HOWARD UNIVERSITY – Black excellence and success are prominent at Howard University with notable alumni such as Chadwick Boseman, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison.
Howard University was founded in 1867 and is referred to as “The Mecca” by alumni and the Black community alike. Howard University has a strong alumni network including the first Black and South Asian women to be the Vice President of the United States. As election day approaches, many Howard Students are reflecting on their legacy and the meaning of Black excellence.
“I think to me, Black excellence is just not even like a quantitative type of success, like just success that you see. I think it’s like being kind to people and like, you know, like the Black community, like uplifting one another. I think that’s what Black excellence is to me.” says Ju’Nya Bates, a freshman biology major.
My definition of Black excellence is the resilience and strength within Black people to excel through any struggles that come their way. Black excellence and the legacy of Black people achieving greatness runs deep at Howard, not only because of the notable alumni who graduated from Howard but also the students who are attending the university today. At Howard, students are offered so many opportunities to propel their careers that they would not have back in their hometowns. Howard students can be examples for family members who look up to them. Reviling to them the greatness they can one day achieve.
Gloria Dagirn, a junior computer science major says, “I am the only person that’s coming this far from Florida with my family and trying to make a risk to better them or to show them that it’s okay to come out to HBCU or come out this far to make a better life for yourself.”
Howard has had an extensive amount of impact not only on the students who are currently enrolled but also on the alumni. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is considering returning to Howard University as an election night headquarters. The lasting impact that Howard has on its alumni is unlike any other university. Howard students can have role models to look up to in the real world and Kamala Harris is an amazing example of someone who is empowering young women at Howard University to reach their goals and continue to strive.
When asked about Kamala Harris’s position in office Kamiya Jones, senior marketing major had this to say “It’s very empowering. And I think for girls who are coming into Howard, I think that having that as a model, seeing where you can go, is phenomenal for anyone who’s trying to do anything in the political world, in the business world, and the art world and the medicine world is just an example of like that can be you for the next generation or two generations after you,”
Howard is the place where Black people can thrive, be themselves, and achieve what they have always dreamed of. Howard is a place of grounding, community, and support. Howard is “The Mecca.”
Written by Zion Williams