Group Presentations

Overall, I believe the presentations were successful. I didn't feel that any group did bad. It was interesting to see the array of topics concerning African culture and knowledge of that culture. Some of the topics were pretty general, but others were deep and insightful.

One presentation I thoroughly enjoyed was the group that researched depression in African Americans. That is a topic that many African Americans shy away from, because of shame. I didn't realize there were so many aspects as far as different types of depression and the causes in African Americans. The group presenting did a great job in their research.

I didn't care as much for the group presenting on dance and music in African American culture. They did a good job of picking a few big names in African American music. However, I felt that they could have done a little more research and mentioned names not as well known. It seemed as if their project may have been thrown together at the last minute.

I think my group did well, outside of the fact that we went over our presentation time. In all honesty, we didn't prepare in advance as much as we should have. But given the time frame, I think we pulled everything together nicely. Our research maybe could've been more narrow.

As a whole, the groups presenting with us did wonderful. A lot of people pulled examples from notes we took in seminars, which is a great use of resources. We've learned a lot this semester and we reflected our learning in our work. Hopefully, the skills we've acquired in seminars and while researching will stick with us for the remainder of our time here at Howard.

Extra Credit - Isabel Wilkerson

I had the fantastic opportunity to listen to Isabel Wilkerson speak about her amazing book The Warmth of Other Suns. One of the points that she emphasized multiple times throughout her talk was that the Great Migration was the first time in American history that people of the lowest caste in society realized that they had a choice and took advantage of them so that they could lead better lives. She discussed that Blacks were so limited in the South that even the Bible was segregated: In the court during trials, Blacks were forced to swear on a different Bible that the Whites. And every four days, African Americans were lynched for breeching the Jim Crow Laws of the South. These are just a few things that led the Blacks to leaving the South and moving North.

The Great Migration consisted of about six million Blacks leaving the South and moving the East Coast, Mid West, or the West Coast. World War I had many causalities of white men from the North and caused many of the migrants that lived in the North to move back home to Europe. This rapid population decline opened up many opportunities for Black to get jobs and make money so that they could move their families up North. Of course this movement of the Blacks up North upset the Southerners and they tried everything to keep the Blacks in the South to work on their farms and railroads.

When asked why she wrote the book, Isabel Wilkerson answered that none of us would be where we are now of our parents or grandparents, or great grandparents didn’t migrate. She made the points that those who left were not doing it for themselves, but for their families and their descendents; they left for us, for their unborn children, so that we could have the best opportunities possible. Important Black figures like Toni Morrison, August Wilson, Diana Ross, John Coltrane, and even Michael Jackson would not have had the significant lives they lived if their families did not migrate to the North.

Wilkerson stated that, “we are all products of the Great Migration”, something that I had never thought about until I read her book. I never thought that my grandfather’s migration from Virginia to New Jersey was done not only so that he could free himself but so that he could free his children and his grandchildren. I think the most important thing that my generation can do is accomplish the goals we have and then surpass them so that we can do our ancestors of the Great Migration justice; we owe it to the millions of migrants to be the best we can possibly be.

First Semester Self Reflection

I’d say that overall, this first semester has gone pretty well. It took some time to adjust in the beginning and to really learn how certain professors teach. I think in terms of freshman seminar, classes like English have really reflected a lot that we learned in the lectures. Surprisingly, I have found myself on many occasions discussing the topics that we learned about in our many lectures with my roommate in relation to current events or things that happen to us on a daily basis. I feel that the lectures can be considered relevant to my every day life.

Some of my favorite lectures given by Dr. Carr and Kimberly Worthy have definitely inspired me and made me think more about my role as a student here at Howard University as well as a human being on this earth. Never before have been more inspired to give back to my surrounding community as well as my community at home in Philadelphia. Their lectures really helped me understand the real importance of community service and the significance of getting an education so that I can go back home and share that knowledge with others.

I think it is because of these lectures that I have really begun to find my self this semester; I have started to shape my own thoughts and opinions. My desire to continue my education off of Howard campus and after my career here at Howard has never been stronger because of this course.

Presentation Summary

Though each one of the groups that presented in my cohort these past two weeks were very interesting, I think the one that stood out to me the most was the group that discussed the difference of Black crime in the 50s and 60s and Black crime during today’s time. The statistics that they used were really interesting and very detailed. Their presentation made me think a lot more about the differences between “then” and “now” – they emphasized the fact that no matter what the crime was, the person who was doing the crime was still part of the neighborhood family; the neighborhood always looked out for each other. The other interesting difference was the fact that years ago, people rarely used guns – their intention was never to kill the other person, unlike today. Once again, the Black community was always trying to look out for each other, they were never attempting to kill, just injure.

Another presentation that I really enjoyed was the group that focused on the field of the dramatic arts and the importance that the musicians and actors had on the rest of the Black community. While I’ve always been taught that the arts is crucial in everyone’s life as either a source of inspiration or an outlet for emotion, I never thought of the strong impact that the Black artists had on the art world. 

It was nice to see how much work people put into their projects and to see how each group interpreted the freshman seminar research question; I liked learning about what discipline or field of study each group focused on in order to answer their specific research question. I liked seeing the similarities that each group’s question and project had with my group’s project. Overall, I’d say that the presentations were very interesting and the project was a very tedious but rewarding process.

Freshman Seminar Revisited

Freshman Seminar is a mandatory course that is only worth one credit and holds a pass/fail status. From the first few lectures, most students cannot see the greater message the class holds. But looking back, I could now see the pattern each lecture furthered; the main point being the empowerment of black academics and the society as a whole.

The course also acclimates students to HU living and being a part of the "chocolate city", meaning the amount of issues facing blacks in all different circumstances could be studied and experienced at Howard. Other courses like Intro to Humanities and the Black Diaspora also look at the black academia, which is unique to most schools, even some HBCU's.

Freshman seminar also specifically applies history to current culture; it looks at the struggle of African Americans, who were not given anything, to gain equal opportunity for all minorities today. But through education we must now see that the struggle is not over and the battle needs to be rejuvenated by our generation.

Miss Evers' Boys

Although I was not pleased I needed to pay $5.00 and spend my Friday night doing school work, I am absolutely glad I did attend this production. The story was about a nurse named Miss Evers who was treating four black men who contracted syphilis. However, due to some corrupt and completely unethical government policy, the nurse was instructed not to treat them correctly. Syphilis, which is a bacterial sti, which presents in four stages which could lead to serious neurological or cardiac symptoms, including psychosis and heart failure.

This play reminded me of a case I learned of in a psychology class, known as the Tuskegee Study, where men who sometimes had and sometimes did not have syphilis were contained and "treated" for the disease. However, the directors, just like the government in this production, kept the actual cure from its patients. This is completely illegal and unethical, and seeing as again these patients were mostly black men, it seemed racially motivated, which shows the exact status of America during these times.

Luckily now there are ethical codes in place that will never allow for this to happen again. But, it is a reasonable theory that if these were not, black men would still be the guinea pigs in the United States.

The Entire HU Homecoming Experience

As a third year student, Homecoming has become mainly about seeing old friends and having family visit rather than scoping out celebrities and spending hundreds on tickets, outfits and alcohol for the week. I did attend Midnight Madness however, which happened to end early because of fights. This is also what Homecoming as grown to become; violent that harms the student body.

During the week of and the week following Homecoming, there were 5 separate incidents in which people were stabbed, shot or held at gun point. The week after Homecoming, when I was sick at home, I heard sirens 4 individual times in one day. In my own building my neighbours were held at gun point and robbed of thousands of dollars in valuable items.

There was a saying going around that, "the locals [were] going crazy". All of these crimes were committed during the day, which is extremely disturbing to me. But what I will never understand is why HU is allowed to host this week of events, without added security or monitoring, and the Caribbean Carnival is threatened annually because of its "increased crime enabling" tendencies. Vendors stand outside of Subway with "perfume" that are actually harmful toxins used to rob students, not to mention the gang activity happening right by the McDonalds. An event that was always supposed to bring the university together, promote school pride and explore DC's unique attractions has become associated with mindless killings and bold faced robberies. It's not even safe on our campus!