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.