Final Reflection

Throughout this class, I have been bombarded with tons of information about various subjects. I am thankful for the opportunity to have taken this class because I got to hear the words of many prominent professors at this school that I otherwise would not have the opportunity to interact with. After leaving this class, I feel proud to be a Howard University student. Through the lectures, I have learned what it means to be a Howard student-through the legacy of the people who have come before me and through working with my peers on our group presentation, to name a few. This class has prepared me to continue my education here at Howard by giving me snippets of information in various subjects to encourage me to think more globally. At the end of the day, I am so thankful that I was able to accept the opportunity to study here, because I know that many of my peers do not have the same luxury. When I am stressing about homework or a big test or problems with the Administration building, I must remember that I am lucky to be a part of Howard University-despite all its flaws. Howard has a strong legacy and I am willing to uphold that legacy.

Erika Meijer

Peer Presentations II

Another peer presentation that I found really interesting was the one on teen pregnancy. It amazes me how prevalent of an issue teen pregnancy is, and this presentation opened my eyes with statistics and facts. The sad thing is, teen pregnancy is preventable. A lot of people get distracted with the pro-choice/pro-life debate, but I don't think that is the issue at all. As a teen, you can make the choice to be sexually active or to be abstinent. If you choose to be abstinent, there is no way you can become pregnant. However, if you choose to become pregnant, the chances are 50/50. You can protect yourself with condoms and birth control medication and be almost completely protected from accidents, or you can choose the dangerous path of luck-not using protection but hoping things will turn out alright. Since we are in college, we are exposed to a wide variety of sexual pressures, and it is important for us to recognize them and learn how to deal with them. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be sexually active-that is a choice meant for the individual. I'm saying that we need to understand that we are in college for a reason-to get a degree and become successful. If we get pregnant, the chance of that pregnancy setting us back are definite.

Peer Presentations

One peer presentation that affected me a lot was the one on teen suicide. It was easy to relate to, because I have had a few friends who have suffered from depression, and one of my friends even attempted suicide. I think the main focus of the presentation was that we often take the little things too seriously in our lives and let them pile up to create a very big problem. However, if we just sat back and evaluated the importance of all those little things in our lives, I think we would realize that everything didn't need to be taken so seriously. This presentation was really important to me because, as I stated earlier, one of my friends attempted suicide. I didn't know what the warning signs were and I didn't know how to deal with the situation, but now I feel that I am more educated and if the time should come again, I will be prepared with knowledge on how to deal with the situation.

Erika Meijer

The Stampede:Group Presentation

The Stampede's Group Presentation focused on the awareness of suicide and the factors that lead to suicidal attempts. S0me of the facts that were given by Stampede surprised me because I never knew some of the statistics of the people who commit suicide. Overall their presentation was very informational and I'm sure made everyone aware of how big of an issue suicide really is. The Stampede's presentation also listed factors that contribute to the rising rates of suicide, for example, partner or child abuse, depression, unemployment, and the list goes on. Because of the constant changes in America's society suicide rates have doubled, due to the recession that has last over the past couple years and the amount of people losing their jobs. Their group presentation also made it evident how serious an issue suicide really was when they stated that suicide is the 8th leading cause of death and that 5 people fall victim to suicide everyday. The Stampede's presentation was very informative and should encourage everyone to be on the look out for people who are very depressed or sad and to just look out for their possible suicide attempts. I believe with more awareness suicide rates could decrease. Overall the presentation was great and I really enjoyed learning.

Jahmonni Long

Peer Presentations

Another group presentation that I saw addressed Genocide Intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Genocide is defined as the systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national racial, religious, or ethnic group. In the Congo the mineral Coltan is the main reason for the killing of many civilians.While the Democratic Republic of Congo features the world’s second-largest peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, these peacekeepers have yet to bring peace to that area. Civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remain victims of mass killings, severe torture and widespread rape at the hands of numerous armed groups operating in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale.  Conflict in the DR Congo has resulted in an estimated 5.4 million civilian deaths since 1996. The Congolese Army, known as the FDRC, engages in looting and gender based violence against civilians that they should be protecting. The group provided a video for us to watch however time ran over so we were no able to see the whole video. I would have liked to see more of this group.

Peer Presentations #1 The Stampede

The

The presentation by the Stampede addressed suicide among African Americans: Ages 15-24. I feel like it was necessary to discuss this topic seeing as though a student had recently committed suicide and suicide is not something that is discussed often.  They started by defining suicide as the taking of one’s life, but that it not all it is; it is the severing of social ties from the family, church, and other social aspects of life. Today the leading cause of suicide is due to unemployment. This creates a sense of helplessness in which people feel they have no other way out than to take their own lives. Other reasons as to why people commit suicide are incarceration, stress, few ties to the church and social group, and childhood maltreatment. Something new things I learned from their presentation were that more than 30,000 African Americans commit suicide annually. There are more than five African American suicides per day, and for every successful suicide the ratio is four to one, men to women. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the world today and I feel that if we are able to recognize the signs of people in distress then more lives can be saved. It is very important to be aware of the people around us and to monitor their behavior. Most people who commit suicide are the people we would never expect too, and that indeed is a tragedy in itself. I just feel that we should always be conscious about what we say and do to people cause our actions can really affect someone to the point of wanting to end their life.

Self Assessment

After being in freshman seminar I still feel the same way as I did going into it. I did not feel like it really served a purpose as a class. The lectures were given were about random topics and I don’t see how they are going to help us progress in the years to come. I guess I would say the research project was useful in helping us learn how to develop research questions properly, and execute the correct steps to successfully creating a presentation. I think one reason why I did not really like doing the research project was because everything was so unorganized. I like things to be clear so that I know what is supposed to happen and when. I also don’t see why we have to do blogs when we do the mbongi forms in class and it’s basically the same thing just in a different format so I feel it’s redundant. One thing I did learn from freshman seminar was that I need to be more present in all my classes mentally so that I can really absorb the information being given to me. I did learn a few things, but most of them won’t be used later on in my life I don’t believe. I also could have tried to take the class more seriously.

Research and Methodology

Dr. William’s lecture on Research and Methodology was one in which the concepts discussed were already familiar to me. I already knew that in order to do research there has to be a purpose for doing it. The main purposes are to solve a problem and to gain knowledge. Specifically during this lecture I was looking to gain more insight into how we were suppose to create a research question based on the prompt we were given. The prompt stated "In what ways is knowledge generated by various fields of study used to develop solutions to human social problems and challenges? Each group will explore a different social problem or challenge." When given the prompt I was confused as to what was being asked. I felt like the prompt had to deal more with our specific fields than anything else. I knew that we had to have sources and research and all that, but I still didn’t know what our question should be centered on. Even when doing the project I did not feel that it fit the criteria for the prompt, but according to our advisor we were on the right track. What we chose to research was the effectiveness of HBCU’s on the success of African Americans. We made sure we covered all the parts as far as getting visual data, primary data, and secondary data. We made sure that we had a problem that could actually be used as a full on research study and made sure that it was a study that can be replicated.

African Burial Ground

The trip to the African Burial ground was one that I was skeptical about taking. Slavery is a sensitive subject to talk about to me, and it’s not that I don’t care about what our ancestors went through it’s just something that I’d rather not talk about. I’ve never been too concerned with getting to know my ancestry and things like that because I am comfortable with what I already know. However I did like when we went through the “ship” that was outside with the sankofa sign on the side of it. I like the concept of sankofa which means “go back and take”. I do understand that in order to understand where we are today we have to know where we came from. I also believe that in order to prevent the events of the past from happening in the future we have to assess what went wrong then and fix it before it gets out of hand. The trip to the Burial Ground was not as depressing as I thought it would be. The thing that interested me most was looking at the bones that were discovered and the ages, weight, and gender of the people extracted. I was also fascinated by the replica of the burial that we saw in the video because it seemed so realistic. I thought it would be more to see in the museum than there was, but all in all the information presented was enough.

Power of Young People

During the civil rights movement young people played an important role in the journey to gain civil rights for blacks. They participated in sit-ins, marches, and worked to desegregate schools, libraries, and other public establishments. An example of nonviolent resistance in the United States was the Greensboro sit-in which was executed by four Greensboro students. On February 1, 1960 Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond, four Greensboro students, staged the first successful sit-in of the 1960’s civil rights movement by taking seats at a “whites only” lunch counter in Woolworth’s and asking for service. After this sit in Nashville students followed suit and staged a sit-in that used rotating protestors for when the police arrested protestors sitting at the counter. As time went on more and more sit-ins occurred. In the spring and summer of 1960, white and black youth participated in similar protests against segregated public establishments with sit-ins at white libraries, wade-ins at white beaches, and sleep-ins in the lobbies of white hotels. Students also formed a civil rights group, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The members of the organization branched out into smaller cities and towns and worked to organize local blacks, teach nonviolence, and encourage voter registration. The journey to gain civil rights for African Americans was not an easy one and to me it took way more courage for youth to participate in the demonstrations than it took for older people. The youth made a voice during the movement and they made an impact.

Self Assessment

After spending a semester in Freshman Seminar I have acquired a lot of knowledge. Freshman Seminar taught us about awareness and remembering our past. A word commonly used during our freshman seminar lectures was "Sankofa," which means in "Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to "go back and take". Literally meaning to learn from our past and take it with us into our present times. I thought that "Sankofa" was a powerful meaning because it allows life to transcend into greater things with using the things from the past. I believe that from Freshman Seminar I have learned something small about African culture and will be able to take it with me and be able to expand on it throughout my journey at Howard University. Freshman Seminar also The most important thing I learned from Freshman Seminar was that we have to remember our past to realize what our future may hold. Freshman Seminar changed the way I thought of Howard University itself and even what I thought about Howard University's legacy. Knowing all of this allowed me to change into a better and more informed individual about the history that is being made on this campus everyday.

Jahmonni Long

Research and Methodology

Dr. Dana Williams' presentation was called Research and Methodology: Inscription as a Liberating Practice. She tells of the purpose of freshmen seminar she specifically names the goals are "One of the goals of this course is to encourage every student “to pursue a lifetime of independent discovery, including the appreciation of the importance of research.” Dr. Williams' also states that "the commitment to academic excellence is successfully cultivated, students begin to see how intellectually liberating it is to conduct meaningful research with integrity". An inspirational statement that is in all ways true, once you have made the commitment to higher education you can being to have a true commitment to your learning and education with research.

Dr. Williams' names that the primary objectives of Freshman Seminar are "to identify the principle components of research" and "to relate these components to the group project." She also names that the complete research for Freshman Seminar was "In what ways is knowledge generated by various fields of study used to develop solutions to human social problems and challenges?Each group will explore a different social problem or challenge." She gives the 6 components of research as Statement of the Problem/Challenge,Review of what’s been said (Literature Review/Review of Scholarship), Methodology, Framework, Development of Thesis and then developing and writing your Conclusion.

Dr Williams' also makes it evident which lectures fall into certain categories of the seminar; Memory and Awareness of Freshman Seminar. The memory of Freshman Seminar is the "Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience" and "Abandonment, Dismemberment, Re-Awakening:The History of Howard University." The awareness of Freshman Seminar was "“The Eloquence of the Scribes”:

Initiation, Expectation, and Mastery—Continuing the Legacy of Howard University," "Practices of Freedom and Justice: Representative Thinkers" and "Omoluabi: Self-Actualization and Communal Responsibility."

Jahmonni Long

African Burial Ground

Our trip to the African Burial Ground was one of the most astounding things I have ever experienced. It was an amazing feeling to almost feel connected to the Africans who were buried right in the middle of New York. It was also surprising that many people had walked the streets of New York millions of times and had never known what lay beneath their feet. Although it was extremely cold that day I felt somewhat of a calming feeling come over me once we chanted "ashay", as if an extreme bond had been built. After walking through the sculpture of the door of return, the burial site became even more interesting to me, all of the religious texts or scriptures that had been engraved into the monument were intriguing and were even exciting to learn the meaning of most of them from Dr. Carr.

Other than the sight itself what also amazed me was the Howard University's Anthropology department was able to be apart of this amazing discovery. A fact that Howard will always been in the memory of the African Burial Ground is an amazing and major part of the Burial Ground within itself. Howard Univerisity is now more apart of history than ever before. Lastly, I enjoyed the trip to the African Burial Ground and suggest that anyone take that trip to New York to visit the monument, it is a life changing and a priceless experience.

Jahmonni Long

OMBOLUABI

Dr. Segun Gbadegesin's presentation was called OMOLUABI: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility.Gbadegesin begins speaking about the significant Africans that became us, he specifically names The Goddess Ma’at, And Vizier Ptahhotep, and And Pharaoh Amenemope. He also names what became before the popular biblical texts, for example The Sharia, Kant’s Groundwork, and Mill’s Utilitarianism; he says prior to those texts Africans relied on The Principles of Maat, The Books of Instructions, The Pyramid Texts, and The Coffin Texts.

When Dr. Segun Gbadegesin began speaking of what we learned or gained from Ma’at, he says that the Eygptians practiced justice, truth and maintained balance and harmony. A few principles of Ma'at that stuck with me from this presentation were, "I have not closed my ears to truth, " "I have not been angry without reason," and lastly "I have not stolen from God." Important principles that people should follow in today's world, simply basic morals that all people should have.

Gbadegesin's presentation then flows into the instructions of Ptahhotep, which was the "Humanistic maxims for the living". The discussion of the Coffin texts date back to 2200-1800 BCE, and were "written for the tombs of nobles and contain themes of reward and punishment in the afterlife." Lastly the most important thing of this whole presentation was the word OMBOLUABI itself, meaning "Omo Olu Iwa Bi: a child begotten of the chief (or source) of iwa." "A person of character, disciplined, self-improving, thus earning the respect of peers and community on account of practical wisdom in putting knowledge acquired through education to the service of the community, and not shying away from personal sacrifices when needed."

Jahmonni Long

Research and Methodology: Dr. Williams' Lecture

Dr. Williams' lecture was different than most of the lectures I have listened to in this class so far. She focused on a more concrete topic: research and methodology. She stated that there were three purposes of research: to advance knowledge, to solve a problem, and to inquire. In addition, she explained that methodology means "how you will address your research question". Dr. Williams' lecture was very helpful because as a college student, I am constantly being asked to research topics and create presentations and write papers on those topics. However, if i do not know the basic elements of research, (purpose, method, sources, etc.) I will ultimately fail.

One of the most important things that Dr. Williams talked about was purpose. The question she posed, "What is the purpose of your research?" is easily the most important element of research. If there is no goal or overall benefit of the research, there is no point in doing it. Therefore it is important to establish an answer to this question before any research is done.

This lecture was extremely important because it is useful in both the short term and the long term. I learned valuable information to help me create my presentation for this class, and I will be able to use these methods of research in the future both in later years in college, grad school, and eventually, my career.


Erika Meijer

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

This week's speaker was Dr. Gbadegesin. I really enjoyed his lecture because it was something that I could learn from and directly relate to my life. He talked about Ancient Egyptians and how they practiced truth, justice, order, balance and harmony, in addition to the principles of Ma'at. He also shared many different Egyptian sayings with us, one of which really stuck with me. It was, "A man of character is a man of wealth". This quote really influenced me, because I feel that I am constantly being told that I need "more". This "more" is a variety of things: money, education, friends, extracurricular activities, etc. "More" consists of so many things, I could go on forever. I find myself getting overwhelmed when trying to get "more", but this quote helped me focus. It is saying that regardless of what you have in your life, if you stand true to your morals and you keep strong character, you will always have enough. So maybe "more" isn't what's important after all. Instead, it is important to understand yourself and always make your morals a priority. Never sacrifice them, because no matter how much of everything else you have, your character will always be the most important.



Erika Meijer

Dr. Felder's Lecture on Religion

I found it difficult to understand exactly what Dr. Felder was talking about in his lecture. Maybe this is because I have never been a religious person myself, so I found it hard to relate to what he was saying. However, one thing that I do remember from the lecture was the idea that we have always just accepted that the people in the Bible were white. This is because we were brought up through slavery in predominantly white areas, and whites would have no reason to want to believe that the people of the Bible were of any color. This would disprove all their reasoning for sustaining the institution of slavery. Although I didn't find myself to be very interested in this lecture, due to my lack of religious beliefs, I managed to learn a lesson from it. I think Dr. Felder was ultimately trying to say that we should not just blindly accept things as they are told to us, but we should instead do our own research and look deeper into the issue to try and figure things out ourselves. Throughout history, black people have been told things that have either been portions of the truth or things that have held no truth. Even today, racism still lives in our communities, and those lies are not completely dead. It is important that we remember that we must find our own truths.


Erika Meijer

Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

Dr. Gbadegesin started his lecture by telling us the story of Orumila and Iwa.  Orumila is the guard of wisdom and Iwa is the granddaughter of Sulu. Iwa agreed to marry Orumila as long as he does not bring her stress. After Orumila became wealthy he began to complain about how Iwa was doing her household duties and she left him. Orumila did apologize for his actions and Iwa forgave him. Dr. Gbadegesin even demonstrated a calling that was used by the Egyptians. We learned about Ma’at which Ancient Egyptians learned and practiced truth and justice and maintained order, balance, and harmony. The principles of Ma’at were all written in negative terms. Some examples are “I have not committed sin”, “I have not stolen”, “I have not cursed”, “I am not deceitful and many more. With these principles the Gods were made strong. From the instructions of Ptahhotep we learned that “a man of character is a man of wealth”. From that the term Omoluabi arises which means a person of character, disciplined, self-improving, thus earning respect of peers. I am currently in the process of improving myself and with self improvement I am leaving my mark on human existence. We also learned about Iwa as the good of existence. We have a responsibility to ourselves to remake ourselves through education and we also have the responsibility of serving our community with the education we receive. Iwa says that “immortality is the crown of existence” to me this means that as long as we give back to our community we will leave our mark on the world and that is something close to immortality.

Continuing the Legacy of Howard University

I can honestly say that as long as I have been on Howard’s campus I still do not know some buildings by their correct names. I walk past so many buildings everyday but I never really paid attention to the significance of the names they were given. Dr. Benjamin’s lecture gave insight to why each building received the name they were given and spoke about the history of the university. I remember that one day a group of friends and I were walking from Drew Hall to McDonalds and we noticed a part of the building we were walking past seemed out of place. I asked why that one part looked so old and gloomy and someone told me that they preserved that part of the building because that is where Oliver Otis Howard lived. During the lecture I found out that the name of the mysterious building was Howard Hall (creative right?). I found out so many things that I didn’t know during the lecture like the fact that Zora Neale Hurston was the founder of the Hilltop Newspaper. I found out that the statue in front of Cramton Auditorium was a Greek statue called the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the crazy part about that is I never took the time to look at what I was sitting under. This campus has a rich history and I do feel like I haven’t taken the time to explore it like I should. Howard University has always just been a school to me and if I take the time to learn more about the university then maybe I will have more pride in it.  

The Power of the Young People

This lecture begins with the naming of various famous sit ins from the past, when the integration of schools were still in effect but the segregation of blacks and whites were still clearly evident. These sit ins, were of basic importance because as an African American, you would not be served if you came and sat down in a "white" restaurant. Back then when things were segregated this was not necessary illegal back then but in today's world this is in some way a racist/hate crime and people can now sue for unjust service if it had anything to do with their race. The most popular sit ins named in this lecture were; the Nashville Sit In, the Greensboro Sit In,Wichita, and the Kansas Sit In.

It is also mentioned the elders of our African American past that were apart of the Civil Rights movement, significant and prominent activists named were ; Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. , Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Myrlie Evers, Betty Shabazz( Malcolm X's wife) ,Rosa Parks, Joann Robinson, Coretta Scott King(MLK's wife), Queen Mother Audley Moore, and lastly Malcolm X. Additionally to the African American elders of the past, African Independence Leaders were also named such as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta,Julius Nyerere,Patrice Lumumba, and most popularly know Nelson Mandela.

As the Civil Rights movement continued on throughout time we encounter the "Black Power" activists; Angela Davis, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Huey Newton, Erika Huggins, Frances Beal, and Assata Shakur. Aside from the "Black Power" activists, there were also Africana Scholars who were not neccesarily all about violence or fighting the power but more about the education of Black people as a whole.

These important names of the Africana Scholars would be; Frantz Fanon , Cheikh Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, and John Henrik Clarke. Often Africana Scholars and the poets fall into a similar categorory of trying to educate the people, not neccesary in the same manor but often trying to reach the similar goal of educating people. These poets are named as such ; Mari Evans, Ed Bullins, Askia M. Toure, June Jordan, Haki Madhubuti, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Carolyn Rodgers, and lastly Gwendolyn Brooks and Muhammad Ali.

One of the most influentalie parts of our past and present is the music. Soul music, hip hop, R & B and jazz ; singers such as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Mahaila Jackson, John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Nina Simone, and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Most reveleant in today's African American Culuture is hip hop or R&B. Hip Hop artists popularly known for their extreme influence are Chuck D. , KRS One, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, Salt N Pepa, Queen Latifah (cerca 1990's) , Missy Elliot, The Poor Righteous Teachers, Lauryn Hill, Common, De La Soul, The Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Brand Nubian, Nas, Tribe Called Quest, and The Fugees. Influential R & B artists include; Mary J. Blige, Angie Stone, again Lauryn hill, Erykah Badu, Kem, Lalah Hathaway, John Legend, Bilal, Me’Shell NdegeOcello, India Arie, Amel Lauriexx, Arrested Development, Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott, Ledisi, Maxwell, mostly recently Eric Roberson.

Jahmonni Long

Eloquence of the Scribes

This lecture spoke of how the building on Howard University's campus, received their names and how significant the names of the building are. It begins with how Howard University was named after its founder General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil war hero, at the time Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau and later the president of Howard University. Throughout this lecture its spoken that Howard's Administration building was named after Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, and shows a thorough picture of Johnson standing at the main gate on Howard University campus. Inabel Burns Lindsay established the School of Social Work, also known as Inabel Burns Lindsay Hall, on Howard University's campus, and became it's first dean in 1945 until 1967. This lecture also names very common building on campus like Founder's Library and Carnegie Building.

Also speaking of how the building known for the College of Arts and Sciences, the Alaine Leroy Locke Hal, named after Alaine Leroy Locke. This lecture also speaks of Zora Neale Hurston studying her undergrad at Howard University and where she became one of the earliest initiates of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and co-founded The Hilltop, the University's student newspaper. The lecture also spoke of how Howard University's Fine Arts building was named after Lulu Vere Childers.

Douglass Memorial Hall was named after the civil rights, a leader of the abolishment movement, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, also known as Frederick Douglass. This lecture spoke of how Mary McLeod Bethune Annex,Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall,Charles R. Drew Hall ,George Washington Carver Hall, and Earnest Everett Just Hall (Biology), received their named and the significance of the people they were named after. Lastly this lecture tells of the schools that Alumni Scribes have graduated in Howard's 143 year history.

Jahmonni Long

Age of Human Genome Knowledge

This lecture was mainly focused on the history and legacy of Howard University in the pursuit of wisdom of the 21st century. The broad question of this lecture was "In what ways is KNOWLEDGE generated by various fields of study used to develop solutions to human social problems and challenges?" It was stated within out knowledge of biology, life and human identity, the substructure of the genome was the main focus point. Our genome holds deeply within itself our human identity and collectively our individual and collective inheritance.

Every individual shares the same genome of being 99.9% the same, while the lastly .1% is responsible for all genetic diversity within these individuals. In 2007 scientists began to respect the fact that genomes differentiate each individual from another and how genomes lead to our self discovery of our culture and our past genealogy of experiences. The NHGC Molecular Genetics Motto is “ We use human genome variation for gene and self-discovery”.

This lecture mainly instituted the pursuit of knowledge of the genome and to make the students of Howard University to explore their genome and that this is the "TIME for RESEARCH" among Howard University students. This lecture also encourages among all African American people to benefit from the "KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY" of the 21st century and for the students of Howard University to participate in the information necessary to continue the vitality of our people. This lecture lastly encourages us to begin researching our genome based on the energy it is made from to figure out who we are, who we were, where we are, and where we came from once we figure out our genome from the past then we can continue to figure out who we are within this century and this life. As stated by T.S. Eliot, "At the end of all our exploring,we shall arrive where we began, and know the place for the first time..."

Jahmonni Long

Continuing the Legacy of Howard University

Although we walk across the yard almost every day, many of us do not know all the rich history behind Howard's campus. Dr. Benjamin spoke today about the history of Howard University and the meaning behind the names of some of its main buildings. She also posed a very important question: How will today's knowledge be used to solve tomorrow's problems?

Howard was founded in the 1800s by 17 people, including General Oliver Otis Howard, who was a civil war general who promoted education for former slaves. He was such an key figure in the history of this school that it was named in his honor.

Another important person whose name is common around campus is Frederick Douglass. The building Douglass Hall is named after him. He was the voice of the abolitionist movement and worked hard for equality and justice for all. He broke down barriers by persisting to be taught how to read and write, and eventually published many writings which were and are still highly regarded by blacks and whites alike.

Another historic person honored in a Howard building is Harriet Tubman. The freshman all-girls dorm is named after her. This is the dorm that I stayed in last year, and its name was such an important part of living there. Every time there was a meeting, our RAs and the other staff members were constantly reminding us that we should be the best women that we could be, and that we should live up to the standards of our dorm's namesake.

It is obvious that the founders gave the buildings the names they did because they wanted us to be inspired. Each time we pass the Tubman Quad, Douglass Hall or any of Howard's other majestic buildings, we are reminded of the people who sacrificed so much and worked so hard for equality and justice for us. These people created the framework for our success, but they do not, by any means, complete it. It is up to us to continue to learn from the voices of our past and use today's knowledge to create a better tomorrow, both for us and for the generations to come.



Erika Meijer

Genomes: The Blueprint for our Futures

This week's speaker was Dr. Georgia Dunston, a scientist specializing in genomes. She started her lecture by defining a genome as something that every living organism has. A genome contains information needed to create the blueprint for that organism. In short, a genome is information that is carried through our bodies from previous generations, and continues on to future generations. This relates to us in so many different ways. In the literal sense, genomes pass on our physical traits and characteristics: things such as height, hair color, face shape, skin color, etc. But on a pyschological level, Dr. Dunston was trying to convey that genomes represent things from our past that are preserved through many years and generations. An example of this is education. Our ancestors created education. They were eager to discover the mysteries of the world around them through mathematics, writing, astronomy and many other means of education. That thirst for knowledge that the ancient Egyptians had is still with us today. We, as students of Howard University, live out that genome every day by proving that we still have a passion for the acquisition of knowledge. This also reminds me of something that Dr. Carr said in his lecture a week ago. He said that it was no coincidence that black people often respond to each other by saying "word". Although it is easy to brush this off as meaningless slang, it actually holds a deep cultural significance. Our African ancestors created language and writing, and everytime we use the phrase "word" we are reminding ourselves of our history. Dr. Dunston used a biological term to relate to our world on a more insightful level.



Erika Meijer

Learning, Wisdom and the African World Experience: An Mbongi

During Dr. Carr's lecture he introduced the objectives of Howard's main mission of education; to sketch an outline that traces the connection between learning and wisdom, and to open your personal pathway for engagement and renewal. Some Africana teachings and learnings were also introduced; the word "Sedi", meaning educate in the English language, was a key term of the Africana teachings that was a main focus point. It was also discussed that this lecture examined the contributions of international traditions and teachings and learnings of the African experience. Within our discussion we all uncovered the goals, that are champions to African Deep Thought, these goals are stated as : to recover African Deep Thought from it's historical African background, and to show that such deep thought serves as a basis of what we refer to now as "academic". It was also discussed of how African culture brought about the basic structure of most living civilizations.

Jahmonni Long

Dr. Dunston’s lecture

Every organism has a genome that contains all biological information needed to classify an organism as an organism. In saying that, identity is what determines our purpose. When defining our identity we must think about what we are and who we are created to be. We all possess an energy field and our genome is what defines that energy field. We have the power to obtain and share knowledge and our genome is a record book for all of human history. Our way of thinking is a biological process and as we learn more about life and learn everyday lessons we are establishing a knowledge revolution. With knowledge we have the power to prevent, promote, and eliminate. Knowledge is a spoken word and with knowledge comes power. Depending on how much energy we are willing to give out we are able to increase the energy field of others. In doing that we engage others in the learning process and it becomes a continuous cycle. Another component that contributes to attain knowledge is our biophysics. Biophysics regulates and controls bodily functions. This is what allows us to retain knowledge and execute tasks to our best ability. Without it we cannot be classified as human beings. Every living organism radiates energy and either its positive or negative energy. Only with positive energy can we really become more developed human beings. Our genomes are what determine how far we go in life and without them we would just be taking up space in the world.

The Importance of Unity Within a Group

"I am because we are." This is an ancient Zulu quote that Dr. Carr mentioned in his Monday lecture. This particular quote really stuck with me because I feel that it embodies not only African culture but also our own culture at Howard University. Dr. Carr started off by saying that Egyptians were the creators of mathematics, science, astronomy, writing, and many other important educational advances. In addition to this, they also built the pyramids, which took a great deal of teamwork and unity. I think that this quote is saying that one individual is nothing without the support of the group that they were brought up in. This group could be a tribe, a neighborhood, a family, or a school. I feel that Dr. Carr shared this quote with the class because he wants us to know that unity is important in our group at Howard University. Our university accomplishes so much: each year we educate thousands of promising black scholars. However, without teachers, these scholars would be nothing. In addition, without students, the teachers would have no purpose. The importance of group collaboration is shown in this quote and is an inspiration to us as a class because most of us are just beginning our transition into Howard University. We came here as individuals, leaving our parents, siblings and friends back at home. But we will not be leaving the same way that we came. We will leave with valuable educations and priceless connections to help us build our futures. We will leave as members of the Howard family, and wherever we go, whatever we accomplish, we will be leaving the Howard University name along with it. Dr. Carr introduced several African words and phrases into his lecture, one of them being the word "sankofa". This means "go and get it". The theme that I interpreted from this lecture was that we as Howard University students can accomplish anything we set our minds to, as long as we remember that we ourselves are only humble individuals, and we must use the help and wisdom of others to improve ourselves and achieve our goals.



Erika Meijer

Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience: An Mbongi (Part 1)

Fruitful learning is more than trying to retain academic knowledge. Fruitful learning is about gaining knowledge and applying that knowledge to everyday situations. During the lecture Dr.Carr introduced some basic key terms in Africana Teaching and Learning. One term that stuck with me, because of the description given, was the word Sedjem. Sedjem means “listen” but listening is not just sitting in a classroom and hearing what is being taught. Listening is “being present”. By being present we mean that we are not simply just hearing what is being said we are absorbing the information and comprehending it and therefore that is where learning truly takes place. When it comes to who developed the learning process we have been under the impression that Europeans brought learning to America. However, Africans were actually the ones to develop writing, counting, sciences, arts, spiritual systems and formal teaching. Dating back to the reign of Askia Muhammand from 1493 to 1529 Sudanese literature was emerging. Timbuktu, Gao, Walata, and Jeene were intellectual centers for learning where studies in grammar, geography, law, literature, and surgery were offered. Africans created a foundation for learning to begin and they set their axis of learning around excellence. E. Franklin Frazier compared intellectual Africans from the Continent and the Caribbean to those from the U.S. and stated that “the Negro intellectual is unconscious of the extent to which his thinking is restricted to sterile repetition of the safe conventional ideas current to American society…” Although Africans had great impacts on education American society has taken credit for the accomplishments of Africans and has cast out the genuine and unconventional ideas of African thought.

Katelynn Pruitt