HBCU
DIGEST
ENGAGE. NETWORK. OUTREACH.
2013 NATIONAL HBCU MEDIA SUMMIT June 27-29, 2013 Jackson State University www.hbcudigest.com
Friends of HBCUSTORY: Last February, I started the HBCUSTORY.com blog as a way to preserve stories of the HBCU experience. Formally organized as a nonprofit in November 2012, HBCUSTORY has grown so much since then. Because of the support of people like you, it is my pleasure to convene the inaugural HBCUSTORY Symposium at the Nashville Public Library and to welcome you to Nashville, the Athens of the South. It is an understatement for me to say that I’m excited! In anticipation of the Symposium, we’ve been celebrating April as HBCUSTORY month! And in recognition of this special time in our organizational history, for 27 days we’ve published 27 stories and countless memories that matter. With over 5,000 views in just the month of April, the My HBCU My Story series has not only captured the special role the HBCU has played in our lives, it has captured the imagination of readers world-wide. Presented in partnership with the Nashville Public Library and the Nashville Public Library Foundation, the Symposium features a keynote address by Paul Quinn College President Michael J. Sorrell, Esq., as well as fifteen scholars from across the nation, who will share original research on emerging topics in the fields of history, information science, fundraising, partnerships, LBGTQ studies, athletics and wellness. This historic event provides an opportunity for members of the HBCU community to support positive stories reflecting the great work HBCUs have done and are doing. In addition to encouraging HBCUs to craft their own stories and encouraging academicians to consider HBCUs as subjects worthy of serious study, the Symposium compels each of us, as HBCU supporters, to take an active role in ensuring a bright future for these giants in the pantheon of American educational history. In supporting the Symposium, you’re saying to the world, these institutions matter! Just steps away from where we are now meeting, scores of black college students from American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University launched a nonviolent protest movement that forced the desegregation of Nashville’s lunch counters and public facilities, and subsequently served as a model for student-led movements across the South. Likewise, it is my hope that HBCUSTORY bravely carries the mantle of HBCU story-telling across the nation and world! Thank you again for patronage. I hope you leave here inspired and empowered to share your HBCUSTORY! Together, we’re making HBCU memories matter,
Crystal A. deGregory
Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D. Founder & Executive Editor HBCUSTORY cadegregory@HBCUSTORY.com
Making Memories Matter.
Friends and Colleagues: Thank you for participating in the inaugural HBCUSTORY Symposium! The Nashville Public Library is honored to host this year’s event. Themed “Inspiring Stories of the Past and Present, For Our Future,” the Symposium reaffirms the Library’s mission to preserve across generations the wisdom, culture and history of our community. We appreciate the vital role organizations such as HBCUSTORY play in the preservation of these stories. The Library’s existing oral history and digital collections are exemplary in content, and the scope of this partnership expands beyond that reach. At the core of the Special Collections Division, our aim is to stimulate serious public dialogue surrounding current issues that shape all facets of American culture, history and education.
I invite you to take advantage of the Library’s collections and sample all that NPL has to offer, particularly the Civil Rights Room located on the second floor, overlooking the intersection of Church Street and Seventh Avenue North. The Civil Rights Collection could be thought of as blooming where its seed was planted almost a half-century ago. It was in the streets below the Collection that students from Nashville’s four black colleges launched a nonviolent protest movement against segregated lunch counters and other public accommodations in 1960.
Finally, on behalf of the Nashville Public Library, I would like to welcome you to the great city of Nashville. I am looking forward to our meeting on April 27th at what promises to be a most stimulating and enjoyable event! Sincerely,
Andrea Blackman Andrea Blackman Special Collections Division Manager Nashville Public Library 615 Church Street Nashville, TN 37219 615-862-5842 Andrea.Blackman@nashville.gov
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR: LEGEND
Michael J. Sorrell, Esq. Michael J. Sorrell is the 34th President of Paul Quinn College and the reigning “HBCU Male President of the Year”. Under his leadership, PQC is experiencing one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of higher education. His vision is to transform Paul Quinn College into one of America’s great small colleges by focusing on servant leadership, entrepreneurship, and academic rigor. Among the school’s numerous accomplishments during President Sorrell’s tenure have been: winning the “2011 HBCU of the Year” and the “2012 HBCU Student Government Association of the Year”; demolishing 15 abandoned campus buildings; partnering with PepsiCo to transform the unused football field into the two acre “WE over Me Farm”; achieving full-accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS); attaining four consecutive unqualified audits for the first time in school history; creating a new admissions policy (and enrolling the top academic class in school history); establishing the Presidential Scholars Program; adopting a school-wide business casual dress code; securing the two largest single donor gifts in the history of the institution; earning six and seven-figure year-end budget surpluses in three of the last four years; and modernizing all institutional operations. Michael received his J.D. and M.A. in Public Policy from Duke University. While in law school, he was one of the founding members of the Journal of Gender Law & Policy and served as the Vice President of the Duke Bar Association. Michael was a recipient of the Sloan Foundation Graduate Fellowship, which funded his studies at both Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (as a graduate fellow) and Duke University. He graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Government, served as Secretary-Treasurer of his senior class, was a twotime captain of the men’s varsity basketball team, and graduated as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer. The President is a member of the Alpha Epsilon Boule of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Among the boards he serves on are Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, Amegy Bank, Teach for America, the North Texas Public Broadcasting Company, Inc., bcWorkshop, and the Department of Education Policy and Leadership for the Simmons School of Education at SMU. He also has been recognized by the Root On-line Magazine as a member of the “Root 100” (a list of the top 100 emerging leaders in America) and by HBCU Digest as one of the five best HBCU Presidents from 2010 through 2012. He has received the Excellence in Education Distinguished Alumni Award from his high school, St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Illinois; the A. Kenneth Pye Award for Excellence in Education from the Alumni Association of Duke University’s School of Law; and the TRACS Leadership Award. He has also been named the Educator of the Year by several different organizations and honored by the NAACP, Heart House, the State Fair Classic, the Dallas Furniture Bank, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dallas for his civic leadership. He is a past recipient of the Dallas Urban League’s Torch for Community Leadership and both the President’s and C.B. Bunkley Awards from J.L. Turner for his outstanding contributions to the Dallas legal community. Additionally, in 2002 the Dallas Business Journal named him one of Dallas’ Forty Under 40 and in 2011, the same periodical awarded him a Minority Business Leaders Award. President Sorrell is married to the former Natalie Jenkins. Natalie is an alumna of Spelman College and received her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. They have one son, Michael Augustus.
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR: LEGACY
Beth Madison Howse A beautiful baby girl, Beth Irene Madison Howse was born on September 24, 1943 to Archie and Daile Madison, Sr. Her parents doted on her and soon after welcomed a sister, Gail and brother, Archie, Jr. into the family. Being a big sister was a role Beth assumed with all the loving kindness a little girl could muster, especially after the untimely death of her father when she and her siblings were young children. With the help of their Uncle Bud, her mother Daile reared Beth along with her sister and brother at 1034 17th Avenue North in the home of her maternal grandmother Mother Moore, beloved longtime dorm director at Fisk University.
Growing up in the shadow of the historic Fisk Jubilee Hall, Beth attended Nashville’s public schools and enjoyed a wonderful childhood in the environs of the Fisk campus at the height of its golden years. Not only were she and her family members of the Fisk Memorial Chapel, now-famous luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance period were the parents of Beth’s childhood friends. Poet and librarian Arna Bontemps lived a few streets over while artist Aaron Douglas lived just two doors down, and the famous musicologist John W. Work III was her family’s next door neighbor. Beth graduated from Nashville’s renown Pearl High School in 1961 and she entered Fisk University that fall amid the burgeoning modern Civil Rights Movement. Her choice to attend Fisk was unsurprising. Beth’s familial relationship to Fisk, had, even by that time, stretched almost a century. Her maternal great-grandmother Ella Sheppard Moore entered Fisk as a student in 1868, and was one of nine singers that formed the original Fisk Jubilee Singers troupe that departed on October 6, 1871 to raise money to save the school. As pianist and assistant director for the singers, Sheppard Moore was the most-recognizable and longest-serving member of the group which introduced spirituals to the world, and erected Jubilee Hall as the first permanent structure for the education of blacks in the South. Even as a teenager, Beth had dutifully represented her family every year at Jubilee Day, a tradition that she continued throughout her life. A fourth generation Fiskite, she excelled at Fisk, graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 1965 before later attending Peabody College, from which she was awarded a master’s degree. She married Wilfred B. Howse in July 1964 and together, they began a family that included two sons, Bryan and Scott, and one daughter, Bethany. In 1970, Beth returned to work at her alma mater Fisk University; and five years later, began her career as a Special Collections Librarian in the John and Aurelia Hope Franklin Library under the tutelage of Ann Allen Shockley, whom she succeeded. Beth thrived in her role as the caretaker of priceless Fiskiana and African-American archival materials. She took special pride in painstakingly processing a number of Fisk’s more than one hundred processed collections including the Fisk Jubilee Singers Collection. She was never too busy to help researchers whether student, novice or expert, reach their highest heights, undergirding them with her mastery of more than four decades of archival knowledge, and encouraging them with the sweetness of her spirit and smile. In recognition of her tireless work, countless local, national and international authors have recognized the debt they owe to her as both a professional and as an enthusiast in their book’s acknowledgements. During her summers, Beth nurtured scores of children over her more than three decade-long tenure as director of Fisk MiniCollege. Just this summer, more than fifty children were the beneficiaries of her unfailing commitment to the program. Their young voices could be heard gleefully squealing her name as they competed to be the center of her attention. For more than thirty years, Beth also served as archivist for Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated (Boulé). She also enjoyed helping members of the wider community including the Girl Scouts, with whom she helped to create the curricula for a Jubilee Singers patch. For several decades, she was also a faithful member of the Howard Congregational Church where her greatgrandfather the Reverend George W. Moore had once been a minister. Above all, Beth was a loving family person and a faithful friend. An avid reader, she loved turtles, enjoyed cooking as well as doing anything and everything with her devoted sister Gail.
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | ABSTRACTS POLITICS OF PHILANTHROPY: THE NAMING OF MOREHOUSE COLLEGE, 1912-1913 Daron-Lee Calhoun II, Morehouse ‘10 M.A. Candidate, College of Charleston “The Politics of Philanthropy” will examine the paternalistic nature of Northern Missionaries with reference to black schools in general and Morehouse College (Atlanta Baptist College until 1913) in particular in the early twentieth century. The core of this poster will show how “the art of compromise” involving whites (General Education Board and the American Baptist Home Mission Society” and blacks (Missionary Baptists and prominent African-Americans) resulted in the changing of the name of the school for Henry Lyman Morehouse, a European-American, longtime supporter of the school. This presentation will provide a greater focus to the connection that benevolence of northern missionaries had on the control of these southern institutions.
THE HBCU SPORTS TRADITION: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF HBCU ATHLETICS PROGRAMS J. Kenyatta Cavil, Ed.D., M.B.A., Assistant Professor, Texas Southern University and Emiel W. Owens, Professor, Texas Southern University As Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCU) athletic programs continue to grow, expand and operate in the either the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) or National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA), and with the increased commitment to athletics from regional predominantly white institutions (PWI) programs, it is important to examine the current status of HBCUs’ athletic programs in their national associations. The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of each institution’s athletic program and other program components such as the athletic programs operating membership alignment in which each program is operating, number of sports, classification level and budget.
HBCU RENAISSANCE: THE POTENTIAL OF BLACK COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS Carl Darnell, Tennessee State ‘06, Doctoral Candidate, IU - Bloomington The Harlem Renaissance was a marked by the creativity and sophistication of African Americans eager to prove the worth of their work, express their frustration and disappointment with the post-Reconstruction South they were fleeing, and carve out their place in the history and high culture of Western Civilization. The renaissance brought Black artists, authors, and all forms of artisans together in one location; this close proximity fostered unprecedented creativity and productivity that benefited every agent of the Renaissance. In this presentation, HBCUs can usher in an Intellectual Renaissance of 21st century by collaborating in inter-institutional partnerships, mergers, and affiliations.
FOUNDATIONS OF OUR PAST: LESSONS LEARNED FROM EARLY PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORTERS OF HBCUs Kayla C. Elliott, Fisk ‘10, Teach For America – Indianapolis, Development Manager1 Before the Emancipation Proclamation, limited educational opportunities for African Americans were provided almost exclusively by northern abolitionists and missionaries. Spurred by catalysts such as the 13th Amendment and the Morrill-Land Grant Act, institutions dedicated to the education of African Americans spread throughout the north and south. The turn of the century brought a surge in philanthropic interest in supporting these institutions and their cause. This study analyzes the strategies and governance models employed by foundations which supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the broader education of African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
LIVING INSIDE OF SELF: THE LGBTQ EXPERIENCE AT AN HBCU Naykishia Head, Jackson State ‘03, Instructor, Tennessee State University The issue of a person’s sexual orientation has always held a negative connotation. In the Black community,there is even a larger negativity placed towards individuals who are not what society deems as “normal.” The stigma and shame associated with one’s sexuality, particularly within the African American community, continues to be an issue that needs to be addressed. According to Campuspride, a web site that gauges the level of campus safety for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and/or Queer Students, “No HBCU is currently listed on Campus Pride’s Campus Climate Index. HBCUs need to do more towards establishing LGBTQ and Ally Organizations at all of our institutions.
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | ABTRACTS THE BOTTOM LINE: EVOLUTION OF RACIAL AND ECONOMIC SEGREGATION IN NORTH NASHVILLE Jennifer Heusel, Doctoral Candidate, Indiana University–Bloomington My dissertation is a rhetorical study that examines the vocabulary of post-civil rights American capitalism in local discourses about institutionally financing higher education. I argue that discourses about financing historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) provide a way to analyze the evolution of white supremacy. I critique the logic that enables the rationale for the private HBCU Fisk University to sell a half-share of their Alfred Stieglitz art collection to a private museum in order to become financially stable and maintain accreditation.
THE OBJECT OF: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT NEWSPAPERS AND THE WORLD THEY OBSERVED O’Brian K. Holden, Fisk ‘10 College Newspapers have long been the organs employed by students to express the sentiments of student populations on college campuses. Though these periodicals are representative of their respective institutions, they are more than mere papers detailing school news. College Newspapers are public forums for the presentation of the ideological spectrum of student bodies. Focusing on the Fisk Expositor which is first issued on January 1, 1878 and The Fisk Herald issued in June of 1883, I illustrate that African American student newspapers are papers that recognize the uniqueness of their isolation and educational opportunities, while engaging the world.
PRACTICAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGIES FOR HBCUS Brandy Jackson, Fisk ‘06, Master’s Candidate, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been the essential driving force toward providing African Americans access to education and equality. In the goal to continue in this tradition to educate more prospective students, alumni and administrators must use effective strategies to assist in sustaining HBCUs for generations to come. HBCUs struggle with competing with predominantly white institutions because of difficulties in fundraising and a lack of alumni giving. This presentation highlights practical fundraising strategies that will lead HBCUs to greater success.
THE NEED TO CARE FOR HBCU ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Aisha M. Johnson, Doctoral Candidate, Florida State University African American donors have a need to sufficiently feel their collection will be accurately represented and frequently utilized by researchers. Often times, African American donors prefer to donate their collection to a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) rather than a predominately white school out of fear for their collection being processed with a lack of cultural understanding and not reaching their target audience. While HBCU archives embrace the opportunity to acquire such collections, they may not be equipped to handle these collections. The solution to this major problem is recognizing and supporting the needs of HBCU archives including recruitment and training.
THE HBCU WELLNESS PROJECT: A COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH (CBPR) INITIATIVE E. Clare Stewart, Fisk University ‘05, Coordinator, Fisk-MMC HBCU Wellness Project, Fisk University For the past six years, Fisk University and Meharry Medical College along with four other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in Tennessee have provided opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in communitybased participatory research (CBPR) to address health disparities. Program participants or student health ambassadors (SHA) are fulltime students, through service learning, work as health promotion and disease prevention advocates in one of five health priority areas.
USING THE WEAPONS WITH WHICH WE ARE SKILLED”: GEORGE W. GORE & STUDENT ACTIVISM AT FAMU, 1950-1968 Learotha Williams Jr., Assistant Professor of African American and Public History, Tennessee State University This presentation explores the life of former president of FAMU George W. Gore Jr. Gore’s career in academia, which included two Historical Black Colleges and Universities, provides insight into the many challenges facing African American presidents at HBCUs during the second half of the 20th century. By the time he left office in 1968, Gore had secured university status for the college and created an academic environment that would positively affect African Americans for generations to come.
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | PRESENTERS Daron-Lee Calhoun II is a first year graduate student
pursuing a Master of Arts in History at the College of Charleston. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he is an alumnus of Morehouse College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in African American Studies in 2010. Since graduating, he has worked fulltime with Morehouse on its Sesquicentennial History Project which set to release numerous publications in February 2017.
Jafus Kenyatta Cavil, Ed.D., MBA is a graduate of Prairie View A & M University’s Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, (BSME, 1994) and the Whitlowe R. Green College of Education, (MEd, 2004) Education Mathematics. He continued his education at Texas Southern University’s Jesse H. Jones School of Business (MBA, 2008), as well as a (MS in Human Performance, 2009) and a Doctorate in Education Administration (Ed.D., 2009) from Texas Southern’s College of Education. Dr. Cavil has postgraduate studies in Sport Management from Sam Houston State University.
Carl Darnell of Huntsville, AL, graduated from Tennessee
State University in 2006 with a BS in Computer Science, and in 2007 with a MEd degree in Education Administration. Intrigued by the history of TSU-UT Nashville merger and interested in the growth of HBCUs, Carl enrolled in the Indiana University Higher Education and Student Affairs PhD program to investigate HBCU’s potential for growth via partnerships, mergers, and affiliations.
Gwendolyn Cherrelle Denwiddie is a 2011 graduate of
Fisk University and is a resident of the new Ryman Lofts in downtown Nashville. A satirist and young adult fiction writer, more information about her can be found on gcdenwiddie.com.
Kayla C. Elliott is a graduate of Fisk University. She holds
a Master’s of Philanthropic Studies with a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Indiana University. A native of Orlando, Florida, she has worked with Lumina Foundation, the Center on Philanthropy, Morehouse School of Medicine, and College Mentors for Kids. She is currently Development Manager for Teach For America - Indianapolis, where she manages individual giving and community engagement.
Naykishia D. Head received her Bachelor and Master of
Arts degrees in English from Jackson State University. She is an instructor of English as well as a faculty advisor for the Gay-Straight Alliance at Tennessee State University. She is published and has presented at several conferences. She is a wife, mother, and native of Forest, Mississippi.
Jennifer Heusel is a Ph.D. candidate in the departments
of Communication and Culture and American Studies. Her research interests include rhetoric, postracism, economics, and transgression. Her dissertation brings these interests together by analyzing local stories about the financing of specific HBCUs.
O’Brian K. Holden is a 2010 graduate of Fisk University
and a 2012 graduate of the University of Delaware with a. MA in American History. O'Brian's research focuses on 19th and early 20th century African American history with particular interest in the print culture of historically black colleges and universities and African American political appointments.
Brandy Jackson a 2006 graduate of Fisk University with
a B.A. in Political Science (2006) and a minor in Public Administration. She will graduate this May from the University Of Pennsylvania Graduate School Of Education with a Master’s of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.). and plans to work in higher education in the areas of alumni relations and fundraising.
Aisha Johnson is currently a PhD Candidate in Informa-
tion Studies at Florida State University, where she examines library history within African American history. Her dissertation work explores Southern library history, Georgia's African American history and presents the Carnegie library in Savannah, Georgia as a case study.
Learotha Williams Jr., Ph.D. is a professor of African
American and Public history at Tennessee State University. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, he earned his Ph.D. in History from Florida State University in 2003. He has worked as a Historic Sites Specialist for the State of Florida, served as coordinator for the African American Studies Program at Armstrong Atlantic State University and trustee of the Historic Savannah Foundation in Savannah, Georgia.
HBCUSTORY STAFF FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Managing Editor Crystal A. deGregory,
Ph.D. is a graduate of the historic Fisk University ’03. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in history from Vanderbilt University and now teaches in Tennessee State University’s department of history, geography and political science.
E. Clare Stewart is the Community Coordinator for the Fisk-MMC HBCU Wellness Project. She received her master of science in public health from the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Meharry Medical College in 2007 and a bachelor of arts in biology from Fisk University in 2005.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST
Marshall A. Latimore is
Keith Richardson is a
an all-platform journalist, specializing in visual and multimedia presentation. He works as a designer for Advance Publication’s Alabama Media Group. Marshall honed his skills as a student and communications coordinator at Tennessee State University.
veteran media marketing and publicist with a knack for social media campaigns and a flair for portait photography. He matriculated at Tennessee State University, where he attained his bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication & Theatre.
2013 HBCUSTORY SYMPOSIUM | SPONSORS $2,500+
Presenting Sponsors
The Presenting Sponsors of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium are the Nashville Public Library and the Nashville Public Library Foundation.
$750-$2,499 Booker T. Washington Sponsor The Booker T. Washington Sponsor of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium is
$250-$749
Mary McLeod Bethune Sponsors
The Mary McLeod Bethune Sponsors of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium are
$100-$249
Horace Mann Bond Sponsors
The Horace Mann Boyd Sponsors of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium are
representative harold love Jr. $50 – $99
martin imagery
Juliette Derricotte Sponsors
The Juliette Derricote Sponsors of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium are
$20 – $49
patricia stephens due sponsors
The Patricia Stephens Due Sponsors of the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium are people like you.