Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael)

"Kwame Ture was born Stokely Carmichael on June 29, 1941 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the son of Adolphus and Mabel Carmichael. He immigrated to the United States in 1952 with his family and settled in New York, New York. He graduated from the academically elite Bronx High School of Science in 1960 and made the decision to attend Howard University. Howard University conferred on him a Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy in 1964. It was while in Washington that Stokely became deeply involved in the "Freedom Rides," "Sit-Ins," and other demonstrations to challenge segregation in American society.......

While residing in Africa, Stokely Carmichael changed his name to "Kwame Ture" to honor Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence from Britain, and, Sekou Toure, who was President of Guinea and his mentor. For more than 30 years, Ture led the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and devoted the rest of his life to Pan Africanism, a movement to uproot the inequities of racism for people of African descent and to develop an economic and cultural coalition among the African Diaspora......

In 1998, at the age of 57, Kwame Ture died from complications of prostate cancer. To the end he answered the telephone, "ready for the revolution."
Saturday, May 8
Howard University Commencement 1999


It is our duty as students here at Howard University to continue the legacy of Kwame Ture through attaining higher education and using our knowledge to make a positive change not only in "Black America", but throughout the world--to always be "ready for the revolution."

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Learning, Wisdom, and the African World

When Dr. Carr said, " To be African is to be Brilliant and Excellent", he opened my eyes to how beautiful the African Culture is. The three points of the lecture that stood out to me was Mbongi, learning and wisdom, and the history of the African culture. Mbongi is a form of community in which people can express their opinions freely. When Dr. Carr spoke of this Mbongi formed at Howard that we have became a part of, it made me realize how Howard University is a community. Together we learn off of each other and our ideas are used to educate those who want to learn more. The idea that I'm a part of Howard's Mbongi let's me know I've become a part of a family that can't be broken. We discuss, protect, assemble and solve our problems together. We are linked together as one and each of us help the other fulfill Howard’s legacy.

The next topic that stuck out to me the most is when he discussed Learning and Wisdom. On slide three of Dr. Carr's presentation he mentioned, " Learning is an acquisition of Knowledge. Wisdom is knowing what to do with Knowledge". Through these words I realized that me going to college doesn't male me successful. I have to do more than sit in a classroom. I have to take what I learn and teach it to those who don't know. Take my knowledge and use it for positive purposes. Dr. Carr explained that being wise means using your knowledge to the best of my ability.

Finally, the part of the lecture that stuck out to me the most was when Dr. Carr discussed that Africans developed everything we learned today. Africans are the roots of all creation. Such as, the writing system and measurement system. Africans were educated before slavery; we are the reason for most existence in the world. I never heard of this before, at this point of the lecture Dr. Carr made me Proud to be an African American.

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