Everything about Howard University totally explained
Howard University (
HU) is a
private,
coeducational,
nonsectarian university located in
Washington, D.C.,
United States.
Established on
March 2,
1867 under a charter enacted by
Congress and approved by
President Andrew Johnson, the college was named after General
Oliver O. Howard who was commissioner of the
Freedmen's Bureau and the college's third president. A
historically black university, the college currently ranks 96th among national universities in the
U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2008" rankings. Howard University is the number-one producer of
African American Ph.D.s in the United States.
It is often known as the
Black Harvard.
Background
Howard was established by a 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. Today, it's a member school of the
Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and is partially funded by the US Government, which gives approximately $235 million annually. From its outset, it was
nonsectarian and open to people of both sexes and all races. Howard has graduate schools of pharmacy, 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 Renaissance.
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 and the Howard University School of Divinity 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 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. 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 is the site of the historic Black Greek letter
organization among black colleges. Although not the first black greek letter organization (see
Sigma Pi Phi (the boule')), nor the first to be officially recognized by Howard University Board of Deans,
Alpha Phi Alpha was the first to appear and establish itself amongst the male students of Howard University. Soon after came the other prominent black greek organizations, who hold a special bond to Howard University, as they were founded on the Howard campus. The Alpha chapters of
Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1908,
Delta Sigma Theta in 1913,
Omega Psi Phi 1911,
Phi Beta Sigma in 1914 and
Zeta Phi Beta in 1920 hold this special bond.
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, Howard's last white president, was appointed 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 and endorsed aggressive
affirmative action to combat the effects of years of segregation of blacks from the nation's economic opportunities.
In 1989, Howard gained national attention when students rose up in protest against the appointment of then-
Republican National Committee Chairman
Lee Atwater as a new member of the university's Board of Trustees. Student activists disrupted Howard's 122nd anniversary celebrations, and eventually occupied the university's Administration building. Within days, both Atwater and Howard's President,
James E. Cheek, resigned. The Division of Nursing faced losing its accreditation and being placed on probation for a second time because of the program's deficiencies. The Division of Allied Health Science, Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant program are also on probational accreditation status. In addition, the residency programs at Howard University Hospital received a much-publicized unfavorable assessment by the
Accrediting Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Swygert announced in May 2007 he'd retire from Howard in June 2008.
On May 7, 2008 Howard announced the appointment of
Sidney Ribeau of
Bowling Green State University to the presidency of Howard.
Schools and colleges
Research Centers
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.
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Publications
Howard University is the publisher of The
Journal of Negro Education which began publication in 1932
Presidents of Howard University
Alumni
Howard University has conferred over 99,318 degrees and certificates in its 140-year history. Noteworthy alumni include
Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, actor
Ossie Davis, Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall (School of Law),
Claude Brown,
Stokeley Carmichael,
Tracie Thoms,
Roberta Flack,
Lance Gross,
Shaka Hislop,
Phylicia Rashad,
Richard Smallwood and many other educators, politicians, diplomats, writers, prominent international figures, and corporate executives. The 1990s R&B group
Shai was formed on the campus of Howard University. Their hit song "If I Ever Fall In Love" was recorded there as well. The
Hollywood Reporter reported that when Howard alumna
Debbie Allen became the producer-director of the popular television series
A Different World, she "drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses."
Student organizations originated at Howard University
A number of student organizations were founded at Howard University, including:
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 is also host to other Greek letter organizations, including Alpha Phi Alpha,Alpha Phi Omega Kappa Alpha Psi, Sigma Gamma Rho, Gamma Iota Sigma, Iota Phi Theta, Phi Mu Alpha, Sigma Alpha Iota, Delta Sigma Pi, Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Phi Omega, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Howard University'.
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