious mother. We salute Shirley Smith Charles and Dr. Leslie Charles’ legacy of raising such children of promise and strength who understand how important it is to give back to the University. We again express our sincere gratitude.”

28 Court Cases That Shaped The Black Community

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Civil Rights for African Americans can be traced back to slavery time when John Casor, a black man who claimed to have completed his debt as an indenture slave in a civil case in the Virginia colony. Black consciousness and the way we live today has been shaped by these courage’s men and women who fought for justice and civil rights. Here are cases that had an impact on black lives before during and after the movement.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

In 1857 a slave by name of Dred Scott sued for his freedom because he lived in a “free” territory which was named Dred Scott v. Sanford. Naturally the court ruled against his favor stating that he was his master’s property under the Constitution.

Emancipation Proclamation

On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln that slaves should be free.

13th Amendment

On December 6, 1865 the 13th Amendment of the constitution abolished slavery. States in the South managed to revive slavery era codes making it hard for blacks to live, work or participate in society.

14th Amendment

July 9, 1868 the 14th Amendment granted due process and equal protection under the law to African Americans.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

March 1, 1875 A Civil Rights Act was passed that kept out cases of racial discrimination and guaranteed equal access to public accommodations regardless of race or color. White groups created a campaign against blacks and their white supporters.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896 case upheld a law in Louisiana requiring restaurants, hotels and other public places to serve blacks in a separate but equal environment.

Murray vs. Maryland

Murray vs. Maryland (1936) was a case brought to the Baltimore City Court with the influence and help of Thurgood Marshall arguing that Donald Murray was rejected from this law school because of its racial acceptance policy and won the case against Maryland which led to Murray graduating two years later.

Missouri ex el Gaines v. Canada

In 1938 the Supreme Court ruled that Lionel Gates, an aspiring law student, must be admitted to the all-white University of Missouri School of Law in the Missouri ex el Gaines v. Canada case.

Bolling v. Sharpe

In 1947 Garly Bishop attempted to get eleven African American students enrolled in the newly John Philip Sousa Junior High School but were turned away even when the institution had several seats left. This resulted in the Bolling v. Sharpe case.

Sweatt v. Painter

Sweatt v. Painter of 1950 was influenced by their victory of the Gaines case. When Heman Sweatt tried to segregate the law school at University of Texas he instead, along with other African American law student hopefuls were funded an all “black” school instead of learning aside white law students. Sweatt argued that the caliber of the education they were receiving was not that of the “white” law students which lingered to the Supreme Court who ruled in his favor.

Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1950 Thurgood Marshall led an overturn of the Plessy v. Ferguson case that urged the Court to end segregation of African American students in law and graduate school at Oklahoma State called the Sweatt v. Painter and McLauren v. Oklahoma State Regents cases.

Belton v. Gebhart

Belton v. Gebhart in 1951 was created parents whose children were forced to send their children to a downhill segregated high school in Wilmington rather than a school in the community. Bulah v. Gebhart initiated by Sarah Bulah, a concerned parent made attempts to convince the Delaware Department of Public Instruction to provide bus transportation for black children in the town of Hockessin

The Brown v. Board of Education

The Brown v. Board of Education also led by Marshall was a series of five cases to desegregate schools in 1954.

Brown vs. Board II

Five years later in 1955 Brown vs. Board II, the Supreme Court demanded that school systems must do away with racially dual systems but with “deliberate” speed, a line that would affect the school system years later.

Montgomery bus system

The Supreme Court ruled in 1956 the case of the residents of Montgomery that segregation of the Montgomery bus system was illegal.

Cooper v. Aaron

In 1958 the Supreme Court stated that officials could not nullify the implementing of desegregation efforts in the Cooper v. Aaron case in Little Rock, Arkansas.

F.W. Woolworth’s Lunch

On February 1, 1960 four black university students started a sit-in at a segregated F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C

Executive Order 10925

March 6, 1960 President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, prohibiting discrimination in federal government hiring on the basis of race and religion.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. in 1960

The 24th Amendment

The 24th Amendment abolished the poll tax that made it difficult for blacks to vote which had been created in 11 southern states on January 23, 1964

Civil Rights Act of 1866

In Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co of 1968 the Court stated that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 bans discrimination in housing by private.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the Court ruled that busing was a legal rule for addressing illegal segregation of the schools in 1971.

Milliken v. Bradley

In a 1974 case named Milliken v. Bradley involving the Detroit metropolitan area, the Court stopped school busing at the city’s borders. This 5-4 vote blocked the city suburb desegregation plan that involved busing around school district’s boundaries.

Milliken II of 1977

Milliken II of 1977 allowed the Court to order the state of Michigan and the Detroit school system to give money to a plan to address the educational deficits faced by African American children.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. In 1968 the Supreme Court ruled that the medical school’s special admissions setting aside a number of seats for minorities violated the Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Mobile v. Bolden

In 1980 the City of Mobile v. Bolden, the Court interpreted the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It stated that in order to create a violation the government must prove that any change in the practices of voting that hurts minorities was motivated by discriminatory intent. It was later overturned by the 1982 Voting Rights Act Amendments.

Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education

In Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986) the Court says that a public employer couldn’t lay off more senior white workers to protect the jobs of less senior black workers as a result of lawful affirmative action programs.

City of Richmond v. Croson

The Court’s ruling in City of Richmond v. Croson in 1989 invalidated Richmond, Virginia’s local ordinance establishing a minority business set aside program.

Chris Paul To Produce Docuseries About North Carolina Central Basketball Team

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Winston-Salem State University student Chris Paul has put forth a concerted effort to support and represent HBCUs. Now well-established in his NBA career, Paul has taken on a big step to expand his skills off the court. Paul is now an executive producer, with his upcoming project focused on North Carolina Central University. Learn more about the new docuseries “Why Not Us,” and the history Paul will capture with fellow Winston-Salem alum Steven A. Smith in the article from The Hollywood Reporter below.

NBA star Chris Paul has long championed historically Black colleges and universities, partnering with Harvard Business School last year to develop an entertainment, media and sports curriculum at North Carolina A&T and most recently repping a different school on his sneakers during every game in the league’s Orlando bubble last fall. Now the Phoenix Suns guard is taking his support another step further as executive producer of a new ESPN+ docuseries about one men’s basketball team at an HBCU.

Why Not Us: North Carolina Central University Men’s Basketball, premiering Feb. 12, is the first premium project to debut under The Undefeated on ESPN+, a partnership between the streamer and its race- and culture-focused sister brand. Paul’s production company, Ohh Dip!!!, originated the idea for the eight-episode series and brought it to ESPN, and filming commenced in the fall as the 2020-21 college basketball season opened amid sustained COVID uncertainty. To help promote the series, Paul also shot one-on-one conversations with famous HBCU alums, including Morehouse’s Spike Lee and Howard’s Taraji P. Henson, which will live on on ESPN+.

Courtesy of ESPN

“Everyone in my family went to HBCUs except me. I grew up with every HBCU sort of in my backyard,” Paul, 35, tells The Hollywood Reporter. He hails from North Carolina, home to 11 HBCUs (second-most in the country), including his hometown’s namesake Winston-Salem State. But the 2003 McDonald’s High School All-American instead played college ball for the city’s other university, Wake Forest, which is part of the basketball powerhouse ACC conference.

“Even though I grew up right there with all those HBCUs, they didn’t really recruit me because they didn’t think they had a chance,” says Paul, who is now pursuing a degree at Winston-Salem State. “When I was coming up, you felt like you had to attend a PWI [predominantly white institution] in order to be seen.”

Recruitment matters because a school’s ability to land top prospects burnishes not only its on-court fortunes but also its ability to attract additional talent and resources and fundraise for the entire institution. HBCUs have traditionally remained on the sidelines as the nation’s most talented young athletes, many of them Black, commit to PWIs, motivating boosters (who add to a university’s endowment) and elevating a program’s chances of postseason glory (which comes with its own direct financial rewards). And in turn, these college athletes miss out on the potential of an educational and social experience unique to HBCU culture.

Why Not Us arrives at a time when HBCUs are enjoying a recent burst of mainstream exposure, both in the sports world (current Howard freshman Makur Maker is the first ESPN Top 100 recruit to play for an HBCU) and beyond (Howard alumna Kamala Harris is vice president of the United States). “Look at the impact that HBCUs are having on society as a whole,” says ESPN Original Content and ESPN Films vice president and executive producer Brian Lockhart. “It’s an unexplored reservoir of stories. This series hopes to give a deep sense of a program that lives in the shadows of bluebloods like North Carolina and Duke but has equally as impressive a record of success right down Tobacco Road.”

Roadside Entertainment, which previously partnered with Ohh Dip!!! and ESPN on the 2018 Black youth lacrosse documentary Crossroads, is also producing Why Not Us alongside Mr. SAS Inc., the production shingle of ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith (a Winston-Salem State grad). The hope is for the inaugural season to spawn a franchise that will delve into other sports as well as other aspects of HBCU life. “We can see this franchise branch out to step teams, dance squads,” says Lockhart. “Competition and athleticism exist inside of HBCUs in a lot of different flavors.”

Meanwhile, another Ohh Dip!!!-produced project is set to premiere soon, this one on HBO: The Day Sports Stood Still, an Antoine Fuqua-directed documentary that traces the chain of events than began March 11, 2020 when Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. The NBA’s abrupt shutdown (and Tom Hanks’ diagnosis the same day) were for many Americans the first bellwethers of the pandemic that would change everyone’s lives. The doc centers around Paul, and for good reason: At the time, he was on the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Jazz’s opponents that night, and as president of the NBA Players Association, he also was pivotal in discussions surrounding the league’s stuttered 2019-20 season that had to navigate not only the pandemic but also the athlete-led response to the racial justice reawakening over the summer.

Courtesy of Art Streiber

“The added benefit of working with Chris on this film was that he was both a producer as well as a subject,” says Imagine Documentaries president Justin Wilkes, who is producing alongside Fuqua Films. “Chris was able to leverage his relationships to help land interviews with some of the biggest athletes as well as grant our cameras unprecedented access inside the NBA bubble. And at the same time, he was incredibly open and vulnerable as a subject, allowing us to document the intensely personal impact of the NBA shutdown and his family’s reaction to the social justice reckoning in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.”

The project was able to come together so quickly because Paul, sensing history in the making, had called Imagine executive chair Brian Grazer from his Oklahoma City condo the night the Thunder-Jazz game was cancelled. The two knew each other through Bob Iger, whom Paul had met and befriended after they interviewed one another for the 2015 AOL Originals series Win/Win. Fuqua, a neighbor of Paul’s during his time on the Los Angeles Clippers, came on board a few calls later. “It comes from relationships,” says Paul, speaking like a true producer.

“When he was in his mid-20s, he [already] presented like a CEO,” says Michael Levine, co-head of CAA Sports, where Paul has been a client for most of his career. The agency had already been working with Paul on his playing contracts, endorsement deals and philanthropic work when he was traded to L.A. in 2011 and began considering his prospects in the film and television industry.

“It wasn’t as if the day he arrived at the Clippers, he opened a production company,” Levine says. “He took a lot of time meeting with people that we introduced him to [like Iger] to get a sense of what was possible for him. His goal was to try and tell stories that resonated with him and to be a voice for those that he felt were being underserved. At a certain point, he realized that creating his own production company [would serve that]. That’s the origin of how this all came about.