All Posts - BLOGS - Blacksciencefictionsociety

February Twelve...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 12, 2019 at 7:30am

Image Source: Howard University Instagram

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Harris–Stowe State University is a historically black, public university located in midtown St. Louis, Missouri. The University is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Harris–Stowe State University established in 1857 & their nickname is Hornets. Their colors are black and white and their motto is Affordable, Accessible, Diverse.

We firmly believe that individuals who serve in the military enhance our campus, so we work very hard to ensure that their college experience is a superior one.

It is our goal to help members of the military and their families understand the many options available for funding a college degree. For example, combat veterans who were a Missouri resident when they entered the military may wish to take advantage of the Returning Heroes Act, which allows qualified individuals to take courses for as little as $50 per credit hour. We can also help veterans and qualified family members utilize available resources such as the Montgomery GI Bill, REAP, Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance Program or the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

You have provided a great service to your country. Let us have the opportunity to provide a great education to you!

Hinds Community College, Utica

Hinds Community College, established 1917, is a community college with its main campus located in Raymond, Mississippi, about five miles west of Jackson, the state capital. With an enrollment of nearly 12,000 students at six campuses, it is the largest educational institution in the state, a rarity among community colleges. It’s nickname is the Eagles and the University is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the Mississippi Junior College Athletic Association. Their colors are maroon and white and their motto is The College for All People.

Hood Theological Seminary

Hood Theological Seminary is a graduate and professional school sponsored by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (A.M.E. Zion) and dedicated to the education and preparation of men and women for leadership in the various ministries and vocations of the Christian church.

The Seminary bears the name of a renowned bishop of the denomination, James Walker Hood, who inspired others in the denomination to join with him in creating an institution for the training of Negro youths for the Christian ministry. In 1879 those pioneers created the Zion Wesley Institute in Concord, NC. Three years later, by invitation of the citizens of Salisbury, they relocated the Institute to this city. Under the leadership of its first president, Dr. Joseph Charles Price, the Institute was chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1887 and renamed Livingstone College in honor of Scottish physician and explorer of central and southern Africa, Dr. David Livingstone.

Hood obtained independence from Livingstone College in 2001 and became a free-standing seminary with its own Board of Trustees. Dean Albert J. D. Aymer was appointed and inaugurated as its first President.

Howard University

Since 1867, Howard has awarded more than 100,000 degrees in the professions, arts, sciences and humanities. Howard ranks among the highest producers of the nation's Black professionals in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, nursing, architecture, religion, law, music, social work and education.

The University has long held a commitment to the study of disadvantaged persons in American society and throughout the world. The goal is the elimination of inequities related to race, color, social, economic and political circumstances. As the only truly comprehensive predominantly Black university, Howard is one of the major engineers of change in our society. Through its traditional and cutting-edge academic programs, the University seeks to improve the circumstances of all people in the search for peace and justice on earth.

Howard has grown from a single-frame building in 1867 and evolved to more than 89 acres, including the six-story, 400-bed Howard University Hospital. Since 1974, it has expanded to include a 22-acre School of Law West Campus, a 22-acre School of Divinity East Campus and another three-fifths of an acre facility in northeast Washington and a 108-acre tract of land in Beltsville, Maryland.

Howard prepares men and women to advance social justice and the preservation of human liberty. In each of its 13 schools and colleges, Howard University seeks to develop technically competent and morally committed individuals.

Dr. Mark Dean...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 12, 2019 at 7:00am

Dr. Mark Dean - Biography.com

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Computer Science, Education, Electrical Engineering

Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip.

Synopsis

Born in Jefferson City, Tennessee, in 1957, computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean helped develop a number of landmark technologies for IBM, including the color PC monitor and the first gigahertz chip. He holds three of the company's original nine patents. He also invented the Industry Standard Architecture system bus with engineer Dennis Moeller, allowing for computer plug-ins such as disk drives and printers.

Early Life and Education

Computer scientist and inventor Mark Dean was born on March 2, 1957, in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Dean is credited with helping to launch the personal computer age with work that made the machines more accessible and powerful.

From an early age, Dean showed a love for building things; as a young boy, Dean constructed a tractor from scratch with the help of his father, a supervisor at the Tennessee Valley Authority. Dean also excelled in many different areas, standing out as a gifted athlete and an extremely smart student who graduated with straight A's from Jefferson City High School. In 1979, he graduated at the top of his class at the University of Tennessee, where he studied engineering.

Innovation with IBM

Not long after college, Dean landed a job at IBM, a company he would become associated with for the duration of his career. As an engineer, Dean proved to be a rising star at the company. Working closely with a colleague, Dennis Moeller, Dean developed the new Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) systems bus, a new system that allowed peripheral devices like disk drives, printers and monitors to be plugged directly into computers. The end result was more efficiency and better integration.

But his groundbreaking work didn't stop there. Dean's research at IBM helped change the accessibility and power of the personal computer. His work led to the development of the color PC monitor and, in 1999, Dean led a team of engineers at IBM's Austin, Texas, lab to create the first gigahertz chip—a revolutionary piece of technology that is able to do a billion calculations a second.

In all, Dean holds three of the company's original nine patents and, in total, has more 20 patents associated with his name.

Biography.com: Mark Dean, Ph.D.

February Eleven...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 11, 2019 at 6:44am

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visits Fort Valley State College, 1966. Pictured standing next to President Troup (middle).

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Fort Valley State University

Since 1895, Fort Valley State University has empowered people to use education as a pathway to maximize their potential through invention, intellectual fulfillment, civic leadership, and meaningful careers. It was founded 122 years ago as a bridge to prosperity for the first generations of free black men and women in America and has a continuing legacy of producing leaders in a broad range of fields critical to human advancement. FVSU’s legacy is built on the belief that every human being is entitled to limitless learning, regardless of the circumstances of its birth. As expressed in its first academic catalog as a college, the institution exists to give students “a better chance in life” and help uplift people, “wherever the college can, through its graduates.”

The chains of physical slavery were broken in the United States by the Civil War, but the chains of mental slavery could only be broken through education. On November 6, 1895, an interracial group of 15 black men— at least half of whom were former slaves— and three white men, petitioned the Superior Court of Houston County, GA to legalize the creation of a school to “promote the cause of mental and manual education in the state of Georgia,” and the Fort Valley High and Industrial School was born. The group’s leader, John Wesley Davison, himself a child slave, was hired as its first principal after its incorporation on January 6, 1896. The school’s popularity was overwhelming, and enrollment pushed the boundaries of its capacity. FVSU is one of few colleges founded by former slaves, including founders Davison, Virgil Gideon Barnett, Peter Fann, Henry Lowman, Thomas McAfee, James Isaac Miller, Charlie H. Nixon, and Thomas W. Williams, who bonded with founders Stephen Elisha Bassett, Allen Cooper, Francis W. Gano, John Howard Hale, David Jones, J.R. Jones, D.L. Lawrence, Alonzo L. Nixon, and Lee O’Neal to create an enduring testament to the power of knowledge to overcome fear and mistrust.

The two original instructors, Principal Davison and his wife Hattie, were undaunted, however, as were the students, who built many of the campus’s original buildings with their own hands, including Founders, Carnegie, Peabody, Patton, and Ohio Halls, as well as infirmary. Much of the funding for the school came from its neighbors, uneducated African Americans who sacrificed their own meager finances to make possible the education of others. The institution’s first goal was to enable the proliferation of education to the masses, and set about training teachers who could then spread knowledge. Teachers were not the only professionals the institution produced, however. One of the first graduates of the young school was Austin Thomas Walden, who graduated in 1902 and became Georgia’s first black judge since Reconstruction.

Gadsden State Community College

Gadsden State Technical Institute began in 1960 as Gadsden Vocational Trade School, a private vocational training school for African Americans. It was founded by Eugene N. Prater, director of the Veterans General Continuation Program for Negroes, in response to discontent expressed by black veterans of Etowah County for being denied admission to the all-white Alabama School of Trades. The new school was approved by the Veterans Administration for training under the G.I. Bill and began to enroll black veterans. By August 1961, enrollment was at 71, and course offerings included auto mechanics and repair, plastering and cement finishing, brick masonry, woodworking, dry cleaning and laundry, general business, and tailoring. The school was identified as part of the state's network of vocational/technical schools and appointed Prater as the director. In 1962, the state of Alabama assumed ownership of the school, and in 1972, it was renamed Gadsden State Technical Institute. The U.S. Department of Education designated this institution as a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in 1997. The facility now serves as the Valley Street Campus of Gadsden State.

Gadsden State Community College is a public, open door, comprehensive community college under the control of the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees (ACCS BOT). Comprised of six campuses/centers, present-day Gadsden State began with the merger of Alabama Technical College, Gadsden State Technical Institute, and Gadsden State Junior College on February 28, 1985 to eliminate duplication of courses and to better serve students. Gadsden State has since expanded with the consolidation of the former Harry M. Ayers State Technical College in 2003 and the establishment of additional centers in Anniston and Centre. The college also offers instruction at St. Clair Correctional Facility. Gadsden State is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate degrees.

Present-day Gadsden State enrolls approximately 7,000 students on its six campuses. Gadsden State currently offers the associate in arts/science degrees, as well as certificate programs in a variety of career-technical education programs. Gadsden State was the first community college in Alabama with a gross anatomy laboratory, is one of 14 community colleges nationwide to have an aquaculture program, and was among the first to institute an Honors Scholar Program. The International Program has welcomed students from more than 50 countries since its inception in 1968.

Grambling State University

Grambling State University opened on November 1, 1901 as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School. It was founded by the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association, organized in 1896 by a group of African-American farmers who wanted to organize and operate a school for African Americans in their region of the state.

In response to the Association’s request for assistance, Tuskegee Institute’s Booker T. Washington sent Charles P. Adams to help the group organize an industrial school. Adams became its founding president.

In 1905, the school moved to its present location and was renamed the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, after becoming a state junior college and being renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, the school began to award two-year professional certificates and diplomas. In 1936, the curriculum emphasis shifted to rural teacher education; students were able to receive professional teaching certificates after completing a third academic year. The first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944, in elementary education.

In 1946, the school became Grambling College, named after P.G. Grambling, the white sawmill owner who had donated the parcel of land where the school was constructed. In addition to elementary educators, Grambling prepared secondary teachers and added curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business, transforming the college from a single purpose institution of teacher education into a multipurpose college. In 1949, the college earned its first accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

In 1974, the addition of graduate programs in early childhood and elementary education gave the school a new status and a new name – Grambling State University. The university expanded and prospered between 1977 and 2000. Several new academic programs were incorporated and new facilities were added to the 384-acre campus, including a business and computer science building, school of nursing, student services building, stadium, stadium support facility and an intramural sports center.

Hampton University

Other universities simply teach history. Hampton University puts you right in the middle of it. Because, as you'll soon discover, you're not just a part of Hampton University - Hampton University is a part of you.

While our roots reach deep into the history of this nation and the African-American experience, our sights – like yours – are set squarely on the horizons of the global community of the 21st century.

Rich in history, steeped in tradition, Hampton University is a dynamic, progressive institution of higher education, providing a broad range of technical, liberal arts, and graduate degree programs. In addition to being one of the top historically black universities in the world, Hampton University is a tightly-knit community of learners and educators, representing 49 states and 35 territories and nations.

Under a Simple Oak Tree

The year was 1861. The American Civil War had shortly begun and the Union Army held control of Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. In May of that year, Union Major General Benjamin Butler decreed that any escaping slaves reaching Union lines would be considered "contraband of war" and would not be returned to bondage. This resulted in waves of enslaved people rushing to the fort in search of freedom. A camp to house the newly freed slaves was built several miles outside the protective walls of Fort Monroe. It was named "The Grand Contraband Camp" and functioned as the United States' first self-contained African American community.

In order to provide the masses of refugees some kind of education, Mary Peake, a free Negro, was asked to teach, even though an 1831 Virginia law forbid the education of slaves, free blacks and mulattos. She held her first class, which consisted of about twenty students, on September 17, 1861 under a simple oak tree. This tree would later be known as the Emancipation Oak and would become the site of the first Southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Today, the Emancipation Oak still stands on the Hampton University campus as a lasting symbol of the promise of education for all, even in the face of adversity.

Thomas L. Jennings...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 11, 2019 at 6:30am

Image Source: Mental Floss

Topics: African Americans, Chemistry, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Thomas L. Jennings (1791-1859) was the first African American person to receive a patent in the U.S., paving the way for future inventors of color to gain exclusive rights to their inventions. Born in 1791, Jennings lived and worked in New York City as a tailor and dry cleaner. He invented an early method of dry cleaning called "dry scouring" and patented it in 1821—four years before Paris tailor Jean Baptiste Jolly refined his own chemical technique and established what many people claim was history’s first dry cleaning business.

People objected to an African American receiving a patent, but Jennings had a loophole: He was a free man. At the time, U.S. patent laws said that the "[slavemaster] is the owner of the fruits of the labor of the slave both manual and intellectual"—meaning slaves couldn't legally own their ideas or inventions, but nothing was stopping Jennings. Several decades later, Congress extended patent rights to all African American individuals, both slaves and freedmen.

Jennings used the money from his invention to free the rest of his family and donate to abolitionist causes.

February Ten...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 10, 2019 at 9:18am

1867 - Fisk University is Incorporated

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Fayetteville State University

Celebrating our Sesquicentennial will be a testament to the tenacity of the spirit of seven black citizens and the black community of Fayetteville who established and supported the Howard School on November 29, 1867 for educating black children.

They would indeed be proud today of the diverse student body and world class accomplishments made by FSU in various fields from teacher education to cyber-security. We will commemorate this transformative experience by proudly "Celebrating 150 Years of Excellence in Preparing Educators, Leaders, and Engaged Citizens" during the 2017-2018 academic year.

1865

In 1865, a "sophisticated" education agenda was already underway in Fayetteville's black community. Blacks citizens in Fayetteville were zealots for education and tried to have a school at Evans Chapel prior to 1865 but had problems with financial stability and space. After a request was made by John Sinclair Leary to the American Missionary Association (AMA) for a teacher, they sent Reverend Dickson whose tenure was cut short by illness.

1866

Robert Harris was named the Superintendent of the AMA school in 1866 and appointed his brother Cicero Harris as his assistant. Robert taught the intermediate level, which he called the Sumner School and assigned Cicero the primary grades, which he called the Phillips School. The curriculum at the schools emphasized fundamentals in reading, writing, practical math, and moral development. However financial stability and space were continuing problems due to the large number of schools the AMA was trying to support as well as the number of children and adults who wanted to be educated in Fayetteville.

1867

Black citizens of Fayetteville decided to establish their own school for the education of their children. They held a meeting at Evans Chapel in November of 1867, and agreed to establish the Howard School, named after General Oliver Otis Howard, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. They designated David A. Bryant, Nelson Carter, Andrew Jackson Chesnutt, George W. Grange, Sr., Matthew N. Leary, Jr., Thomas Lomax, and Robert H. Simmons, and their successors as Trustees. On November 29, 1867, these seven men signed the deed and paid $136 to Robert Simmons and Henry McNeill for two lots on Gillespie Street so that the Freedmen's Bureau could build a school for the education of black children. Robert Harris became the first Chief Executive Officer of the school when he was designated as Principal of the Howard School. In addition to reading, writing, and math, he expanded the curriculum to include science and geography, trained students to serve as teachers in small rural schools in Cumberland and surrounding counties, and also taught evening and summer school classes, thus greatly increasing the number of blacks receiving an education in the county. The Howard School became the model for graded schools in North Carolina.

Fisk University

Founded in 1866, shortly after the end of the Civil War, Fisk University is a historically black university, and is the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. Fisk’s outstanding faculty and students continue to enhance the University’s national reputation for academic excellence, which is validated year after year by the leading third party reviewers, as well as, by the pool of talented applicants and the large percentage of alumni who complete graduate or professional degrees and become leaders and scholars in their fields.

From its earliest days, Fisk has played a leadership role in the education of African-Americans. Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America's intellectual, artistic, and civic leaders in every generation since the University's beginnings.

In 1865, barely six months after the end of the Civil War and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, three men — John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith — established the Fisk School in Nashville.

The school was named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau, who provided the new institution with facilities in former Union Army barracks near the present site of Nashville's Union Station. In these facilities Fisk convened its first classes on January 9, 1866. The first students ranged in age from seven to seventy, but shared common experiences of slavery and poverty — and an extraordinary thirst for learning.

1867 - Fisk University is Incorporated

The work of Fisk's founders was sponsored by the American Missionary Association — later part of the United Church of Christ, with which Fisk retains an affiliation today.

Ogden, Cravath, and Smith, along with others in their movement, shared a dream of an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless of race, and that would measure itself by "the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best." Their dream was incorporated as Fisk University on August 22, 1867.

Florida A&M University

FAMU’s academic achievements are what set it apart as a unique learning experience. In 2014, FAMU was recognized among the 2014 U.S. News & World Report’s “Best National Universities.” The U.S. News & World Report lists FAMU as the top public historically black college or university in the nation for 2015. It is also listed among The Princeton Review’s “Best in the Southeast” colleges and is one of the top picks for providing a high quality education at an affordable price in Florida, according to The College Database (2013).

FAMU values diversity in thought, perspective, and culture. The University enrolls nearly 10,000 students hailing from across the United States and more than 70 countries, including several African countries, the Bahamas, Brazil, Indonesia, China, and the United Arab Emirates, to name a few. The student body includes representatives from all ethnic, socio-economic, and religious backgrounds.

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University was founded as the State Normal College for Colored Students, and on October 3, 1887, it began classes with fifteen students and two instructors. Today, FAMU, as it has become affectionately known, is the premiere school among historically black colleges and universities. Prominently located on the highest hill in Florida’s capital city of Tallahassee, Florida A&M University remains the only historically black university in the eleven member State University System of Florida.

In 1884, Thomas Van Renssaler Gibbs, a Duval County educator, was elected to the Florida legislature. Although his political career ended abruptly because of the resurgence of segregation, Representative Gibbs was successful in orchestrating the passage of House Bill 133, in 1884, which established a white normal school in Gainesville, FL, and a colored school in Jacksonville. The bill passed, creating both institutions; however, the stated decided to relocate the colored school to Tallahassee.

Thomas DeSaille Tucker [1887-1901], an attorney from Pensacola, was chosen to be the first president. Former State Representative Gibbs joined Mr. Tucker as the second faculty member. In 1891, the College received $7,500 under the Second Morrill Act for agricultural and mechanical arts education, and the State Normal College for Colored Students became Florida’s land grant institution for colored people. The original College was housed in a single white-framed building and had three departments of study and recreation. At about this time, the College was relocated from its original site on Copeland Street to its present location, and its name was changed to the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students.

Florida Memorial University

Florida Memorial University is a private, coeducational, and Baptist-affiliated institution that has the distinction of being one of the oldest academic centers in the state, and the only Historically Black University in South Florida.

In 1879, members of the Bethlehem Baptist Association founded the school, then called Florida Baptist Institute, in Live Oak to create “a College of instruction for our ministers and children.” The Reverend J. L. A. Fish was its first president. Despite a promising start, racial tensions soon cast a shadow over the Institute. In April 1892, after unknown persons fired shots into one of the school’s buildings, then-President Rev. Matthew Gilbert and other staff members fled Live Oak for Jacksonville, where he founded the Florida Baptist Academy in the basement of Bethel Baptist Church. They began holding classes in May 1892, with Sarah Ann Blocker as the main instructor. The school in Live Oak, however, continued to operate even after this splintering.

In 1896, Nathan White Collier was appointed president of the Academy, a post he held for 45 years. President Collier recruited renowned composer and Jacksonville native, J. Rosamond Johnson, to teach music at the school. While in the employ of the Florida Baptist Academy, Rosamond composed music for “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” a poem written by his brother, James Weldon Johnson, creating the song that has since been enshrined as the “Negro National Anthem.” It was first performed by a choir that included students from Florida Baptist Academy at a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in 1900.

February Nine...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 9, 2019 at 7:30am

Elizabeth City State University

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Dillard University

In 1869, with the support of the Missionary Association of the Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ) and the Freedman’s Aid Society of the United Methodist Church, Straight University and Union Normal School were founded. Later, they were renamed Straight College and New Orleans University, respectively.

Gilbert Academy, a secondary school, was a unit of New Orleans University. Straight College operated a law department from 1874 to 1886. New Orleans University in 1889 opened a medical department, including a school of pharmacy and a school of nursing. The medical department was named Flint Medical College and the affiliated hospital was named the Sarah Goodridge Hospital and Nurse Training School. The medical college was discontinued in 1911, but the hospital, including the nursing school, was continued under the name Flint Goodridge Hospital.

In 1930, New Orleans University and Straight College merged to form Dillard University. The trustees of the new university called for the implementation of a coeducational, interracial school, serving a predominantly African American student body adhering to Christian principles and values. The university was named in honor of James Hardy Dillard, a distinguished academician dedicated to educating African Americans.

Dillard students continue to excel academically, winning major awards such as the Luard Scholarship and gaining placement in prestigious graduate programs throughout the nation.

University of the District of Columbia

The University of the District of Columbia is historic and modern, all at the same time. Public higher education in the District originated in 1851 when Myrtilla Miner founded a “school for colored girls” in Washington, DC. In 1879, Miner Normal School joined the DC public school system. Similarly, Washington Normal School was established in 1873, as a school for white girls. The latter institution was renamed Wilson Normal School in 1913, after James O. Wilson, Washington’s first superintendent of public schools. In 1929, Congress enacted a statute that converted both normal schools into four-year teacher’s colleges. For several years, Miner Teachers College and Wilson Teachers College were the only institutions of public higher education in the city. After the landmark U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education (U.S. 1954), the two colleges merged in 1955 to form the District of Columbia Teacher’s College. Over the next decade, D.C. residents petitioned for an expansion of higher education that would provide training for careers other than teaching. In 1966, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Public Education Act, which established Federal City College and Washington Technical Institute.

Although these schools were still very new, many Washingtonians continued to advocate for a comprehensive university. The City Council authorized the consolidation of the three schools, and in 1976, began the monumental task of creating a new University of the District of Columbia. In 1977, under President Carter’s leadership, UDC began consolidating its academic programs. These efforts culminated in the establishment of five colleges: Business and Public Management; Education and Human Ecology; Liberal and Fine Arts; Life Sciences; Physical Science, Engineering, and Technology; and University College and Continuing Education.

Edward Waters College

Edward Waters College (EWC) is, distinctively, Florida’s oldest independent institution of higher learning as well as the state’s first institution established for the education of African Americans.

Edward Waters College began as an institution founded by blacks, for blacks. In 1865, following the Civil War, the Reverend Charles H. Pearce, a presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, was sent to Florida by Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne. Observing the fast-paced social and political changes of the Reconstruction era, Rev. Pearce immediately recognized the need for an education ministry, as no provision had yet been made for the public education of Florida’s newly emancipated blacks. Assisted by the Reverend William G. Steward, the first AME pastor in the state, Pearce began to raise funds to build a school.

This school, established in 1866, was to eventually evolve into Edward Waters College. From the beginning, EWC was faced with both abject poverty and widespread illiteracy among its constituents resulting from pre-war conditions of servitude and historical, legally enforced non-schooling of African Americans. However, the school met the needs of its community by offering courses at the elementary, high school, college, and seminary levels. Construction of the first building began in October 1872 on ten acres of land in Live Oak. Further support for this new educational institution.

Elizabeth City State University

Founding

On March 3, 1891, Hugh Cale, an African-American representative in the N.C. General Assembly from Pasquotank County, sponsored House Bill 383, which established a normal (teaching) school for “teaching and training teachers of the colored race to teach in the common schools of North Carolina.” The bill passed, and the origin of Elizabeth City State University was born. The institution's first name was Elizabeth City State Colored Normal School (1891-1939).

Early Leadership

The first leader, Peter W. Moore, was called a Principal (subsequent leaders would be called President, then Chancellor). Moore served as Principal and then President until his retirement as President, Emeritus, on July 1, 1928. During his tenure, enrollment increased from 23 to 355 and the faculty from two to 15 members. During the tenure of the second president, John Henry Bias, the institution was elevated from a two-year normal school to a four-year teachers college (1937). Two years later, the institution’s name was officially changed to Elizabeth City State Teachers College (1939-1963). The growth and elevation to teachers college changed the mission to include training elementary school principals for rural and city schools. The first Bachelor of Science degrees in elementary education were awarded in May of 1939.

Continued Growth

Between 1959 and 1963, the institution became more than a teaching college, adding 11 academic majors to the original elementary education major. In 1961, the college joined the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accrediting group (SACS) and maintains its accreditation with that body to the present. In 1963, the N.C. General Assembly changed the institution’s name from Elizabeth City State Teachers College to Elizabeth City State College (1963-1969) and on, July 1, 1969, the college became Elizabeth City State University. In 1971, the General Assembly redefined the University of North Carolina system with 16 public institutions, including ECSU. Together, those institutions became constituents of The University of North Carolina (July 1972).

Today

Academics. Currently ECSU offers 27 baccalaureate, professional, and 4 master's degrees for a diverse student body. We achieve our commitment to the highest quality education by maintaining a rigorous focus on academic excellence through liberal arts programs and using innovative and flexible technology-based instruction models to enhance our signature areas: integrating technology with education, improving human health and wellness, and advancing the natural and aviation sciences. As of May 2018, undergraduate and/or graduate degrees have been conferred upon more than 20,000 students.

February Eight...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 8, 2019 at 7:30am

Delaware State University

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Concordia College, Alabama (closed 2018)

SELMA, Ala. — Following three days of celebration and remembrance, students, families, faculty and regents gathered on the campus of Concordia College Alabama (CCA) on April 28 for the school’s 92nd and final commencement.

Founded in 1922, the historically black Lutheran college closed its doors for good following the ceremony after a multi-year effort to stay open.

“When it was started, there were 30-plus Lutheran schools teaching the black population across this area of Alabama at a time when a black child had no opportunity to learn to read and write,” said Roderick Olson, a member of the CCA Board of Regents, recalling how The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) stepped in at the request of the unstoppable black education pioneer, Dr. Rosa J. Young.

Founded as a preparatory school to train teachers for the elementary schools established by Young, the school frequently adapted to the changing times and needs of the church.

What began as Alabama Junior Academy ultimately became a four-year institution for African-American students in the Deep South who would go on to become teachers or Lutheran pastors. Reporter: Official Newspaper of the Lutheran Church

Coppin State University

Coppin State University is a model urban, residential liberal arts university located in the northwest section of the City of Baltimore that provides academic programs in the arts and sciences, teacher education, nursing, graduate studies, and continuing education. An HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Coppin has a culturally rich history as an institution providing quality educational programs and community outreach services. Coppin offers 53 majors and nine graduate-degree programs. A fully accredited institution, Coppin serves Baltimore residents as well as students from around the world, with flexible course schedules that include convenient day, evening, and weekend classes and distance learning courses.

Coppin was founded in 1900 at what was then called Colored High School (later named Douglass High School) on Pennsylvania Avenue by the Baltimore City School Board who initiated a one-year training course for the preparation of African-American elementary school teachers. By 1902, the training program was expanded to a two-year Normal Department within the high school, and seven years later it was separated from the high school and given its own principal.

In 1926, this facility for teacher training was named Fanny Jackson Coppin Normal School in honor of the outstanding African-American woman who was a pioneer in teacher education. Fanny Jackson Coppin was born a slave in Washington, D.C. She gained her freedom, graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio, and founded the Philadelphia Institute that was the forerunner of Cheyney State University.

By 1938 the curriculum of the normal school was lengthened to four years, authority was given for the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree, and the name of the Normal School was changed to Coppin Teachers College. In 1950, Coppin became part of the higher education system of Maryland under the State Department of Education, and renamed Coppin State Teachers College. Two years later Coppin moved to its present 38-acre site on West North Avenue.

Delaware State University

The Delaware College for Colored Students, now known as Delaware State University, was established May 15, 1891, by the Delaware General Assembly under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890 by which land-grant colleges for Blacks came into existence in states maintaining separate educational facilities. With the appointment of an inaugural six-member Board of Trustees, that governing body used part of the initial $8,000 state appropriation to purchase a 95-acre property north of the state capital of Dover to establish the new college.

Because there was already a private Delaware College (now the University of Delaware) located in Newark, Del., to avoid confusion new state legislation was passed and enacted in early 1893 to change the black school’s name to the State College for Colored Students. That would be the institution’s name for the next 54 years.

Through the conservative and practical planning of the Board of Trustees appointed by Delaware Gov. Robert J. Reynolds, the College was launched upon its mission of education and public service on February 2, 1892. Five courses of study leading to a baccalaureate degree were offered: Agricultural, Chemical, Classical, Engineering and Scientific. A Preparatory Department was established in 1893 for students who were not qualified to pursue a major course of study upon entrance. A three-year normal course leading to a teacher’s certificate was initiated in 1897. The College graduated its first class of degree candidates in May 1898. The normal course of study (teacher education) was extended to four years in 1911 and the Bachelor of Pedagogy degree was awarded to students upon satisfactory completion of the curriculum.

Denmark Technical College

Mission Statement

Denmark Technical College is a public, comprehensive, Historically Black, two-year technical college located in rural Bamberg County in South Carolina. The college annually serves approximately 2,000 credit and continuing education students, a mix of traditional, nontraditional, full-time and part-time. Denmark Technical College is the only technical college in the State of South Carolina with on-campus housing. As a member of the South Carolina Technical College System, Denmark Technical College’s mission is related to the educational mission of the State of South Carolina and the Technical College System. The College's primary service area is comprised of Bamberg, Barnwell, and Allendale Counties with a legislated mandate to serve students throughout the state. As an open-door institution, the College provides affordable, post-secondary education culminating in associate degrees, diplomas, and certificates, to citizens from diverse educational and socioeconomic backgrounds and reaches out to its service area high schools with opportunities for the students. The college provides training needed by business and industry through collaborative partnerships and resource allocation.

Denmark Technical College: 1) Provides Student Learning Outcome based educational opportunities for its students with embedded continuous improvement plan that will afford the necessary skills and knowledge for the emerging job market. 2) Develops and implements processes for seamless transition of students from high school through Denmark Technical College to four year institutions. 3) Provides the graduates with the intellectual and practical skills to include but not limited to inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, written and oral communications, quantitative literacy, information literacy, teamwork and problem solving. 4) Provides the graduates with the personal and social responsibility skills to include but not limited to civic knowledge and engagement—local and global, intercultural knowledge and competence, ethical reasoning and action, foundations and skills for lifelong learning. 5) Engages in efforts to form extensive partnerships/consortia leading to branding the college as a leader in training for the business and industry that will enhance the economic development and growth of the service area and the state. 6) Provides a competency based program for the students to attain and maintain certifications for the job market.

The War on Truth...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 8, 2019 at 7:00am

Link: Twitter/WashingtonPost

Topics: Climate Change, Civics, Civil Rights, Existentialism, Politics

The world's richest man is being exploited by a thuggish tabloid in bed with an orange Manchurian agent of the Russian government, for what was a private affair. The son of this country's most famous camp meeting preacher is vouching for that same agent, saying he can't recall a time he's ever lied, a direct violation of at least one of the original 10 Commandments. Along with the party he adopted a scant seven years ago, this pretender and his calamitous cult are infamous for denying climate change - openly scoffing at the deleterious effects of the Polar Vortex - itself a byproduct of anthropogenic climate disruption. They also deny: the age of the earth, the age of the universe, biology, physics, chemistry; black bodies, LGBT, women's rights, sex education and gun control legislation. Speaking of Florida, state senator Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala has introduced an "alternative facts" bill to climate change and evolution, seeking it taught by school teachers to hapless, helpless and well underserved students in the state school system, clearly not preparing them for competitiveness in a global economy. Comrade Obfuscation is only giving us a sample of his performance as his own contrived publicist in the Big Apple. Children ripped from their parents' arms will supposedly be too traumatized if they're reunited with the parents they love in both an excuse for ineptitude and apathy in that they never intended to reunite them. Adam Serwer in a Drop the Mic title for The Atlantic nailed it: The cruelty is the point.

Stephen Walt in Foreign Policy Magazine (2017) listed the Top 10 Signs of Creeping Authoritarianism. To say the orange Caligula is an authoritarian is almost repeating the obvious with a stutter.

Abstract

Government policies currently commit us to surface warming of three to four degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, which will lead to enhanced ice-sheet melt. Ice-sheet discharge was not explicitly included in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5, so effects on climate from this melt are not currently captured in the simulations most commonly used to inform governmental policy. Here we show, using simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets constrained by satellite-based measurements of recent changes in ice mass, that increasing meltwater from Greenland will lead to substantial slowing of the Atlantic overturning circulation, and that meltwater from Antarctica will trap warm water below the sea surface, creating a positive feedback that increases Antarctic ice loss. In our simulations, future ice-sheet melt enhances global temperature variability and contributes up to 25 centimetres to sea level by 2100. However, uncertainties in the way in which future changes in ice dynamics are modeled remain, underlining the need for continued observations and comprehensive multi-model assessments.

Source: "Global environmental consequences of twenty-first-century ice-sheet melt," Nature 566, pages 65–72 (2019)

The gravity of this statement should be grasped minus 60% of contrived "executive time" involving television watching, rage tweeting, Whopper consumption and flatulence. Sober minds should grasp facts and act on them accordingly. They couldn't even act on the mass slaughters that have occurred since Sandy Hook. But this war isn't just from their Kremlin compromised and marginal chief executive. The impotent puff their chests and boast of strength that no political Viagra nor testosterone booster can supplement.

Along with blatant racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia conservatism as it's currently practiced by dwindling defenders of its "All in the Family" avatar will hopefully be listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It would only be just, sane and right.

White evangelicals and the entire Republican Party now have a visible, obvious history of denial of facts and reality, outrageous mendacity with the hypocritical chutzpah to simultaneously claim the mantle of Christ while exercising breathtaking levels of deception without a hint of consciousness and without presumably... a human soul.

February Seven...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 7, 2019 at 7:30am

Claflin University students in a group

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Claflin University

Claflin University, founded in 1869, was named in honor of Lee Claflin, a prominent Methodist layman of Boston, and his son William Claflin, the governor of Massachusetts. Ardent abolitionists, these men harbored a great concern for higher education and the uplift of African-Americans.

Just one year earlier in July 1868, the Rev. Timothy Willard Lewis, the first missionary sent by the Methodist Church to the emancipated people of South Carolina, and Dr. Alonzo Webster, a prominent Methodist minister and teacher at the Baker Theological Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, had acquired the property of the old Orangeburg Female Institute for $5,000. With the substantial financial support of Lee and William Claflin, Lewis and Webster secured the foundation of what would become Claflin University. More at the PDF: The World Needs Visionaries.

Clark Atlanta University

Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, with subsequent assistance from the Freedman's Bureau, was, before consolidation, the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African-American student body. By the late 1870s, Atlanta University had begun granting bachelor's degrees and supplying black teachers and librarians to public schools across the South. In 1929-1930, the institution began offering graduate education exclusively in various liberal arts areas, and in the social and natural sciences. It gradually added professional programs in social work, library science and business administration. The institution during this period associated with Spelman and Morehouse colleges in a university plan known as the Atlanta University System. The campus was moved to its present site, and the modern organization of the Atlanta University Center emerged.

The story of the Atlanta University Center over the next 20 years includes significant developments. The schools of library science, education and business administration were established in 1941, 1944 and 1946, respectively. The Atlanta School of Social Work, long associated with the University, gave up its charter in 1947, to officially become part of the University. One of the founding faculty in the School of Social Work was W.E.B. Du Bois, who wrote his most influential works during the 23 years he spent at Atlanta University, from 1897-1910 on the faculty of the history and economics departments, and later, from 1934-1944 as chair of the sociology department.

Clark College was founded in 1869 as Clark University by the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later would become the United Methodist Church. The University today celebrates its historic bond with the denomination. Clark University was named for Bishop Davis W. Clark, who was the first president of the Freedmen's Aid Society and became bishop in 1864. The first Clark College class was housed in a sparsely furnished room in Clark Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta's Summer Hill section. In 1871, the school relocated to a newly purchased property at Whitehall and McDaniel streets. In 1877, the school was chartered as Clark University.

Clinton College

Clinton College was one of many schools established by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church during Reconstruction years, to help eradicate illiteracy among freedmen. Clinton is the oldest institution of higher education in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The College has operated continuously for 120 years. In 1894, Presiding Elder Nero A. Crockett and Rev. W.M. Robinson founded Clinton Institute and named it for Bishop Caleb Isom Clinton, the Palmetto Conference presiding bishop at the time.

Incorporated as Clinton Normal and Industrial Institute on June 22, 1909, the school was authorized to grant state teacher certificates. By the late 1940’s, the College attracted 225 students per year and owned approximately 19 acres, several buildings, and equipment valued at several million dollars. Under Dr. Sallie V. Moreland, who retired in 1994 after 47 years of stellar service, the school charter was amended to create Clinton Junior College. When Dr. Cynthia L. McCullough Russell assumed leadership, the school prepared for accreditation, attained during the tenure of Dr. Elaine Johnson Copeland.

May 2013, the Transnational Association for Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) approved the College to offer two four-year programs; a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In view of the four-year programs, the school’s name was changed from Clinton Junior College, to Clinton College.

In keeping with its 120 year tradition, Clinton College offers an academic environment that not only promotes intellectual growth, but also fosters positive moral, ethical, and spiritual values. The school has a proud heritage as a Christian College, striving to prepare men and women to be lifelong learners, active participating citizens, and good stewards of society.

Coahoma Community College

Coahoma County Agricultural High School was established in 1924 becoming the first agricultural high school in Mississippi for Negroes under the existing "separate but equal" doctrine. The junior college curriculum was added in 1949, and the name of the institution was changed to Coahoma Junior College and Agricultural High School.

During the first two years (1949-1950), the junior college program was conducted by one full-time college director/teacher and a sufficient number of part-time teachers from the high school division. A full-time dean and college faculty were employed in the third year of operation.

During the first year of operation (1949), Coahoma Junior College was supported entirely by county funds. In 1950, Coahoma Junior College became the first educational institution for Negroes to be included in Mississippi's system of public junior colleges and to be eligible to share in funds appropriated by the Mississippi Legislature for the support of public junior colleges. Other counties also began to support the junior college, including Bolivar, Quitman and Sunflower.

In 1965, Coahoma Junior College opened its doors to all students regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or disability.

Chaos: The Pandora Chronicles on Kickstarter

Posted by Aries Viera on February 7, 2019 at 7:29am

I'm almost halfway to the goal of 500$! If you haven't seen the project yet, you're missing out.

Back any tier of the project and receive a Special Edition of Issue 1!

Other tiers have posters and shirts, or you could even earn your own reoccurring character in the series.

The campaign ends in at the end of the month but don't wait!

Link:.

http://kck.st/2WnHLqC

The Greatest Generation...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 7, 2019 at 7:00am

Image Source: Link below

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

In honor of Third Class Petty Officer Robert Harrison Goodwin (June 19, 1925 - August 26, 1999). "Pop."

World War II, which lasted from 1939-1945, was the most costly war in terms of human life. The total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 56.4 million. And many people don't know that 1 million Black men served! But why did so many Black men serve in this war, especially when the armed services were segregated?

Well, according to 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Black leaders have historically felt that African Americans could make the strongest case for freedom and citizenship if they demonstrated their heroism and commitment to the country on the battlefield."

For this reason, more than 200,000 Black men served during the Civil War. And in all actuality, 2.5 million African Americans registered for the draft when World War II began... but only 1 million actually served.

But why?

There was no doubt that African Americans saw the hypocrisy in fighting a war on behalf of a country that tolerated racism. However, the Pittsburgh Courier, the most popular African American newspaper at the time, launched a national campaign encouraging Black people to not only support the war... but to "give their all."

There had been quite a bit of stir from civil rights leaders about discrimination and segregation in the armed services, and the American Red Cross's refusal to accept blood in donor drives. But in a front page article published on February 7, 1942, the Pittsburgh Courier declared, "WE HAVE A STAKE IN THIS FIGHT... WE ARE AMERICANS TOO!"

The Real Reasons Why 1 Million African Americans Fought in World War II

Black History dot org

February Six...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 6, 2019 at 7:30am

National Institute of Health: The Charles R. Drew Papers

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Carver College

For almost 74 years, Carver’s biblically based teaching has prepared servants of God to become pastors, missionaries, teachers, business professionals and church leaders to use God’s Word to reach the world and equip others.

In 1943, Rev. Solomon Randolph, an African-American pastor in Atlanta and others had been asking God to provide them with a place to study the Bible so that they could prepare for ministry. In response to their prayers, God brought Dr. Talmage and Mrs. Grace Payne to serve at His instruments to grant their petition.

Graduates of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Illinois, the Paynes first responded to God’s call to the mission field and served with China Inland Mission for sixteen years. While home on furlough, World War II began and the Paynes were unable to return to China.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, the Paynes set down roots in Atlanta, Georgia, and began to teach the Word of God to individuals living in urban Atlanta. Their work as evangelists was so successful that in the fall of 1943, the Paynes established the Carver Bible Institute, a Christian institution of higher learning named in honor of the great African-American scientist George Washington Carver.

Central State University

Central State University’s history begins with our parent institution Wilberforce University, named in honor of the great abolitionist William Wilberforce. Established at Tawawa Springs, Ohio in 1856, it is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and is one of the oldest Black-administered institutions of higher education in the nation.

In 1887, the Ohio General Assembly enacted legislation that created a Combined Normal and Industrial Department at Wilberforce University. The objectives of this new state-sponsored department were to provide teacher training and vocational education, and to stabilize these programs by assuring a financial base similar to that of other state-supported institutions.

The statute establishing the Combined Normal and Industrial Department declared that the institution was “open to all applicants of good and moral character” thereby indicating no limitations as to race, color, sex, or creed. It was clear however, that the Department and its successors were designed to serve the educational needs of African-American students.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) is a private, nonprofit, community-founded, student-centered University committed to cultivating diverse health professional leaders who are dedicated to social justice and health equity for underserved populations through outstanding education, clinical service and community engagement. CDU is also a leader in health disparities research with a focus on education, training, treatment and care in cancer, diabetes, cardiometabolic and HIV/AIDS.

In the five decades since the school was incorporated in the Watts-Willowbrook area of Los Angeles in 1966, CDU has graduated more than 575 physicians, 1,200 physician assistants and over a thousand other health professionals, as well as training over 2,700 physician specialists through its sponsored residency programs. Its School of Nursing has graduated over 1000 nursing professionals, including more than 600 family nurse practitioners.

CDU has earned designation as a minority-serving institution by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, and is recognized by the Department of Education (DOE) under Title III B as a Historically Black Graduate Institution (HBGI). The University is also a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science is named in honor of the brilliant African-American physician, famous for his pioneering work in blood preservation. The University, in its emphasis on service to the community, draws its inspiration from the life of Drew, whose short 46 years were full of achievements, learning and sharing of his knowledge to benefit mankind.

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

The founding of Cheyney University was made possible by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000, one tenth of his estate, to design and establish a school to educate the descendants of the African race. Born on Tortola, an island in the West Indies, Richard Humphreys came to Philadelphia in 1764. Having witnessed the struggles of African Americans competing unsuccessfully for jobs due to the influx of immigrants, he became interested in their plight. In 1829, after race riots occurred in Philadelphia, Humphreys wrote his will and charged thirteen fellow Quakers to design an institution: “…to instruct the descendants of the African race in school learning, in the various branches of the mechanic arts, trades and agriculture, in order to prepare and fit and qualify them to act as teachers….”

From its initial founding until 1852, the African Institute, as it was known, was located on a 136 acre farm seven miles from Philadelphia on Old York Road. In 1849, the farm school closed for re-evaluation and the farm was sold. On October 22, 1849, the board authorized the re-opening of the school, and on November 5, 1849, an evening school opened on Barclay Street in Philadelphia where it continued to operate through the spring of 1851 until suitable quarters could be found to resume a day school program. Toward the end of July, 1851, the board found a better location for the school on two contiguous lots on the south side of Lombard Street (716-18). The purchase price was $3,244. The board authorized the purchase of the lots and directed the committee to prepare a plan for the building as soon as possible. When the school opened in 1852 as the Institute for Colored Youth, a foundation had been laid for many years until the Lombard building was sold and the school moved to a new building at 915 Bainbridge Street in 1866 where a Pennsylvania state historical marker now stands.

Dr. Marian R. Croak...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 6, 2019 at 7:00am

Image Source: Greater Diversity

Topics: African Americans, Diaspora, Diversity, Diversity in Science, History, Women in Science

Marian R. Croak, PhD

Senior Vice President, Applications and Services Infrastructure, AT&T Labs

Inducted in: 2013

Marian Croak is responsible for a team of over 2,000 developers, engineers, and program managers who manage over 500 programs. These programs impact AT&T’s enterprise, consumer, mobility services, which creates the tools used by developers inside and outside AT&T to build new apps and services.

Her team integrated with the AT&T Foundry┿ innovation centers in Palo Alto, California; Plano, Texas; and Ra’anana, Israel. As a mentor for numerous staff members, Marian is also an executive sponsor for organizations supporting Asian, African-American, and Hispanic employees.

Marian was vice president of the services network in research and development at AT&T Labs where managed over 500 world-class engineers and computer scientists responsible for over 200 programs impacting AT&T’s wireline and wireless services.

She has over 100 patents in VoIP technology with over 100 more under review by the United States Patent Office. In 1982, she joined AT&T at Bell Laboratories and had multiple assignments in integrated voice and data communications.

Women In Technology Hall of Fame

The Altered an upcoming novel by MG Hardie

Posted by MG Hardie on February 6, 2019 at 12:00am

MoorRey Publishing is excited to announce that,The Altered, by MG Hardie will be published April 9, 2019.

"The Altered" bridges the gap between the seen world and the unseen one.

The Altered

February Five...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 5, 2019 at 7:30am

Bowie State University, President Aminta H. Breaux, link below

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Birmingham-Easonian Bible Baptist College

The purpose of the educational programs at Birmingham-Easonian Bible Baptist College are to train men and women for life and service as dedicated Christian leaders.

School History

Birmingham Baptist Bible College had its origin in 1904 at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Dr. C. O. Boothe and Dr. W. R. Pettiford conducted Bible classes. The main purpose of the school was to provide church leadership.

After a few years, East Thomas became the site for two years, at which time an organization was effected. This organization became real when the Mount Pilgrim, Jefferson County and Bethlehem – Blount Springs Associations gave up their schools to concentrate on opening a single school. To make the matter legal, a lawyer was sought by representatives of the organization to draw up a charter. After all legal matters were transacted, the organization became known as the Colored Baptist Educational Association of the Birmingham District.

Bishop State Community College

Founded in the summer of 1927, Bishop State Community College was originally the Mobile Branch of Alabama State College (University) in Montgomery, Alabama, during the presidency of Dr. Harper Councill Trenholm. It was established as an in-service arm of Alabama State College that offered extension courses to African-American elementary and secondary teachers in Mobile.

In 1936, O. H. Johnson was appointed as dean. The first full-time faculty consisted of seven persons, which included such Mobile pioneers in education as Dr. Benjamin F. Baker, Mary Wilbur Weeks Burroughs and C.F. Powell.

Dr. Sanford. D. Bishop, Sr. joined the teaching staff of “The Branch” in 1938 as an instructor of English and music. In 1941, he was named dean.

In 1942, property was acquired on Broad Street where the present Main Campus is located. The campus consisted of a two-story framed building, which prior to the purchase of the property, was used by the Voluntary Fire Fighters Society #11. It was purchased with a loan that was later repaid by students through fund-raising. In 1963, the name “Mobile Branch of Alabama State College” was changed to Alabama State College – Mobile Center.

In 1965, the Alabama State Legislature ratified the Alabama State Board of Education’s action establishing the Alabama State College – Mobile Center as Mobile State Junior College and severed its relationship with Alabama State College in Montgomery. Dr. Bishop was appointed president of the new independent junior college. In 1971, the Alabama State Legislature renamed the college to S. D. Bishop State Junior College.

Bluefield State College

Bluefield State is focused on student success—on your success—by offering a high-quality, career-oriented education tailored to meet tomorrow’s job market. It is a place where potential is put into practice, where your hopes and your drive connect with a more promising future.

Even though Bluefield State is one of the most affordable schools in West Virginia, our curricula is second-to-none for building a great career. More than 60 percent of our graduates earn degrees in STEM disciplines, including nursing, biology and engineering. We don’t lower our standards—we would never let our students down that way—but our faculty and staff go the extra mile to help you succeed up to the highest standards. If you attend Bluefield State willing to work hard, you will get an education that works for you for the rest of your career.

Here, each student is much more than a number. When you attend Bluefield State, people will know you. We expect excellence from our students, but we invest in you, work with you and inspire you to realize capability you never knew you had.

Students and alumni love this sense of community. “There is a real family atmosphere here,” one Bluefield State student said. “You feel comfortable speaking with faculty, seeking them out.”

Bowie State University

Established in 1865, Bowie State University is the oldest historically black institution (HBI) of higher education in the state of Maryland. Also, it is one of the oldest HBIs in the nation. The institution has evolved from a normal school into a comprehensive university that offers a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Currently, Bowie State University serves a diverse student population, providing educational opportunities that will enable students to function in a highly technological and interdependent world. The University continues to honor its heritage of providing access to higher education for under-represented populations, with a continuing commitment to African Americans. Bowie State University remains a leader in the graduation of African Americans in teacher education and technological fields.

Office of the President

Building on a Proud Legacy

Greetings from President Aminta H. Breaux (pronunciation key: A-MEAN-tah Broh)

As the 10th president of Bowie State University, I am proud and excited to lead an institution of higher learning that builds on more than 150 years of nurturing student success.

I see examples of excellence across the campus – from the innovative teaching and research of our outstanding faculty to the dedication of our students, staff and alumni who daily demonstrate their love for Bowie State University.

Mansa Musa...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 5, 2019 at 7:00am

Image Source: Black History dot org, link below

Topics: Africa, African Americans, Afrofuturism, Black Panther, Diaspora, Education, History

In the vast fictional universe of Marvel Comics, T’Challa, better known as Black Panther, is not only king of Wakanda, he’s also the richest superhero of them all. And although today’s fight for the title of wealthiest person alive involves a tug-of-war between billionaire CEOs, the wealthiest person in history, Mansa Musa, has more in common with Marvel’s first black superhero.

Musa became ruler of the Mali Empire in 1312, taking the throne after his predecessor, Abu-Bakr II, for whom he’d served as deputy, went missing on a voyage he took by sea to find the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Musa’s rule came at a time when European nations were struggling due to raging civil wars and a lack of resources. During that period, the Mali Empire flourished thanks to ample natural resources like gold and salt.

And under the rule of Musa, the prosperous empire grew to span a sizable portion of West Africa, from the Atlantic coast to the inland trading hub of Timbuktu and parts of the Sahara Desert. As the territory grew while Musa was on the throne, so did the economic standing of its citizens. [1]

History's wealthiest person is a Black man named Mansa Musa, who was an emperor of the West African kingdom of Mali from the year 1312 and 1337. He was worth more than $400 billion, making him the number one richest person in history... period! (In comparison, as of 2018, Bill Gates is worth $93 billion, Mark Zuckerberg is worth $77 billion, and Jeff Bezos is worth $143 billion!) [2]

1. This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History, Thad Morgan, History.com

2. The Richest Person in History Was a Black Man (Worth More Than Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Combined!), BlackHistory.org

The Great Migration - All Are Invited

Posted by William Hayashi on February 4, 2019 at 6:55pm

February Four...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 4, 2019 at 7:30am

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Founder of Bethune-Cookman University. Bio and link to image below

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Arkansas Baptist College

History & Mission

Arkansas Baptist College, originally named the Minister’s Institute, was founded in 1884 by the Colored Baptists of Arkansas during their annual convention at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Little Rock. The primary objective of the institute was to raise the educational level within the Negro ministry. The secondary objective was to aid the state in making higher education available to young Negro men and women. Most of the school’s students were trained in the ministry and today, Religious Studies continues to be one of the College’s major areas of matriculation.

In April 1885, the College’s name was changed to Arkansas Baptist College, and the school moved to 16th and High Street where the campus is currently located; however, the formal address is now 1621 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive.

Thirteen presidents have served as institutional leaders of Arkansas Baptist College from 1887 through 2016. In August 2016, The Arkansas Baptist College Board of Trustees selected Dr. Joseph L. Jones as the College’s 14th President. As president, Dr. Jones’ promise to the College is to continue the College’s efforts to remain steadfast in its journey becoming recognized as an outstanding institution of higher education.

Arkansas Baptist College is an urban Historically Black College located in the historic Little Rock Central High District. It also neighbors the Wright Avenue District and the famous Paul Lawrence Dunbar Junior High School. The College is the only Baptist affiliated Historically Black College west of the Mississippi and has a student population close to one thousand from all across the United States. Founded in 1884 as the Minister’s Institute, the College continues to be supported by the Consolidated Missionary Baptist State Convention.

Barbara-Scotia College

Our Mission

"Barber-Scotia College strives to provide a learning environment for the total development of students to realize their potential and capabilities through post-secondary education, gaining marketable skills, aesthetic awareness and recognition of social responsibility and accountability, enabling them to become successful and productive citizens of the counties of which they reside and work."

Barber-Scotia College is strengthening the ties in fulfilling its mission to provide a cadre of educated Leaders. The College prepares students to create jobs.

Our Vision

Barber-Scotia College aspires to be a preeminent leader, recognized for preparing a workforce of "Next Generation Leaders" in the Energy and Business Entrepreneurship sectors.

Benedict College

Founded in 1870 by a woman, Bathsheba A. Benedict, Benedict College is a private co-educational liberal arts institution with 2,100 students enrolled in its 34 baccalaureate degree programs during the 2017-2018 academic year.

Benedict College, originally Benedict Institute, was founded 148 years ago under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. As Benedict’s first philanthropist, Mrs. Benedict of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, provided $13,000 towards the purchase of an 80-acre plantation near Columbia, South Carolina as the site for a new school for the recently freed people of African descent. Benedict Institute, operating in a former slave master’s mansion, was established, in the words of its founder to prepare men and women to be a “power for good in society.”

During the first quarter century of its existence, Benedict Institute directed its educational programs to the severely limited economic and social conditions of the black population in the South. The Institute’s original objective was to educate and train teachers and preachers, therefore, Benedict’s first curriculum included reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and religion. Later, the curriculum was expanded to include traditional college disciplines, which also included an industrial department offering carpentry, shoemaking, printing, and painting.

On November 2, 1894, the South Carolina Legislature chartered the institution as a liberal arts college and the name “Benedict Institute” was formally changed to “Benedict College.”

From its founding, Benedict College was led by a succession of northern white Baptist ministers and educators. However, the year 1930 signaled the succession of African-American male presidents that continued until June 30, 2017, when Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis was unanimously appointed by the Benedict College Board of Trustees as the 14th President of Benedict College. She is the fourteenth and first-female President in the 148-year history of the college.

Benedict College has been highly regarded and exceptionally ranked for its programs by several academic and traditional publications. For example, Benedict College was ranked as one of the top baccalaureate colleges in the nation by Washington Monthly magazine for creating social mobility, producing cutting-edge scholarship, and research.

Benedict offers several high-demand fields of study in STEM, Cyber Security, Mass Communication, Sport Management, Business Administration, Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, and Education. Benedict has a diverse faculty of which 80 percent are full-time, and 60 percent hold doctorates or the equivalent.

Bethune-Cookman University

Born on a farm near Mayesville, South Carolina in 1875, Mary McLeod Bethune, the 15th child of former slaves, rose from humble beginnings to become a world-renowned educator, civil and human rights leader, champion for women and young people, and an advisor to five U.S. presidents.

Education was the first step in her remarkable journey. The young Mary McLeod worked in the fields alongside her parents and siblings, until she enrolled at the age of 10 in the one-room Trinity Presbyterian Mission School. There, she learned to read, and, as she later noted, the whole world opened to me. She went on to study at Scotia Seminary in North Carolina and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago with the goal of becoming a missionary. When no missionary openings were available, she became a teacher, first at the Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia and then at the Kendall Institute in Sumpter, South Carolina, where she met and married Albertus Bethune. The dream of opening her own school took Mary McLeod Bethune to Florida first to Palatka and then to Daytona Beach, where she started the school that would become Bethune-Cookman University.

On October 3, 1904, a very determined young black woman, Mary McLeod Bethune, opened the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls with $1.50, faith in God and five little girls: Lena, Lucille, and Ruth Warren, Anna Geiger and Celest Jackson. Through Dr. Bethune’s lifetime the school underwent several stages of growth and development and on May 24, 1919, the Daytona Educational and Industrial Institute was changed to Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1923 the school merged with Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida (founded in 1872) and became co-ed while it also gained the prestigious United Methodist Church affiliation. Although the merger of Bethune’s school and Cookman Institute began in 1923, it was not finalized until 1925 when both schools collaborated to become the Daytona-Cookman Collegiate Institute. In 1931, the College became accredited by the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States, as a Junior College with class B status, and on April 27, 1931, the school’s name was officially changed to Bethune-Cookman College to reflect the leadership of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.

In 1936, Dr. Bethune was appointed administrative assistant for Negro Affairs (her title changed in 1939 to Director of the Division of Negro Affairs) of the National Youth Administration (NYA) making her the first African American women to head a federal agency. As of result of this position, much needed government funds were funneled into the school. While traveling with the NYA Dr. Bethune appointed Mr. Abram L. Simpson as acting president from 1937-39. In 1941, the Florida State Department of Education approved a 4-year baccalaureate program offering liberal arts and teacher education. Dr. Bethune retired in 1942 at which time James E. Colston became president until 1946 when Dr. Bethune resumed the presidency for a year.

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 4, 2019 at 7:00am

An eminent biomedical engineer and orthopedic surgeon, Laurencin is being honored for his unique contributions to the advancement of science. | Courtesy of Cato T. Laurencin

Topics: African Americans, Bioengineering, Diversity in Science, Research

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, founding director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering and the Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut, is the winner of the 2019 Philip Hauge Abelson Prize, presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

An eminent biomedical engineer and orthopedic surgeon, Laurencin is being honored for his unique contributions to the advancement of science. The Abelson Prize recognizes his global leadership in biomedical technology innovation, public service in shaping United States technology policy and invaluable mentorship to a generation of minority scientists.

“Prof. Cato T. Laurencin is the foremost scientist-biomedical engineer in our country today and a national and international leader in science and technology innovation,” Kazem Kazerounian, dean of the University of Connecticut School of Engineering, wrote in the award nomination. “Dr. Laurencin is a towering figure in science and technology.”

Laurencin’s seminal papers and patents have had wide-ranging impacts on human health, launching the use of nanotechnology in musculoskeletal regeneration and ushering in a new era in orthopedic therapies. His research inspired the development of biocomposite interference screws, which fix bone to soft tissue and are used in at least 25% of the more than 500,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgeries performed worldwide each year.

Likewise, the soft tissue implants that Laurencin has developed — the STR graft for rotator cuff regeneration and the Laurencin-Cooper (LC) Ligament for ACL regeneration — have been declared breakthrough technologies. The rotator cuff graft lessens pain and speeds up recovery time following shoulder surgery, and the ACL device, expected to play a similar role in knee surgeries, has been implanted in patients as part of a large clinical trial in Europe. National Geographic named the LC Ligament one of its “100 Scientific Discoveries that Changed the World” in 2012.

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin of the University of Connecticut Receives 2019 AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize

Adam D. Cohen, American Association for the Advancement of Science Newsroom

February Three...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 3, 2019 at 6:30am

Image Source: Alcorn State University (Discover Alcorn)

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Alcorn State University

The History of Alcorn State University

Alcorn is the oldest public historically black land-grant institution in the United States and the second-oldest state-supported institution of higher learning in Mississippi. Alcorn University was founded in 1871 as a result of the people of Mississippi’s efforts to educate the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. It was named in honor of the sitting governor of Mississippi, James L. Alcorn.

Alcorn is situated in Claiborne County, seven miles west of Lorman, 80 miles south of the capital city of Jackson, 45 miles south of Vicksburg, and 40 miles north of Natchez. The site was originally occupied by Oakland College, a school established by Presbyterians in 1828; the state of Mississippi purchased the Oakland campus for $40,000 and named it Alcorn University. Hiram R. Revels resigned his seat as a United States senator to become the University’s first president. The state legislature provided $50,000 cash annually for the University’s first 10 years to support its establishment and overall operation. Additionally, 30 acres of land were sold for $188,928; Alcorn received three-fifths of the proceeds, or $113,400. This funding was used for Alcorn’s agricultural and mechanical components.

MISSION STATEMENT

Alcorn State University, a Historically Black College and University, is a comprehensive land-grant institution that celebrates a rich heritage with a diverse student and faculty population. The University emphasizes intellectual development and lifelong learning through the integration of diverse pedagogies, applied and basic research, cultural and professional programs, public service and outreach, while providing access to globally competitive academic and research programs. Alcorn strives to prepare graduates to be well-rounded future leaders of high character and to be successful in the global marketplace of the 21st century.

VISION STATEMENT

Alcorn State University will become a premier comprehensive land-grant university. It will develop diverse students into globally competitive leaders and apply scientific research, through collaborative partnerships that benefit the surrounding communities, states, nation, and world.

Allen University

MOTTO

“We teach the mind to think, the hands to work and the heart to love.” This captures the essence of what it means to prepare the whole person for life service.

MISSION STATEMENT

Allen University is an academic community which provides students an opportunity to obtain a baccalaureate degree in liberal arts and professional programs. The University has a strong, unalterable commitment to teaching in delivery of its baccalaureate programs.

VISION

Allen University is a Christian Liberal Arts institution whose purpose is to prepare leaders who are skilled in communication, critical thinking, and who demonstrate high moral character. Our aim is to provide an environment of academic excellence in order to heighten our students’ chances of succeeding in a culturally diverse and economically global world. Allen University desires to follow a Total Life Curriculum model, which addresses preparation of the whole person for life service.

We seek to develop the intellect, the spirit, and the body as we bring our students into a climate designed for success. Successful development of each student is our goal. Allen believes that faith plays a major role in developing one’s character. Therefore, our curriculum includes principles and practices of the historical beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

American Baptist College

A Rich History

Since 1924, American Baptist College has been a Christian College dedicated to educating and developing students for worldwide leadership and service.

THE BEGINNING

The idea of a seminary for the training of Black Baptist ministers grew out of conversation between National Baptist leaders and Dr. O.L. Hailey, one of the founding fathers of the College. At its annual meeting in 1913, the National Baptist Convention appointed a committee to investigate the possibility of establishing a seminary for the education of its ministers. In a resolution presented by Dr. E.Y. Mullin and adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in that same year, the convention pledged its cooperation and appointed a similar committee. The committees of the two conventions met together and the following year recommended to their respective bodies that the college be established in Memphis, Tennessee. It was later decided to establish the College in Nashville.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Mission Statement

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is a public comprehensive HBCU 1890 Land-Grant Institution. The University embraces its land-grant mission of providing cutting edge research, teaching, outreach, and service programs that respond to the social and economic needs of the state and region. Its mission is to promote and sustain excellent academic programs that integrate quality instruction, research, and student learning experiences responsive to the needs of a racially, culturally, and economically diverse student population. Ultimately, the University is dedicated to providing access and opportunity to academically deserving students and producing graduates who are equipped to excel through their contributions and leadership in a 21st century national and global community.

Vision Statement

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will be widely recognized as the University of choice for students, faculty, staff, and future employers of our students. UAPB will be renowned nationally and internationally for excellence in teaching, research, service, and outreach with exceptional academic programs and globally competitive students. As a pre-eminent land-grant institution, UAPB will enrich the lives of people in the Arkansas Delta and beyond.

BLOGS

All Posts (6434)

February Twelve...

Dr. Mark Dean...

February Eleven...

Thomas L. Jennings...

February Ten...

February Nine...

February Eight...

The War on Truth...

February Seven...

Chaos: The Pandora Chronicles on Kickstarter

The Greatest Generation...

February Six...

Dr. Marian R. Croak...

The Altered an upcoming novel by MG Hardie

February Five...

Mansa Musa...

The Great Migration - All Are Invited

February Four...

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin...

February Three...

Note: this page contains paid content.