2015 HBCU Football Classics Schedule

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9/5
Palmetto Capital City Classic – Benedict College, Livingstone College
5:00 PM (Charlie Johnson Stadium) – Columbia, SC
Battle of the Firsts – Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Lincoln University, Pennsylvannia
1:00 PM Cheyney, PA
Prince Hall Shriner’s Classic – North Carolina Central University, Saint Augustine’s University
6:00 PM Durham, NC
Tiger Bowl – University of West Alabama, Stillman College
6:00 PM – Livingston, AL
9/6
Labor Day Golden Classic – Miles College, University of N. Alabama 
6:00 PM (Legion Field) – Birmingham, AL
John Merritt Classic – Tennessee State University, Alabama State University
6:00 PM (Nissan Stadium) – Nashville, TN
MEAC/SWAC Challenge – University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, South Carolina State University
3:30 PM (Florida Citrus Bowl) – Orlando, FL
9/12
White Water Classic – Albany State University, Tuskegee University
3:00 PM – Phoenix City, AL
Two Rivers Classic – Fayetteville State University, UNC Pembroke
6:00 PM (Nick Jeralds Stadium) – Fayetteville, NC
Southern Heritage Classic – Jackson State University, Tennessee State University 
6:00 PM (Liberty Bowl) – Memphis, TN
9/18
Nations Football Classic – Howard University, Hampton University
7:30 PM (RFK Stadium) – Washington, DC
9/19
Prince Hall Masons Americanism Classic – Alabama State University, Grambling State University
6:00 PM (ASU Stadium) – Montgomery, AL
West End Classic – Livingstone College, Redemption Christian Academy 
1:00 PM – Salisbury, NC
9/26
Circle City Classic – Central State University, Kentucky state University 
3:00 PM (Lucas Oil Stadium) –  Indianapolis, IN
Down East Viking Football Classic – Elizabeth City State University, Winston-Salem State University
4:00 PM – Rocky Mount, NC
State Fair Classic – Grambling State University, Prairie View A&M University
4:00 PM Cotton Bowl (Dallas, TX)
Chicago Football Classic – Howard University, Morgan State University
3:30 PM Soldier Field – Chicago, IL
WC Gorden Classic – Jackson State University, Texas Southern University
6:00 PM (Veterans Memorial Stadium) – Jackson, MS
Battle of the Bay – Norfolk State University, Hampton University
4:00 PM (Dick Price Stadium) – Norfolk, VA
Lucille Brown Youth Bowl – Virginia Union University, Johnson C. Smith University
1:00 PM (Hovey Field) – Richmond, VA
10/10
Augusta Classic – Benedict College, Lane College
2:00 PM – Augusta, GA
Tuskegee-Morehouse Classic – Morehouse College, Tuskegee University
2:00 PM (AJ McClung Memorial Stadium) –  Columbus, GA
10/17
Jacksonville Football Classic – Jacksonville University, Edward Waters College
1:00 PM (DB Mine Field) –  Jacksonville, FL
10/31
Magic City Classic – Alabama State University, Alabama A&M University
2:30 PM (Legion Field) –  Birmingham, AL
11/07
Fountain City Classic – Albany State University, Fort Valley State University
2:00 PM – Columbus, GA
Red River Classic – Grambling State University, Texas Southern University
2:00 PM (Independence Stadium) –  Shreveport, LA
Commemorative Classic – Livingstone College, Johnson C. Smith
1:00 PM – Salisbury, NC
11/21
Turkey Day Classic – Alabama State University, Miles College
2:00 PM (ASU Stadium) – Montgomery, AL
Florida Classic – Bethune Cookman University, Florida A&M University
2:30 PM (Florida Citrus Bowl) –  Orlando, FL
11/28
Bayou Classic – Grambling State University, Southern University and A&M College
4:00 PM (Mercedes-Benz Superdome) – New Orleans, LA

Central State University Partners With Ohio State University

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Historically Black Central State University and nearby Ohio State University recently entered into a new partnership.

Central State and Ohio State, located just an hour’s drive from one another, are collaborating in a few “jointly develop programs” that “…strengthens each University’s extension activities with an eye toward collaboration,” according to reports.

This new partnership, which had been in the works prior to the publicly made announcement on Thursday, Aug. 13, was only made possible when Central State achieved land-grant status recognition, trying for years to receive the federal designation that allows the university to expand its short and long-term vision goals focusing on sustainable agriculture, natural resources, food science and nutritional disparities and being federally funded.

“We all have the same mission, the same vision for the citizenry of Ohio…Our state will lead others in models of service,” said Central State President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, praising the new partnership between the two research universities.

“It just allows us to do a better job of fulfilling our mission of being a land grant institution. The faculty and staff are very excited to get started on developing joint programs,” said Ohio State President Dr. Michael V. Drake.

Tommy G. Meade Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief at HBCU Buzz. Follow him on Twitter.

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Why Historically Black Colleges And Universities Matter In Today’s America

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Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Sandra Bland. Renisha McBride. Martese Johnson. And now Tyrone Harris.

All these names remind us how precarious black lives can be. Martin, Brown and Garner were killed in their own neighborhoods. And that’s not all. Even religious settings seem to offer little protection. As we know, nine black people were murdered while attending services at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Through the years, predominantly black spaces such as historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have sheltered black people. More than that, they provide an important space for the fight for civil rights, equality, and black liberation.

Despite this connection, many wonder what the role is of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) today. I have been researching HBCUs to understand how education and its pursuit by black Americans represent a constant affront to white supremacy.

Historically, educating the formerly enslaved and their descendants represented a truly radical act. And today, as black Americans choosing to attend these schools know (and confirmed by researchers), these campuses are psychologically and socially more liberating than the predominantly white ones.

This is but one reason we still need HBCUs. Their historic role in the pursuit of freedom is yet another.

Key role played by black schools

HBCUs have always been the vehicles for liberty and equality in the journey toward black liberation within America.

Black Americans have long understood the relationship between education and democracy. Following the Civil War, learning the rules of the American and southern political economy was necessary to take full advantage of one’s citizenship rights.

However, at the time, not only did most people believe the formerly enslaved had no desire for education, they also thought black Americans did not possess the mental capacity to pursue it.

The fervent efforts of the formerly enslaved to establish colleges in the post-bellum South ran counter to these beliefs, although the founding of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1854, even prior to the Civil War’s conclusion, proved beyond doubt that black Americans were keen to seek education.

The point is, HBCUs played a crucial role in transforming how America was to understand and envision what it meant to be black following the Civil War. And throughout the years, these schools have served as incubators for future generations of freedom fighters.

It was HBCUs, for example, where the carefully crafted educational strategies that birthed the mass protests and civil unrest of the 1950s and 1960s emerged, a fact that many people today may fail to appreciate adequately.

Read more here.

Drake-Only Radio

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MTV.com

There are surely some devoted Drake fans out there who’ve turned their cars, homes, offices, etc. into personal Drake-only radio stations, blaring cuts from each of his album and mixtapes (and nothing else) deep into the evening hours. And then there’s “Drake 92.7” — a real radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina that’s been broadcasting Drake songs exclusively since Friday (August 14).

“Request your favorite Drake joint right now!” an on-air promo stated earlier, giving a phone number to call for requests: 704-548-7863. In the past hour, they’ve hit “Headlines,” “0 To 100” and Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?” (which features Drizzy) and plenty of others because, like we said, it’s literally non-stop Drake. (You can tune in here.)

But why? As The Fader points out, the station only has an Instagram account and the above phone number for reference points. Apparently there’s going to be a “special announcement” on Monday as well — but in the meantime, listeners have developed their own theories. read more

Janelle Monae: Cut Off During Her Message About Black Lives On Today Show

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Huffington Post – Kim Bellware

Janelle Monàe’s Friday morning performance on NBC’s “Today” was lively, original and cut short — right when she started to talk about police brutality.

The “Tightrope” singer appeared with collaborators from her new custom record label, Wondaland, in support of the collective’s new EP, “The Eephus” (see her interview with “Today” above).

At the end of her performance of “Hell You Talmbout,” a rousing protest song for the Black Lives Matter movement, Monàe told the crowd:

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Yes Lord! God bless America! God bless all the lost lives to police brutality. We want white America to know that we stand tall today. We want black America to know we stand tall today. We will not be silenced…

But before she could finish, the camera cut away and an anchor tried to talk over her. read more

 

Hampton University Alumna, Kierna Mayo Settling into Editor-in-Chief Role at Ebony Magazine

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kiernamayopicWhen Kierna Mayo was a student at Hampton University in the late 1980s and early ’90s, she spent a lot of time in the library’s archives looking through magazines, she said, a lot of which were produced by Johnson Publishing Company.

“I was just so incredibly fascinated with the perspective that African-Americans often took in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s in particular,” Mayo said. “They were just really sharp-minded, used kind of provocative language that was enticing to me as a young woman, but it was also the images. That’s what drew me in first.”

Mayo wrote fashion editorials for Hampton Script, HU’s student publication, and described herself to be a maverick in the way that she dressed. She said she was highly politicized and vocal when she disagreed with decisions the university made on the students’ behalf.

Mayo also wrote her senior thesis was about Jet Magazine.

“I was pretty clear on my perspective on black culture and identity. That’s what I worked on honing in on most during my Hampton years,” Mayo said.

Today, she describes herself in her Twitter biography as a “feminist boy mom, print aficionado, aesthetic snob, perfect wife, kind soul and overall captain.”

But Mayo recently earned a new title, added to the beginning of her Twitter biography, that no one else currently holds: “EBONY EIC/VP” — editor-in-chief and vice president of digital content for Ebony magazine. Read More via Daily Press

South Carolina State University Welcomed Nearly 750 Freshman

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The morning kicked off with an assembly that was standing room only. Interim President Dr. W. Franklin Evans spoke to students and parents about the opportunities the university promises to provide. He said this was the largest crowd of freshman he’s addressed in three years.

“Our future is bright,” Evans said. “It’s brighter than ever before. I think we’ve got people engaged. And all of the talk, everything that’s centered on South Carolina State, the negative as well as the good, has gotten us to this point.”

South Carolina State needed to enroll 2650 students for the 2015-2016 school year to receive the funding outlined in this year’s budget. Monday, the board learned the goal had been met and then surpassed.

As of Wednesday, 2685 students were enrolled. University staff and the board of trustees expects that number to climb into the fall.

“Things are just going our way,” Evans said. “And we’re so excited, we needed that.”

Following the assembly, students got their keys and started moving into the dorms.

Read full via WJBF

Morehouse Grad & Longtime Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond Dead at 75

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1376419302000-1Julian-BondFORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Julian Bond, a major figure in the 1960s civil rights movement who served as a longtime board chairman of the NAACP, died Saturday night, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. He was 75.

Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida after a brief illness, the SPLC said in a statement released Sunday morning.

“I don’t know if you can possibly measure his imprint. It’s extraordinary. It stretches his entire career and life in so many ways,” said Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney in Birmingham who helped Bond when brought students to Alabama to visit civil rights sites.

“That was, I think, his real calling in his later years was to make sure that history stayed alive so that people could understand the connection between 50 years ago and today.”

“You can use the term giant, champion, trail blazer —- there’s just not enough adjectives in the English language to describe the life and career of Julian bond,” Jones added.

The Nashville, Tennessee, native was considered a symbol and icon of the 1960s civil rights movement. As a Morehouse College student, Bond helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and as its communications director, he was on the front lines of protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws.

Bond later served as board chairman of the 500,000-member NAACP for 10 years but declined to run again for another one-year term in 2010. This article was originally published via Yahoo

Fayetteville State Names Anthony Bennett Athletic Director

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Fayetteville Observer

Anthony Bennett said he saw more numbers with 910 area codes calling his phone Wednesday than at any point since leaving Fayetteville for Winston-Salem State five years ago.

The news that the Laurinburg native and Fayetteville State alum had been named the Broncos’ new athletic director had been making the rounds.

There were more than a few people from back home that wanted to congratulate him.

“Family, friends, mentors, I’ve heard from all of them,” Bennett said. “. I know a lot of people there are supportive of the athletic department and supportive of me. I look forward to working with everybody.”

The school’s Board of Trustees met Wednesday afternoon and unanimously voted to make the move official. Bennett, 42, will start Sept. 1, becoming the school’s seventh athletic director since 1986. The school offered him an at-will contract that will pay him $113,000 per year.

“It makes us feel real comfortable that we have someone who’s basically coming home,” said Fayetteville State chancellor James Anderson. “In fact, when I talked to him about his candidacy, that’s how he framed it.”

Bennett replaces Ed McLean, who announced his retirement in March and left the post Aug. 1.

While he’s served as the associate athletic director for compliance at Winston-Salem State since 2010, Bennett’s roots run deep at Fayetteville State. And they were made strong early.

Scholar athlete

Bennett came to Fayetteville State in 1991 as a defensive back on the football team and a member of the Chancellor’s Scholarship Program. Before the start of his sophomore year, his mother Bettie Bennett died, leaving him emotionally devastated. He said he lost interest in football, eventually leaving the team, and considered leaving school altogether. read more

Former High School Great Derrick Griffin Is Playing For Texas Southern

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Fox Sports

After two years of misery waiting to get eligible to play college football, former Rosenberg Terry star Derrick Griffin is working out with Texas Southern and will play for the Tigers in 2015.

Griffin, rated the No. 3 wide receiver in the nation in 2013, signed with the Miami Hurricanes, but was an academic non-qualifier and never played there.

While sitting out the 2014 season because he was non-qualifier, Griffin enrolled as a student at Texas Southern and achieved his goal of becoming eligible so he can be a student-athlete for the Tigers.

“It’s a great, great feeling,” Griffin said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports. “I’ve been waiting too long for this.

“It was just a process. It’s something I had to go through. I should have took care of it in high school, but I went a different route. I’m here now.

“This is my team. Here we go.”

Griffin and TSU followed NCAA rules, which mandate he earn a minimum of 24 college credits during the past year to become eligible.

TSU rules stipulated that Griffin also had to maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average to be eligible in 2015. read more

“It’s unbelievable to have a five-star athlete such as Derrick Griffin out here playing for Texas Southern University,” said Dr. Charles McClelland, TSU vice president for intercollegiate athletics. “Derrick is the answer to the question a parent would ask,’why TSU?’

“He had the opportunity, based upon his athletic ability, to go anywhere in the nation, but because he didn’t qualify nobody reached out to him. Texas Southern cares about the person, not Derrick the football player. We got him in a summer-bridge program, got him eligible and that’s the reason why Derrick Griffin is here, because we care about graduating student-athletes. It’s not just about football.”

HBCU Exchange Program Leads Students to China

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As an electrical engineering student at Morgan State University, one of the things 23-year-old Khir Henderson wanted to see during a recent trip to China was how the country was conserving energy.

He also wanted to get a better sense of what the common people were like in a state that is known to unleash cyber hackers on the United States.

He was not disappointed on either front and gained a new appreciation for what diversity, censorship and even his own blackness means in a cultural context other than his own.

“I wanted to explore,” Henderson said of his rationale for visiting China as part of the HBCU–China Scholarship Network. The network is a consortium of 42 Historically Black Colleges and Universities formed in 2014 to facilitate the implementation of 1,000 scholarships awarded to HBCUs as announced by Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong.

“There’s a lot of culture,” Henderson said. “Since the land is so large, there’s so many different sets of people that live differently and act differently.”

Henderson was one of 18 students who visited China for two weeks last month during one of the HBCU-China Scholar Network’s study abroad trips.

The group included 10 students from Morgan State University, seven students from Harris-Stowe State University, and one student from Florida Memorial University.

The students were hosted by Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) in Beijing and Hangzhou Wanxiang Polytechnic (HWXP) in Hangzhou.

The students spent six days in Beijing, five days in Hangzhou, and one day in Shanghai.

They studied China’s language, philosophy, political system, economics, education system, astrology, calligraphy and painting, ethnic minorities, martial arts and clean energy initiatives.

“At times, the students were exhausted because of the amount of scheduled activities we had,” said Sumanth Reddy, Study Abroad Advisor & Coordinator at Morgan State University.

“However, overall, we had a hectic but wonderful trip to China,” Reddy said. “The students enjoyed trying new food, meeting new people, and soaking in all that is China.”

Reddy said students used words such as “unforgettable, amazing, enlightening, life-changing, inspiring, humbling, educational, and spectacular” to describe their trip.

For Henderson, the trip represented a chance to broaden his perspective as a student of electrical engineering. He was particularly interested in how everyday Chinese felt about the United States given cyber conflict between the two countries.

“For the most, what I saw, they were very peaceful. They didn’t want any type of negativity,” Henderson said.

He also wanted to see how the country conserved energy.

“A lot of the things they did there we could bring to the United States to conserve energy,” Henderson said, referring to photovoltaic cells on rooftops to heat water so that electricity or coal was not necessary to do the job. read more

Hillary Clinton’s ‘New College Compact’ Includes $25 Billion to Support Private HBCUs

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The Root

Hillary Clinton unveiled a “New College Compact”—a $350 billion proposal—as part of her 2016 presidential platform this week, promising to ease the cost of higher education and, in the same breath, reduce student debt.

In the broader proposal, Clinton proposes that states “will have to step up … by maintaining current levels of higher education funding and reinvesting their time,” and colleges and universities will have to control their costs to make tuition affordable, among other points.

Clinton, however, also includes provisions specifically directed at historically black colleges and universities, including a dedicated $25 billion fund to provide support to private HBCUs, targeting low- and middle-income students and helping them build the skills they need.465795516-former-united-states-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton

Regardless of their public or private status, Clinton’s plan also proposes the following for all HBCUs:

* Making significant cuts to the interest rates that students pay on any loans they take out so that the government never profits on the loans;

* Enabling students with debt to refinance their loans at low current rates;

* Allowing parents with PLUS loans to refinance at current rates;

* Extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit, with its $1,000 refundable credit, to low-income families sending their sons and daughters to these schools; read more

LeBron James Will Spend More than $41M to Send 1,100 Kids to College

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Fox Sports

LeBron James is giving kids from Akron — ones with challenging backgrounds like his — the chance to go to college for free.

The NBA star has partnered with the University of Akron to provide a guaranteed four-year scholarship to the school for students in James’ “I Promise” program who qualify. The scholarship will cover tuition and the university’s general service fee — currently $9,500 per year. James told ESPN he plans to provide this for 1,100 kids, which would cost his foundation a total of $41.8 million at the school’s current rates.

It’s the latest example of James, who often refers to himself “as just a kid from Akron” giving back to a community that helped raise him.

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“It’s the reason I do what I do,” said James, who announced the program Thursday while hosting an event for students at Cedar Point Amusement Park. “These students have big dreams, and I’m happy to do everything I can to help them get there. They’re going to have to earn it, but I’m excited to see what these kids can accomplish knowing that college is in their futures.”

The school and the LeBron James Family Foundation are still finalizing the criteria for the scholarships. The students will have to graduate high school within Akron’s public school system and achieve standard testing requirements as well as fulfill a community service obligation.

James has had a long-standing relationship with the university. As his celebrity soared in high school, James played many game on the school’s campus and the four-time MVP deepened his connection with Akron soon after he turned professional.

“It means so much because, as a kid growing up in the inner city and a lot of African-American kids, you don’t really think past high school,” said James, who bypassed college to jump to the NBA. “You don’t really know your future. You hear high school all the time, and you graduate high school and then you never think past that because either it’s not possible or your family’s not financially stable to even be able to support a kid going to college.” -Lebron James

Tyrese Pays Tuition for One Morehouse Man

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Huffington Post

By  | Actor-singer Tyrese Gibson is paying it forward by offering $50,000 towards a young man’s college education. 

Lorenzo Murphy, 21, known for his inspirational messages as “Zo the Motivator” on Instagram, was given one year’s tuition by Gibson and will be attending Morehouse College this fall.

On his Instagram account, Gibson credits radio host Tom Joyner as his inspiration for funding Murphy’s tuition. Joyner was recently honored by BET with the Humanitarian Award for his foundation, which supports HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) through scholarships and endowments. “Why did I decide to put this young kid from Compton through college?? Because I #dream with my eyes OPEN,” Gibson wrote. read more

 

What Happens When 10 Black Men Are Asked Their Views On Black Women

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The folks over at Hippie Hangout TV are back again. (In case you missed “First Kiss: HBCU Edition” click on the link and check out the video before watching!)

This time, Hippie Hangout sat down with 7-10 Black men to find out their views on Black women, and you won’t believe what they had to say. “She: An Ode to The Black Woman,” is a nine minute video featuring experiences, perspectives and dialogue from a few young Black adults—it’s also a great proposal one could use as a cool, interesting and fun social event on the yard your frat puts on to kick off the new academic year. You can check out some of the responses from the guys in the video above.

Leave your comment and let us know what you think.

NBC Sports No Longer Playing Bayou Classic, Viewers Must Have Cable To Watch The Game?

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While HBCU football’s newest bowl game gets all the headlines, one of it’s biggest games is undergoing a big change. The Bayou Classic between Southern and Grambling will not be played on NBC Sports Network and not NBC, this year.


This a big change, as viewers must have cable to watch the game.

Last season’s Bayou Classic, the 40th edition of the rivalry game, drew a rating of .7, according to Sports Media Watch. The game has failed to garner a rating above 1 since 2006.

 Conversely, the Nation’s Football Classic in Washington, D.C. will get a TV boost.

The Nation’s Football Classic will air live on ESPNU on September 18. Gametime for the Friday matchup between Howard and Hampton is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Both the Nation’s Classic and the Bayou Classic ranked on our list of must-see 2015 classics.

[Via HBCUGameday.com]