Breaking News for Black America » Howard University

Howard University Professor Speaks Proudly Of Raising Black Sons

D.L. Chandler — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:42:37 +0000

A piece released earlier this week from Kansas City Star reporter Debra-Lynn B. Hook highlighted a trip she took to Washington to visit her son.

During her time in the nation’s capital, Ms. Hook encountered an African-American psychology professor speaking boldly and proudly of how he raises his teenage son in the wake of the Trayvon Martin tragedy.

While attending the politically liberal and progressive Unitarian-Universalist All Souls Church, the professor took to the pulpit as is customary for the church to have a variety of guest speakers that represent the community.

“”I am afraid for my own son, yes,” said Dr. Ronald E. Hopson, speaking about his 15-year-old son in attendance. “I have my own level of fear just by being a black man having been stopped by police, because every black man I know has been stopped by police.”

Ms. Hook caught up with Dr. Hopson after the service, where he revealed candidly why he raises his son in his prideful nature. “”But I refuse to put this risk on my son,” he shared. “People say I should make him shuffle and bow. But I refuse to make my son shuffle and bow. I refuse to teach my son to try to make himself smaller to fit the size other people try to project on him.”

You can read more of Debra-Lynn B. Hook’s piece by clicking here.

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Watch Roland Martin’s Super Tuesday Coverage

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 01:00:34 +0000

Roland Martin is hosting a special event Tuesday evening live from Howard University’s campus. Watch LIVE online 8-11pm. Tune in to get various perspectives on this major primary day that will decide the republican front runner for Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

Submit your questions and comments on Twitter by using the hashtag #washingtonwatch

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Documentary Follows HIV-Positive Man Who Had Unprotected Sex

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:52:50 +0000

In 2006 William Brawner revealed in a magazine article that he had AIDS. The news shocked his friend and former Howard University classmates. Brawner was somewhat of a ladies man and was so in denial of his status that he often practiced unprotected sex.

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Now he is on a mission to right his wrongs and be an advocate for the AIDS prevention and other living with the disease.

Loop 21 reports:

It would take five years and countless hours of filming to help capture Brawner’s story and on World AIDS Day in New York City, Brawner, Brown and producer Yvonne M. Shirley will show an extended trailer of 25 to LIFE, a documentary based on Brawner’s journey.

Honest and raw, the film lays bare agony of the events surrounding Brawner’s diagnosis as a toddler — and his decision to disclose his status as an adult.

“We try not to villify him, and at the same time we don’t want to make him a martyr, either,” Brown says of his treatment of Brawner in 25 to LIFE. “This is not some type of an apology piece. We just tried to present a piece where viewers can answer some of the tough questions about Will’s life within themselves. And I think it kind of humanizes the experience of being HIV positive or having AIDS. You will wish that Will made some better choices. And seeing him work through some of these issues, you’ll feel for him, too.

Read the full story on Loop 21

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Howard University Launches Mobile Black History Museum

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:48:14 +0000

Howard University is taking individuals on a ride through the pages of American Legacy Magazine.

The quarterly, which chronicles African-American history, will unveil an 18-wheel mobile museum of Black history.

The exhibition is across from the Howard University bookstore and features photos, stories, artifacts, memorabilia and interactive learning stations that celebrate the story of Blacks in America.

Howard University Launches Online Executive MBA Program

NewsOne Staff — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:11:31 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Howard University recently announced the launch of their first online degree program — the online Executive MBA program — starting in January 2012.

The program will prepare experienced and emerging business leaders to lead the world’s most dynamic companies as they navigate the complex challenges of today’s competitive global marketplace. The program consists of 42 credit-hours and is designed to be completed in 18 months.

Applications will be accepted starting June 2011.

Black Sorority Delta Sigma Theta Celebrates 98th Founder’s Day

cganemccalla — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:43:03 +0000

WASHINGTON D.C.

Black sorority, Delta Sigma Theta has celebrated its 98th Founder’s Day. Delta Sigma Theta was founded in 1913 at Howard University by 22 female students. Delta Sigma Theta has a history of political activism dating since the women’s suffrage movement when they marched in the 1918 Women Suffrage March in Washington D.C.

The sorority has continued its social activism in fields such as education, home ownership, financial literacy and women’s issues in Africa.

Some famous Delta Sigma Theta members include singer, Roberta Flack, radio personality, Jacque Reid, Malcolm X’s widow Betty Shabazz, scholar, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Surgeon Generals, Regina Benjamin and Joycelyn Elders, Astronaut , Joan Higginbotham, Civil Rights Activist, Dorothy Height, former Presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman Barbara Jordan, and Olympic winner, Wilma Rudolph.

GALLERY: Famous Men Of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Civil Rights Legend, Ron Walters, Leaves An Enduring Legacy

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:06:53 +0000

By Hakim Hasan:

Dr. Ronald Walters, 72, one of the foremost authorities on Black-American politics, died on Friday (September 10) of cancer. He was born on July 20, 1938 in Witchita, Kansas, a grim period in American life when blacks could not vote and were subjected to blatant racism. This, undoubtedly, shaped his lifelong and evolved worldview as a political scientist and activist.

Although Dr. Walters held many visiting professorships at major universities during his distinguished academic career, he spent the majority of his career as a professor and chair of the political science department at Howard University from the mid-1970s until 1996. From 1996 until his retirement in 2009, he was a professor of political science and Director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland.

Herb Boyd, “New York Amsterdam News” reporter, soberly recalls: “Most recently I was with him at Howard University where he was summoned to participate in the making of a documentary about the history of the NAACP. His analysis, like his historical insight, was concise, crisp, and to the point. Nothing wasted. No fanfare or one-upmanship.”

One of the enduring legacies of Dr. Walter’s scholarship and activism was his constant struggle to marry political theory to civic engagement and the grueling practicalities of electoral politics (“the tightrope” that politicians have to walk.) For example, his essay “Leverage Rainbow Politics,” which appeared on the Independent Politics Network website in 2008, can be read as a prophetic understanding of the right-wing—and even liberal—backlash against President Barack Obama. He writes, “Blacks can be tricked because the attraction of the first black or the first woman to do this or that seemingly fits into the legacy of civil rights, a syndrome that can be disastrous if it turns out wrong.”

Dr. Ron Daniels, former Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City and Distinguished Lecturer at York College makes the pointed observation: “No one more than Dr. Ronald Walters hammered home the relevance of “leverage politics” as a time tested vehicle for organized interest groups and constituencies to extract benefits from the American political system. He created a living laboratory for his leverage theory of politics as the Issues Director and principal strategist for Rev. Jesse L. Jackson’s electrifying campaign for President in 1984.”

Dr. Walters published well over one hundred scholarly papers and many books including Black Presidential Politics, which won the Ralph Bunche Prize and Best Book Prize from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists.

To the general public, however, Dr. Walters is probably best remembered as a constant fixture and engaging political analyst on major television news programs especially when he served as a major advisor to the Reverend Jesse Jackson when he ran for president in 1984.

A public viewing and memorial service for Dr. Walters will be held at Crampton Hall at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on September 19 (3:00-5:00 P.M.). Reverend Jesse Jackson will preside over the funeral services on September 20 held at Shiloh Baptist Church (10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.) in Washington, D.C.

Hakim Hasan writes frequently about social issues and politics. He is the former Director of Public Programs at the Museum of the City of New York.

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Howard University Says Mary J. Blige Never Applied

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:12:39 +0000

From WashingtonPost.com:

If this scenario, starring one Mary J. Blige, seemed somewhat improbable early Tuesday, by the end of the day it appeared — well, who knows, maybe possible, someday. But not this year.

The buzz got started Friday when Blige performed a Central Park concert for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” After the TV cameras stopped rolling — but the Web videographers in the crowd kept going– she told the crowd her big news: “I never got the chance to graduate from high school, but they gave me my honorary diploma the other day … And I got accepted into Howard University for the class of 2014.” She made a similar comment in an interview published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune the following day.

True? The news seemed to catch Howard, the nation’s premier historically black university, by surprise.

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Mary J. Blige Gets Her GED And Will Attend Howard University

cganemccalla — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:39:21 +0000

R&B singer, Mary J. Blige, announced on Good Morning America that she has earned her GED and will be part of Howard University’s class of 2014.

Howard University Lost Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award

Smokey D. Fontaine — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:00:59 +0000

From the Washington Post:

After winning the 2010 Oscar for best supporting actress, Mo’Nique noted that she was wearing a royal blue dress, along with a gardenia in her hair, because that’s what Hattie McDaniel wore 70 years earlier, when she became the first African American to receive an Academy Award.

“Ms. Hattie McDaniel, I feel you all over me, and it’s about time that the world feels you all over them,” said Mo’Nique, the Baltimore County actress and comedienne who is producing a film biography about McDaniel.

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The tribute renewed an old mystery: Where is McDaniel’s own, historic Oscar?

It belongs to Howard University’s theater department, which has spent years trying to figure out what happened to the Oscar that disappeared decades ago — though nobody knows exactly when.

“It’s a never-ending mystery,” says Tom Gregory, a Hollywood memorabilia collector. “Where is it? It’s really an unbelievable story.”

Click here to read more.

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Howard Community Gathers To Remember Former University President

Smokey D. Fontaine — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:15:25 +0000

From the Washington Post:

Three generations of the Howard University community gathered Friday to remember James Edward Cheek, the longtime Howard president who envisioned a “second emancipation” of African Americans through scholarship.

Cheek died Jan. 8 in North Carolina at 77. He was buried there, while fierce snowstorms forced the postponement of a memorial service in Washington.

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The service, held in the Howard chapel, was about reclaiming Cheek’s legacy. He led Howard through the 1970s and 1980s and largely built the campus that stands today.

Cheek came to Howard at 37 and unleashed a torrent of energy. He hired hundreds of faculty members, multiplied the operating budget nearly tenfold, led a massive building program and launched the nation’s first black-owned public television station. He earned the respect of students and silenced campus protests — for a time, anyway.

He fought off a challenge from historically white universities, which had begun to compete for top black students, by voicing a provocative new vision for Howard and other historically black institutions as “weapons of our people’s liberation” and “battlegrounds for the serious.”

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Howard Students Race To Help NASCAR In Miami

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:03:31 +0000

From WashingtonTimes.com:

Some of NASCAR’s newest marketing efforts are being carried out on a college campus in Northwest Washington, up the street from where Duke Ellington played jazz and a short hike from where Bill Cosby stops for his half smokes.

Howard University isn’t exactly a hotbed of pistons and pit stops, but five of the school’s students will travel to Miami this week to present to NASCAR officials their latest findings on ways the stock car racing league can attract young fans.

The students are finalists in the “NASCAR Kinetics: Marketing in Motion” program, an initiative designed to connect college students to the business side of racing.

“We want college students to become immersed in the world of NASCAR,” program director Talia Mark said. “We want people to understand what’s going on at the racetracks and understand why we love the sport but also get them immersed in the business aspects and understand all the different opportunities that NASCAR has.”

Each of the five Howard students admitted to being relative newbies to NASCAR but newcomers with an interest in sports marketing or public relations.

After presenting a series of case studies and hosting a panel discussion with NASCAR officials last month, they now head to a South Beach hotel to give their take on how NASCAR can reach fans between the ages of 6 and 24. Students from Coastal Carolina University and Notre Dame also will compete, with final presentations to be made this Wednesday. The winner will get to stay in Florida and attend the season’s final Sprint Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Students from Winston-Salem State, Clark Atlanta University and Central Michigan University also participated in the program but were not selected to compete in Miami.

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HBCUs Quietly Wage War Against Gangsta Rap

Diddy Gives Support To Howard U. Protestors

Smokey D. Fontaine — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:45:30 +0000

From BlackAmericaWeb

Squeezing time between his two television shows, rap entrepreneur and former Howard University student Sean “Diddy” Combs has added his voice – via Twitter – to the student protests currently taking place at his alma mater.

Some 350 students and union workers filled the plaza outside the Howard University’s Mordecai Johnson administration building Friday morning to rage against a litany of problems, including on-campus housing, delays in financial aid payments and labor practices.

Although classes at Howard started on Aug. 24, thousands of students have yet to be validated in the system, which means they can not register for classes. There are also a reported 500 to 1,000 students who were promised campus housing but did not receive it.

Combs, who balanced an internship at Uptown Records in New York while attending Howard in the late 1980s, sent tweets of encouragement to his fellow Bison for nearly two hours on Friday.

One read: “NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!!! Let me know if yall need me to come down there yall! I got yall BACK! Let’s go!!!”

A follow-up Tweet stated: “Do what we did and take IT OVER!!!! Let’s go! And do it in a peaceful way but DO IT!! … If your at HU go to the A building now and make sure they feel you!!! And send me updates!!! Let’s go!”

Meanwhile, service workers joined students on the picket lines to protest the school’s employment practices.

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GOOD NEWS: Howard’s 14-Year-Old Sophomore Wants Obama’s Job

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:13:29 +0000

From NBC.com:

As the school year gets under way at Howard University, one of the new faces on campus already has done enough work to rise to sophomore standing. And he’s only 14 years old.

“To me it’s just normal, you know,” Ty Hobson-Powell said. “I’m just in a different environment. Couple of older kids, but it‘s nothing different.”

The D.C. teen is Howard’s youngest student, having completed his high school requirements in just two years. His Howard classmates are shocked by his age and accomplishments, but many said they admire that and respect Ty for it.

He’s living among them in a campus dorm so he doesn’t miss out on too much of the college experience before he moves on to his career dreams.

“I wouldn’t knock down the offer to be president, like Barack Obama,” he said.

To read more, click here.

Howard Grads Earn More Than Other HBCU Alums

Smokey D. Fontaine — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:29:36 +0000

From BlackAmericans.com:

Graduates of Howard University in Washington, D.C., earn higher salaries than graduates of any other Black college or university as well as some premier non-Black institutions of higher learning according to a study by salary research company PayScale.

Howard graduates have an average starting salary of $50,300, ranking the school 100th on the list of colleges and universities with the highest starting salaries. The university ranked just ahead of Penn State, Northwestern, and the University of Texas.

Howard is known to be an academically demanding institution and its graduates include Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, former presidential counselor and corporate attorney Vernon Jordan, former Sen. Edward Brooke, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), entertainers Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen and Roberta Flack, mayors Adrian Fenty of Washington, D.C. and Shirley Franklin of Atlanta and noted A.M.E. Bishop Vashti McKenzie.

Stacy Miller, the communications director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said she is not surprised by the result of the survey.

“Howard University prepares you for the world of work and to be the best that you can be,” she said. “Our graduates are valuable and well-compensated because the university makes sure that before you get a degree, you can perform in the classroom and in the real world.”

To read more, click here.

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