On Service | Marian Wright Edelman, Spelman College ’60

Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time. Marian Wright Eldeman, Lawyer, Activist, Founder and CEO of Children’s Defense Fund Continue reading →

Before you knew you owned it | Alice Walker, Spelman College

Expect nothing. Live frugally On surprise. become a stranger To need of pity Or, if compassion be freely Given out Take only enough Stop short of urge to plead Then purge away the need. Wish for nothing larger Than your own small heart Or greater than a star; Tame wild disappointment With caress unmoved and … Continue reading →

On Growth | Alice Walker, Spelman College

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker, Author, Poet, Activist, 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 →

On Truth | Marian Wright Eldeman, Spelman College ’60

Speak truth to power. Marian Wright Eldeman, Activist, Lawyer, Author 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 →

Everyone Has A Story, Live A Life That Truly Matters | Telling the #HBCUstory

It’s been more than two years since I founded HBCUstory, Inc., an advocacy initiative to preserve, present and promote, inspiring stories of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And what a ride it has been! Everyone has a story. Here is mine. In the fall of 1999, I entered Fisk University as 17 year-old, first-generation, college freshman. … Continue reading →