On this day in 1866, they came Despite being pelted by rocks and assailed with racist diatribes, they came Working during the day for lessons at night, they came Walking barefoot, they came Ranging in ages from 7 to 70, they came They came to the Fisk School More than 100 years later, I came … Continue reading
Author Archives: Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D.
HBCUstory Symposium 2015 | Schedule of Events
HBCUstory Symposium 2015 will proudly feature 30+ presidents, educational and nonprofit administrators, faculty, alumni and student-presenters — representing 24 colleges, including 18 of the nation’s HBCUs! Sessions include topics ranging from history, student choice, board governance, sports, mentorship, partnerships and alumni fundraising as well as panels by the UNCF, NIH, and environmental justice experts. This … Continue reading
WATCH | HBCU Stories Live Forever
Each year, it is our great privilege to posthumously honor outstanding members of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community who have left an indelible mark on the HBCU family. Their incredible legacies, are a lamp unto our paths as we seek to advance the mission and curate our visions for HBCUs in the … Continue reading
We Speak Their Names | HBCU Alumni Killed in Charleston Massacre
On the night of Wednesday, June 17, 2015, a now-confessed white gunman, Dylann Roof, sat in the bible study of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina for almost an hour before opening fire on attendees, killing nine people. CNN reported that Roof’s father recently bought the younger Roff a .45-caliber gun … Continue reading
HBCUs Ain’t Handing Out Black Cards | Howard’s Rachel Dolezal + Faux-Blackness
If you’ve been using Rachel Dolezal‘s matriculation at Howard University, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as a measure of her trans-blackness: stop. Just stop. Attending an HBCU doesn’t make a person black, any more than eating apple pie makes one American. Must it really be explained … Continue reading
This is Why We “Step” | A History of Stepping in Black Greek-Lettered Life + Culture
Greetings to the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Greetings to the ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Greetings to the ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated. Greetings to the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Greetings to the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. Greetings to the men of … Continue reading
ANSWER THE CALL | HBCUstory Symposium 2015 Call for Papers
HBCUstory Symposium 2015 | Call for Papers Theme | Reconstruction in a New Age of Resistance: Respecting our Roots. Restoring our Rites. Presented by | HBCUstory, Inc. + Fisk University HBCUstory Inc., in partnership with the Fisk University, proudly presents the third annual HBCUstory SYMPOSIUM Oct. 9-10, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. Held in Nashville, Tennessee, … Continue reading
Keep A’ Inchin Along #Selma50 | Crystal A. deGregory, Fisk ’03
Sandwiched amid 70,000 people, the streets are lined with booths selling oils, bracelets, wood carvings and dashikis and the ever- and increasingly popular knock-off purses. Gotta love our people! You see the Pettus Bridge in the distance but you aren’t certain you’ll make it to its foot because there are so many people. Braced against … Continue reading
Nine Divine HBCU Sorority Sisters You Should Know
I confess. I’ve never watched a single episode of VH1’s Sorority Sisters. As a historian, as well as a social and cultural observer, I think it’s important that folk at least know what it is they are criticizing. But in this particular instance, there was no plot twist. The show was merely more of the same. … Continue reading
On What Faith Teaches | Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Tougaloo ’64
The worst thing they [segregationists] could have done was kill us. Once you accept that—and faith teaches us that there are better things to come after death—then there is nothing to worry about. – Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Freedom Rider, Civil Rights Activist, Tougaloo ’64 Continue reading