On Accomplishments | Althea Gibson, Florida A&M University ’53

No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you. Althea Gibson (1927-2003). Pioneering Athlete, Tennis Player & Professional Golfer   Continue reading →

Untold Stories of Athletes of Maryland’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Can you name ten notable HBCU alumni? Of course you can! Now, name ten notable HBCU athletes and coaches. (Coach Eddie Robinson is my gift.) Did you get to ten? For many of you, the answer is no. HBCU students and alumni achieve in every field of human endeavor—including sports. A few of our athletes … Continue reading →

The Hillman College Bookstore

The impact of A Different World is irrefutable. It’s easy to find HBCU alumni, students and friends who revel in their Hillman College experience. I mean, really, who among us isn’t binge watching A Different World on Netflix? (If you aren’t we won’t judge you. Just get your cousin’s Netflix info and join us.) Winston … 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 →

Lessons In Leadership | HBCUs + Black Fraternities and Sororities

Originally published in HBCU Digest magazine, June 2014. It is virtually impossible to think about the culture of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) without thinking about the place of Black Greek Lettered Organizations (BGLOs) on many, if not most, of their campuses. Dubbed the “Divine Nine,” after the nine-member National Pan-Hellenic Council, Incorporated (NPHC), … Continue reading →

HBCUs Are Not Merely Relevant

This content was initially offered as “The State of the Story: HBCU Relevance is a Losing Proposition,” the closing remarks of the 2014 HBCUstory Symposium, which was held in Washington, D.C. on October 24 + 25 at the Association of Public Land-grant Universities. Barnard, Wellesley, Smith, Mills and Sweet Briar are women’s colleges; no one asks … Continue reading →

On Life

You cannot fully understand your own life without knowing and thinking beyond your life, your own neighborhood, and even your own nation. Johnnetta B. Cole, Ph.D., President Emerita Spelman College & Bennett College For Women, Director, Smithsonian National Museum for African Art Continue reading →

On Being

Never looking back or or too far in front of me. The present is a gift and I just wanna be. Lonnie “Common” Lynn, Jr., Hip-Hop Artist, Actor, Florida A&M University Continue reading →

HBCU Storyteller Spotlight | John W. Thompson + Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

HBCU Storyteller Spotlight Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson ’71 delivers Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University’s 2014 Commencement Address. This is a special day, a special day for all of you, and a special day for me to be back here. I happen to have lived for many many years with a simple but important philosophy which … Continue reading →

“HBCU” | A Poem by Terry E. Carter, Fisk ’80

HBCU The Freedmen’s Bureau and other concerns, provided for that which a black man yearned. Degrees which only coloreds could earn… Classrooms where only Negros could learn… At times, in the places where crosses burned. Started in churches and normal schools— mindful of bigots, haters, and fools. Money raised in a thousand ways… from collection … Continue reading →