Howard's History? Not Precisely..

Coming into Freshman Seminar, notable upperclassmen described the class as “The History of Howard.” For some reason, I took the connotation of those four words negatively. In fact, they were right with their choice of words. Every lecture I have heard somehow ties to the history of the school. That is what separates Howard University from any other school. Many schools have their form of freshman seminar, but none go so in depth to assimilate their freshman into the school as Howard does. Monday’s lecture that focused on the history of Howard was very intriguing. The buildings I passed every single day and marked off as a bricked structure with the ability to hold human beings were much more than that. The names of the buildings symbolize African American prominence. I never stopped by the College of Art and Sciences building to notice that it was named after Alain LeRoy Locke, “The Father of the Harlem Renaissance.” I never stopped to realize that the name in front of the auditorium was Crampton. It was named after Louis C. Crampton, a Michigan Congressman. Phyllis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, Lulu Vere Childress, George Washington Carver, Charles R. Drew, George W. Cook, Mary M. Bethune, and Frederick Douglass are other prominent African Americans who names have graced the title of buildings. One name that I’ve always wondered about and that caused me to do extra research was the Carnegie building. I had come to find that the building was named after Andrew Carnegie, a white man. It shocked me, but as I furthered my research, I had come to find that he was very strong about promoting African American education. He helped Booker T. Washington with Tuskegee Institute, another historically black college or university. He also helped Washington create the National Negro Business League, an organization to help “promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro.” This just shows how rich our history is. There is no reason why we shouldn’t fiend for more. There is no reason why we shouldn’t know our history.