A MOREHOUSE COLLEGE VIRTUAL E VENT
Virtual
baccalaureate
2021
Saturday, the Fifteenth Day of May, Two Thousand Twenty-One Three o’clock in the Afternoon George T. Sale Hall Chapel for the Inward Journey City of Atlanta
baccalaureate
Baccalaureate Preacher 2021
The Rev. Dr. Delman L. Coates ’95 Senior Pastor, Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, Clinton, Md. Morehouse College Board of Trustees The Rev. Delman Coates, Ph.D., is the senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, and founder of the Our Money Campaign, which seeks to solve social and economic challenges in the United States. A 1995 graduate of Morehouse College, Coates holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from his alma mater, as well as a master’s degree in divinity from Harvard Divinity School. He has earned two degrees from Columbia University: a master’s degree in religion and a doctorate in New Testament & Early Christianity.
Since 2004, Coates has served as the senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, and in that time the congregation has grown to 9,000 members. He is credited with initiating and revitalizing ministries, expanding the church’s ministry campus and land holdings, and incorporating the Mt. Ennon Development Corp. In October 2009, in fact, Outreach Magazine named Mt. Ennon one of the 100 Fastest Growing Congregations in the United States. Coates is also the founder and president of the Black Church Center for Justice & Equality, which serves to “reaffirm the social justice tradition of the Black Church.” In addition, he serves as a board member of the Parents Television Council and the National Action Network, and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Morehouse College Board of Preachers, and the NAACP. In 2008, TAAP honored Coates as one of “20 To Watch,” and four years later he was named to “The Root 100” annual list of influential Black Americans. The American Civil Liberties Union honored Coates in 2013 for his commitment to advancing civil rights and liberties, and, that same year, Ebony magazine selected him as one of their “Power 100.” Coates’ ministry, messages, and social activism have spanned a variety of media platforms. He has appeared on, and been profiled in, many national media outlets, such as MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, Essence magazine, NPR, VH1, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post, and he was featured in the documentary “The New Black.” Coates has published numerous articles, including: “And the Bible Says: Methodological Tyranny of Biblical Fundamentalism and Historical Criticism” in Blow the Trumpet in Zion; “Towards a Progressive Christian Interpretive Praxis” in The African-American Pulpit; and “Origen of Alexandria” in the Union Seminary Quarterly Review. He also wrote “The New Abolitionism: Monetary Reform and the Future of Civil Rights,” a piece included in the book “Mr. President: Interfaith Perspectives on the Historic Presidency of Barack H. Obama” (2017). Among Coates’ published sermons are “From Proclamation to Protest” (The African American Pulpit, July 2008) and “Race Still Matters”(TAAP 2009). Coates is the proud father of four children: sons, Nathaniel and Joshua, and twin daughters, Ava Marie and Leah Blair.
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2021 baccalaureate
baccalaureate
Order of Worship 2021 Presiding
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
Opening Voluntary
“Crown Him with Many Crowns” arr. Abin C. Wentworth
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
Call to Order
The Rev. Craig Thomas Robinson Jr. ’08 Senior Pastor St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church Chicago, Ill.
Evocation
Willie E. Woods ’85 Chairman, Morehouse College Board of Trustees President and Managing Director, ICV Partners New York City, N.Y.
The Occasion
Scripture Anthem
Psalm 139:1-18, KJV
“Psalm 150”
James Peele ’21 Senior Class President Cesar Franck arr. Thomas Matthews Morehouse College Glee Club David A. Thomas, Ph.D. President, Morehouse College
Introduction of Speaker
Sermon
David Francis Oliver, D.M.A. College Organist
“A Light That Shines in Darkness” Genesis 1:3, NRSV
The Rev. Dr. Delman L. Coates ’95 Senior Pastor Mt. Ennon Baptist Church Clinton, Md. Morehouse College Trustee
Spiritual Morehouse College Hymn
“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”
“Dear Old Morehouse”
J.O.B. Moseley ’29 The Rev. Dr. Lester Agyei McCorn ’88 President, Clinton College Rock Hill, S.C.
Benediction Closing Voluntary
arr. Robert Tanner Morehouse College Glee Club
“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” arr. Abin C. Wentworth
Dr. Oliver College Organist
David E. Morrow, D.M.A. ’80 Professor of Music and Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club David F. Oliver, D.M.A. College Organist
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*Those who are able are requested to stand.
If you do not keep or mail this program, please deposit it in a blue recycle bin.
†Ushers may now seat guests.
baccalaureate
Necrology* 2021
Henry “Hank” Aaron (Hon. ’09)
Theo Harrell ’71
Calvin McLarin ’68
Donald Stone ’57
Cameron Madison Alexander ’59 Joseph Arrington Sr. ’58
Alexander Leon Harris ’42
Robert Henry McMichael II ’64
Edward Taylor ’65
Michael Neely Harris ’68
Larry McQueen ’75
Willie Webb ’75
Wesley Ball ’52
Ira Harrison ’57
Charles Meredith ’61
Andre Whisenton ’65
Herman Cain ’67
DeQuincy M. Hentz ’96
Najee Murphy ’11
Alfonso ‘Al’ Whitfield ’53
Charles Edward Clark ’52
Toussaint King Hill Jr. ’81
Echol Lee Nix Jr. ’95
Joseph Wingfield Sr. ’83
Isaiah Coats ’63
Darrell Lamar Jackson ’75
Akintunde Oladele ’20
Benjamin Crawford ’63
Tarik Jackson ’11
Justin Page ’02
Walter Dallas ’68
Charles “Chuck” Howell James III ’81
James Palmer ’77
faculty
Phyllis Bentley Academic Affairs — 37 years
Chester Davenport ’66
Leroy Johnson ’49
Ronald Pollock ’63
Arthur Davis III ’65
Mason Johnson ’62
C. Clayton Powell ’49
Willie ‘Flash’ Davis ’56
Edward Jonas ’68
Richard Randall ’88
Louis Dore ’67
Vernon Jordan (Hon. ’75)
Ruben Ransaw Jr. ’61
Albert Duncan Sr. ’66
Benjamin J. Lambert IV ’89
Itumeleng Raseroka ’11
Joseph J. Farris ’51
Simmie Lavender ’65
Charles McKinley Reynolds ’58
Marion F. Fye Jr. ’67
Wilbur Leaphart ’58
Michael V. Roberts ’70
Jeremiah Gaffney ’76
Benjamin “Bendoo” Logan ’60
Douglas Rucker ’61
David Garrett ’67
Charles Donald Lusby ’61
James Schell ’49
Stephen Gill ’74
General G. Marshall ’57
Jackson Sheftall ’54
Robert Green ’51
Homer McCall ’62
Henry Allen Stewart ’99
John Henry Hall ’69
Edison McDonald ’58
Talmadge Stewart ’71
Gloria da Cunha-Giabbai Modern Foreign Languages — 26 years Louis Delsarte Art — 16 years Tobe Johnson Jr. ’54 Political Science — 60 years plus Willie Roy Rogers Sr. Housing and Residence Life — 15 years Barbara Wardlaw MLK Jr. Int’l Chapel — 28 years Maurice Washington Student Services — 13 years
*The College honors the lives of all alumni and matriculating students who have made their transition since last Commencement. The list above, however, reflects only the names that were reported to the College.
Dear Old Morehouse Dear old Morehouse, dear old Morehouse, We have pledged our lives to thee; And we’ll ever, yea forever, Give ourselves in loyalty. True forever, true forever, To old Morehouse may we be; So to bind each son the other Into ties more brotherly. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Make us steadfast, honest, true, To old Morehouse and her ideals And in all things that we do. J. O. B. Moseley ’29
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& staff