DEVAUGHN: RHODES SCHOLAR
DeVaughn: I felt so blessed. I felt so humbled. I felt so moved. I felt so honored. Having been born and raised in Compton, California, achieving some- thing of this magnitude seemed like a distant reality, reserved only for those who are born into privilege and power. Yet, receiving this award showed me that hard work pays off, that where you come from shouldn’t define where you’re going, that young Black and Brown boys and girls from cities like Compton can achieve anything they put their minds to. What’s more, becoming a Rhodes Scholar-elect made me reckon with the fact that I was able to win this award because I was given a chance, adequate resources, and adequate opportunities. Today, I sit wondering what kids growing up in the hood across America could achieve if they too were given adequate opportunities, resources—a chance—to pursue and make manifest their wildest dreams.
those two disciplines together lie at the core, in my opinion, of the Black tradi- tion. To harness history and the power of literature is to arm oneself with the tools to fight the injustices of today for a better future tomorrow. The Journal: What was your childhood like? DeVaughn: I was raised by my single- mother and grandmother in the city of Compton, California, as my dad was incarcerated. Though we didn’t always have a lot of money, we had a richness of spirit. My mother and grandmother taught me to always believe that our lives could be better, that all things work for the good, that God rewards those who are faithful to him. With my dad now home as a small business owner, my mom as an Assistant Principal, my grandmother enjoying a blissful retire-
ment, and me soon to be graduating from Harvard University, the old adage that “Mom knows best” stands vindi- cated. My mother, grandmother, and dad poured so much love into me. They refused to let me surrender to my cir- cumstance, always pushing me to defy the odds and to become what I couldn’t see. All of who I am today is because of their guidance, diligence, love, and care. They are my heroes. The Journal: When did you know you would pursue higher education? DeVaughn: Pursuing higher education was always a dream of mine since as early as I can remember. Growing up, my mother, a public-school teacher, used to tell me, “The one thing no one can ever take away from you is your brain.” Implicit in her statement was a critical lesson: education was the key to
The Journal: What drove your passion to pursue a BA in His- tory and Literature? DeVaughn: When I first ar- rived at college, I wanted to be a doctor. After taking the introductory medical course at Harvard, I realized science was not for me, but I did know I wanted to pursue a career of helping others. In my second semester I took a course titled “Stories of Slavery and Free- dom” with Professor Tim Mc- Carthy. In this course, I read Narrative of the Life of Freder- ick Douglass . I was taken with how Douglass and so many Black exemplars—from Phillis Wheatley to Ida B. Wells to Shirley Chisholm—were committed to harnessing their history as a means to write a new future. Douglass, nota- bly, was both a historian and a writer, both deeply engaged with where Black people had been but also committed to imagining where they could go. I chose to pursue a BA in History and Literature because
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