Becoming a Howard Woman Was Everything for Me
The U.S. Department of Education and the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities are celebrating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by hosting the 2016 National HBCU Week Conference. Follow along using #HBCUWeek2016.
I have accomplished many firsts in my family, but none have meant more to me than graduating from Howard University. I will never forget the moment I entered the University’s gates and walked on what I considered hallowed ground. This is how I also imagine many Black students feel walking on the campuses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
At Howard, here is the path traveled by Ms. Zora Neale Hurston’s own steps. Here are the walls holding the words of Ms. Toni Morrison. Here is the stage graced by Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad. And in these same classrooms I was being nurtured by some of the most brilliant scholars in the world. Howard University is a place where our Blackness, our history, and our legacy is celebrated. It is adored.
Oprah Winfrey spent her formative years at Tennessee State University nurturing her love of storytelling. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., grew deeper roots in service and activism at Morehouse College where he discovered the power of community as a student. Robert Porcher developed his speed and quickness on the field at South Carolina State University, and my high school Advanced Placement English teacher, Dorisel Boggs, developed her love for literature at Kentucky State University.
Many of our country’s most talented Black scholars, entertainers, athletes, and educators called an HBCU their home and, had it not been for these schools, many of these students may not have been able to go on to attend college in the pursuit of a higher education. Our first Black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, who was also a graduate of the HBCU Lincoln University, was denied admittance to the University of Maryland’s Law School. He was later accepted into Howard University’s Law School. This also is why HBCUS still matter.
Howard University helped me to become the woman I am today because I was given so much as result of going there. I was given a safe space where learning was encouraged and excellence was the rule; not the exception. I was challenged in ways that further developed my duty in this world as a Black woman. Becoming a Howard University woman is what I always perceived a woman to be when I read about Howard graduates in Ebony or Jet magazine or when I watched “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World.” Howard University rewarded the conviction in my voice and the deliberateness of my bold actions. My professors taught me how to support my community while challenging my classmates and me to be and do better.
As a graduate of Howard University, I am responsible for not only focusing on the today, but also how to best cement the future for our young boys and girls. HBCUs are mighty in heritage and activism, beauty and style. And Howard’s legacy is unmatched. Becoming a Howard woman was everything for me. It still is and why I am so glad I went to Howard University.
- Russella L. Davis-Rogers, Chief of Staff for Strategic Partnerships and Howard Alumna
