Howard University

Howard University is a Carnegie Doctoral/Research extensive historically black university in Washington, D.C. Affectionately known as "Black Harvard," Howard was established in 1867 by congressional order and named after Oliver O. Howard. Notable alumni include Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Howard University Law School), Ossie Davis, Debbie Allen, Roberta Flack, Claude Brown, Shaka Hislop, Richard Smallwood and Phylicia Rashad. Howard University is the number one producer of African American Ph.D.'s in the nation.

Background

Howard was established by a congressional charter in 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction, and tuition. An annual congressional appropriation administered by the Secretary of the Interior funded the school.[1] Today, it is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. The college was named after General Oliver O. Howard who was commissioner of the Freeman's Bureau and the college's third president. From its outset, it was nonsectarian and open to people of both sexes and all races. Howard has graduate schools of law, medicine, dentistry and divinity, in addition to the undergraduate program. The current enrollment (as of 2003) is approximately 11,000, including 7,000 undergraduates. The university's football homecoming activities serve as one of the premier annual events in Washington.

History

Howard University has played an important role in American history and the Civil Rights Movement on a number of occasions. Alain Locke, Chair of the Department of Philosophy and first African American Rhodes Scholar, authored The New Negro which helped to usher in the Harlem Rennisance. Ralph Bunche, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner of African descent, served as chair of the Department of Political Science. Stokely Carmichael, also known as Kwame Toure, a student in the Department of Philosophy coined the term Black Power and worked in Lowndes County, Alabama as a voting rights activist. Historian Rayford Logan served as chair of the Department of History. E. Franklin Frazier served as chair of the Department of Sociology. Sterling Allen Brown served as chair of the Department of English.

After being refused admission to the then-white-only University of Maryland School of Law, a young Lincoln University, PA graduate Thurgood Marshall enrolled at Howard University School of Law instead. There he studied under Charles Hamilton Houston, a Harvard Law School graduate and leading civil rights lawyer who at the time was the dean of Howard's law school. Houston took Marshall under his wing, and the two forged a friendship that would last for the remainder of Houston's life and forever change America. Howard University was the site where Marshall and his team of legal scholars from around the nation prepared to argue the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

Howard was the founding of the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Zeta Phi Beta, all National Pan-Hellenic Council members.

Major improvements, additions, and changes occurred at the school in the aftermath of World War I. New buildings were built under the direction of architect Albert Cassell. In 1918, all the secondary schools of the university were abolished and the whole plan of undergraduate work changed. The four-year college course was divided into two periods of two years each, the Junior College, and the Senior Schools. The semester system was abolished in 1919 and the quarter system substituted. Twenty-three new members were added to the faculty between the reorganization of 1918 and 1923. A dining hall building with class rooms for the department of home economics was built in 1921 at a cost of $301,000. A greenhouse was erected in 1919. Howard Hall was renovated and made a dormitory for girls; many improvements were made on campus; J. Stanley Durkee, became president in 1918.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a speech to the graduating class at Howard, where he outlined his plans for civil rights legislation.

Schools and colleges

• College of Arts and Sciences [2]
• School of Business [3]
• John H. Johnson School of Communications [4]
• College of Dentistry [5]
• School of Divinity [6]
• School of Education [7]
• College of Engineering, Architecture & Computer Sciences [8]
• Howard University Graduate School [9]
• School of Law [10]
• College of Medicine [11]
• College of Pharmacy, Nursing & Allied Health Sciences [12]
• School of Social Work [13]
• (MS)2 Middle School of Mathematics and Science [14]

Research Centers

Moorland-Spingarn Research Center

Main article: Moorland-Spingarn Research Center

The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) is recognized as one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the world. As one of the university's major research facilities, the MSRC collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of resources chronicling the Black experience.

Presidents of Howard University

Alumni

Main article: List of Howard University people

Howard University has conferred 99,318 degrees and certificates in its 137-year history. Noteworthy alumni include a Nobel Laureate, educators, politicians, United States ambassadors, writers, prominent international figures, and corporate executives.

Joyce Ladner was the only woman to serve as president of Howard University (1994-1994)

Stephen Hall (2006-Present)

Greek organizations originated at Howard University

• Alpha Kappa Alpha Founded - 1908
• Omega Psi Phi Founded - 1911
• Delta Sigma Theta Founded - 1913
• Phi Beta Sigma Founded - 1914
• Zeta Phi Beta Founded - 1920

Howard University also is host to many chapters of non-NPHC Greek organizations, including Phi Mu Alpha, Sigma Alpha Iota, Delta Sigma Pi, Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Phi Omega, Pi Kappa Alpha, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma.

Trivia

• The Hollywood Reporter is quoted as stating that when Howard alumna Debbie Allen became the producer-director of the popular television series, A Different World "drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses. Moreover, Allen instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited two of the nation's leading black colleges, Morehouse and Spelman. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty."[15]

• The University's Homecoming events have been mentioned in numerous songs including Ludacris' "Pimpin' All Over The World" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Kick In The Door".

• Denzel Washington's character in the movie The Pelican Brief wears a Howard University T-shirt in one scene; it can likely be inferred that he is a fictional graduate of the school.

• Eddie Murphy's character in the movie Boomerang wears a Howard University Hoodie in one scene.

• Will Smith's character in the series Fresh Prince of Bel-Air wears a Howard University sweatsuit.

• Bill Cosby's character in the series The Cosby Show wears a Howard University sweatshirt. In reality, Phylicia Rashād, who played Clair Huxtable in the series attended Howard University.

• Chris Rock mentions Howard University in his stand-up act Never Scared.

• Martin Lawrence's character in the series Martin wears a Howard University sweatsuit in the opening scene of the third episode.

• In an unspecified episode of the Jamie Foxx Show, Jamie Foxx is seen wearing a Howard University t-shirt.

See also

• List of historically black colleges of the United States
• Category:Howard University alumni

Footnotes

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