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 25, 2011

Practices of Freedom and Justice

This week’s topic for Freshman Seminar was “Practices of Freedom and Justice: The Black Diaspora”. The main focus was blacks’ cry for freedom and justice. Now in a new continent, blacks were now faced with mistreatment and segregation. However, this strengthened the blacks. This segregation forced them to come together as one in order to help one another for a similar cause. They came together as their own community, helping each other and considering each other family.

Another focus brought up was the importance of an education in the black community. Education serves as a building block, strengthening the foundation of the blacks. With an education, blacks were able to become more than their ancestors ever dreamed of. It helped them to succeed in life and it continues today. It is important for us to get an education, especially since it was kept from us in the past. Blacks were not allowed to have an education and now that we have the right to, we should take advantage of it.

Straying away from the past, Dr. Wright brought up the idea of "purging" students who were not able to meet their financial needs. His first argument was that "purge" was not a proper term to be used when making reference to the students of Howard University. "Purge" has a negative meaning to it and he insisted a better word be used. Also, how can we as blacks make something better for ourselves if we are prohibited to do so because of insufficient time to meet finances. The university raised the tuition 12% but did not give enough time for students to earn that 12% from elswhere, putting a number of students at risk of being "purged". However, after consultation, the university decided to not "purge" the students but instead, give them until the beginning of the spring semester to meet their financial needs.



- Carina F. <3



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